• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2015

The aim of this study is to synthesize pathological breathy voice and to make a cepstral peak prominence (CPP) table following breathiness ranks by cepstral analysis to supplement reliability of the perceptual auditory judgment task. KlattGrid synthesizer included in Praat was used. Synthesis parameters consist of two groups, i.e., constants and variables. Constant parameters are pitch, amplitude, flutter, open phase, oral formant and bandwidth. Variable parameters are breathiness (BR), aspiration amplitude (AH), and spectral tilt (TL). Five hundred sixty samples of synthetic breathy vowel /a/ for male were created. Three raters participated in ranking of the breathiness. 217 were proved to be inadequate samples from perceptual judgment and cepstral analysis. Finally, 343 samples were selected. These CPP values and other related parameters from cepstral analysis are classified under four breathiness ranks (B0~B3). The mean and standard deviation of CPP is $16.10{\pm}1.15$ dB(B0), $13.68{\pm}1.34$ dB(B1), $10.97{\pm}1.41$ dB(B2), and $3.03{\pm}4.07$ dB(B3). The value of CPP decreases toward the severe group of breathiness because there is a lot of noise and a small quantity of harmonics.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.201-207
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• 2013

This study is a follow-up study of Han and Kang (2013) and Kang and Han (2013) which examined cross-generational changes in the Korean vowels /o/ and /u/ using acoustic analyses of the vowel formants of these two vowels, their Euclidean distances and the overlap fraction values generated in SOAM 2D (Wassink, 2006). Their results showed an on-going approximation of /o/ and /u/, more evident in female speakers and non-initial vowels. However, these studies employed non-words in a frame sentence. To see the extent to which these two vowels are merged in real words in spontaneous speech, we conducted an acoustic analysis of the formants of /o/ and /u/ produced by two age groups of female speakers while reading a letter sample. The results demonstrate that 1) the younger speakers employed mostly F2 but not F1 differences in the production of /o/ and /u/; 2) the Euclidean distance of these two vowels was shorter in non-initial than initial position, but there was no difference in Euclidean distance between the two age groups (20's vs. 40-50's); 3) overall, /o/ and /u/ were more overlapped in non-initial than initial position, but in non-initial position, younger speakers showed more congested distribution of the vowels than in older speakers.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.69-76
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• 2017

The current study investigated the productions of /ɨ/ and /${\Lambda}$/ in Kyungsang Korean, which is known for undergoing a dispersion for the younger generation. Specifically, to identify the nature of /ɨ/ and /${\Lambda}$/ in Kyungsang Korean, this study examined the linguistic and social factors affecting directions and degrees of the /ɨ/-/${\Lambda}$/ dispersion. Sixteen young speakers of Kyungsang Korean repeated 112 (near) minimal pairs containing the two target vowels. The formant values of each production as well as the Euclidean distance between the two vowels were analyzed for four manipulated factors: gender (male vs. female), the existence of carrier phrases (words in isolation vs. words with a carrier phrase), the lexical status of stimulus words (real-word pairs vs. nonsense-word pairs), and the vowel position within a word (word-initial positions vs. word-final positions). The results indicated that the female speakers produced the two target vowels more distinctively than the male speakers, and so did when the words were produced in isolation. The results also revealed that the Euclidean distances were greater for the real-word pairs and in word-initial positions. Overall, the results suggested that the Kyungsang Korean speakers in their 20s could distinctively produce the two vowels /ɨ/ and /${\Lambda}$/, but this vowel dispersion is not a completed process, but an ongoing one.

• Journal of Korean language education
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.155-180
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to acoustically analyze eight Korean monophthongs produced by 29 Taiwanese learners of Korean and 20 native speakers of Korean, and to compare their pronunciations in experimental phonetics. Using the first formants(F1) and the second formants(F2) of Korean monophthongs, we can estimate the tongue positions of vowels produced by participants. In order to compare them directly, we had to normalize participants' F1 and F2. The result shows that almost all vowels of the Taiwanese learners are significantly different from those of Korean native speakers in their F1 and F2 values without the /ㅏ/ vowel. In particular, when pronouncing Korean monophthongs, the Korean learners of Taiwan had a narrow area of the place of articulation compared to the Korean native speakers except for back vowels. Finally, it shows that the Korean learners in Taiwan had a narrower range of articulation and articulated the vowels towards the back a little comparing to the Korean native speakers.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2021

The aim of this study is to prepare basic data that can be used for evaluation and intervention by investigating the characteristics of diphthongs produced by children with speech sound disorders. To confirm this, two groups of 10 children each, with and without speech sound disorders were asked to imitate the meaningless two-syllable 'diphthongs + da'. The slope of F1 and F2, amount of change of formant, and duration of glide were analyzed by Praat (version 6.1.16). As a result, the difference between the two groups was found in the slope of F1 of /ju/. Children with speech sound disorders had smaller changes in formants and shorter duration time values compared to normal children, and there were statistically significant differences. The amount of change in formant in the glide was found in F1 of /ju, jɛ/, F2 of /jɑ, jɛ/, and there were significant differences in the duration of glide in /ju, jɛ/. The results of this study showed that the range of articulation of diphthongs in children with speech sound disorders is relatively smaller than that of normal children, thus the time it takes to articulate was reduced. These results suggest that the range of articulation and acoustic analysis should be further investigated for evaluation and intervention regarding diphthongs of children with speech sound disorders.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.927-937
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• 2018

