Developing mechanical models of the human vocal tract for education in speech science

Proc. of the Forum Acusticum Sevilla, 2002

Developing mechanical models of the human vocal tract for education in speech science

N. Saika, E. Maeda, N. Usuki, T. Arai and Y. Murahara

Abstract: Formerly, Arai (2001) proposed two types of mechanical models of human vocal tract for education in speech science [1]. In the first, several acrylic plates with holes formed an acoustic resonator. Vowels were produced for both models with an electrolarynx or other sound source. In the current study, we newly made four cylinder models that were different in step sizes of approximation and compared their characteristics. We then developed another new model for nasalized vowels by attaching a side branch to the oral cavity. By means of experiments, we confirmed that these models are powerful tools for education in speech science.

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