Gay T, Boé L J, Perrier P
Department of BioStructure and Function, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06030.
J Acoust Soc Am. 1992 Sep;92(3):1301-9. doi: 10.1121/1.403924.
The purpose of this study was to use vocal tract simulation and synthesis as means to determine the acoustic and perceptual effects of changing both the cross-sectional area and location of vocal tract constrictions for six different vowels: Area functions at and near vocal tract constrictions are considered critical to the acoustic output and are also the central point of hypotheses concerning speech targets. Area functions for the six vowels, [symbol: see text] were perturbed by changing the cross-sectional area of the constriction (Ac) and the location of the constriction (Xc). Perturbations for Ac were performed for different values of Xc, producing several series of acoustic continua for the different vowels. Acoustic simulations for the different area functions were made using a frequency domain model of the vocal tract. Each simulated vowel was then synthesized as a 1-s duration steady-state segment. The phoneme boundaries of the perturbed synthesized vowels were determined by formal perception tests. Results of the perturbation analyses showed that formants for each of the vowels were more sensitive to changes in constriction cross-sectional area than changes in constriction location. Vowel perception, however, was highly resistant to both types of changes. Results are discussed in terms of articulatory precision and constriction-related speech production strategies.
本研究的目的是利用声道模拟和合成作为手段，来确定改变声道缩窄的横截面积和位置对六个不同元音产生的声学和感知效应：声道缩窄处及附近的面积函数被认为对声学输出至关重要，也是关于语音目标的假设的核心要点。通过改变缩窄的横截面积（Ac）和缩窄的位置（Xc），对六个元音[符号：见原文]的面积函数进行了扰动。针对不同的Xc值对Ac进行扰动，为不同元音生成了几个系列的声学连续统。使用声道的频域模型对不同的面积函数进行声学模拟。然后将每个模拟元音合成为一个持续1秒的稳态片段。通过正式的感知测试确定受扰动合成元音的音素边界。扰动分析结果表明，每个元音的共振峰对缩窄横截面积变化的敏感度高于缩窄位置的变化。然而，元音感知对这两种变化都具有高度抗性。从发音精度和与缩窄相关的语音产生策略方面对结果进行了讨论。
