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Formants (vocal tract resonances) are increasingly analyzed not only by phoneticians in speech but also by behavioral scientists studying diverse phenomena such as acoustic size exaggeration and articulatory abilities of non-human animals. This often involves estimating vocal tract length acoustically and producing scale-invariant representations of formant patterns. We present a theoretical framework and practical tools for carrying out this work, including open-source software solutions included in R packages soundgen and phonTools. Automatic formant measurement with linear predictive coding is error-prone, but formant_app provides an integrated environment for formant annotation and correction with visual and auditory feedback. Once measured, formants can be normalized using a single recording (intrinsic methods) or multiple recordings from the same individual (extrinsic methods). Intrinsic speaker normalization can be as simple as taking formant ratios and calculating the geometric mean as a measure of overall scale. The regression method implemented in the function estimateVTL calculates the apparent vocal tract length assuming a single-tube model, while its residuals provide a scale-invariant vowel space based on how far each formant deviates from equal spacing (the schwa function). Extrinsic speaker normalization provides more accurate estimates of speaker- and vowel-specific scale factors by pooling information across recordings with simple averaging or mixed models, which we illustrate with example datasets and R code. The take-home messages are to record several calls or vowels per individual, measure at least three or four formants, check formant measurements manually, treat uncertain values as missing, and use the statistical tools best suited to each modeling context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the focus of bilingual research is frequently on simultaneous or early bilingualism, the interactions between late bilinguals’ first language (L1) and second language (L2) have rarely been studied previously. To fill this research gap, the aim of the current study was to investigate the production of vowels in the L1 Mandarin and L2 Cantonese of Mandarin–Cantonese late bilinguals in Hong Kong. A production experiment was conducted with 22 Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals, as well as with 20 native Mandarin speakers and 21 native Cantonese speakers. Acoustic analyses, including formants of and Euclidean distances between the vowels, were performed. Both vowel category assimilation and dissimilation were noted in the Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals’ L1 and L2 vowel systems, suggesting interactions between the bilinguals’ L1 and L2 vowel categories. In general, the findings are in line with the hypotheses of the Speech Learning Model and its revised version, which state that L1–L2 phonetic interactions are inevitable, as there is a common phonetic space for storing the L1 and L2 phonetic categories, and that learners always have the ability to adapt their phonetic space. Future studies should refine the data elicitation method, increase the sample size and include more language pairs to better understand L1 and L2 phonetic interactions.

Purpose: To date there are no studies of speech sound acquisition in Laki, a language spoken in western regions of Iran. Thus, we set out a pilot study to investigate the speech development of 56 first language Laki-speaking children (aged 3–5 years). Method: Single words were elicited through a picture naming test specifically developed for this study. After recording and transcribing of speech samples, percentage of consonants correct (PCC), percentage of vowels correct (PVC), and proportion of whole word proximity (PWP) were documented in four age groups (36–41, 42–47, 48–53, and 54–59 months) and both genders. Children's phonetic inventories and consonant and vowel accuracy were also described. Result: All the sounds were considered as emerging by 53 months of age. For speech sound accuracy, all the speech sounds except /ɢ, z, ŋ, ʒ/ were mastered by 5 years. The effect of age on PCC values was significant. Also, age groups showed significant differences for PWP but were not significant for PVC. Boys and girls did not differ for PCC, PVC, and PWP values. Conclusion: From a theoretical perspective, findings contribute to theories about phonological acquisition in general and will enable crosslinguistic comparisons. From an applied standpoint, language-specific characteristics are identified, which are much needed for clinical practice with Laki-speaking children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is about the semantic equivalent of sounds in the Arabic language, which is a fundamental component in the formation of utterances. In classical language studies, syntaxists tried to ground semantics at the level of words and sentences. In the periods when the written form of the language was respected, letters were regarded as the basic carrier elements of words and meanings. However, sounds rather than letters, which are products of written form, are the basic components that make up the existence of language. Therefore, the oldest form of a language is its oral form. Sounds can be classified into vocal and consonant categories. This study aims to reveal the nature and importance of vocals in Arabic in terms of meaning. It is a generally accepted idea that vocals have a semantic influence. However, it is a fundamental issue that needs to be investigated in what respect and at what level the vocals affect the meaning. However, it is a fundamental issue that needs to be investigated in what respect and at what level the vocals affect the meaning. The determination that the relationship between sound and meaning exists at a significant level will provide to reach important presumptions about the origin of language and its words. This study concerns Sāmı̄languages in particular and all languages in general, in terms of the results to be achieved. The main hypothesis of the research is to reach meaningful conclusions about the semantic nature of vocals, based on the ideas pointed out by classical period linguists. In this context, the theories of names such as Ḫalīl b. Aḥmad, Sībawayhi, Ḳutrub, İbn Cinnī regarding voice and especially vocals are discussed holistically. The research is based on two themes. These are morphology and syntax. Arabic morphology has sīġas derived by the istiqaq method. Classical linguists have identified ready-made patterns to which words could potentially belong. Changes in these patterns occur through vocals and consonants. In some cases, it is only the vocals that determine the meaning. This issue, which concerns phoneme theory, essentially reflects the characteristics of Arabic language methodology. Because the sound changes between forms essentially involve a mechanical structure. For example, the difference between the fāʿil and fāʿale patterns stems from only a single vocal. However, both forms cause different roles and actions, especially in terms of syntax. Another aspect of the issue is the amil theory. The ʿāmil, one of the most basic methodologies of the Arabic language, determines the meaning on the syntax level. This event, which is specific to iʿrāb ḥarakāt, is related to vocals. Vocals take on various roles with three basic ḥarakāt: ḍamme, fetḥa, and kesra. Ḍamme is thought to be the strongest of all vocals. The elements that are affected by the outcome of the action are fetḥa, and the elements that take on the explanatory role are kasra, the weakest vocal. Apart from all these, sound-related events such as the bilateralism theory, the principle of convenience, and sound