Physical models of the human vocal tract with gel-type material

Proc. of the Interspeech, pp. 2651-2654, Brisbane, 2008

Physical models of the human vocal tract with gel-type material

T. Arai

Abstract: Beginning in 2001, we have been developing models of the vocal tract to promote a more intuitive understanding of the theories for speech science for technical and non-technical students. In this paper, we compared and contrasted four newer models of the talking heads: our original model with a gel-type tongue, a similar model including teeth and palate, a third model with teeth and palate having a default low tongue height, and a fourth ultra-malleable model made completely of gel material. Results are discussed regarding their strengths and weaknesses for educational purposes and articulatory training in speech pathology and language learning.

keywords: speech production, vocal-tract model, flexible tongue, gel-type material

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