scholarly journals The articulatory and acoustic characteristics of Polish sibilants and their consequences for diachronic change

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Bukmaier ◽  
Jonathan Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
First Language ◽  
Gaussian Model ◽  
Complete Separation ◽  
Tongue Movement ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Diachronic Change ◽  
Physiological Analysis

The study is concerned with the relative synchronic stability of three contrastive sibilant fricatives /sʂ ɕ/ in Polish. Tongue movement data were collected from nine first-language Polish speakers producing symmetrical real and non-word CVCV sequences in three vowel contexts. A Gaussian model was used to classify the sibilants from spectral information in the noise and from formant frequencies at vowel onset. The physiological analysis showed an almost complete separation between /sʂ ɕ/ on tongue-tip parameters. The acoustic analysis showed that the greater energy at higher frequencies distinguished /s/ in the fricative noise from the other two sibilant categories. The most salient information at vowel onset was for /ɕ/, which also had a strong palatalizing effect on the following vowel. Whereas either the noise or vowel onset was largely sufficient for the identification of /sɕ/ respectively, both sets of cues were necessary to separate /ʂ/ from /sɕ/. The greater synchronic instability of /ʂ/ may derive from its high articulatory complexity coupled with its comparatively low acoustic salience. The data also suggest that the relatively late stage of /ʂ/ acquisition by children may come about because of the weak acoustic information in the vowel for its distinction from /s/.

scholarly journals ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT ON VOWEL PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE BY INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Rudha Widagsa ◽  
Ahmad Agung Yuwono Putro
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
British English ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Second Formant

Indonesian is the most widely spoken language in Indonesia. More than 200 million people speak the language as a first language. However, acoustic study on Indonesian learners of English (ILE) production remains untouched. The purpose of this measurement is to examine the influence of first language (L1) on English vowels production as a second language (L2). Based on perceptual magnet hypothesis (PMH), ILE were predicted to produce close sounds to L1 English where the vowels are similar to Indonesian vowels. Acoustic analysis was conducted to measure the formant frequencies. This study involved five males of Indonesian speakers aged between 20-25 years old. The data of British English native speakers were taken from previous study by Hawkins & Midgley (2005). The result illustrates that the first formant frequencies (F1) which correlates to the vowel hight of Indonesian Learners of English were significantly different from the corresponding frequencies of British English vowels. Surprisingly, the significant differences in second formant (F2) of ILE were only in the production of /ɑ, ɒ, ɔ/ in which /ɑ/=p 0.002, /ɒ/ =p 0,001, /ɔ/ =p 0,03. The vowel space area of ILE was slightly less spacious than the native speakers. This study is expected to shed light in English language teaching particularly as a foreign language.Keywords: VSA, EFL, Indonesian learners, formant frequencies, acoustic

Acoustic properties of vowels in Upper Necaxa Totonac

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michelle García-Vega ◽  
Benjamin V. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Length ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Second Formant

Upper Necaxa Totonac is a Totonacan language spoken in the Necaxa River valley in the Sierra Norte of Puebla State, Mexico. While the Totonacan languages historically have three phonemic vowel qualities, the Upper Necaxa system consists of five vowels that contrast length and laryngealization. With acoustic data from six native speakers from the Totonacan communities of Patla and Chicontla, we explore the phonetic properties of vowels with respect to the first and second formant frequencies, quantity (duration), vowel phonation (modal vs. laryngeal), and stress. The data indicate that long, short, modal and laryngeal vowels occupy a similar formant space and that duration is the primary phonetic correlate of phonemic vowel length. A shift in vowel quality and an increase in duration and pitch were shown to be the acoustic characteristics of stress. The study provides a first acoustic analysis of vowels in Upper Necaxa, and contributes to typological descriptions of the properties of vowels connected with quality, quantity, stress, and phonation.

Automated Acoustic Analysis of Oral Diadochokinesis to Assess Bulbar Motor Involvement in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panying Rong
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Disease Stage ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Tongue Movement ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Syllable Repetition ◽  
Oral Diadochokinesis ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Purpose The purpose of this article was to validate a novel acoustic analysis of oral diadochokinesis (DDK) in assessing bulbar motor involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Method An automated acoustic DDK analysis was developed, which filtered out the voice features and extracted the envelope of the acoustic waveform reflecting the temporal pattern of syllable repetitions during an oral DDK task (i.e., repetitions of /tɑ/ at the maximum rate on 1 breath). Cycle-to-cycle temporal variability (cTV) of envelope fluctuations and syllable repetition rate (sylRate) were derived from the envelope and validated against 2 kinematic measures, which are tongue movement jitter (movJitter) and alternating tongue movement rate (AMR) during the DDK task, in 16 individuals with bulbar ALS and 18 healthy controls. After the validation, cTV, sylRate, movJitter, and AMR, along with an established clinical speech measure, that is, speaking rate (SR), were compared in their ability to (a) differentiate individuals with ALS from healthy controls and (b) detect early-stage bulbar declines in ALS. Results cTV and sylRate were significantly correlated with movJitter and AMR, respectively, across individuals with ALS and healthy controls, confirming the validity of the acoustic DDK analysis in extracting the temporal DDK pattern. Among all the acoustic and kinematic DDK measures, cTV showed the highest diagnostic accuracy (i.e., 0.87) with 80% sensitivity and 94% specificity in differentiating individuals with ALS from healthy controls, which outperformed the SR measure. Moreover, cTV showed a large increase during the early disease stage, which preceded the decline of SR. Conclusions This study provided preliminary validation of a novel automated acoustic DDK analysis in extracting a useful measure, namely, cTV, for early detection of bulbar ALS. This analysis overcame a major barrier in the existing acoustic DDK analysis, which is continuous voicing between syllables that interferes with syllable structures. This approach has potential clinical applications as a novel bulbar assessment.