symbolism contain information that vocals can have special meanings. In fact, this part of the issue concerns the ontological aspect of language. Hypotheses regarding the emergence of language should prioritize the role of sounds. Similar research can be conducted specifically for different cultures and civilizations. The second important part of the issue is related to the pedagogical aspect of the language. Another goal of this study is to re-evaluate basic topics such as iʿrāb in Arabic grammar from a sound-centered perspective and present them to the target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the focus of bilingual research is frequently on simultaneous or early bilingualism, the interactions between late bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2) have rarely been studied previously. To fill this research gap, the aim of the current study was to investigate the production of vowels in the L1 Mandarin and L2 Cantonese of Mandarin–Cantonese late bilinguals in Hong Kong. A production experiment was conducted with 22 Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals, as well as with 20 native Mandarin speakers and 21 native Cantonese speakers. Acoustic analyses, including formants of and Euclidean distances between the vowels, were performed. Both vowel category assimilation and dissimilation were noted in the Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals' L1 and L2 vowel systems, suggesting interactions between the bilinguals' L1 and L2 vowel categories. In general, the findings are in line with the hypotheses of the Speech Learning Model and its revised version, which state that L1–L2 phonetic interactions are inevitable, as there is a common phonetic space for storing the L1 and L2 phonetic categories, and that learners always have the ability to adapt their phonetic space. Future studies should refine the data elicitation method, increase the sample size and include more language pairs to better understand L1 and L2 phonetic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether audiovisual phonetic training with hand gestures encoding visible or nonvisible articulation features has a differential impact on learning second language sounds. Ninety‐nine Catalan–Spanish bilingual students were trained to differentiate English /æ/ and /ʌ/, which differ in the visible lip aperture and nonvisible tongue position, with training involving no gestures, gestures representing the lip aperture, or gestures representing the tongue position. Before, immediately after, and 1 week after the training, participants’ perception of the targets was assessed through a word‐identification task, and their production was tested through paragraph‐reading, picture‐naming, and word‐imitation tasks. Although all participants improved in perception and production, the lip hand gesture was more effective in adjusting lip aperture than the other two conditions in the paragraph‐reading and picture‐naming tasks. These results suggest that hand gestures encoding visible rather than nonvisible articulation features are more effective for improving second language pronunciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The pitch pattern test (PPT) is a test of temporal ordering in which a subject needs to correctly repeat a sequence of three auditory stimuli comprised of high and low frequencies. Traditionally, tones are used, but here the aim was to develop a PPT using vowels. The tests were done in young adults and a comparison was made between the two methods. Material and methods: The study involved 40 young adults with normal hearing sensitivity and was done in two phases. Phase I involved the development of a PPT using the vowel /a/, and in Phase II the test was administered. A comparison was made with the PPT based on tones. In both tests, stimuli were delivered monaurally. Results: All participants were able to do the PPT using either vowels or tones. No ear or gender effects were observed. However, the mean scores for PPT using tones were notably better than those obtained using vowels. Conclusions: The present study has developed a PPT using the vowel /a/ and has compared scores with the tonal pitch pattern test. The absence of a ceiling effect in the PPT using a vowel gives it an advantage in terms of potential clinical utility. The strong positive correlation between the PPT using a vowel and the PPT using a tone shows a significant relationship between the two tests in the specific domain of temporal ordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepali Sign Language (NSL) is used by the Nepali-speaking community in Nepal and in Indian states such as Sikkim, the hilly region of North Bengal, some parts of Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, and Assam. It consists of the International Manual Alphabet (A-Z), Nepali consonants, vowels, conjunct letters, and numbers represented in the form of one-handed fingerspelling or Nepali manual alphabet. The standard gestures for NSL have been published by the Nepal National Federation of the Deaf & Hard of Hearing (NFDH).To learn Nepali Sign Language, the first step is to understand its alphabet set. The use of technology can help ease the learning process. One of the application areas of computer vision is translating sign language gestures to either text or audio to facilitate communication. This is an open research area. However, NSL translation is one of the less explored research areas because there is no dataset available to work on for NSL. This paper introduces the Nepali Sign Language Dataset (NSL23), which is the first of its kind and includes vowels and consonants of the Nepali Sign Language alphabet. The dataset consists of .mov videos performed by 14 volunteers who have demonstrated 36 consonant signs and 13 vowel signs either in one full video or character by character. The dataset has been prepared under various conditions, including normal lighting, dark lighting conditions, prepared environments, unprepared environments, and real-world environments. The volunteers who performed the NSL gesture have been classified as 9 beginners who are using NSL for the first time and 5 experts who have been using NSL for 5 to 25 years. NSL23 contains 630 total videos representing 1205 gestures. The dataset can be used to train machine learning models to classify the alphabet set of NSL and further develop a sign language translator.

The number of errors that occur in students' Arabic wordswriting was one of the strongest reasons for researchers to research and analyze students' mistakes in writing Arabic. The teacher's unclear pronunciation can be one of the biggest factors in the occurrence of errors in students' Arabic writing. The researcher aimed to find out and analyze the errors and the various causal factors in writing student disclaimers. A qualitative descriptive research method was used in the research. Then, observation, interviews and documentation were carried our as data collection at junior boarding school in Yogyakarta. In the data analysis, data reduction, data presentation and data verification were used. Based on the data collected and analyzed, it was found that there was a teacher's pronunciationerrors in the dictation that causederrors in students’ writing which was described as follows; 1) the teacher's makhorijul hurufare not fluent and clear, 2) they are not careful in pronouncing vowels and mad (long and short rules), 3) the pronunciation of alif lam qomariyah and syamsiyah is not clear. From the results of this analysis, it can be proven that the pronunciation of a teacher in conveying dictation lessons greatly influences the results of students' writing dictation. This study providesd suggestions for teachers who will deliver dictation lessons.

