Speech Science Exam #1

Hermann Von Helmholtz

Physiology and sensation of hearing
Acoustics of speech (resonant frequencies of vocal tract)

Henry Sweet

Descriptive phonetics
May have been first to state concept between phonemic and allophonic contrast

Alexander Graham Bell

Teacher of the deaf
Father invented "visible speech

R.H. Stetson

Airflow, air pressure, articulation measurement, palatography

Homer W. Dudley

Speech synthesis
VODER

Haskin's Group

Franklin Cooper, Alvin Liberman, Pierce Delattre
Pattern playback machine

MKS

Meters, kilograms, seconds

CGS

Centimeters, grams, seconds

Pascal

Unit of pressure measurement
Newtons per meter squared

Dyne

Pressure required to move one gram one cm in one second

Pressure

Measured by the amount of water it displaces
cmH2O

Airflow

Volume traveled over time (l/min or ml/s)

Laminar flow

Molecules are not disrupted

Inverse

Relationship between pressure and volume

Boyle's Law

When the volume of an enclosed space decreases, pressure increases

How sound is created by changes in air pressure

Disturbances in air can create patterns of compression and rarefaction; these pressure changes travel away from the source of the disturbance in the form of sound waves

Elasticity (Hooke's Law)

Restores air molecules back to resting position in proportion to their distance of displacement

Inertia

Leads to an "overshoot" which is eventually overcome by elasticity again

Amplitude

Distance of displacement

Damping

The eventual decrease in amplitude that will lead molecules to settle into their original resting positions

Wave Motion

Areas of compression and rarefaction travel over distances in waves

Waveform

Amplitude - shown vertically
Time - shown horizontally

Periodic sound

Contains a repeating pattern of compression and rarefaction

Pure tone

Simple periodic sound with only one frequency

Complex Periodic Sound

Has multiple frequencies
Can only be periodic if the frequencies are at integer multiples

Fundamental Frequency

The component with the lowest frequency in complex periodic sound (Fo)

Harmonics

The other frequencies in a complex periodic sound
Occur at whole number multiples of Fo

Aperiodic

A wave in which individual cycles do not take the same amount of time to occur

Fourier

Mathematician who developed the process of showing how complex waves can be separated into separate frequencies

Spectra

Frequency - shown horizontally
Time - shown vertically
Advantage - easy to see how each component frequency results in the spectrum
Disadvantage - difficult to see how the sound changes over time

Pitch

Measured in mels
Perceptual correlate of Fo

Frequency

Measured in Hz or cps
The rate at which a repeating pattern occurs

Factors affecting frequency and pitch

The length, mass, and tension or an object determine its vibratory rate affecting frequency and pitch

Relationship between amplitude, intensity, and loudness

Amplitude and intensity are both physical measurements; they are both positively related but intensity increases at a faster rate
Loudness increases more slowly than amplitude and much more slowly than intensity

Bandwidth

The range of frequencies within a resonant area

Tools for measuring Fo in a clinical setting

Visi-Pitch
Praat
WASP

Vocal Range Profile

Graph that plots a person's phonational range against his/her dynamic range

Ataxic Dysphonia

Reduced Fo range w/ bursts of loudness

Spastic Dysphonia

Reduced range w/ low pitch

Wavelength

The physical size of a compression/rarefaction pattern in the air

Intensity

A measure of power generated

Loudness

Perceptual correlate of intensity and amplitude