Speech Analysis Synthesis and Perception


Book Description

The first edition of this book has enjoyed a gratifying existence. 1s sued in 1965, it found its intended place as a research reference and as a graduate-Ievel text. Research laboratories and universities reported broad use. Published reviews-some twenty-five in number-were universally kind. Subsequently the book was translated and published in Russian (Svyaz; Moscow, 1968) and Spanish (Gredos, S.A.; Madrid, 1972). Copies of the first edition have been exhausted for several years, but demand for the material continues. At the behest of the publisher, and with the encouragement of numerous colleagues, a second edition was begun in 1970. The aim was to retain the original format, but to expand the content, especially in the areas of digital communications and com puter techniques for speech signal processing. As before, the intended audience is the graduate-Ievel engineer and physicist, but the psycho physicist, phonetician, speech scientist and linguist should find material of interest.




Speech Spectrum Analysis


Book Description

The accurate determination of the speech spectrum, particularly for short frames, is commonly pursued in diverse areas including speech processing, recognition, and acoustic phonetics. With this book the author makes the subject of spectrum analysis understandable to a wide audience, including those with a solid background in general signal processing and those without such background. In keeping with these goals, this is not a book that replaces or attempts to cover the material found in a general signal processing textbook. Some essential signal processing concepts are presented in the first chapter, but even there the concepts are presented in a generally understandable fashion as far as is possible. Throughout the book, the focus is on applications to speech analysis; mathematical theory is provided for completeness, but these developments are set off in boxes for the benefit of those readers with sufficient background. Other readers may proceed through the main text, where the key results and applications will be presented in general heuristic terms, and illustrated with software routines and practical "show-and-tell" discussions of the results. At some points, the book refers to and uses the implementations in the Praat speech analysis software package, which has the advantages that it is used by many scientists around the world, and it is free and open source software. At other points, special software routines have been developed and made available to complement the book, and these are provided in the Matlab programming language. If the reader has the basic Matlab package, he/she will be able to immediately implement the programs in that platform---no extra "toolboxes" are required.




The Acoustic Analysis of Speech


Book Description

The Acoustic Analysis Of Speech presents essential information on modern methods for the acoustic analysis of speech. It assumes only a modest technical background and is intended for the reader who wants to know the basic issues in speech analysis but does not have an extensive background in engineering, physics or mathematics. The book discusses the basic methods for the acoustic analysis of speech in relation to (a) the acoustic theory of speech production and (b) measures of primary interest to speech scientists, speech-language pathologists, linguists, psychologists or others who are interested in the acoustic signal of speech. Readers will gain an understanding of theory, methods and databases pertaining to speech acoustics. The book offers a simple and straightforward explanation of all aspects of acoustic analysis from recording the signal, to analysis methods, to sources of data on phonetic and suprasegmental aspects of speech. Includes reference to acoustic data for several languages in addition to English. The book is written at a general introductory level for course in Speech Science; Speech Acoustics; Experimental Phonetics and Laboratory Instrumentation for Speech and Hearing.










Speech Acoustic Analysis


Book Description

The text sets out in simple and accessible terms the various methods of acoustic analysis of speech, placing them in their historical context, allowing a better understanding of the mathematical and technical solutions adopted today in phonetics and experimental phonology. Without mathematical complications, the operating bases of the many speech analysis software currently available are exposed so that everyone can understand the limits and avoid errors and misinterpretations in their implementation.




Expression in Speech


Book Description

This book is about the nature of expression in speech. It is a comprehensive exploration of how such expression is produced and understood, and of how the emotional content of spoken words may be analysed, modelled, tested, and synthesized. Listeners can interpret tone-of-voice, assess emotional pitch, and effortlessly detect the finest modulations of speaker attitude; yet these processes present almost intractable difficulties to the researchers seeking to identify and understand them. In seeking to explain the production and perception of emotive content, Mark Tatham and Katherine Morton review the potential of biological and cognitive models. They examine how the features that make up the speech production and perception systems have been studied by biologists, psychologists, and linguists, and assess how far biological, behavioural, and linguistic models generate hypotheses that provide insights into the nature of expressive speech. The authors use recent techniques in speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition as a test bed for models of expression in speech. Acknowledging that such testing presupposes a comprehensive computational model of speech production, they put forward original proposals for its foundations and show how the relevant data structures may be modelled within its framework. This pioneering book will be of central interest to researchers in linguistics and in speech science, pathology, and technology. It will also be valuable for behavioural and cognitive scientists wanting to know more about this vital and elusive aspect of human behaviour




Phonetic Analysis of Speech Corpora


Book Description

An accessible introduction to the phonetic analysis of speech corpora, this workbook-style text provides an extensive set of exercises to help readers develop the necessary skills to design and carry out experiments in speech research. Offers the first step-by-step treatment of advanced techniques in experimental phonetics using speech corpora and downloadable software, including the R programming language Introduces methods of analyzing phonetically-labelled speech corpora, with the goal of testing hypotheses that often arise in experimental phonetics and laboratory phonology Incorporates an extensive set of exercises and answers to reinforce the techniques introduced Accessibly written with easy-to-follow computer commands and spectrograms of speech Companion website at www.wiley.com/go/harrington, which includes illustrations, video tutorials, appendices, and downloadable speech corpora for testing purposes. Discusses techniques in digital speech processing and in structuring and querying annotations from speech corpora Includes substantial coverage of analysis, including measuring gestural synchronization using EMA, the acoustics of vowels, consonant overlap using EPG, spectral analysis of fricatives and obstruents, and the probabilistic classification of acoustic speech data




Free Speech on Campus


Book Description

Can free speech coexist with an inclusive campus environment? Hardly a week goes by without another controversy over free speech on college campuses. On one side, there are increased demands to censor hateful, disrespectful, and bullying expression and to ensure an inclusive and nondiscriminatory learning environment. On the other side are traditional free speech advocates who charge that recent demands for censorship coddle students and threaten free inquiry. In this clear and carefully reasoned book, a university chancellor and a law school dean—both constitutional scholars who teach a course in free speech to undergraduates—argue that campuses must provide supportive learning environments for an increasingly diverse student body but can never restrict the expression of ideas. This book provides the background necessary to understanding the importance of free speech on campus and offers clear prescriptions for what colleges can and can’t do when dealing with free speech controversies.




Speech Spectrum Analysis


Book Description

The accurate determination of the speech spectrum, particularly for short frames, is commonly pursued in diverse areas including speech processing, recognition, and acoustic phonetics. With this book the author makes the subject of spectrum analysis understandable to a wide audience, including those with a solid background in general signal processing and those without such background. In keeping with these goals, this is not a book that replaces or attempts to cover the material found in a general signal processing textbook. Some essential signal processing concepts are presented in the first chapter, but even there the concepts are presented in a generally understandable fashion as far as is possible. Throughout the book, the focus is on applications to speech analysis; mathematical theory is provided for completeness, but these developments are set off in boxes for the benefit of those readers with sufficient background. Other readers may proceed through the main text, where the key results and applications will be presented in general heuristic terms, and illustrated with software routines and practical "show-and-tell" discussions of the results. At some points, the book refers to and uses the implementations in the Praat speech analysis software package, which has the advantages that it is used by many scientists around the world, and it is free and open source software. At other points, special software routines have been developed and made available to complement the book, and these are provided in the Matlab programming language. If the reader has the basic Matlab package, he/she will be able to immediately implement the programs in that platform---no extra "toolboxes" are required.