scholarly journals In situ acoustic analysis of two twentieth-century heritage carillons

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Allan Orr
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Mechanical Action ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Physical Acoustics ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Dynamic Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Function

AbstractCarillons are a diverse and global form of musical and civic heritage: musical instruments comprised of a series of 23 or more bells, typically hung in a tower-like structure, tuned chromatically and played from a touch-sensitive manual and pedal console using an elaborate mechanical action. Carillon bells have a distinct series of musical overtones which should be accurately tuned to one another and with other bells they sound alongside. Although these overtones have been previously studied ex situ, this study assesses the acoustic characteristics of two early-twentieth century carillons in Toronto, Canada as a combination of structure, bells, and mechanical action. Thus, the instrument and its context are considered holistically, more accurately reflecting the musical sensitivity of a carillonist. Spectral analysis of audio samples of each bell at different musical dynamic levels enabled the analysis of the acoustic qualities of the bells and the mechanical action of the instruments. The tuning of bells in the instruments varied; most importantly, there was a significant difference between the audial intensity of the bell tones produced by the instruments, demonstrating the importance of the mechanical action as part of the ‘carillon system’. This was represented with a resistive power-law model, that represents the sensitivity of intensity to carillonist musical dynamic level. A discussion of the implications for artistic and heritage practice follows. Understanding the in situ physical acoustics of the carillon as a holistic instrument in its context informs performers, arrangers, and composers of how they can best embrace the instrument’s unique qualities to improve artistic pursuits and support the appreciation of carillons as heritage instruments and function as civic voices.

scholarly journals Examining Factors Influencing the Viability of Automatic Acoustic Analysis of Child Speech

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (10) ◽  
pp. 2487-2501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thea Knowles ◽  
Meghan Clayards ◽  
Morgan Sonderegger
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Center Of Gravity ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Alignment Accuracy ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Phonetic Transcription ◽  
Very Young Children ◽  
Child Speech

Purpose Heterogeneous child speech was force-aligned to investigate whether (a) manipulating specific parameters could improve alignment accuracy and (b) forced alignment could be used to replicate published results on acoustic characteristics of /s/ production by children. Method In Part 1, child speech from 2 corpora was force-aligned with a trainable aligner (Prosodylab-Aligner) under different conditions that systematically manipulated input training data and the type of transcription used. Alignment accuracy was determined by comparing hand and automatic alignments as to how often they overlapped (%-Match) and absolute differences in duration and boundary placements. Using mixed-effects regression, accuracy was modeled as a function of alignment conditions, as well as segment and child age. In Part 2, forced alignments derived from a subset of the alignment conditions in Part 1 were used to extract spectral center of gravity of /s/ productions from young children. These findings were compared to published results that used manual alignments of the same data. Results Overall, the results of Part 1 demonstrated that using training data more similar to the data to be aligned as well as phonetic transcription led to improvements in alignment accuracy. Speech from older children was aligned more accurately than younger children. In Part 2, /s/ center of gravity extracted from force-aligned segments was found to diverge in the speech of male and female children, replicating the pattern found in previous work using manually aligned segments. This was true even for the least accurate forced alignment method. Conclusions Alignment accuracy of child speech can be improved by using more specific training and transcription. However, poor alignment accuracy was not found to impede acoustic analysis of /s/ produced by even very young children. Thus, forced alignment presents a useful tool for the analysis of child speech. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7070105

scholarly journals Variation and Change of the Phrae Pwo Karen Vowels and Tones Induced by Language Contact with the Tai Languages

MANUSYA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Chommanad Intajamornrak
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Three Generations ◽  
Fundamental Frequencies

This paper aims to analyze and compare the acoustic characteristics of the vowels and tones in the Phrae Pwo Karen spoken by three generations. The data was collected at Khangchai Village in Wang Chin District, Phrae Province. A wordlist of Pwo Karen vowels and tones was recorded directly on to computer using Adobe Audition version 2. Fifteen female informants were divided into three groups: those over 60 years old, those 35-50 years old and those under 25 years old. The total number of test tokens was 405 for vowel analysis, and 810 for tone analysis. The fundamental frequencies and formant frequencies were measured using Praat version 5.1.43.

scholarly journals The Potentials of Computer Analyzing the Acoustic Characteristics of a Human Speech under Spaceflight Conditions.

