• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.147-157
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• 2008

Habitual speaking fundamental frequency (sF0) plays an important role in determining the voice classification, which can be presented differently depending on the vocal fold length and language habits. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to compare the differences in sF0 for voice classification and closed quotient between speaking and singing. Seventeen singers (7 sopranos, 5 tenors, 5 baritones, mean age 25.1 years) with no evidence of vocal folds pathology were participated. sF0 and closed quotient (CQ) both in speaking and in singing (A3-A5 with soprano, A2-A4 with tenor and baritone) were measured using SPEAD program and electroglottography. No significant differences were observed for sF0 between tenor and baritone groups (p> 0.05). However, CQ in singing was significantly different among three groups (p< 0.05), but CQ in speaking was not (p> 0.05). Furthermore, CQ was significantly different with both soprano (p< 0.01) and tenor groups ((P= 0.02) whereas baritone group revealed there is no difference when compared between speaking and singing. No significant differences in sF0 between tenor and baritone participants may result from decision-making for voice classification by experience and should measure sF0 before determining the voice classification.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between phonetic differences among Korean learners' production of English front vowels, pronunciation intelligibility and speaking proficiency test score. To do so, thirty Korean university students were asked (1) to read English text book paragraphs and (2) describe a picture. Two English native raters and one Korean rater evaluated Korean subjects' English pronunciation intelligibility and speaking. In addition, subjects' English vowel productions were acoustically analyzed(F0, F1, F2, vowel duration, intensity). The results of the study show that the vowel quality and pitch of the unstressed vowels and lax vowel are related to the pronunciation intelligibility. In addition, the scores of pronunciation intelligibility and speaking are highly related.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.67-74
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• 2017

An increase in speech intelligibility has been found in Clear Speech compared to conversational speech. Clear Speech is defined by decreased articulation rates and increased frequency and length of pauses. The objective of the present study was to investigate improvement in immediate speech intelligibility in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease (age range: 46 to 75 years) using Clear Speech. This experiment has been performed using the Phonatory Aerodynamic System 6600 after the participants read the first sentence of a Sanchaek passage and the "List for Adults 1" in the Sentence Recognition Test (SRT) using casual speech and Clear Speech. Acoustic and aerodynamic parameters that affect speech intelligibility were measured, including mean F0, F0 range, intensity, speaking rate, mean airflow rate, and respiratory rate. In the Sanchaek passage, use of Clear Speech resulted in significant differences in mean F0, F0 range, speaking rate, and respiratory rate, compared with the use of casual speech. In the SRT list, significant differences were seen in mean F0, F0 range, and speaking rate. Based on these findings, it is claimed that speech intelligibility can be affected by adjusting breathing and tone in Clear Speech. Future studies should identify the benefits of Clear Speech through auditory-perceptual studies and evaluate programs that use Clear Speech to increase intelligibility.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.179-192
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• 2002

Our present study was performed to investigate acoustically the Korean normal adults' voices, with enough large number of subjects to be reliable. 120 Korean normal adults (60 males and 60 females) of the age of 20 to 39 years produced sustained three vowels, /a/, /i/, and /u/ and read a part of 'Taking a Walk' paragraph, and by analyzing them acoustically with MDVP of CSL, we could get the fundamental frequency ($F_{0}$), jitter, shimmer and NHR of sustained vowels: speaking fundamental frequency ($SF_{0}$), highest speaking frequency (SFhi), lowest speaking frequency (SFlo) of continuous speech. As results, on the average, male voices showed 118.1$\sim$122.6 Hz in $F_{0}$, 0.467$\sim$0.659% in jitter, 1.538$\sim$2.674% in shimmer, 0.117$\sim$0.114 in NHR, 120.8 Hz in $SF_{0}$, 183.2 Hz in SFhi, 82.6 Hz in SFlo. And, female voices showed 211.6∼220.3 Hz in F0, 0.678∼0.935% in jitter, 1.478∼2.582% in shimmer, 0.098∼0.114 in NHR, 217.1 Hz in $SF_{0}$, 340.9 Hz in SFhi, 136.0 Hz in SFlo. Among the 7 parameters, every parameters except shimmer showed the significant difference between male and female voices. And, when we compared the three vowels, they showed significant differences one another in shimmer and NHR of both genders, but not in $F_{0}$ of males and jitter of females.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.29-37
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• 2010

Previous studies have investigated a between-category relationship of multiple acoustic cues for a laryngeal contrast by examining the distributions of VOT, f0 and H1-H2. The current study examined within-category correlations between cues comprising stops by Korean- and English-speaking adults and children to understand how children master the internal structure of stop phonation types in two languages. Word-initial stops were collected from about 70 children and 15 adults speaking English and Korean, and were analyzed in terms of VOT, f0 and H1-H2 to compute correlation coefficients. Findings in adults' productions included a gender-differentiated cue-correlation pattern associated with H1-H2 in Korean tense stops and a trading relationship between f0 and VOT in Korean lax and aspirated stops and English voiced and voiceless stops. Children did not necessarily have adult-like cue-correlation patterns even in early-acquired categories, suggesting that the mastery of intra-category structure of phonation type might occur later than inter-category structure.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2009

