Controlling changes in vocal tract resistance

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Robert Mayo, Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: There is some evidence that speech aerodynamics follows the rules of a regulating system. The purpose of the present study was to assess how the speech system manages perturbations that produce "errors" within the system. Three experimental approaches were used to evaluate the physiological responses to an imposed change in airway resistance. The first involved subjects with varying degrees of velopharyngeal inadequacy. The second and third approaches involved noncleft subjects whose airway was perturbed by bleed valves and bite blocks during consonant productions. The pressure-flow technique was used to measure aerodynamic variables associated with the production of test consonants. The results of this study provide additional evidence that the speech system actively responds to perturbations in ways that tend to minimize a change in consonant speech pressures. The degree of success in stabilizing pressures appears to reflect the capability of the system to use whatever articulatory and respiratory responses are available.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 91(5), 2947-2953
Language: English
Date: 1992
Keywords
speech aerodynamics, vocal tract resistance, velopharyngeal inadequacy, noncleft, pressure-flow technique

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