2.

ARTICULATION
AND FORMANTS
MUSIC 318 MINI-COURSE ON SPEECH AND SINGING
Science of Sound, Chapter 15
The Speech Chain, Chapter 4
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/
VOWELS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
MUSCLES OF THE TONGUE
TONGUE POSITIONS FOR CARDINAL VOWELS
VOCAL TRACT
CONFIGURATIONS
FOR VOWELS i, o, oo
THE EFFECT
OF
FORMANTS
ON SOUND
FORMANT FREQUENCIES AND AMPLITUDES
(AVERAGE OF 76 SPEAKERS)
Voice Acoustics: an introduction
Speech science has a long history. Speech and voice acoustics
are an active area of research in many labs, including our
own, which studies the singing and speaking voice. This
document gives an introduction and overview. This is
followed by a more detailed account, sometimes using
experimental data to illustrate the main points. Throughout, a
number of simple experiments are suggested to the reader.
Introduction and overview
The source
The filter
Vowels
Consonants
Source-filter interactions
Contrasting the voice with wind
instruments
The Source-Filter model
Some difficulties
The source at the larynx
Different registers and vocal mechanisms
Producing a sound
When is the source independent of the
filter?
Resonances, spectral peaks, formants, phonemes and timbre
Phonemes
The vocal tract as a pipe or duct
Resonances, frequency, pitch and hearing
Timbre and singing
The origin of vocal tract resonances
Tract-wave interactions
Do the source and the filter affect each
other?
Does the glottis affect the tract
resonances?
Do pressure waves affect the vocal fold
vibration?
Do singers and speakers use tract resonances and pitch in a
coordinated way?
Harmonic singing
The singers formant
References
Links
Voice Acoustics: an introduction
Speech science has a long history. Speech and voice acoustics are an active area of research in many labs, including our own, which studies the singing and speaking voice. This document gives an introduction and overview. This is followed by a more detailed account, sometimes using experimental data to illustrate the main points. Throughout, a number of simple experiments are suggested to the reader.


THE WEBSITE http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/voice.html IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
PROFS. WOLFE AND SMITH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN AUSTRALIA TEACH
A COURSE SIMILAR TO THIS ONE.
VOWEL FORMANT FREQUENCIES
CLOSED PIPE MODEL OFTHE VOCAL TRACT
SIMPLE
MODELS OF
THE VOCAL
TRACT
OPEN AND CLOSED PIPES
OPEN
PIPE
CLOSED
PIPE
USING VOCAL FRY TO DETERMINE FORMANTS
VOCAL FRY SPECTRA OF FOUR FRONT VOWELS. CURSOR ON F2 OF /ae/
/i/ /e/ // /ae/
VOCAL FRY IS A BUBBLING AIR THROUGH CLOSED VOCAL FOLDS AT A RATE SLOW
ENOUGH THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IMPULSES ARE HEARD AS SEPARATE TICKS. THE
RESULTANT WEAK SOUND ARTICULATES THE VARIOUS VOWELS, AND THEIR SPECTRA
CAN REVEAL THE FREQUENCIES OF AT LEAST THE FIRST TWO FORMANTS.
CONSONANTS
CONSONANTS INVOLVE VERY RAPID, SOMETIMES SUBTLE , CHANGES IN SOUND.
CONSONANTS ARE MORE DIFFICULT TO ANALYZE AND TO DESCRIBE ACOUSTICALLY

CONSONANTS MAY BE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF ARTICULATION AS
PLOSIVE, FRICATIVE, NASAL, LIQUID, AND SEMIVOWEL.

