• Volume/Page
  • Keyword
  • DOI
  • Citation
  • Advanced
   
 
 
 

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

SECTION LISTING

BROWSE VOLUMES

Year Range: 
Search Issue | RSS Feeds RSS
Previous Issue Next Issue

Apr 1976

Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S1-S100

Return to All Sections
back to top
RSS Feeds
back to top Session MM. Speech Communication VII: Physiology and Disorders
Contributed Papers
FREE

Use of laryngeal measurements as control parameters in a dynamic speech synthesizer (A)

K. M. J. Lofgren

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S84-S84 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Six simultaneous physiological measurements were recorded during speech: subglottal pressure; transillumination of the vocal‐cord opening; electromyographic activity in the crico‐thyroid, posterior crico‐arytenoid, and inter‐arytenoid muscles; and the sound pressure speech waveform. To first order, the crico‐thyroid muscle is related to voice pitch, posterior crico‐arytenoid to vocal‐cord abduction, and inter‐arytenoid to cord adduction. A dynamic vocal‐cord/vocal‐tract synthesizer produces speech from control parameters which are functions of time and which represent subglottal pressure, vocal‐cord separation at rest, vocal‐cord tension, and the cross‐sectional area of the vocal tract at 20 equispaced points along its length. The area functions were obtained from a program which generates parameters for the speech synthesizer from printed text. These functions were modified in time scale to conform to that of the laryngeal parameters. The six physiological measurements were digitally processed and substituted for the laryngeal control parameters in the synthesizer. As a result, speech syntheses have been tape‐recorded using crico‐thyroid activity for pitch control and posterior crico‐arytenoid and inter‐arytenoid activity for control of glottal areas at rest.
FREE

Linguapalatal contact characteristics during /s/ production (A)

M. B. Wolf, M. J. McCutcheon, A. Hasegawa, and S. G. Fletcher

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S84-S84 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Measurements of linguapalatal contact and sound spectographic data were obtained in five male subjects during production of CV, VC, and symmetric VCV utterances where the consonant was /s/ and the vowels /i, ɑ, u/. Tongue‐palate contact was determined at 10‐msec intervals using the PAGIS instrumental system [S. G. Fletcher, Final Report, NINDS Research Grant #1 R01 NS10540‐01, Department of Biocommunication, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294]. In this study 48 electrodes were imbedded in the subjects pseudopalate spaced at 2‐mm and concentrated in the alveolar‐postalveolar region. The minimum width of the central groove (CG) at the alveolar region was selected as the parameter to characterize the linguapalatal contact pattern. The data for all subjects showed a stable CG for 100–150 msec corresponding to the time of /s/ frication sound generation. Preliminary analysis indicated that the CG was (1) essentially independent of vowel context and (2) negatively correlated with speaking rate. These data indicate that a critical feature of /s/ production is constancy of the minimum CB at a given speaking rate, i.e., this parameter is apparently resistant to coarticulatory influences. The data also suggest that the tongue tip may overshoot its CB target as speaking rate increases. [Supported by NIH Grant NS‐11852‐01A from NINCDS.]
FREE

Oscillatory movements of the velum: A factor of intraoral air pressure (A)

W. N. Williams, W. S. Brown, Jr., and B. Hildebrand

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S84-S85 (1976); (2 pages)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
It is known that velar elevation in closure for speech correlates with specific sound productions. In addition, the velum has been observed to move up and down in an oscillatory manner during repeated syllable or word utterances. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this observed oscillatory movement of the soft palate is related to the build up and release of intraoral air pressure and/or to the opening and closing patterns of the mandible. Simultaneous cinefluorographic films and intraoral‐air‐pressure recordings were taken for three subjects during the repeated production of /ɑpɑ/, /ɑbɑ/, /ɑsɑ/ and /ɑzɑ/. From the cinefluorographic films, variations in velar and mandibular height were determined and correlated with variations in intraoral air pressure. Initial analyses indicate that the oscillatory motions of the velum associated with consonant productions are highly correlated with variations in intra‐oral air pressure. These results will be discussed in terms of a theory/model of articulatory behavior for oral consonant production.
FREE

Observations on speech preparatory activity of the jaw in natural and compensatory speech (A)

S. L. Hamlet and M. Stone

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S85 (1976); (1 page) | Cited 1 time

