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KMID : 1022420140060040091
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Phonetics and Speech Sciences
2014 Volume.6 No. 4 p.91 ~ p.99
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Spectral Characteristics and Formant Bandwidths of English Vowels by American Males with Different Speaking Styles
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Yang Byung-Gon
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Abstract
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Speaking styles tend to have an influence on spectral characteristics of produced speech. There are not many studies onthe spectral characteristics of speech because of complicated processing of too much spectral data. The purpose of this studywas to examine spectral characteristics and formant bandwidths of English vowels produced by nine American males withdifferent speaking styles: clear or conversational styles; high- or low-pitched voices. Praat was used to collect pitch-correctedlong-term averaged spectra and bandwidths of the first two formants of eleven vowels in the speaking styles. Results showedthat the spectral characteristics of the vowels varied systematically according to the speaking styles. The clear speech showedhigher spectral energy of the vowels than that of the conversational speech while the high-pitched voice did the same overthe low-pitched voice. In addition, front and back vowel groups showed different spectral characteristics. Secondly, there wasno statistically significant difference between B1 and B2 in the speaking styles. B1 was generally lower than B2 whenreflecting the source spectrum and radiation effect. However, there was a statistically significant difference in B2 between thefront and back vowel groups. The author concluded that spectral characteristics reflect speaking styles systematically whilebandwidths measured at a few formant frequency points do not reveal style differences properly. Further studies would bedesirable to examine how people would evaluate different sets of synthetic vowels with spectral characteristics or withbandwidths modified.
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KEYWORD
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English vowels, spectral characteristics, formant bandwidths, speaking styles
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