13 - Speech

Question 1

How do humans produce a voice signal? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 1

• Compress our chest
• Air is forced out of the lungs in to the bronchi
• Travels through the larynx
• Sound signal generated

Question 2

What happens after the voice signal is produced? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 2

Sound signal goes through the supralaryngeal voice tract

Question 3

What is the supralaryngeal vocal tract comprised of? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 3

• A set of three cavities
  1) The pharynx
  2) The mouth
  3) The nasal cavity

Question 4

What are the two main components of the vocal apparatus? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 4

• Source

- Filter

Question 5

What is the two stage process of voice production? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 5

• Period wave generated in the larynx by vibrations of the vocal folds
• Rate of vibrations determine frequency of signals
• Frequency of signals determine pitch
• Filtered through supralaryngeal cavities of vocal tract

Question 6

What is the source? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 6

The larynx

Question 7

What are typical vocal sounds composed of? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 7

Several sinusoidal waves

Question 8

What is pitch determined by? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 8

Fundamental frequency

Question 9

What are the characteristics of sexual dimorphism? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 9

• Males have longer vocal folds than women
• Pre-pubertal children have no differences in gender (vocal fold and length)
• Puberty moves the larynx in males

Question 10

What is the filter? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 10

The vocal tract

Question 11

What allows adults to create configurations to modulate resonates? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 11

Two tube vocal tract

Question 12

What provide acoustic variation in human speech? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 12

Formants

Question 13

What is the difference in vocal tract between sexes? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 13

Males have a longer vocal tract, leading to lower formants

Question 14

What do humans change in speech, to change the position of the format frequency? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 14

The articulator

Question 15

What is speech? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 15

A series of syllables

Question 16

What is a syllable? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 16

Consonants and vowels

Question 17

What are vowels? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 17

Speech sounds characterised by an open configuration of the vocal tract

Question 18

What are consonants? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 18

Speech sounds characterised by a constriction at one or more points along the vocal tract

Question 19

What does the ear do? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 19

Analyses sound, detecting formant frequencies by the different amounts of excitation at different points along the basilar membrane

Question 20

What are consonants defined by? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 20

Place or manner of articulation

Question 21

What is coarticulation? (Speech Cognition)

Answer 21

The b/ae/g are squashed together into a syllable sized unit of beag