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
A number of investigators have noted that prior to speaking the articulators assume a speech‐ready position, or preparatory set. Interpretations of the function of such preparatory activity vary, from cautious statements about it being a base from which speech gestures will be initiated, to postulation that a phonetically neutral position is assumed prior to speaking. We sought information on activity of the jaw, before initiation of a sentence spoken naturally, prior to the very first utterance after insertion of an experimental dental prosthesis, and prior to sentences spoken after a week of adaptation to the prosthesis. The prosthesis was an assymetrical type having 4 mm of thickness on the left side. We knew that some subjects made large jaw adjustments when speaking with this prosthesis and suspected that speech‐preparatory activity might show some interesting characteristics also. Subjects speaking with wider excursions of the jaw after having adapted to the prosthesis were found to have wider‐open preparatory jaw positions for those sentences. In addition, the preparatory jaw position was also wider open prior to uttering the very first sentence after inserting the prosthesis (when subjects had not yet heard how they would sound). Preparatory jaw positions correlated with the extent of jaw openness on vowels in the forthcoming sentences. [Work supported by NIDR.]
FREE

Lip and jaw coordination during the production of /f, v/ in English (A)

A. Hasegawa, M. J. McCutdheon, M. B. Wolf, and S. G. Fletcher

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S85 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The major articulatory constriction for the fricative consonants /f, v/ in English is established by the contact of the maxillary incisors and the lower lip. The constriction is formed by the movements of the lower lip and the mandible. Experiments were conducted to examine lip and jaw movements during the production of /f, v/ in VCV Contexts (V = /i, ϵ, æ, ɑ, o, u/). Reflectors (<1.5 mm in diameter) were placed on the subject's lips and on rigid wires attached to the jaw and head. Reflector displacements on the midsagittal plane together with voice and upper‐teeth‐lower‐lip contact information were digitized and recorded every 10 msec. The locations of the reflectors with respect to the maxillary incisors were analyzed after correcting for head movements. Preliminary analysis indicated differences in lip and jaw displacement as a function of (1) phonetic context and (2) speaking rate. Results will be contrasted with findings by other investigators for bilabial stops. [Supported by NIH Grant NS‐11852‐01A from NINDCDS.]
FREE

Discrimination and identification of synthetic speech by a child exhibiting voicing confusions in production (A)

Christine D. Bremer

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S85 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Tests of speech sound identification and discrimination were administered to a 5½‐year‐old boy who substituted voiced for voiceless initial stops and /d/ for initial fricatives. Stimuli were taken from the Abramson‐Lisker VOT series for bilabial, alveolar, and velar stops. Discrimination (as measured by a verbal “same”‐“not the same” task) was well above chance for pairs of speech sounds which spanned the typically found voicing boundary for adult listeners. Identification (as measured by a previously trained picture‐pointing task) was, however, random. Normal controls were near ceiling on both tasks. Three months later, following considerable improvement in the child′s production of initial voiceless stops, identification tests were repeated. The child′s identification had improved only to a level of approximately 65% correct. Possible reasons for the discrepancy between the child′s levels of performance on the two types of tasks are discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]
FREE

Variable responses of cerebral palsied speech production under masking (A)

A. Farmer and W. B. Green

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S85 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Three adult cerebral palsied speakers spontaneously “read” sentences presented in rebus form under two control and one white‐noise‐masking condition. Durational measures from wide‐band spectrograms indicated individual variation in word, interword, extraneous vocal behavior, and total utterance measures among conditions. These variable durational differences were compared with articulatory patterns. The predominantly spastic speaker demonstrated decreases in durational measures and extraneous vocal behaviors with a slight increase in articulatory errors under the masking condition. One predominantly athetotic speaker demonstrated decreases in total utterance time and a slight decrease in articulatory errors while the other athetotic speaker demonstrated increased durational measures with a decrease in articulatory errors. These results are graphically illustrated. Individual variability is discussed in relation to the nature of the dysarthrias.
FREE

What can computer‐synthesized speech tell us about the language comprehension impairment of adults with residual dysphasia? (A)

Paula Tallal and Freda Newcombe

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S85 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Men with chronic, focal brain‐wounds were examined for their ability to discriminate (1) nonverbal complex tones, (2) computer‐synthesized steady state vowels, (3) computer‐synthesized stop‐consonant‐vowel syllables with 40‐msec duration formant transitions, and (4) synthesized stop‐consonant‐vowel syllables with 80‐msec‐duration formant transitions. Subjects with a language comprehension deficit (as measured by the token test) were selectively impaired in their ability to respond correctly to rapidly changing acoustic stimuli, regardless of whether they were verbal or nonverbal. Subject's degree of perceptual impairment was highly correlated with their degree of language comprehension impairment. These adult dysphasics pattern of impairment on these perceptual tests is similar to that found in children with developmental dysphasia [P. Tallal and M. F. Piercy, Neuropsychologia 11, 389–398 (1973); 12, 83–93 (1974); 13, 69–74 (1975)]. [We are grateful to the Grant Foundation of New York and the Medical Research Council of Great Britain for supporting this research.]
FREE