For this study, the external laryngeal lengths of 9 females and 9 males with normal voices were measured together with their ages, heights, and weights, and after they read aloud sentences for 3 minutes, their habitual speaking fundamental frequencies, speaking low pitches, speaking high pitches, and vocal fold closed quotients were measured. The Spearman rank correlation analysis on these data showed a significant negative correlation between the external laryngeal length and the habitual speaking fundamental frequency for both females and males, a significant negative correlation between the external laryngeal length and the speaking high pitch for only males, a significant negative correlation between the external laryngeal length and the speaking low pitch for both females and males, and a significant positive correlation between the external laryngeal length and the vocal fold closed quotient for only males.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

The current study examined English-speaking adult learners' production and perception of L2 Korean stops (/t/ or /t'/ or /t^h/) to investigate whether the two modalities are linked in utilizing voice onset time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0) for the L2 sound distinction and how the learners' L2 proficiency mediates the relationship. Twenty-two English-speaking learners of Korean living in Seoul participated in the word-reading task of producing stop-initial words and the identification task of labelling CV stimuli synthesized to vary VOT and F0. Using logistic mixed-effects regression models, we quantified group- and individual-level weights of the VOT and F0 cues in differentiating the tense-lax, lax-aspirated, and tense-aspirated stops in Korean. The results showed that the learners as a group relied on VOT more than F0 both in production and perception (except the tense-lax pair), reflecting the dominant role of VOT in their L1 stop distinction. Individual-level analyses further revealed that the learners' L2 proficiency was related to their use of F0 in L2 production and their use of VOT in L2 perception. With this effect of L2 proficiency controlled in the partial correlation tests, we found a significant correlation between production and perception in using VOT and F0 for the lax-aspirated stop contrast. However, the same correlation was absent for the other stop pairs. We discuss a contrast-specific role of acoustic cues to address the non-uniform patterns of the production-perception link in the L2 sound learning context.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.323-332
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• 2016

A robot's recognition and diagnosis of pronunciation and its speech are the most important interactions in RALL(Robot Assisted Language Learning). This study is to verify the effectiveness of robot TTS(Text to Sound) technology in assisting Korean English language learners to acquire a native-like accent by correcting the prosodic errors they commonly make. The child English language learners' F0 range and speaking rate in the 4th grade, a prosodic variable, will be measured and analyzed for any changes in accent. We compare whether robot with the currently available TTS technology appeared to be effective for the 4th graders and 1st graders who were not under the formal English learning with native speaker from the acoustic phonetic viewpoint. Two groups by repeating TTS of RALL responded to the speaking rate rather than F0 range.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.77-83
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• 2015

Voice complication without the laryngeal nerve injury can occur after thyroidectomy. The purpose of this study is to investigate voice changes according to extent of thyroidectomy with acoustic analysis. Thirty-five female patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma took voice evaluation at before and 1 month, and 3 months after thyroidectomy. Acoustic analysis parameters were speaking fundamental frequency(SFF), min $F_0$, max $F_0$, dynamic range $F_0$, jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio(NHR), and Cepstral prominence peak(CPP). Repeated-measured analysis of variance was applied. Time-related voice changes showed significant differences in all parameters except NHR. At 1 month after surgery, voice quality was worse and pitch was decreasing, but voice quality and pitch were improving at 3-month follow-up. Voice changes according to the extent of surgery were in SFF, max $F_0$, and dynamic range $F_0$. Time by surgery-related voice change existed only in min $F_0$. The result showed that the severity of voice complication depended on the extend of thyroidectomy which had a negative impact on $F_0$-related parameters. The deterioration of voice quality at 1 month after thyroidectomy may be affected by the loss of thyroid hormone in the blood. The descent of $F_0$-related parameters may be impacted by laryngeal fixation of surgical site adhesion.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.57-65
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• 2017

The current study explored how Korean-speaking children processed the multiple acoustic cues (VOT and f0) for the stop laryngeal contrast (/t'/, /t/, and /$t^h$/) and examined whether individual perceptual strategies could be related to a general cognitive ability performing executive functions (EF). 15 children (aged from 7 to 8) participated in the speech perception task identifying the three Korean laryngeal stops (3AFC) on listening to the auditory stimuli of C-/a/ with synthetically varying VOT and f0. They completed a series of EF tasks to measure working memory, inhibition, and cognitive shifting ability. The findings showed that children used the two cues in a highly correlated manner. While children utilized VOT consistently for the three laryngeal categories, their use of f0 was either reduced or enhanced depending on the phonetic categories. Importantly, the children's processing strategies of a f0 suppression for a tense-aspirated contrast were meaningfully associated with children's better cognitive abilities such as working memory, inhibition, and attentional shifting. As a preliminary experimental investigation, the current research demonstrated that listeners with inefficient processing strategies were poor at the EF skills, suggesting that cognitive skills might be responsible for developmental variations of processing sub-phonemic information for the linguistic contrast.