The softness of Russian consonants in the oral speech of two generations of Russian-speaking bilinguals in Germany and monolinguals in Russia is explored. The relevance of the problem is due to the importance of studying the inherited Russian language of bilinguals, comparing the phonetic features of the speech of different generations of bilinguals, as well as their comparison with the features of the speech of Russian native speakers living in Russia, the need to study the state of the Russian language in the diaspora. The research is aimed at identifying the i-glide between the consonant and the subsequent vowel, which indicates the softness of the consonant. The material of the research was 300 syllables with soft consonants in voice recordings of phonetically representative texts developed in 1988 by S.B. Stepanova and used for many years as a universal tool for studying the phonetic aspect of oral speech. Auditory phonetic analysis of combinations of a soft consonant and a subsequent vowel, instrumental analysis with the Praat computer program (version 6.0.26), comparative analysis of the data were applied. The analysis of 300 syllables with soft consonants in various positions in the word showed that in the speech of bilinguals there are cases of i-glide absence: 83 cases (27%) in the speech of children and 32 cases (10%) in the speech of parents. It was proved that such cases most often occur with sonants, soft affricates, as well as some labial and dental consonants in the middle of a word. In the speech of monolinguals, there are almost no such cases. Russian speech in Germany is influenced by the phonetic system of the German language, however, most bilinguals (both children and adults) retain i-glide between a soft consonant and a vowel, which is characteristic of the Russian language. Comparison of the results of studying consonant softness with the results of studying their voicedness shows that softness is a more stable phonetic feature of Russian consonants compared to voicedness. The data obtained may be useful not only to linguists, but also to the authors of Russian language textbooks for bilingual children, as well as Russian language teachers working in German schools.

Many studies have explored the role of consonant, vowel, and tone in Chinese word identification or sentence comprehension. However, few studies have explored their roles and neural basis during Chinese word production, especially when involving neural basis. The present fNIRS study investigated the neural mechanisms of consonant, vowel, and tone processing during Chinese typing. Participants were asked to name the Chinese characters displayed on a computer screen by typing on a keyboard while hearing a simultaneously presented auditory stimulus. The auditory stimulus was either consistent with the characters’ pronunciation (consistent condition) or mismatched in the consonant, vowel, or tone of the character pronunciation. The fNIRS results showed that compared with the consistent condition (as baseline), the consonant mismatch condition evoked lower levels of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus Broca’s triangle and left superior temporal gyrus. Vowel mismatch condition evoked a higher level of HbO activation in the top of the left inferior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus. The regions and patterns of brain activation evoked by tone mismatch were the same as those of vowel mismatch. The study indicated that consonant, vowel and tone all play a role in Chinese character production. The sensitive brain areas were all in the left hemisphere. However, the neural mechanism of consonant processing differed from vowel processing in both brain regions and patterns, while tone and vowel processing shared the same regions.

Speech perception patterns are strongly influenced by one's native phonology. It is generally accepted that native English listeners rely primarily on spectral cues when perceiving vowels, making limited use of duration cues because English lacks phonemic vowel length. However, the literature on vowel perception by English listeners shows a marked bias toward American English, with the phonological diversity among different varieties of English largely overlooked. The current study investigates the perception of Japanese vowel length contrasts by native listeners of Australian English, which is reported to use length to distinguish vowels unlike most other varieties of English. Twenty monolingual Australian English listeners participated in a forced-choice experiment, where they categorized Japanese long and short vowels as most similar to their native vowel categories. The results showed a general tendency for Japanese long and short vowels (e.g., /ii, i/) to be categorized as Australian English long and short vowels (e.g., /ii, ɪ/ as in "heed," "hid"), respectively, which contrasts with American English listeners' categorization of all Japanese vowels as tense regardless of length (e.g., /ii, i/ as both "heed") as reported previously. Moreover, this duration-based categorization was found not only for Australian English categories that contrast in duration alone (e.g., /ɐ:, ɐ/ as in "hard," "hud") but also for those that contrast in both duration and spectra (e.g., /o:, ɔ/ as in "hoard," "hod"), despite their spectral mismatch from the corresponding Japanese vowels (e.g., /aa, a/ and loo, o/). The results, therefore, suggest that duration cues playa prominent role across all vowel categories--even nonnative--for Australian English listeners. The finding supports a feature-based framework of speech perception, where phonological features like length are shared across multiple categories, rather than the segment-based framework that is currently dominant, which regards acoustic cues like duration as being tied to a specific native segmental category. Implications for second and foreign language learning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pulchra Lingua: A Journal of Language Study, Literature & Linguistics is the property of Pulchra Lingua: A Journal of Language Study, Literature & Linguistics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study explores the effects of embodied prosodic training on the production of non-native French front rounded vowels (i.e. /y, ø, œ/) and the overall pronunciation proficiency. Fifty-seven Catalan learners of French practiced pronunciation in one of two conditions: one group observed hand gestures embodying prosodic features of the sentences they were listening to, while the other group did not see any such gestures. The learning outcome was assessed in a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest through a dialogue-reading task and a sentence imitation task in terms of accentedness, comprehensibility and fluency scores, and through formant analysis of participant-produced target vowels. The results showed that compared to non-embodied training, embodied prosodic training yielded continuous improvement in accentedness in both tasks and improved the F2 values of French front rounded vowels (more fronted). As for comprehensibility and fluency scores, both groups showed similar levels of significant improvement. This study highlights the interaction between prosodic and segmental features of speech by showing that training with embodied prosodic features benefitted accentedness and the production accuracy of non-native vowels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. Early prediction of PD can increase the chances of earlier intervention and delay the onset of the disease. Vocal impairment is one of the most important signs in the early stages of PD. Therefore, PD detection based on speech analysis and vocal patterns has attracted significant attention recently. In this paper, we propose a vowel-based artificial neural network (ANN) model for PD prediction based on single vowel phonation. Firstly, we propose a novel multi-layer neural network based on speech features to predict PD. The speech samples from 48 PD patients and 20 healthy individuals are processed into four types: vowel, number, word, and short sentence. Secondly, we establish ANN models with single-type speech samples versus combinations of multi-type speech samples, respectively. Comparative experiments demonstrate that the single-type vowel model is superior to other single-type models as well as multi-type models. Finally, we build a vowel-based ANN model for PD prediction and evaluate its performance. