Introduction To Communication Sciences And Disorders- Quiz 4

What does articulation refer to?

Articulation refers to how clearly the speaker pronounces words.

What does intelligibility refer to?

Intelligibility refers to how easy it is for the listener to understand what the speaker said.

What is a person with good intelligibility?

A person with good intelligibility is easy to understand.

What is a person with poor intelligibility?

Someone who is difficult to understand has poor intelligibility.

What is the vocal tract?

The vocal tract is an air-filled tube extending from the larynx to the lips. It acts as a resonating chamber and filter, shaping sound source energy into speech sounds.

What do the cavities of the vocal tract do?

The vocal tract contains air-filled cavities that act as acoustic resonators, increasing or decreasing the amplitude of a sound wave.

What do the cavities of the vocal tract modify?

They modify the shape of the voiced sound source wave to create the different vowel sounds. Different vowel sounds are produced from modification of the shape of the cavities. 

What are the cavities of the vocal tract?

1. Pharyngeal Cavity (Pharynx - cavity at back of the throat, behind the nasal and oral cavities).

2. Nasal Cavity (Nose).

3. Oral Cavity (Mouth).

What are the primary functions of the pharyngeal cavity?

Passageway for air to the lungs and food to the stomach. The most important resonator for speech production. Affects overall timbre (speech quality) of sounds.

What are the primary functions of the nasal cavity?

Used for Respiration. Used to produce the 3 nasal speech sounds /m/, /n/, /ng/.

What are the primary functions of the oral cavity?

Shaping food for digestion. Respiration. Production of all consonant sounds, except for the nasals.

What are articulators?

Structures that alter the shape and volume of the oral cavity for production of the consonant sounds.

What are the immobile articulators?

1. Hard Palate.

2. Teeth.

3. Alveolar Ridge.

What is the hard palate?

Bony arched roof of the mouth, extending from the alveolar ridge to the soft palate.

Where are the bottom and upper teeth held?

The bottom teeth are held in place within the alveolar process of the lower jaw, the mandible. The upper teeth are held in place within the alveolar ridge of the upper jaw, the maxilla.

What is the alveolar ridge?

Bony ridge of tissue located directly behind the upper front teeth. Forms the sockets for the upper teeth.

What are the mobile articulators?

1. Tongue.

2. Velum (Soft Palate).

3. Mandible.

4. Lips.

What is the tongue?

Muscle used to shape food for digestion. Most important structure for generating speech sounds.

What is the velum?

Soft muscular tissue. It extends from the back of the hard palate.

What is the function of the velum?

It functions to connect or disconnect the oral and nasal cavities. At rest, the oral and nasal cavities are disconnected, for breathing.

What is velopharyngeal closure?

Movement of the velum upward connects the oral and nasal cavities, so sound wave energy is forced to travel through the oral cavity enabling production of the 3 nasal sounds, /m/, /n/, /ng/. Velopharyngeal closure is critical for production of all speech sounds, except the nasals.

What is the mandible?

Lower jaw hinged at the temporal-mandibular joint. Enables the mouth to open and close.

What is the function of the mandible?

Allows us to chew food.

What are the lips?

Two fleshy folds of soft tissue composed of many facial muscles.

What are the functions of the lips?

Hold food in the mouth. Contain sensory receptors that help us judge the texture and temperature of food.

What is an oral peripheral examination?

The oral peripheral examination is an inspection of the articulatory structures, their movement, and function.

What is the source filter theory?

The source-filter theory is a two-stage model of speech sound production. 

Stage One:

Sound source generation.

Stage Two:

The vocal tract acts as a filter that modifies the sound source waveform by changing its shape to enhance some frequencies and filtering others. 

What happens during stage one of the source filter theory?

Voiced and unvoiced sounds serve as the sound sources for speech production.

Voiced sounds:

Produced by vocal fold vibration (phonation), with a fundamental frequency (fo) and harmonics. 

Of the 44 phonemes in General American English: 

All 19 vowels are voiced.

25 of the consonants are voiced.

Unvoiced Sound Source:

Produced by turbulent airflow moving through a constriction, or momentary block, made at a specific place in the oral cavity, using the tongue.

Of the 44 phonemes in General American English:

9 consonants are unvoiced.

What happens during stage two of the source filter theory? 

The vocal tract acts as an acoustic resonator (an air-filled cavity), with air molecules reflecting and interacting to produce natural resonant frequencies. For the speech frequency range, the vocal tract typically produces 6 to 12 natural resonant frequencies. 

When does a standing wave form, and what is the result?

A standing wave forms when voiced sound source frequencies interfere with natural resonant frequencies of the vocal tract. This interference occurs when sound source frequencies match, or closely match, vocal tract natural resonant frequencies and their waveforms are moving opposite directions. The result is a fixed pattern of alternating points of high and low energy along the vocal tract.

