Analog Studies Of The Nasalization Of Vowels

Abstract

Nasal tract analogs and vocal tract analogs were coupled and studied physically. 24 undergraduate students at Emerson College and 10 graduate students or professional linguists listened to recordings of speech and evaluated the nasality in these various couplings. When the vowel / ae / is removed from consideration, responses of 34 listeners indicated that the perception of nasality correlates highly with certain aspects of the physical data. There is a differential reduction in the 1st formant amplitude, overall vowel level, introduction of anti-resonance, and nasality is perceived when major effects on spectrum of acoustic output reach appropriate magnitudes. Authors caution that the results obtained are from analogs only.