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed model has a prediction accuracy of 91%, sensitivity of 99%, specificity of 82%, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 91%, which is superior to the performance of previous methods. Overall, this study demonstrates that the proposed model can provide good classification accuracy for predicting PD and can improve the rate of early diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents acoustic analysis of twenty English vowels and diphthongs i.e. ... produced by Second Language learner Sindhi speakers. This paper analysis acoustic realization of Sindhi speaking undergraduates between male and female. It investigates as to how much acoustic difference is between male and female speakers regarding formant one (F1) and formant two (F2). The study uses the parameters of vowel quality formant one and formant two (F1 & F2). The information was gathered via collecting voice samples from 30 subjects (fifteen male and fifteen female) from University of Sindh campus Nasuhahro Feroze, Sindh. The study focuses the height and the quality of vowels and diphthongs to determine the acoustic difference between them. The study finds that the F1 and F2 values of female participants are higher than the male participants. The hypothesis was that the production of the vowels and diphthongs of male and female differ from each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the pedagogical decisions in Li et al. (2023) "The effectiveness of embodied prosodic training in L2 accentedness and vowel accuracy" published in Second Language Research. The study revealed that embodied prosodic training improved the overall pronunciation skills of Catalan-speaking learners of French and the pronunciation accuracy of front rounded vowels more than training without hand gestures. Three main pedagogical innovations were key in obtaining the positive results. First, the hand gestures performed by the instructor closely mimicked the prosodic structure (i.e., the melodic and rhythmic features) of the target sentences. Second, the sentences used for training were embedded in meaningful communicative dialogues. Third, the challenging L2 sounds were embedded in multiple occasions and in various prosodic positions. Therefore, in the hope of encouraging L2 teachers to incorporate such techniques in teaching practice, we provide a full description of the materials and procedures in Li et al. (2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan Journal for Human & Social Studies is the property of Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The current study evaluates the accountability of Native Listeners (NLs). The study recruited speakers from a mixture of Arabic dialects and accents as one group and LAFL as another group where both groups spoke actual Arabic words with long and short vowels in contrast. A main consequence of choosing the present experimental manipulation is the outcome that NLs of Arabic had increasingly slow right recognitions in the follow-on test. The conclusion of the present experimental manipulation supports the claim that the handling of words is delayed if data accessible to NLs is incomplete. Additionally, this experimental manipulation adds to our awareness of the accountability of the NLs themselves towards LAFL. The study is expected to assist in considering the accountability of listeners in the communication barrier as explained by the inadequate top-down processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Selçuk University Journal of Faculty of Letters is the property of Selcuk Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study investigated the acoustic parameters of the fundamental frequency, first and second formant frequencies, duration and intensity in KhoramAbadi Luri vowels. 10 participants (5 male, 5 female) produced 1620 tokens, including /ɑ،y،ø،o،u،ə،a،e،ʏ،ɪ،i/ vowels. The result showed that /a/ has the lowest fundamental frequency; /e/ and /ʏ/ have the highest amount of this parameter in male and female speakers, respectively. /a/ and /i/ are the open and close vowels in KhoramAbadi Luri. /i/ and /o/ are the front and back vowels. /ø/ and /ɑ/ have the highest vowel duration amongst other vowels; /ʏ/ and /ə/ have the lowest vowel duration in male and female speakers, respectively. /e/ has the highest intensity in both male and female speakers; /a/ and /u/ have the lowest intensity in male and female speakers, respectively. Generally, female speakers have higher fundamental frequency, first and second formant frequencies and duration, but intensity is higher in male speakers.

The achievement of pupils in their future studies depends on their reading skills. One of the strongest foundations in reading success includes alphabet knowledge. Nowadays, the utilization of information communication technology (ICT) influences young children's learning and emergent literacy skills. Hence, this study explored the effectiveness of digital game-based learning resource in improving pupils' alphabet knowledge specifically on vowels. An alphabet knowledge checklist on vowels was used to collect the data. One key finding from the study is that most of them have fair alphabet knowledge of vowels with an overall pre-test mean score of 17.91. Findings revealed that interactive learning resource was effective as reflected by a substantial increase of 8.95 points. The t-test for paired samples results in a t-value of -10.11 and a p-value of 0.000. Thus, the difference between the posttest and pretest is significant. Hence, digital game-based learning resource is an effective non-print instructional material in kindergarten for the improvement of alphabet knowledge on vowels. The study recommends the creation of contextualized digital game-based learning resource using consonants to further validate the result. A similar resource may also be suggested to other grade levels to confirm its effectiveness in improving alphabet knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroencephalography could serve as an objective tool to evaluate hearing aid benefit in infants who are developmentally unable to participate in hearing tests. We investigated whether speech-evoked envelope following responses (EFRs), a type of electroencephalography-based measure, could predict improved audibility with the use of a hearing aid in children with mild-to-severe permanent, mainly sensorineural, hearing loss. In 18 children, EFRs were elicited by six male-spoken band-limited phonemic stimuli––the first formants of /u/ and /i/, the second and higher formants of /u/ and /i/, and the fricatives /s/ and /∫/––presented together as /su∫i/. EFRs were recorded between the vertex and nape, when /su∫i/ was presented at 55, 65, and 75 dB SPL using insert earphones in unaided conditions and individually fit hearing aids in aided conditions. EFR amplitude and detectability improved with the use of a hearing aid, and the degree of improvement in EFR amplitude was dependent on the extent of change in behavioral thresholds between unaided and aided conditions. EFR detectability was primarily influenced by audibility; higher sensation level stimuli had an increased probability of detection. Overall EFR sensitivity in predicting audibility was significantly higher in aided (82.1%) than unaided conditions (66.5%) and did not vary as a function of stimulus or frequency. EFR specificity in ascertaining inaudibility was 90.8%. Aided improvement in EFR detectability was a significant predictor of hearing aid-facilitated change in speech