When analyzing speech segments on a spectrograph, you will notice a significant difference in their respective sound patterns.  In this tutorial, we will note the more salient patterns of obstruents and sonorants. Consonants are formed by the constriction of passive and active articulators in the vocal tract. The movement of articulators towards or away from each other creates differing degrees … [Read more...]

Acoustic phonetics is the study of the acoustic (physical) properties of sounds, which are determined by measuring pitch (formants and frequencies), loudness (amplitude), and quality (timbre). Sounds are measured in terms of sound waves, which are composed of harmonics, frequencies, and formants that show air pressure patterns created during phonation. The physical process of speech production can … [Read more...]