Date of Award
8-1990
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. James M. Hillenbrand
Second Advisor
Dr. John M. Hanley
Third Advisor
Dr. Michael J. Clark
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
This investigation was a replication and extension of Peterson and Barney’s (1952) research on the acoustics and perception of vowels. This study explored the acoustic characteristics of 12 vowels produced by 50 men, 50 women and 41 children. Speech samples were tape recorded as subjects read lists of words and isolated vowels. Speech samples were digitized. Speech waveforms, spectrograms and formant frequencies were examined and measured.
The average formant frequency values were similar but not identical to the values reported by Peterson and Barney (1952). The largest discrepancy between the two studies was the degree of overlap among vowel categories, which was much larger in the present study.
Recommended Citation
Getty, Laura Arlene, "Acoustic Characteristics of Vowels Produced by Men, Women and Children" (1990). Masters Theses. 1042.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1042