Evelyn Abberton

Intonation and speaker identification.

The work described investigated the ability of listeners to identify familiar speakers solely on the basis of suprasegmental laryngeal information. The results of perceptual experiments using both natural stimuli, and synthetic stimuli with manipulations in the time and frequency domains, show that mean fundamental frequency and fundamental-frequency contour shape provide important speaker identifying information for an age-, sex- and accent- matched group even in the absence of all supraglottal features. The investigation is set in the context of the normalisation level of speech perception.

Laryngograph: speech pattern element tools for therapy, training and assessment

The clinically based, real-time analysis of speech into physically definable elements, which are of direct perceptual and productive importance, has become more readily possible in recent years as the result of microprocessor developments. The combination of the acoustic signal of speech derived from a microphone together with the accompanying Laryngograph signal provides the basis for a highly reliable set of facilities. The paper describes methods and results for the analysis of voice, frication and timbre for both quantitative analysis and teaching and therapy using interactive visual displays. A brief discussion is given of links to work in stroboscopy, electropalatography and the associated use of additional sensors. Finally reference is made to a complete clinical work station combining these different facilities together with the quantitative analytical procedures of the speech pattern audiometer.

Hearing and phonetic criteria in voice measurement: Clinical applications

Quantitative clinical voice analysis is discussed with special reference to four factors: 1) measurement criteria that are based on well established auditory parameters; 2) voice material that is modelled on the connected speech of ordinary spoken communication rather than sustained vowels; 3) direct monitoring so as to provide both acoustic and vocal fold contact signals; and 4) phonetic structural similarities across what are ordinarily regarded as highly dissimilar languages. These factors have motivated the development and clinical application of physical analyses that provide measurements related both to vocal fold function and to the perceptual attributes of pitch, loudness, and an important aspect of voice quality.

Health and voice quality in smokers: an exploratory investigation.

Thirty-two adults (20 smokers and 12 non-smokers) were examined to determine the effects of cigarette smoking on health (diseases and larynx histology), on fundamental frequency (regularity and jitter) and stress level. The examination consisted of nasovideostroboscopy analysis, history case, electrolaryngography assessment for different task performance and self-assessment of stress. Although not statistically different, results indicate that smokers in comparison to non-smokers show: 1) slightly more health problems; 2) histological larynx changes; 3) a higher level of stress; 4) a lower mean F0 for all speech tasks. A statistically significant difference for percentage jitter was found according to voice status for: 1) vowel [a] (the group with voice problems show higher levels of jitter than both groups without voice problems); 2) vowel [i] (the smokers with voice problems show higher levels of jitter than the smokers without voice problems).

Speech perception with promontory stimulation.

The present work of the EPI e group is characterized by a combination of four features. First, our patients are essentially all adults who have had largely normal speech communication ability prior to total bilateral loss of hearing. Second, the electrical stimulation that we use to give them a new sensation of hearing is always applied externally at the round window or on the cochlear promontory by means of a single active electrode. Third, the information that is transmitted along this single channel is designed to give maximum assistance to the deaf lipreader and is organized in terms of speech pattern components rather than the whole speech signal. These speech pattern components can be used separately or in combination, and are transformed to match the patient’s electrical hearing. Finally, our program of rehabilitation involves work with the patient’s speaking ability as well as the new sensation of hearing, and quantitative measures of both speech and hearing are made routinely.

Patterns of phonological disability in Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong.

Tone, vowel and consonant production are described for a large group of Cantonese-speaking children assessed in speech and language therapy clinics in Hong Kong. The patterns of disability follow predictions made on the basis of work on normal phonological development in Cantonese, and on psychoacoustic factors in acquisition: consonants account for more disability than vowels, and tones are least problematic. Possible articulatory and auditory contributions to explanation of the observed patterns are discussed.

Laryngographic Analysis and Intonation

Intonation and voice quality are studied for a variety of reasons by workers in a wide range of often overlapping disciplines. Psychologists and psychiatrists may use these features to obtain information about the personality and psychological state of patients. See for example, Pittenger (1957), McQuown (1957) and Hockett et al. (i960). Physiologists, neurologists and clinicians, among others, are concerned to establish the mechanisms involved in phonation and pitch change (see Harris, Sawashima). Linguists and phoneticians analyse the systematic use of intonation and voice quality in language - their grammatical, semantic and social roles - and seek to establish their perceptual and physiological correlates. Crystal (1969), Halliday (1967), Fry (1958), Chan (1971), Fourcin (1968).

The development of contrastiveness in profoundly deaf children's speech

This paper presents some of the results from a study of certain perceptual and productive characteristics of the speech of a group of 16 severely-profoundly deaf children over a period of 4 years who formed a complete class in an oral school. The extent to which they follow a normal pattern of development is discussed.

Some laryngographic data for Korean stops

The purpose of this note is to present and discuss more direct data than has hitherto been available on the vibration of the vocal folds following the release of Korean stops.

Phonetic considerations in the design of voice assessment material

A read text is commonly used in voice clinics for auditory perceptual evaluation of dysphonic voices and acoustic analysis. This paper examines the phonetic make-up of texts in several European languages to investigate their comparability in the frameworks of international, multi-lingual clinical studies, and the need for outcome measures in evidence-based practice. The preliminary work described investigates the complex notion of phonetic balancing. It shows that, despite very different phoneme inventories, certain similarities of sound-type usage appear cross-linguistically. Although this high level analysis is of interest and of potential practical use, because of linguistic and speaker-dependent contextual variation, more fine-grained phonetic and acoustic analyses are needed.