• Speech Sciences
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• v.1
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• pp.55-81
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• 1997

In the present paper, V-to-V coarticulation in Korean VCV sequences is discussed, focusing on links between consonantal production and degree of V-to-V coarticulation. Temporal and spatial differences between three types of Korean alveolar stops (lax /t/. aspirated /$t^h$/ and thense /t'/) are examined from VCV sequences involving all possible combinations of three Korean unrounded vowels /a, i,/ based on spectrographic and electrographic data(two male speakers and one female speaker and one female speaker respectively). Closure duration and voice onset time (VOT) were measured from acoustic data. 'Total duration', which is defined as the sum of the closure duration and the VOT, was also calculated in order to see the temporal distance between two vowels in a VCV sequence. Differences in lingual-palatal contact pattern at the maximum contact (MC) point between the three types of stop were observed from EPG data. V-to-V coarticulation was investigated by measuring the offset or onset of the second formant (F2) of the target vowels from spectrograms. Two different dimensions of articulation, temporal and spatial, seem to playa role in determining the degree of V-to-V coarticulation. The degree of V-to-V anticipatory coarticulation is influenced by the spatial characteristics of the intervening consonant while the degree of carryover coarticulation is influenced by the temporal characteristics of the consonant.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 2015

This study was mainly aimed at investigating on the effects of background noises (i.e., white noise, multi-speaker conversational babble) on stuttering rate and other speech-related measures (i.e., articulation rate, speech effort). Nine Korean-speaking adults who stutter participated in the study. Each of the participants was asked to read a series of passages under each of four experimental conditions (i.e., typical solo reading (TR), choral reading (CR), reading under white noise presented (WR), reading with multi-speaker conversational babble presented (BR). Stuttering rate was computed based on a percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS) and articulation rate was also assessed as another speech-related measure under each of the experimental conditions. To examine the amount of physical effort needed to read, the speech effort was measured by using the 9-point Speech Effort Self Rating Scale originally employed by Ingham et al. (2006). Study results showed that there were no significant differences among each of the passage reading conditions in terms of stuttering rate, articulation rate, and speech effort. In conclusion, it can be argued that the two different types of background noises (i.e., white noise and multi-speaker conversational babble) are not different in the extent to which each of them enhances fluency of adults who stutter. Self ratings of speech effort may be also useful in measuring speech-related variables associated with vocal changes induced under each of the fluency enhancing conditions.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.125-134
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• 2011

The current study investigated the effects of experience of deaf speech, severity of speaker's articulation, and linguistic cues on speech intelligibility of congenitally deafened adults with cochlear implants. Speech intelligibility was judged by 28 experienced listeners and 40 inexperienced listeners using a word transcription task. A three-way (2 $\times$ 2 $\times$ 4) mixed design was used with the experience of deaf speech (experienced/inexperienced listener) as a between-subject factor, the severity of speaker's articulation (mild to moderate/moderate to severe), and linguistic cues (no/phonetic/semantic/combined) as within-subject factors. The dependent measure was the number of correctly transcribed words. Results revealed that three main effects were statistically significant. Experienced listeners showed better performance on the transcription than inexperienced listeners, and listeners were better in transcribing speakers who were mild to moderate than moderate to severe. There were significant differences in speech intelligibility among the four different types of cues, showing that the combined cues provided the greatest enhancement of the intelligibility scores (combined > semantic > phonological > no). Three two-way interactions were statistically significant, indicating that the type of cues and severity of speakers differentiated experienced listeners from inexperienced listeners. The current results suggested that the use of a combination of linguistic cues increased the speech intelligibility of congenitally deafened adults with cochlear implants, and the experience of deaf speech was critical especially in evaluating speech intelligibility of severe speakers compared to that of mild speakers.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.753-772
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• 2010

The purpose of this work is to examine the viability of employing the prosody cloning technique in teaching English prosody. Ten native speakers of Korean high school students with similar level of English proficiency participated in the poem self-study experiment. Five of them were grouped into the experimental group and the remaining five into the control group. One popular English poem from a high school textbook was selected and its recording by a professional native speaker of English was used in the experiment. The members of the two groups made a recording of the poem both before and after the experiment. For the study material, the experimental group used their own recorded utterances with their prosody cloned from the professional English speaker, while the control group used the utterances of the professional speaker alone. The acoustic analysis of the recordings by the prosodic foot both before and after the experiment showed that the experimental group performed slightly better than the control group in the realization of the intensity contour of the poem. There were no significant differences in the realization of the intonation contour and segmental durations between the two groups. The recording after the experiment was also subjectively evaluated by a native speaker of English and the scores for the experimental group were slightly higher than the control group. These findings suggest that the use of English poems with the help of the prosody cloning technique is a potentially viable approach to teaching English intonation to high school students. A long-term study with more students is necessary.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.125-131
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• 2015