Acoustical‐perceptual correlates of the voicing distinction for initial stops and fricatives in esophageal speech (A)

J. E. Ries

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S85-S86 (1976); (2 pages)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Tape recordings of nine esophageal and three normal speakers reading lists of stop‐ and fricative‐initial consonant‐vowel nonsense syllables were judged by eighteen listeners in a forced‐choice intelligibility test. Esophageal stops and fricatives were significantly less intelligible than the normal productions. Error analysis of esophageal stops revealed 78.4% cognate voicing errors, the majority of errors occurring with voiceless stops. Measures of voice onset time (VOT) showed insufficient lag for the esophageal voiceless stops. In addition, post‐burst aspiration was negligible for these voiceless stops. Burst amplitude was significantly higher for voiceless apical and velar stops than for their voiced cognates. Analysis of esophageal fricative errors revealed 59.2% cognate voicing errors. Proportion of voicing in steady state frication was calculated for all productions. Correct perception of voicing was found to be primarily a function of this measure. Using this proportion, 82% of the voicing judgments could be predicted. [This investigation was supported by NINCDS research grant no. NS 08041 and HRA predoctoral training grant no. MCT‐000202‐21‐0.]
FREE

Respiratory volume and airflow characteristics of speech produced by deaf individuals (A)

M. Itoh and Y. Horii

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Respiratory volume and airflow characteristics associated with oral reading were examined for 12 females with profound hearing losses and 16 females with normal hearing. The deaf's results of respirometric analyses were further correlated with degree of hearing loss, overall speech proficiency, and breathiness. The results indicated that the deaf subjects as a group exhibited different speech breathing patterns in comparison with those of the normal‐hearing subjects. The speech respiration of the deaf was characterized by (1) high air consumption manifested as high air expenditure per syllable, high average exhalatory airflow rates, and high peak airflow rates, (2) frequent inspirations, (3) inspirations at linguistically inappropriate places, (4) short duration of exhalation, and (5) sizable within‐group variability. These characteristics of the deaf's speech respiration were especially prominent among the most profoundly deaf subjects. Correlational analyses revealed that more frequent breath taking during reading seemed to adversely affect overall speech proficiency while high air consumption was closely related to a breathy voice quality.
FREE

Relationship between pitch deviancy and intelligibility of deaf children's speech (A)

Nancy S. McGarr, Mary Joe Osberger, and Toni Gold

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the relationship between pitch deviancy and intelligibility of deaf children's speech. Ratings of pitch and overall intelligibility of the children's spontaneous speech were obtained from three listeners familiar with the speech of the deaf. The rating scales used were from the Communication Profile developed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (D. Johnson, Proceedings of the Institute on Rehabilitative Audiology, July 1974). Preliminary results suggest that speech intelligibility and pitch deviancy are not significantly correlated. The relationship between rate d pitch deviancy and deviance of the fundamental frequency as measured by spectrographic analysis will be discussed. Analysis of the interaction between pitch deviancy, speech intelligibility, and hearing level will also be presented. [Research supported by the New York State Education Department: CREED Project ED‐73‐001 DC.]
FREE

Normal and reduced phonological space in the production of vowels by deaf adolescents (A)

R. B. Monsen

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
The production of the vowels /i/,/a/,/c/, and the diphthong /ai/ was investigated spectrographically in the speech of 36 deaf and 4 normally hearing adolescents. The phonological space defined by the maximum and minimum values of F1 and F2 is found to be reduced for many of the deaf subjects. This reduction of phonological space is due primarily to a restricted range of F2 and secondarily to a restricted range of F1. The degree of F2 variation bears a significant positive correlation (0.76) to the intelligibility of the subjects' connected speech. It is suggested that the phonological space reduced most noticeably in the dimension of the second formant is due to the abnormal auditory and visual feedback imposed upon the deaf child: the deaf child's frequency sensitivity is typically worse in the region of the second rather than the first formant; the articulatory gestures of tongue movement, which exert a strong influence on the movement of the second formant, are among the most difficult for the deaf child to see. [Supported by NINCDS Grant 03856.]
FREE

Some properties of formant frequencies of vowels uttered by hearing‐impaired children (A)