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
S.A. Lebedeva ◽  
D.M. Shved ◽  
V.I. Gushin
Keyword(s):  
Noise Suppression ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Physiological Status ◽  
Physiological Monitoring ◽  
Ground Model ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Military Aviation ◽  
Audio Recordings

The paper presents current approaches to the assessment of the psycho-physiological status of a human operator by analyzing his/her speaking and gives a historical review of an application of speech acoustic analysis in the field of military aviation and manned spaceflight as well as under conditions of on-ground model experiments. Various methods of mathematical analysis of a speech signal when determining the human emotional and functional status and techniques of noise suppression in audio recordings are also considered. The applicability of the said methods for non-invasive psycho-physiological monitoring of cosmonauts under spaceflight conditions was assessed.

scholarly journals Effects of vocal nodules on acoustic characteristics of voice in children : an acoustic analysis of voice

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (3.4) ◽  
pp. 276-279
Author(s):  
Toshihito Aoki ◽  
Takaaki Takeyama ◽  
Yuki Sakamoto ◽  
Aki Shimada ◽  
Eiji Kondo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Vocal Nodules

scholarly journals In Situ Acoustic Analysis of Two 20th-Century Heritage Carillons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Allan Orr
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Mechanical Action ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Physical Acoustics ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Dynamic Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
And Function

Abstract Carillons are a diverse and global form of musical and civic heritage: musical instruments comprised of a series of 23 or more bells, typically hung in a tower-like structure, tuned chromatically and played from a touch-sensitive manual and pedal console using an elaborate mechanical action. Carillon bells have a distinct series of musical overtones which need to be accurately tuned to one another and with other bells they sound alongside. Although these overtones have been previously studied ex situ, this study assesses the acoustic characteristics of two early-20th century carillons in Toronto, Canada as a combination of structure, bells, and mechanical action. Thus, the instrument and its context are considered holistically, more accurately reflecting the musical sensitivity of a carillonist. Spectral and Fourier analysis of audio samples of each bell at different musical dynamic levels enabled the analysis of the acoustic qualities of the bells and the mechanical action of the instruments. The tuning of bells in the instruments varied; most importantly, there was a significant difference between the audial intensity of the bell tones produced by the instruments, demonstrating the importance of the mechanical action as part of the ‘carillon system’. This was represented with a resistive power-law model, that represents the sensitivity of intensity to carillonist musical dynamic level. A discussion of the implications for artistic and heritage practice follows. Understanding the in situ physical acoustics of the carillon as a holistic instrument in its context informs performers, arrangers, and composers of how they can best embrace the instrument’s unique qualities to improve artistic pursuits and support the appreciation of carillons as heritage instruments and function as civic voices.

scholarly journals Interference of dentofacial deformities in the acoustic characteristics of speech sounds

Revista CEFAC ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janaina dos Santos Coelho ◽  
Renata Christina Vieira ◽  
Esther Mandelbaum Gonçalves Bianchini
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Class Iii ◽  
Variable Intensity ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Skeletal Class ◽  
Speech Characteristics ◽  
Skeletal Class Ii ◽  
Dentofacial Deformities ◽  
Variable Duration

ABSTRACT Purpose: to verify speech characteristics regarding the production of fricative sounds in people with dentofacial deformities (DFD), through acoustic analysis, evaluating possible interferences of the variation of the osseous bases in the articulation of speech. Methods: fifteen adults of both genders, aged between 17 and 42, participated in the study. They were distributed in three groups: GII (n = 5) Skeletal Class II, GIII (n = 5) Skeletal Class III, and CG (n = 5) without DFD. All of them had their voices recorded, with key words containing the fricative sounds of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and acoustically analyzed; the parameters: duration, intensity, and formants F1, F2. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the groups. Results: there were differences (p <0.05) when comparing GII and GIII with CG. For the variable duration GIII obtained higher value in the fricative sound /z/ (r = 0.016, p <0.05). The variable intensity was higher for GII in /z/ (r = 0.028, p <0.05), and higher for GIII in /f/ (r = 0.028, p <0.05), /v/ (r = 0.028, p<0.05) and /ʃ/ (r = 0.036, p <0.05). For the variable F1, GII obtained a higher value for the syllable /za/ (r = 0.047, p <0.05). In the variable F2, GII obtained the lowest value in the syllable /ʒa/ (r = 0.047, p <0.05). Conclusion: the disharmony of the maxillomandibular osseous bases results in interference in speech acoustic characteristics regarding fricative sounds.

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