Lecture 3

Question 1

Define resonance

Answer 1

= vibrate. Enclosed air molecules can resonate. The vocal tract and ear canal are acoustic resonator similar to tubes that are closed at one end and open at the other. Closed end tubes have particular resonating characteristics. The air inside the tube will pirate at frequencies related to the length of the tube. The wave of the first (or lowest) resonance frequency is 4 times the length of the tube.

Question 2

Describe 2 main components of source filter theory of speech production

Answer 2

1. Sound Source: sound is generated in the larynx, produces the harmonic spectrum.
2. Filter: vocal tract filters the sound source by amplifying some harmonic frequencies and not amplifying others

Question 3

Identify the major acoustic features that distinguish FRONT vowels

Answer 3

Narrower cavity/constriction at the from of the mouth and wider cavity at the back.
Formant 1 - inversely proportional to tongue height (Low F1= high tongue position. Formant 2- proportional to tongue advancement; front vowels have higher formant 2 freq.
Wide separation between Formant 1 & 2, and small separation between 2 & 3.

Question 4

Identify the major acoustic features that distinguish MIDDLE vowels

Answer 4

Closed end tube (schwa sound). F1 related to length of tube and higher resonance frequencies.

Question 5

Identify the major acoustic features that distinguish BACK vowels

Answer 5

Narrow cavity towards the back; wide at the front. Back vowels have Low formant 2 frequencies. Small separation between formant 1 & 2 and wide separation between 2 & 3.

Question 6

Identify the major acoustic features that distinguish DIPHTHONGS e.g /ay/, /oy/

Answer 6

Formant transitions- formants changing frequency over time due to continuous tongue and jaw movement changing the response peaks in the vocal tract.