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Related Concept Videos

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...
Auditory Perception01:17

Auditory Perception

The auditory system is essential for sound perception, utilizing various critical structures. When sound waves enter the outer ear, they travel through the ear canal and cause the eardrum to vibrate. These vibrations are then transmitted to the middle ear, where three tiny bones – the malleus, incus, and stapes – amplify the sound. This amplification is crucial, as it ensures that the sound vibrations are strong enough to be conveyed to the inner ear. These vibrations then reach the cochlea, a...
Perception of Sound Waves01:01

Perception of Sound Waves

The human ear is not equally sensitive to all frequencies in the audible range. It may perceive sound waves with the same pressure but different frequencies as having different loudness. Moreover, the perception of sound waves depends on the health of an individual's ears, which decays with age. The health of one's ears may also be affected by regular exposure to loud noises.
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same frequency...
The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
Anatomy of the Ear01:16

Anatomy of the Ear

Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...
The Auditory Ossicles01:11

The Auditory Ossicles

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The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 30, 2026

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
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Published on: September 27, 2024

Context-specific acoustic differences between Peruvian and Iberian Spanish vowels.

Kateřina Chládková1, Paola Escudero, Paul Boersma

  • 1Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication, University of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 210, 1012VT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. k.chladkova@uva.nl

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|July 27, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Peruvian Spanish (PS) vowels exhibit distinct acoustic properties compared to Iberian Spanish (IS), with differences in vowel formants and consonant /s/ effects. PS speakers also speak slower than IS speakers, and women speak slower than men.

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Last Updated: May 30, 2026

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
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fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
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fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals

Published on: May 23, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Phonetics and Phonology
  • Acoustic Analysis of Speech
  • Sociolinguistics

Background:

  • Understanding dialectal variations in Spanish pronunciation is crucial for linguistic research.
  • Acoustic properties of vowels can reveal subtle differences between regional dialects.
  • Previous research has not comprehensively compared the acoustic phonetics of Iberian Spanish and Peruvian Spanish monophthongal vowels.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and compare four acoustic properties (duration, F0, F1, F2) of monophthongal vowels in Iberian Spanish (IS) and Peruvian Spanish (PS).
  • To analyze the influence of consonantal (/s/, /f/, /t/, /p/, /k/) and phrasal contexts on these vowel properties.
  • To identify dialectal differences in speech rate and the acoustic properties of the consonant /s/.

Main Methods:

  • Acoustic measurements of monophthongal vowels were collected from 39 speakers (balanced by dialect and gender) from Madrid (IS) and Lima (PS).
  • Vowels were analyzed in various consonantal (/s/, /f/, /t/, /p/, /k/) and phrasal contexts (isolated words, sentence-internal).
  • Statistical analysis was performed to identify significant differences in acoustic properties between dialects, genders, and contexts.

Main Results:

  • Peruvian Spanish (PS) exhibits a lower first formant (F1) for vowel /a/ and more peripheral second-formant (F2) values for vowels /e/ and /o/ compared to Iberian Spanish (IS).
  • The consonant /s/ causes greater centralization of adjacent vowel F2 in IS than in PS.
  • PS speakers exhibit slower speech rates (approx. 9%) than IS speakers; women speak slower than men (approx. 5%) irrespective of dialect. The consonant /s/ has a higher spectral center of gravity in PS (approx. 10%).

Conclusions:

  • Significant acoustic differences exist in monophthongal vowels between Iberian Spanish and Peruvian Spanish, particularly in F1 and F2 values.
  • Consonantal context, specifically /s/, influences vowel acoustics differently across dialects.
  • Speech rate and the acoustic characteristics of /s/ also present dialectal and gender-based variations.