What are nodes?

Points of low energy reflecting minimal air molecule displacement.

What are antinodes?

Points of high energy reflecting maximal air molecule displacement.

What is the standing wave pattern?

The standing wave pattern is a series of alternating nodes and antinodes that remain fixed in space but vary in amplitude over time.

What is the standing wave pattern shaped by?

The standing wave pattern is shaped by interference between the sound source wave and the natural frequency waves of the vocal tract. This interference can be constructive or destructive.

What is a constructive interference?

The opposite moving waves interfere at the same time (in-phase). The crests and troughs align and their amplitudes sum to increase standing wave amplitude at the antinodes.

What is a destructive interference?

The opposite moving waves interfere at different times (out-of-phase). The crests and troughs misalign and their amplitudes partially cancel, resulting in decreased standing wave amplitude at the nodes.

What does a constructive interference increase?

Constructive interference increases the amplitude of antinodes, which defines resonance. The rate of antinode occurrence in one second’s time corresponds to the resonant frequencies of the speech sound. 

What does a destructive interference decrease?

Destructive interference decreases amplitude of nodes, which contributes to filtering. This process targets frequencies that do not align with the antinodes, effectively filtering out all frequencies except those that match the resonant frequencies.

What are voiced sounds produced and shaped by?

Voiced sounds are produced by vocal fold vibration and shaped by vocal tract resonance.

What are unvoiced sounds produced by?

Unvoiced sounds are produced by turbulent airflow through constrictions in the oral cavity.

What does the volume of the resonator influence?

The volume of the resonator influences the overall pitch of the speech sound.

What do smaller volume resonators resonate to?

Smaller volume resonators resonate to high frequency sounds.

What do larger volume resonators resonate to?

Larger volume resonators resonate to low frequency sounds.

What are some key details in the vowel sound production?

All vowels are voiced. Vowels are formed in a mostly open vocal tract.

What are the steps for the vowel sound production?

1. The pharyngeal, nasal, and oral cavities are shaped by the articulators to create distinct natural resonant frequencies.

2. Harmonics generated by vocal fold vibration that match, or closely match, the vocal tract’s natural resonant frequencies are amplified through constructive interference.

3. These amplified frequencies are called “Formants, labeled with upper case “F.”

4. The first two to three formants (F1, F2, F3) contain the acoustic cues that allow us to perceive and distinguish vowels.

What are some key details in the voiced consonant production?

Most consonants are voiced. Articulator movement creates partial constrictions, or momentary blocks, dividing the vocal tract into two separate resonators.

What are the two separate resonators divided from the vocal tract formed by articulator movement creating partial constrictions, or momentary blocks?

Resonator 1: Extends from the vocal folds to the constriction or block in the oral cavity. Resonator 2: Extends from the constriction or block to the lips.

What are the steps for the voiced consonant production?

1. Vocal fold vibration produces fo and its harmonics in Resonator 1. This source wave travels through the constriction into Resonator 2.

2. When harmonics of the sound source match or closely match the natural resonant frequencies of Resonator 2, they interfere constructively, amplifying harmonic antinodes. Non-matching harmonics are filtered out through destructive interference.

3. These amplified harmonic frequencies become the resonant frequencies we perceive as the voiced consonant.

What are some key details in the unvoiced consonant production?

Unvoiced speech sounds involve no vocal fold vibration (phonation). The sound source is turbulent airflow, generated either by: air moving through a constriction, or, a burst of airflow released from a block. This turbulent airflow through the constriction or release from the block, contains a broad range of aperiodic frequencies, making a noisy scratchy sound. Because there is no periodic vibration, harmonic structure is absent.

What are the steps for the unvoiced consonant production?

1. The moveable articulators alter the length of the vocal tract and establish the location of the constriction or block.

2. The aperiodic noise source interacts with the natural resonant frequencies of the vocal tract “in front” of the constriction or block.

   1. Some frequencies are amplified through constructive interference.

   2. Others have their amplitude reduced, contributing to filtering.

3. The amplified frequencies carry the acoustic characteristics of the unvoiced consonant, giving it a distinct noise-like quality sound, that we perceive.

What is phonetics?

Phonetics is the study of speech sound production and their transcription.

What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a globally recognized chart of phonetic symbols representing speech sounds of all verbal languages. Each symbol corresponds to a specific sound. Groups of sounds share distinctive features, that define how they are produced: place, manner, and voicing. These sounds are grouped and plotted on the IPA according to their distinctive features.

How is the IPA used clinically?

The IPA is used clinically to transcribe speech sound disorders, helping SLPs assess and treat speech sound disorders.

What was the IPA originally designed to represent?