discrimination accuracy. Results suggest that speech-evoked EFRs could be a useful objective tool in predicting hearing aid benefit in children with hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bora language of Peru has six phonemic vowels, conventionally transcribed as /i ε a o ɨ ɯ/. This inventory is noteworthy since it appears to exhibit a three-way backness distinction among three high unrounded vowels. In this paper we present audiovisual data which confirms two significant facts: (1) /ɯ/ is high, back, and unrounded; and (2) the only vowel produced with lip rounding is /o/. However, the experiment further reveals that the Bora segment traditionally written /ɨ/ is actually not central but rather a possibly novel type of front vowel, articulated with substantial contact between the tongue and both the upper and lower teeth. We use the methodology of Iskarous (2010) to estimate vocal tract area functions for Bora vowels based on their observed formant frequencies and amplitudes. The results of this procedure support our claim that /ɨ/ is front and /ɯ/ is back. Several phonological alternations also motivate this characterization. The opening of the mouth and dental contact visible in the production of /ɨ/ are correlated with its acoustic measurements, albeit in a previously undocumented way. We conclude that Bora’s /ɨ/ should be reclassified as /i̪/ – front and dental.p { line-height: 115%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; background: transparent }

Background and Objective: One of the most important physical properties of vowels is their formant structure. One of the most obvious speech errors in hearing-impaired children is vowel errors. The present study aimed to determine and compare the formant structure of Persian vowels in deaf and cochlear implant children in the age range of 4-7 years. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 21 children with serious hearing impairment and 17 children with cochlear implants in the age range of 4-7 years. After considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the vowel production test was administered. The first and second formant of each of the six vowels were obtained separately by Praat software and compared between the two groups. Results: There was a significant difference between deaf children and those with cochlear implants in the mean of the first and second formant of the /o/, as well as the mean of the first formant of the /i /, /a/, and /e / (P0.05). Conclusion: As evidenced by the results of this study, the first formant of Persian language vowels related to tongue height was different in the two groups. It signifies that the vowels in cochlear implant children are closer to normal, compared to those in hearing-impaired children with hearing aids.

Over the recent few decades, a large number of audiovisual speech studies have been focusing on the visual cues of consonants and vowels but neglecting those relating to lexical tones. In this study, we investigate whether incongruent audiovisual information interfered with the perception of lexical tones. We found that, for both Chinese and English speakers, incongruence between auditory and visemic mouth shape (i.e., visual form information) significantly interfered with reaction time and reduced the identification accuracy of vowels. However, incongruent lip movements (i.e., visual timing information) did not interfere with the perception of auditory lexical tone. We conclude that, in contrast to vowel perception, auditory tone perception seems relatively impervious to visual congruence cues, at least under these restricted laboratory conditions. The salience of visual form and timing information is discussed based on this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the power of the parameters obtained from different sustained vowels used in acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) voice evaluation protocols to discriminate between dysphonic and non-dysphonic voice quality. Sixty non-dysphonic participants and 30 dysphonic participants were included in the study. In addition to the time domain amplitude and frequency perturbation parameters obtained from the sustained phonation of /ʌ/-/ɛ/-/i/-/u/ vowels, several frequency-domain spectral/cepstral parameters and EGG parameters were evaluated. The classification performance of the acoustic and electroglottographic measures was quantified using analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. As a result of ROC analysis, the discriminative diagnostic performance (area under the curve, AUC) of the test for low-vowel (/ʌ/-/ɛ/) phonation was higher than values obtained from high-vowel (/i/-/u/) phonation. For /ʌ/ and /ɛ/ sustained vowels, the parameters exhibiting the highest discrimination were fundamental frequency standard deviation (fo/STD), cepstral peak prominence (CPP), relative average perturbation (RAP), pitch perturbation quotient (PPQ), and jitter percent (JITT). In the EGG parameters, on the other hand, average jitter and periodicity parameters obtained from front vowels (/ɛ/-/i/) were found to have higher AUC values compared to back vowels (/ʌ/-/u/). In acoustic analyses, /ʌ/ and /ɛ/ sustained vowels give the highest diagnostic performance. In the electroglottographic evaluation, on the other hand, /ɛ/ and /i/ vowels, when the position of the tongue is forward, have better classification performance compared to /ʌ/ and /u/ vowels, when the position of the tongue is back. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the acoustic parameter changes after weight loss in bariatric surgery patients. This prospective, longitudinal study was conducted with 15 patients with planned bariatric surgery, who were evaluated pre-operatively and at 6 months post-operatively. Fundamental frequency (F0), Formant frequency (F1, F2, F3, and F4), Frequency perturbation (Jitter), Amplitude perturbation (Shimmer) and Noise-to-Harmonics Ratio (NHR) parameters were evaluated for /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ vowels. Changes in the acoustic analysis parameters for each vowel were compared. The study group was separated into two groups according to whether the Mallampati score had not changed (Group 1) or had decreased (Group 2) and changes in the formant frequencies were compared between these groups. A total of 15 patients with a median age of 40 ± 11 years completed the study. The median weight of the patients was 122 ± 14 kg pre-operatively and 80 ± 15 kg, post-operatively. BMI declined from 46 ± 4 to 31 ± 5 kg/m2. The Mallampati score decreased by one point in six patients and remained stable in nine. Of the acoustic voice analysis parameters of vowels, in general, fundamental frequency tended to decrease, and shimmer and jitter values tended to increase. Some of the formant frequencies were specifically affected by the weight loss and this showed statistical significance between Group 1 and Group 2. The present study reveals that some specific voice characteristics might be affected by successful weight loss after bariatric surgery. Obesity reduces the size of the pharyngeal lumen at different levels. The supralaryngeal vocal tract size and configuration is a determinative factor in the features of the voice. Changes in the length and shape of the vocal tract, or height and position of the tongue can result in changes especially in formant frequencies in acoustic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vowel-evoked envelope following responses (EFRs) reflect neural encoding of the fundamental frequency of voice (f0). Accurate analysis of EFRs elicited by natural vowels requires the use of methods like the Fourier analyzer (FA) to consider the production-related f0 changes. The FA's accuracy in estimating EFRs is, however, dependent on the assumed neurophysiological processing delay needed to time-align the f0 time course and the recorded electroencephalogram (EEG). For male-spoken vowels (f0 ~ 100 Hz), a constant 10-ms delay correction is often assumed. Since processing