University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2012 Oct;55(5):1438-48. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0142). Epub 2012 Mar 12.
With the goal of using articulatory adjustments to reduce hypernasality, this study utilized an articulatory synthesis model (Childers, 2000) to simulate the adjustment of articulatory configurations with an open velopharynx to achieve the same acoustic goal as normal speech simulated with a closed velopharynx.
To examine the effect of articulatory adjustment on perceived nasality, this study used an articulatory synthesis model (Childers, 2000) to synthesize 18 oral /i/ vowels, 18 nasal /i/ vowels, and 18 nasal /i/ vowels with computer-generated articulatory adjustments; these vowels were then presented to 7 listeners for perceptual ratings of nasality following the direct magnitude estimation method.
Comparisons of nasality ratings of nasal vowels showed a significant reduction of perceived nasality after articulatory adjustment. Moreover, the acoustic features associated with nasal resonances were attenuated and the oral formant structures changed by nasalization were restored after articulatory adjustment, which confirmed findings in Rong and Kuehn (2010).
Appropriate articulatory adjustments are able to reduce the nasality of synthetic nasal /i/ vowels by compensating for the acoustic deviations caused by excessive velopharyngeal opening. Such compensatory interarticulator coordination may have an application in using articulatory adjustments to reduce hypernasality in clinical speech therapies.
本研究旨在通过调整发音动作来减少超鼻音，利用发音合成模型（Childers，2000）模拟腭咽开放时的发音动作调整，以达到与模拟腭咽闭合时正常语音相同的声学目标。
为了检验发音调整对感知鼻音的影响，本研究使用发音合成模型（Childers，2000）合成了 18 个口腔/i/元音、18 个鼻腔/i/元音和 18 个经计算机生成的发音调整后的鼻腔/i/元音，然后通过直接量级估计法让 7 位听众对这些元音的鼻音感知进行评价。
对鼻腔元音的鼻音评价比较显示，发音调整后感知到的鼻音显著降低。此外，发音调整后，与鼻腔共鸣相关的声学特征减弱，鼻音化引起的口腔共振峰结构得到恢复，这与 Rong 和 Kuehn（2010）的研究结果一致。
适当的发音调整可以通过补偿腭咽过度开放引起的声学偏差来降低合成鼻腔/i/元音的鼻音。这种补偿性的发音动作协调可能在使用发音调整来减少临床语音治疗中的超鼻音方面有一定的应用价值。