The IPA was originally designed to represent phones (the way the sound is produced, each with a distinct acoustic wave form).

What did linguists later recognize in the IPA?

Linguists later recognized that sound production varies depending on how it is used in the language, leading to two views.

In the IPA what are the two views for linguists finding of sound production varying depending on how it is in the language?

Phones: 

Analyzed from a phonetic perspective, focusing on the physical properties of how a sound is produced and articulated.

Phonemes:

Analyzed from a phonological perspective, focusing on how the sound is used to change word meaning within a language.

How does the IPA accommodate both of the viewpoints from the linguists?

To accommodate both viewpoints, the IPA chart includes symbols that can represent both phones and phonemes.

What are vowels?

Vowels are high energy, lower frequency speech sounds typically found in the medial position of words.

What are diphthongs?

Diphthongs are sounds made by combining two vowels. The tongue glides from the position of the first sound to a different position for second sound to form a syllable, like (“ou” as in “you”).

What are the distinctive features of vowels?

1. Tongue Advancement.

2. Tongue Height.

3. Lip Rounding.

What is tongue advancement?

Tongue advancement is the place in the oral cavity where the tongue is positioned, the front, middle, or back.

What is tongue height?

Tongue height is how low or high the tongue is positioned in the oral cavity, low, middle, or high.

What is lip rounding?

Lip rounding is making your lips form a circular opening. Only the high back and mid vowels are rounded.

What are consonant phonemes used to change?

Consonant phonemes are used to change word meaning. “Fun and “run” are two different words with different meanings created by changing only the initial consonant.

What are the distinctive features for consonants?

1. Voicing - If the sound is Voiced or Voiceless.

2. Place of Articulation.

3. Manner of Articulation.

What is place of articulation?

Refers to where the airflow is constricted or momentarily blocked in the oral cavity. Each place of articulation corresponds to a specific anatomical location.

What are the specific anatomical locations that each place of articulation corresponds to?

1. Bilabials.

2. Labiodental.

3. Dental.

4. Alveolar.

5. Postalveolar.

6. Palatal.

7. Velar.

8. Glottal.

What is the bilabials specific anatomical location?

The two lips come together momentarily to block, then release the airflow.

What is the labiodental specific anatomical location?

The lower lip is raised to the block of the upper front teeth.

What is the dental specific anatomical location?

The tip of the tongue touches the back of the upper front teeth.

What is the alveolar specific anatomical location?

The tip of the tongue contacts the alveolar ridge.

What is the postalveolar specific anatomical location?

The tip of the tongue is raised towards the part of the roof of mouth just behind the alveolar ridge.

What is the palatal specific anatomical location?

The front part of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.

What is the velar specific anatomical location?

The back of tongue is raised towards the velum.

What is the glottal specific anatomical location?

Produced at the glottis. Glottal consonants aren’t consonants but play that role in the English language. The /h/ is the only glottal sound. The vocal folds are open, and you exhale a little bit harder to produce the sound. 

What is the manner of articulation?

Refers to how the airflow is manipulated in the vocal tract. The category of speech sound is defined by manner. These categories describe the degree and type of constriction created by the articulators.

What are stops (aka plosives)?

Airflow is momentarily blocked allowing air pressure to build, then quickly released producing a burst of energy.

What are fricatives?

Air flow through a very narrow constriction, creating turbulence.

What are affricates?

Begin as a stop (complete blockage), then becomes a fricative (narrow constriction) when air is released (a plosive-fricative combination).

What are nasals?

The velum remains lowered, allowing air to flow through the nasal cavity, creating nasal resonance.

What are approximants?

The 4 approximants are Glides and Liquids, produced with mild vocal tract constrictions.

What are glides?

/j/ (as in “yes”), /w/ (as in “we”).

What are liquids?

/r/, /l/.

What are speech sound disorders?

Speech sound disorders are speech sound production errors. They are categorized as expressive language disorders.

What are the two types of speech sound disorders?

1. Articulation.

2. Phonological.

What are some key details in articulation disorders?

Difficulties in physically producing specific speech sounds. Motor-based causes, often related to tongue, lip, or jaw movement. Articulation disorders involve speech sound errors of one or a few sounds.

What are some key details in phonological disorders?

Difficulty understanding and applying the rules of a language, like grammar errors. Cognitive-linguistic cause pertaining to organizing phonemes in a language. Phonological disorders are characterized by consistent error patterns across a class of sounds that share either place or manner of articulation features.

What are the two categories of speech sound disorders (ASHA)?

1. Functional.

2. Organic.

What is a functional speech sound disorder?

The speech sound disorder is idiopathic, meaning the cause is unknown.

What is an organic speech sound disorder?

The speech sound disorder has a known cause.