delays vary with stimulus and physiological factors, we quantified (i) the delay-related variability that would occur in EFR estimation, and (ii) the influence of stimulus frequency, non-f0 related neural activity, and the listener's age on such variability. EFRs were elicited by the low-frequency first formant, and mid-frequency second and higher formants of /u/, /a/, and /i/ in young adults and 6- to 17-year-old children. To time-align with the f0 time course, EEG was shifted by delays between 5 and 25 ms to encompass plausible response latencies. The delay-dependent range in EFR amplitude did not vary by stimulus frequency or age and was significantly smaller when interference from low-frequency activity was reduced. On average, the delay-dependent range was < 22% of the maximum variability in EFR amplitude that could be expected by noise. Results suggest that using a constant EEG delay correction in FA analysis does not substantially alter EFR amplitude estimation. In the present study, the lack of substantial variability was likely facilitated by using vowels with small f0 ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the acoustic parameters of the fundamental frequency, first and second formant frequencies, duration and intensity in KhoramAbadi Luri vowels. 10 participants (5 male, 5 female) produced 1620 tokens, including/ɑ،y،ø،o،u،ə،a،e،ʏ،ɪ،i/vowels. The result showed that/a/has the lowest fundamental frequency;/e/and/ʏ/have the highest amount of this parameter in male and female speakers, respectively./a/and/i/are the open and close vowels in KhoramAbadi Luri./i/and/o/are the front and back vowels./ø/and/ɑ/have the highest vowel duration amongst other vowels;/ʏ/and/ə/have the lowest vowel duration in male and female speakers, respectively./e/has the highest intensity in both male and female speakers;/a/and/u/have the lowest intensity in male and female speakers, respectively. Generally, female speakers have higher fundamental frequency, first and second formant frequencies and duration, but intensity is higher in male speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Acoustic correlates of consonantal place of articulation are numerous and varied. Burst information, onset spectra, and formant transition motion have all been implicated as the significant cues for consonant place of articulation within each labial, alveolar, and velar place category. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the transition rate of a vowel formant, which was the ascending or descending slope of the formant in CV syllables. Therefore, this analysis offered additional insights to the role of F2 transition at the onset and mid-points when serving as predictor variables. The results showed that F1 vowel transitions had an ascending slope. Increasing the value of F1 vowel transition after the releases of labial, alveolar, and velar consonants was an acoustic clue to the opening of the oral cavity and absence of obstruction/closure in the vocal tract. The statistical analyses demonstrated that only in the vowels [o, u, æ], there was a significant difference between the second formant frequencies at the two onset and the mid-points of the transition after all coronals, labials, and velars. The difference between these two variables was not significant in the other cases. Keywords: Vowel, Transition, Formant, Syllable, Ascending or Descending Slope Introduction Azerbaijani language is mainly spoken in Azerbaijan and Iran (Johanson, 2010). After Farsi as the official language, Azerbaijani has the most (approximately 15-20 million) speakers in Iran (Crystal, 2010). Most of the speakers inhabit in four provinces of the northwestern part of Iran. In the literature, two striking features of Turkic morphology has been presented: first, its agglutinative nature (low level of fusion in Sapir's terminology), indicating the fact that there is basically one-one correspondence between grammatical categories and their exponents and second, its highly synthetic nature (high level of synthesis again by using Sapir's terminology), demonstrating the fact that a given word can contain a large number of morphemes. Furthermore, the syllable structure of Azeribaijani language is consonant-vowel-consonant (consonant). This indicates that tautosyllabic consonant clusters with sonority drop are acceptable. In Turkic languages, the stress falls on the final syllables of all parts of speech (noun, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs). Most of the derivational and inflectional suffixes carry the stress. However, some of the derivational suffixes and clitics are unstressed. When roots combine with an unstressed suffix, the stress falls on the immediately preceding syllable and stress shift may not take place. According to these stress-placement rules, we used target vowels in simple words with the cvc.cvc syllables. Materials and Methods Generally, the first 3 formants of vowels are the most important indicators providing information for distinguishing vowels from each other (Hagino et al., 2008). There is a close relation between the first formant frequency (F1) and articulatory and/or perceptual dimension(s) of vowel height. The second formant frequency (F2) corresponds with the place of maximal constriction during the production of vowels (Wang and Van Heuven, 2006). Measurement of formants is one of the elements of the acoustic analysis of vowels. The first two formants are most important for identifying a vowel (Raina, Chakraborty, and Velankar, 2014). A formant is a concentration of acoustic energy around a particular frequency in the speech wave and corresponds to a resonance in the vocal tract. Formants can be seen very clearly in a wideband spectrogram where they are displayed as dark bands. They are labeled as F1, F2, F3, F4, etc. starting with the lowest frequency (Gunasekar et al., 2017). F1 is primarily related to tongue height with high vowels having a low F1 frequency and low vowels having a high F1 frequency. F2 is mostly related to tongue advancement with back vowels having a low F2 frequency and front vowels having a high F2 frequency (Ludlow, Kent, and Gray, 2019). This study included 10 native Turkish speakers aged 20-45 years. They pronounced Turkish vowels following consonants like xɯr.dɑ, nɑ.xɯr, rɯ.zɑ, and sɑ.rɯ. Acoustic analysis of the WAV files was performed in the computer program Praat, Version 6.1.08 (Boersma and Weenink, 2019). Segmentation of vowels in words was carried out in a manual approach. Formant frequency analysis was conducted using the Formant Pro (Xu, 2018) available in Praat with its default standard settings (range of 5,000 Hz for 5 formants). We used International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols for Turkish sounds. Discussion of Results and Conclusion Coarticulation is generally defined as the influence of one phonetic segment on another segment (Marchal, 2009). It is an overlap between the articulations of neighboring phonemes. Articulators constantly move as we talk so that the shape of the vocal tract for a particular phoneme is influenced by the shapes for the phonemes that both precede and follow it (Goldstein, 2010). Vocal tract movements produce transitions of formant frequencies. Formant transitions reflect the overall change in the shape of the vocal tract during speech production (Story and Bunton, 2010). The study objective was to analyze F1 and F2 transitions in Turkish vowels in a consonant context with different places of articulation (labials: m, b, p, f, and v; coronals: s, z, d, t, n, and l; alveolo-palatals: ʃ, ʒ, ʣ, r, and ʦ; palatals: ɟ, c, and j; uvulars: ɣ and x. Therefore, this analysis offered additional insights into the role of F2 transition at the onset and mid-points when serving as predictor variables. Formant transitions in consonant-vowel sequences from real words were analyzed. Consonants with different places of articulation were included in the analysis. Finally, statistical analysis of T-test was performed for two similar groups by calculating the significance level of the difference between the F2 frequency values of the onset and the mid-points of the target vowels after the consonants. The results revealed that F1 vowel transitions had an ascending slope. Increasing the value of F1 vowel transition after the releases of labial, alveolar, and velar consonants was an acoustic clue to the opening of the oral cavity and absence of obstruction/closure in the vocal tract. The statistical analyses demonstrated that only in vowels [o, u, æ], there was a significant difference between the frequencies of the second formant at the two onset and mid-points of the transition after all coronals, labials, and velars. The difference between these two variables was not significant in the other cases.