In this paper the comparative study of the consonants of Pyongyang and Seoul dialects of Korean is performed from the perspective of the signal processing which can be regarded as the basis of engineering applications. Until today, the most of speech signal studies were primarily focused on the vowels which are playing important role in the language evolution. In any language, however, the number of consonants is greater than the number of vowels. Therefore, the research of consonants is also important. In this paper, with the vowel study of the Pyongyang dialect, which was conducted by phonological research and experimental phonetic methods, the consonant studies are processed based on an engineering operation. The alveolar consonant, which has demonstrated many differences in the phonetic value between Pyongyang and Seoul dialects, was used as the experimental data. The major parameters of the speech signal analysis - formant frequency, pitch, spectrogram - are measured. The phonetic values between the two dialects were compared with respect to /시/ and /씨/ of Korean language. This study can be used as the basis for the voice recognition and the voice synthesis in the future.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.390-395
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• 2011

This paper covers the studies on common voice parameters through the voice analysis of female main news anchors on weekday evening by the station, and differences of relative voices and sounds among stations. To examine voice characteristics, 6 voice parameters were analyzed and it showed anchors of each station had distinctive characteristics of voices and phonations over all fields except the speech rate, and there were also differences in sound systems. As major analysis parameters, basic pitch, tone of the 1st formant and pitch ratio, level of closeness by pitch bandwidth, type of sentence closing through average pitch position within pitch bandwidth, average speech rate, and acoustic tone analysis by energy distribution by frequency band were used. Analyzed values and results could be referred to and utilized in the criteria of phonation characteristics for domestic female news anchors.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.362-366
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• 1996

This paper is generally divided in 2 parts. One is the study on vowels about korean singer's lyric song in view of Daniel Jones' Cardinal Vowel. The other is acoustic study on vowels in my singing about korean lyric song. Analysis data are KBS concert video tape and CSL's. NSP file on my singing and Informants are famous singers i.e. 3 sopranos, 1 mezzo, 2 tenors, 1baritone, and me. Analysis aim is to find out Korean 8 vowels([equation omitted]) quality in singing. The methods of descrition are used in closed vowels, half closed vowels, half open vowels, open vowels and rounded vowels, unroundes vowels and formants. The study of the former is while watching the monitor screen to stop the scene that is to be analysixed. The study of the latter is to analysis the spectrogram converted by CSL's. SP file. Analysis results are an follows: Visual and auditory korean vowels quality in singing have the 3 tendency. One is the tendency of more rounded than is usual Korean vowels. Another is the tendency of centralized to center point in Cardinal Vowel and the other is the tendency of diversity in vowel quality. Acoustic analysis is studied by means of 4 formants. Fl and F2 show similiar step in spoken. In Fl there is the same formant values. This seems to vocal organization be perceived the singign situation. The width of F3 is the widest of all, so F3 may be the characteristics in singing. In conclude, the characteristics of vowels in Korean lyric songs are seems to have the tendencies of rounding, centralizing to center point in Cardinal Vowel, diversity in vowel quality and, F3'widest width in compared with usual Korean vowels.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.60 no.9
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• pp.454-462
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• 2017

Background and Objectives The present study aimed to investigate the effects of penetration/aspiration (P/A) on voice acoustic parameters. Subjects and Method Twenty-seven patients were analyzed with the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) and then divided into two groups based on the modified Penetration and Aspiration Scale results. Ten patients (5 males and 5 females) were included in the Non-P/A group, and 17 patients (12 males and 5 females) in the P/A group. Stroke was the major cause of swallowing disorders. Three sustained /a/ vowels recorded in pre- and post-VFSS were analyzed. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare acoustic values before and after VFSS, and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve with combination of significant parameters was also conducted. Results Among acoustic parameters, the length of analyzed sample (p=0.010), number of segments computed (p=0.018), total number detected pitch periods (p=0.017), and second formant (p=0.013) in pre- and post-VFSS were significantly different between Non-P/A and P/A groups. In the P/A group after VFSS, the means of these significant parameters decreased. According to ROC combined with four significant parameters, the probability of predicting P/A condition was 84% (p=0.005), the sensitivity was 80%, and the specificity was 80%. Conclusion Voice acoustic analysis can reflect voice changes by penetration/aspiration and the combination of significant parameters can also detect swallowing disorders. Therefore, voice analysis can be a reliable screening tool for patients with swallowing disorders.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

Previous studies have confirmed that /o/ and /u/ in Seoul Korean are undergoing a merger in the F1/F2 space, especially for female speakers. As a substitute parameter for formants, it is reported that female speakers use phonation (H1-H2) differences to distinguish /o/ from /u/. This study aimed to explore whether H1-H2 values are being used as perceptual cues for /o/-/u/. A perception test was conducted with 35 college students using /o/ and /u/ spoken by 41 females, which overlap considerably in the vowel space. An acoustic analysis of 182 stimuli was also conducted to see if there is any correspondence between production and perception. The identification rate was 89% on average, 86% for /o/, and 91% for /u/. The results confirmed that when /o/ and /u/ cannot be distinguished in the F1/F2 space because they are too close, H1-H2 differences contribute significantly to the separation of the two vowels. However, in perception, this was not the case. H1-H2 values were not significantly involved in the identification process, and the formants (especially F2) were still dominant cues. The study also showed that even though H1-H2 differences are apparent in females' production, males do not use H1-H2 in their production, and both females and males do not use H1-H2 in their perception. It is presumed that H1-H2 has not yet been developed as a perceptual cue for /o/ and /u/.