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Vocal tract area functions from magnetic resonance imaging
B H Story1, I R Titze, E A Hoffman
1Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|July 1, 1996
Summary
This study presents 3-D vocal tract shapes for vowels and consonants using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The generated area functions offer insights into speaker-specific vocal tract configurations for speech modeling.
Area of Science:
- Acoustic phonetics
- Speech production
- Biomedical imaging
Background:
- Limited direct 3-D vocal tract shape data exists despite extensive modeling research.
- Understanding vocal tract geometry is crucial for accurate speech synthesis and analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To acquire speaker-specific, 3-D vocal tract air space shapes for vowels and consonants.
- To create a catalogue of vocal tract area functions derived from direct measurements.
Main Methods:
- Utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to capture vocal tract shapes.
- Analyzed 3-D MRI data to generate cross-sectional area functions along the vocal tract centerline.
- Obtained 18 distinct vocal tract shapes for a male subject producing vowels, nasals, and plosives.
Main Results:
- A catalogue of 18 speaker-specific vocal tract area functions was created.
- Simulations using acquired area functions showed reasonable formant similarity to natural speech.
- Comparisons with prior studies revealed general similarities but also notable differences due to methodology and anatomy.
Conclusions:
- The study provides valuable 3-D vocal tract shape data for speech research.
- Findings suggest potential centralization in the measured vocal tract shapes.
- Direct 3-D measurements offer a valuable complement to existing vocal tract models.