In order to examine the differences in people suffering from depression (EG, N=18) compared to the healthy controls (CG1, N=24) and people with the diagnosed psychogenic voice disorder (CG2, N=9), nine acoustic features of voice were assessed among the total of 51 participants using the MDVP software programme ("Kay Elemetrics" Corp., model 4300). Nine acoustic parameters were analysed on the basis of the sustained phonation of the vowel /a/. The results revealed that the mean values of all acoustic parameters differed in the EG compared to both the CG1 and CG2 as follows: the parameters which indicate frequency variability (Jitt, PPQ), amplitude variability (Shim, vAm, APQ) and noise and tremor parameters (NHR, VTI) were higher; only the parameters of fundamental frequency (F0) and soft index phonation (SPI) were lower (F0 compared to CG1, and SPI compared to CG1 and CG2). Only the PPQ parameter was not significant. vAm and APQ had the highest discriminant value for depression. The acoustic features of voice, analysed in this study with regard to the sustained phonation of a vowel, were different and discriminant in the EG compared to CG1 and CG2. In voice analysis, the parameters vAm and APQ could potentially be the markers indicative of depression. The results of this research point to the importance of the voice, that is, its acoustic indicators, in recognizing depression. Important parameters that could help create a programme for the automatic recognition of depression are those from the domain of voice intensity variation.

In many communities around the world, speech to infants (IDS) and small children (CDS) has increased mean pitch, increased pitch range, increased vowel duration, and vowel hyper-articulation when compared to speech directed to adults (ADS). Some of these IDS and CDS features are also attested in foreigner-directed speech (FDS), which has been studied for a smaller range of languages, generally major national languages, spoken by millions of people. We examined vowel acoustics in CDS, conversational ADS, and monologues directed to a foreigner (possible FDS, labeled MONO here) in the Towet dialect of the Papuan language Nungon, spoken by 300 people in a remote region in northeastern Papua New Guinea. Previous work established that Nungon CDS entails optional use of consonant alteration, special nursery vocabulary, and special morphosyntax. This study shows that Nungon CDS to children aged 2;2–3;10 lacks vowel hyper-articulation, but still displays other common prosodic traits of CDS styles around the world: increased mean pitch and pitch range. A developmental effect was also attested, in that speech to 2-year-olds contained vowels that were significantly longer than those in speech to 3-year-olds, which in turn had vowels of similar duration to those in Nungon ADS. We also found that Nungon FDS vowel triangles, measured from monologues primarily directed to a non-native speaker, were significantly larger than those of either CDS or conversational ADS, indicating vowel hyper-articulation. The Nungon pattern may align with the patterns of vowels in Norwegian IDS, CDS, and FDS, where hyper-articulation is found in FDS, but not CDS or IDS. The languages of the New Guinea area constitute 20% of the world's languages, but neither an acoustic comparison of vowels in CDS and ADS, nor an acoustic study of FDS, has previously been completed for any language of New Guinea. The function of an FDS style in a small, closed community like those of much of New Guinea may differ from that in larger societies, since there are very few non-native speakers of Nungon. Thus, this study uses monologues recorded with a foreign researcher as interlocutor to study Nungon FDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to systematically review and critically appraise the literature describing the phonetic characteristics and accuracy of the consonants, vowels and tones produced by Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs). The protocol in this review was designed in conformity with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. EBSCOhost, PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, ProQuest Central databases were searched for relevant articles which met the inclusion criteria. A total of 18 journal papers were included in this review. The results revealed that Mandarin-speaking children with CIs perform consistently more poorly in their production of consonants, in particular on fricatives, have a smaller and less well-defined vowel space, and exhibit greater difficulties in tone realisation, notably T2 and T3, when compared to their normal-hearing (NH) peers. The results from acoustic and accuracy analyses are negatively correlated with CI implantation age, but largely positively correlated with hearing age. Findings of this review highlight the factors that influence consonant, vowel and tone production in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs, thereby providing critical information for clinicians and researchers working with this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many communities around the world, speech to infants (IDS) and small children (CDS) has increased mean pitch, increased pitch range, increased vowel duration, and vowel hyper-articulation when compared to speech directed to adults (ADS). Some of these IDS and CDS features are also attested in foreigner-directed speech (FDS), which has been studied for a smaller range of languages, generally major national languages, spoken by millions of people. We examined vowel acoustics in CDS, conversational ADS, and monologues directed to a foreigner (possible FDS, labeled MONO here) in the Towet dialect of the Papuan language Nungon, spoken by 300 people in a remote region in northeastern Papua New Guinea. Previous work established that Nungon CDS entails optional use of consonant alteration, special nursery vocabulary, and special morphosyntax. This study shows that Nungon CDS to children aged 2;2–3;10 lacks vowel hyper-articulation, but still displays other common prosodic traits of CDS styles around the world: increased mean pitch and pitch range. A developmental effect was also attested, in that speech to 2-year-olds contained vowels that were significantly longer than those in speech to 3-year-olds, which in turn had vowels of similar duration to those in Nungon ADS. We also found that Nungon FDS vowel triangles, measured from monologues primarily directed to a non-native speaker, were significantly larger than those of either CDS or conversational ADS, indicating vowel hyper-articulation. The Nungon pattern may align with the patterns of vowels in Norwegian IDS, CDS, and FDS, where hyper-articulation is found in FDS, but not CDS or IDS. The languages of the New Guinea area constitute 20% of the world's languages, but neither an acoustic comparison of vowels in CDS and ADS, nor an acoustic study of FDS, has previously been completed for any language of New Guinea. The function of an FDS style in a small, closed community like those of much of New Guinea may differ from that in larger societies, since there are very few non-native speakers of Nungon. Thus, this study uses monologues recorded with a foreign researcher as interlocutor to study Nungon FDS.

