Digital waveguide mesh structures have proved useful in a wide variety of modelling applications. When modelling the acoustics of an enclosed space the accurate simulation of specific boundary conditions is paramount but waveguide mesh related techniques have as yet to provide an appropriate and reliable solution. This paper gives an overview of boundary types that have been implemented by researchers to date and describes the application of a higher order approximation for the particular case of an anechoic boundary, that may prove useful as part of a more general solution.

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This paper details software under development that uses the digital waveguide physical model to represent the sound creation mechanism and environment associated with the production of speech, specifically the human vocal tract. Focus is directed towards a comparison between the existing 1D waveguide method, on which several studies have already been conducted, and the developing 2D waveguide mesh method. The construction of the two models and the application of the tract geometry is examined, in addition, the inclusion of dynamic articulatory variations to increase the ability of such systems to create natural sounding speech is discussed. Results obtained from each suggest that the 2D model is capable of producing similarly accurate vowel spectra to that already accomplished with the 1D version, although speech-like sounds created with the 2D mesh appear to exhibit greater realism.

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