PLOSIVE CONSONANTS (p, b, t, etc.) ARE PRODUCED BY BLOCKING THE FLOW OF AIR
(USUALLY IN THE MOUTH) AND RELEASING THE PRESSURE RATHER SUDDENLY

FRICATIVES (f, s, sh, etc.) ARE MADE BY CONSTRICTING THE FLOW TO PRODUCE
TURBULENCE

NASALS (m, n, ng) ARE MADE BY LOWER THE SOFT PALATE TO CONNECT THE NASAL
CAVITY TO THE PHARYNX AND BLOCKING THE MOUTH CAVITY SOMEWHERE

SEMIVOWELS (w, y) ARE PRODUCED BY KEEPING THE VOCAL TRACT BRIEFLY IN A VOWEL
POSITION AND THEN CHANGING IT RAIDLY TO THE VOWEL SOUND THAT FOLLOWS

IN SOUND THE LIQUIDS (r, l) THE TIP OF THE TONGUE IS RAISED AND THE ORAL CAVITY
IS SOMEWHAT RESTRICTED
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
CONSONANTS ARE FURTHER CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THEIR PLACE OF ARTICULATION,
LKPRIMARILY THE LIPS, THE TEETH, THE GUMS, THE PALATE, AND THE GLOTTIS.

TERMS USED BY SPEECH SCIENTISTS
TO DENOTE PLACE OF ARTICULATION
INCLUDE LABIAL (LIPS), DENTAL (TEETH),
ALVEOLAR (GUMS), PALATAL (PALATE),
VELAR (SOFT PALATE), GLOTTAL (GLOTTIS),
AND LABIODENTAL (LIPS AND TEETH)

FINALLY, CONSONANTS ARE CLASSIFIED
AS VOICED OR UNVOICED
PLACE OF ARTICULATION OF PLOSIVES
VOCAL TRACT
WITH SOFT
PALATE
LOWERED (AS
FOR BREATHING)
VOCAL TRACT WITH
SOFT PLATE RAISED
(FOR ARTICULATING
NON-NASAL
SOUNDS)
VOICE QUALITY
VOICE QUALITY IS A BROAD TERM THAT REFERS TO THE EXTRALINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF A
SPEAKERS VOICE WITH REGARD TO IDENTITY, PERSONALITY, HEALTH, AND EMOTIONAL
STATE.
VOCAL FOLD MASS, VOCAL TRACT LENGTH, TRACHEAL LENGTH, JAW AND TONGUE SIZE,
AND NASAL CAVITY VOLUME MAY INDICATE INFORMATION ABOUT AGE, SEX, PHYSIQUE,
AND HEALTH.
NORMAL, YAWNY, AND TWANGY VOICE
Story, Titze, and Hoffman (2001) did a 3-dimensional study of the vocal tract using MRI to
determine the shape when vowels /i/, /ae/, //, and /u/ were spoken with NORMAL,
YAWNY, and TWANGY voice.

Relative to NORMAL speech, the ORAL CAVITY is widened and the TRACT is lengthened for
YAWNYY vowels. F1 and F2 moved closer together.
TWANGY vowels were characterized by shortened TRACT length, widened LIP OPENING,
and a slightly constricted ORAL CAVITY. F1 and F2 moved farther apart.
Story, Titze
Hoffman, 2001)
Story, Titze and
Hoffman, 2001)
ECHOES
ECHOES is a quarterly newsletter of the Acoustical Society of America, edited by Thomas
Rossing. It reports acoustics news, and the editor scans scientific journals for interesting
articles about acoustics.
ECHOES can be read online at http://asa.aip.org/echoes.html. Copies are also available
from the editor.

Here are a couple of recent items about speech production:

A newly-discovered gene, called tospeak by its discoverers, enables us to speak by helping
to keep our vocal tract limber, according to a story in Novmber 2009 issue of Science
News. Researchers discovered the gene in an Australian family with a speaking disorder.
Many of the women in the family have weak, husky voices, while their male relatives
cannot speak above a whisper. Family members with the speaking problem have short,
thick vocal folds that dont vibrate properly. (ECHOES, Winter 2010).

A 60-year old man learned to sing so he could learn to talk again, according to a story in
the April 22,2008 issue of The New York Times. A stroke had paralyzed the right side of
his body and brought on a condition known as aphasia. Complex verbal communication
was impossible. One day the therapist asked him to sing. How can I sing if I cant talk,
he remembered thinking. But as soon as the therapist sang Happy birthday he chimed
in. (ECHOES, Summer 2008)