Keyword spotting (KWS) is the task of detecting some specific words of interest in a text or speech signal. The intention or context of a conversation posted on different social platforms can be predicted by detecting the keywords. KWS in continuous speech is challenging due to variation in pitch, speaking rate of the speakers and environment-induced mismatches between training and testing speech. This paper proposes an approach for penalizing the pitch effect on the short-term Fourier transform magnitude spectra (STFT-MS) to reduce the pitch effect on the most frequently used Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) feature for the development of KWS system. To achieve this, we have employed moving average filtering of STFT-MS over different frequency windows for vowel and non-vowel frames. The validity of the proposed spectral filtering approach is verified by analyzing the pitch effect on filtered STFT-MS and evaluating keyword spotting performances without and with vocal-tract length normalization and data-augmented training through explicit pitch modification. The MFCC extracted from the filtered spectra is less affected by pitch, which enhances the keyword spotting performance in pitch-mismatch test cases without loss of performance in match test cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the phonological features of Liangmai, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Northeast India. It highlights some important features of Liangmai phonology from earlier reports and serves as an update on the study of Liangmai sound system. The phoneme inventory, syllable structure, some phonological and morphophonological features, and the structure of Liangmai tones are presented. In the beginning, the paper presents various linguistic studies carried on Liangmai so far and a brief discussion is presented on the dialectal variation and its linguistic grouping. There are twenty consonant phonemes, six vowel phonemes, nine diphthongs with four contrastive levels of tone at the prosodic level. With or without coda, the place of a nucleus is occupied by a vowel and also by a syllabic nasal that often sits on the first syllable of a disyllable. The present study will be hopefully an insight for those who are studying on the sound systems of other Northeast Indian languages. Like many other community members in Northeast India, the Liangmais are struggling for systematic writing system to represent their language in written form, and the present study will be a supplement to the Liangmai orthography preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many sources of Mongolian music in Mongolian and Chinese oral and written sources, including the Tsuur. ” Echoes cannot be imagined without the organ of speech, and this is the main feature of their color imitation. This is because the evidence that a person used to imitate the sound of music before making music and then used his or her speech organs as music can be clearly seen in Mongolian throat singing and whistling. The percussion music retains elements of both the harmonica and the whistle in the structure of the melody, and the percussion method is based on the whistle. Even today, it is interesting to see when and where the percussion was played and in what order. It is not used for small weddings, love affairs, or music, but is usually used only for large ovoo rituals and large-scale festivals. We are proud that this tradition has been preserved in an almost ancient form and passed down to us. It also needs to be preserved and developed, and the source material is still open.

Ultrasound can deliver speech information when it is amplitude-modulated with speech and presented via bone conduction. This speech-modulated bone-conducted ultrasound (SM-BCU) can also transmit prosodic information. However, there is insufficient research on the recognition of vowel duration in SM-BCU. The aim of this study was to investigate the categorization of vowel durational changes in SM-BCU using a behavioral test. Eight Japanese-speaking participants with normal hearing participated in a forced-choice behavioral task to discriminate between “hato” (pigeon) and “haato” (heart). Speech signal stimuli were presented in seven duration grades from 220 ms to 340 ms. The threshold at which 50% of responses were “haato” was calculated and compared for air-conducted audible sound (ACAS) and SM-BCU. The boundary width was also evaluated. Although the SM-BCU threshold (mean: 274.6 ms) was significantly longer than the ACAS threshold (mean: 269.6 ms), there were no differences in boundary width. These results suggest that SM-BCU can deliver prosodic information about vowel duration with a similar difference limen to that of ACAS in normal hearing.

The contribution of context to phoneme perception is a subject of extensive study. In recent years, while the perception of phonemes in and out of context has become characterized as well-understood, new studies have emerged to challenge prevailing wisdom. Findings derived from rigorously controlled stimuli have failed to hold up when tested against continuous or more naturalistic speech, and vowels produced in isolation have been shown to possess different frequencies than vowels in spontaneous speech. In the present study, we examine the effect of context on vowel recognition, via stimuli taken directly from natural continuous speech in an audiobook. All tested vowel sounds, except /EH/, were better recognized with surrounding context than in isolation, affirming the resilience of findings from past studies.