S. Hiki and R. Kagami

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
First and second formant frequencies (F1, F2) of the five Japanese vowels /i, e, a, o, u/ in isolated utterances by 35 hearing impaired children (aged 6 to 11) were measured utilizing sound spectrograph, and the results were compared with those of 8 normal children (aged 7 to 12). The distribution of each kind of vowel on the F1−F2 plane showed that the formant frequencies of the impaired children deviated significantly from the normal range especially in /i/ and /o/. The tendency of perceptual confusion regarding the kind of vowel corresponded well to the deviation of formant frequencies. The relation between the formant frequencies of the five Japanese vowels of each of the impaired children were classified on the F1−F2 plane into the following six types: F2 range reduced, F2 range reduced and rotated, /o/ and /a/ close together, /i/ and /e/ close together, neutralized, and F1 raised. Based on a muscle contraction model of speech organs, those differences between the normal children and the impaired children were explained in terms of the nature of imperfection in articulatory movement. Use of visual display of vowels on the F1−F2 plane for speech training of the hearing impaired children was also discussed.
FREE

Articulation functions for normal and hearing impaired subjects on the MRT and SSI tests in multitalker noise (A)

R. M. Miner and J. L. Danhauer

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Articulation functions were established for three groups using the Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI) test and the Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) in three message competition ratios (MCR's) of multi‐talker noise. Mean scores on the SSI and the MRT were obtained for 35 normally hearing and six flat sensorineural and six high‐frequency sloping sensorineural hearing impaired subjects. An ANOVA revealed a significant difference between tests, groups, presenation conditions, and significant interactions between variables. SSI scores were not significantly different among the tested groups while the MRT scores were significantly different at two MCR conditions. Articulation functions were considered typical for each group tested. The results suggest that the SSI and MRT are two different tests, examining two separate areas of discrimination.
FREE

Effect of aging on speech reception in noise (A)

C. L. Mayer, H. Levitt, and M. Bergman

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S86 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
An attempt was made to isolate the effect of aging for listeners of speech in noise. Chaba sentences of everyday American speech and monosyllabic word lists with a closed‐set response (Mitchell Test of Phonemic Differentiation) were recorded by male and female speakers. The speech materials were systematically combined with subway and traffic noise samples. The tapes were presented in a balanced design to 160 listeners who represented a nonclinic population with essentially normal hearing. The subjects were divided into decade groups: 20–29 through 60–69, and the data were analyzed for each age group. Results show a decline in speech intelligibility scores for every condition presented. This effect was greatest where the speech‐to‐noise ratios were poorest.
FREE

Consonant response analyses of speech with simulated single reflection for normal and hearing‐impaired subjects (A)

Elizabeth Slawinska and Anna K. Nabelek

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S86-S87 (1976); (2 pages)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Intelligibility scores of speech (Modified Rhyme Test) with simulated single reflections, reported at the 90th ASA Meeting [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 58, S114(A) (1975)] were analyzed for consonant errors. The perception of the initial consonants was about 6% better than for the final consonants for binaural and monaural listening by normal‐hearing subjects and for binaural listening by hearing‐impaired subjects. There was no initial position advantage for monaural listening by impaired subjects. For all listening conditions for both groups of subjects, the voicing feature was perceived better than the manner feature, which in turn was perceived better than the place feature. The place feature had an advantage in the initial position, and the manner feature had an advantage in the final position for binaural and monaural listening for both groups. The voicing feature had a small advantage for the initial position for all conditions. The prolongation of the delay between the primary and delayed signal had the greatest influence on the place errors in the initial position for both groups of subjects. [Supported by NIH NISND grant.]
FREE

Perceptual features of normally hearing and hearing impaired subjects revisited (A)

R. M. Lawarre and J. L. Danhauer

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 59, Issue S1, pp. S87-S87 (1976); (1 page)

Online Publication Date: 11 Aug 2005

Full Text: | Download PDF

Show Abstract
Perceptual strategies in rating dissimilarities among 24 prevocalic consonants paired with /a/ were investigated for normally hearing and two groups of hearing impaired subjects (i.e., one with flat, and one with sloping sensorineural losses). A 576‐item equal appearing interval scaling data collection method was employed. The diadic‐paired stimuli were presented bilaterally at MCL. Subjects' ratings on a 1–7 scale were converted to 24 × 24 full symmetric dissimilarity matrices and submitted to INDSCAL analysis. Individual group and combined analyses were performed. Results revealed features (e.g., sibilant, sonorant, and nasal) common to all groups, as well as group‐specific features showing interactions among manner, place, and voicing categories. Results were compared to earlier investigations and data showed that subjects used features in their perception of the speech stimuli, that both common and group‐specific features were used, and that individual differences in subjects' weightings of features were present.
Return to All Sections
Close

Home Publications Meetings Contact ASA Site Map Back to Top

Copyright © Acoustical Society of America

close