Research paper of the CFMS group published in PNAS

Congratulations to Weili Jiang (equally contributed first author) from the CFMS group on publishing a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS, 2018 Impact factor 9.58)!

The title of this paper is High-fidelity continuum modeling predicts avian voiced sound production. The study is a collaboration with the Elemans Lab from the Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark. The CFMS Lab applied the high-fidelity computational models developed in the lab to the vocalization of birds, which (quite surprisingly) shares similar mechanisms with mammal phonation. The Elemans Lab conducted the experimental research using dissected bird syrinx that provided strong validation of the simulation approach.

See what the authors have to say about the significance of the paper:

Vocal communication is critical to the reproduction and survival of mammals and birds. Computational physics-based models can facilitate understanding the relation of voice physiology to sound, but there is currently an absence of thorough experimental validation. Here, we present and experimentally test a high-fidelity, continuum model for voiced sound production in birds that includes anatomically realistic geometries of the syrinx and associated vocal tract. We show that, driven by physiologically quantifiable inputs, our model accurately predicts vibration and sound parameters. These data strongly support the continuum model approach as an important component of a causal model of voiced sound production.