Experimental Phonetics

Traditionally, investigations into speech and pronounciation have relied on the unaided skills of the phonetician in recognising and reproducing speech sounds. But many practicioners are now using instruments to gain a greater understanding of speech and to be able to analyse speech patterns in situations when speaking and hearing would otherwise be inaccessible without the use of these instruments. This new book looks at how this form of investigation has developed, and considers the types of data that can be used and which questions can be solved using experimental phonetics.

Contemporary Issues in Experimental Phonetics provides comprehensive coverage of a number of research topics on experimental phonetics. This book is divided into four parts. Part I describes the instrumentation systems employed in the study of speech acoustics and speech physiology. The models, aerodynamic principles, and peripheral physiological mechanisms of speech production are discussed in Part II. Part III explains the problems in the specifications of the acoustic characteristics of speech sounds and suprasegmental features of speech. The speech perception process, speaker recognition, theories on the nature of the dichotic right ear advantage, and errors in auditory perception are elaborated in the last chapter. This text likewise covers the measurement of temporal processing in speech perception and interrelationship of speech, hearing, and language in an understanding of the total human communication process. This publication is valuable to speech and hearing scientists, speech pathologists, audiologists, psychologists, linguists, and graduate students researching on experimental phonetics.