Speech Science

Characteristics of **Vowels**:

Always voiced

May stand alone

Velum is always elevated

Vocal tract is open

Airflow is continuous

Characteristics of **Consonants**:

May be voiced or voiceless

Always combined with vowel

Velum is elevated or lowered

Vocal tract is modified or constricted

Airflow is modified or stopped

Define **Coarticulation**:

The change a sound goes through in connected speech, results in allophonic variations of the same sound.

Define **Assimilation**:

Causes a sound to change to a different sound.

What are **suprasegmentals**?

Add variety and expression to speech.

What are features of **prosody**?

Length, stress, rate, pitch, volume, juncture.

If syllables have ***long*** vowels, they tend to have _____ consonants.

Short

If syllables have ***short*** vowels, they tend to have _____ consonants.

Long

Define **Sinusoidal Motion/Wave**:

Contains one peak/crest and one valley/trough.

Define **Periodic Wave**:

Sound waves that repeat themselves at regular intervals and are predictable.

The ***greater*** the amplitude, the _____ the sound signal.

Louder

**Intensity** is expressed in _____.

Decibels (dB)

**Frequency** is expressed in _____.

Hertz (Hz)

Increased mass results in _____ frequency.

Decreased

Increased stiffness results in _____ frequency.

Increased

What is **fundamental frequency**?

The lowest frequency of a periodic wave.

What is an **octave**?

An interval between two frequencies. Ratio of 1:2.

What is **impedance**?

Acoustic, mechanical, or electrical resistance to motion or sound transmission.

A young adult can respond to ___ to ___ Hz.

20 to 20,000 Hz

The human ear is more sensitive to changes in _____ frequencies.

Lower

What is **hearing leve**l (HL)?

The minimum intensity of sound needed to stimulate the human auditory system.

What does the cover-body theory of phonation state?

The epithelium and the superficial layer of the lamina propria create a “cover”, and there is a transition zone that includes the vocal ligament. The vocalis muscle provides a relatively stationary “body”.

***Tense*** vowels are relatively ___ in duration while ***lax*** vowels are relatively ___ in duration.

Longer; Shorter

What is included within a **wideband** spectrogram?

Provides better time resolution for short time windows.

What is included within a **narrowband** spectrogram?

Provides better frequency resolution. Individual harmonics are easily seen. It produces waveform displays of amplitude and frequency.

During vocal fold vibration, what are the two forces needed for vibration?

Elasticity, Inertia