Acoustic phonetics studies the acoustic properties of spoken language, using technology to analyze speech sounds and understand their production. All sound sources produce dominant frequencies and related harmonics, which are affected by the medium they pass through. Acoustic phonetics professionals use spectral analysis to decompose complex waveforms into individual frequencies, with results applied in speech therapy and technology.
A subfield of phonetics, acoustic phonetics deals with the acoustic properties of spoken language. Researchers in this field use technological tools to analyze speech sounds and break them down into their component parts. Studying these linguistic components helps acoustic phonetics practitioners understand the production and reproduction of speech.
All objects can make sound, including guitar strings, speaker cones, or even coins jingling in a pocket. These springs vibrate to produce compression and rarefaction cycles in the air. When those loops reach a person’s ears, if the frequencies are within the range of human hearing, they are perceived as sound. These cycles are represented as waves, and most sounds humans hear are complex waveforms made up of many frequencies layered together.
Every sound source produces a dominant frequency, known as a formant, as well as a set of related frequencies called harmonics. When these frequencies pass through a medium, such as air or wood, the shape and material of the medium will boost some frequencies while damping others. This is the principle behind the design of the instrument; the shape and type of wood used in a guitar body, for example, determine the instrument’s unique sound.
Acoustic phonetics deals specifically with the speech sounds that humans produce in spoken language. In human speech, the vocal cords are the source of sound and the mouth filters the waves they produce to create specific complex waveforms that correspond to the phonetic units of speech. For example, each different vocal sound is produced by holding the mouth a certain way to produce a specific combination of sound frequencies.
Acoustic phonetics professionals use spectral analysis to decompose complex waveforms into individual frequencies. Spectrum diagrams are visual illustrations of individual frequencies combining to produce a waveform at a specific time. These plots detail the amplitudes of each component frequency at the time it is plotted. Spectrograms are another type of visual representation that show changes in those frequencies over time.
The results of acoustic phonetics are applied in various disciplines. Speech therapists may use acoustic phonics in the assessment and treatment of speech disorders. Acoustic phonetics is also used in the application of technologies that involve the recording and reproduction of human speech, such as the telephone.
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