The current study explores whether speaker variability in the fronted articulations of Seoul Korean affricates can be explained by cognitive differences measured by individual autistic traits. The goal was to explore Yu's (2010; 2013) proposal that individual differences in cognitive style can be an important factor in speakers' use of sound variants. The spectral peak frequencies (SPF) of affricates relative to those of fricatives, reported in Kong et al. (2014), were used to acoustically represent the relative degree of anterior place of constriction. When these individual SPFs were related to the scores of Autistic-Spectrum Quotients (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001), a correlation was found for the male speakers, but not for the female speakers, such that speakers of more anterior affricate productions scored low in AQs. Discussion is made with respect to how these findings are in line with Yu's proposal.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.19-29
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• 2018

The present study investigated whether there are differences in articulation rate by gender, age, and individual speakers in a spontaneous speech corpus produced by 40 Seoul Korean speakers. This study measured their articulation rates using a second-per-syllable metric and a syllable-per-second metric. The findings are as follows. First, in spontaneous Seoul Korean speech, there was a gender difference in articulation rates only in age group 10-19, among whom men tended to speak faster than women. Second, individual speakers showed variability in their rates of articulation. The tendency for some speakers to speak faster than others was variable. Finally, there were metric differences in articulation rate. That is, regarding the coefficients of variation, the values of the second-per-syllable metric were much higher than those for the syllable-per-second metric. The articulation rate for the syllable-per-second metric tended to be more distinct among individual speakers. The present results imply that data gathered in a corpus of Seoul Korean spontaneous speech may reflect speaker-specific differences in articulatory movements.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.11b
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• pp.175-178
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• 2003

This paper describes a active audition system for robot-human interface in real environment. We propose a strategy for a robust sound localization and for -talking speech recognition(60-300cm) based on 2-dimensional microphone array. We consider spatial features, the relation of position and interaural time differences, and realize speaker tracking system using fuzzy inference profess based on inference rules generated by its spatial features.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.209-214
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• 2016

Binaural hearing aids with a voice transmitter have been widely used to enhance sound quality in noisy environment. However, this system has a limitation on sound-source localization. In this study, we investigated automatic directional-gain control method using geomagnetic sensors to provide directional information to binaural hearing aid user. The loudness gains of two hearing aids were differently controlled based on the directional information between a speaker position and a viewing direction of hearing aids user. This relative directional information was measured by two geomagnetic sensors on hearing aids user and a speaker. The results showed that the loudness gains were accurately controlled and could provide directional information based on the cue of interaural level differences.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.6
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• pp.197-217
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• 1999

In a noisy class, the acoustic-phonetic features of the teacher and the perceptual features of learners are changed comparison with a quiet environment. Acoustical analyses were carried out on a set of French monosyllables consisting of 17 consonants and three vowel /a, e, i/, produced by 1 male speaker talking in quiet and in 50, 60 and 70 dB SPL of masking noise on headphone. The results of the acoustic analyses showed consistent differences in energy and formant center frequency amplitude of consonants and vowels, $F_1$ frequency of vowel and duration of voiceless stops suggesting the increase of vocal effort. The perceptual experiments in which 18 undergraduate female students learning French served as the subjects, were conducted in quiet and in 50, 60 dB of masking noise. The identification scores on consonants were higher in Lombard speech than in normal speech, suggesting that the speaker's vocal effort is useful to overcome the masking effect of noise. And, with increased noise level, the perceptual response to the French consonants given had a tendency to be complex and the subjective reaction score on the noise using the vocabulary representative of 'unpleasant' sensation to be higher. And, in the point of view on the L2(second language) acquisition, the influence of L1 (first language) on L2 examined in the perceptual result supports the interference theory.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.155-162
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• 2012

The population of Korea is ageing as the number of elderly people increases due to improvements in health care and diet. Accordingly, it is expected that interest in how to live actively during the years after retirement and how to communicate effectively will increase the demand for voice improvement methods and technology. However, the criteria to evaluate the voice strength and characteristics of the elderly are lacking. In this study, we analyzed the acoustic characteristics of elderly women living in the community according to residential status and mental health status (e.g. depressive mood). Accordingly, we selected women (n=63) above the age of 65 age who were living in the Seoul metropolitan area and Daegu Gyeongbuk. The selected subjects were divided into two groups: a normal speaker group (n=40) and a speaker group comprised of those suffering from depressive mood (n=23). This study analyzed the voice characteristics of subjects based on collected data through the sustained phonation of the vowel /a/. It was shown that there were differences among MPT, F0, Jitter, Shimmer and NHR depending on location of residence but no difference with regard to depressive mood. Therefore, we must consider location of residence in elderly as the key factor in demonstrating the voice norms of seniors.