• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.14-24
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• 1992

This paper is a study on the consonant recognition using neural network. First, the part of consonant was separated from the sound of vowel and consonant by the use of acoustic parameter. The rate of length vs. zero crossing rate in the sound of consonant had been studied by dividing each consonant into several groups. Finally, for the purpose of consonant recognition, the composite neural network which consists of a control network and several sub-network is proposed. The control network identifies the group to which the input consonant belongs and the sub-network recognizes the consonant in each group.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.298-308
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• 2012

This study was designed to examine the phoneme recognition errors of hearing-impaired (HI) listeners on a consonant-by-consonant basis, to show (1) how each HI ear perceives individual consonants differently and (2) how standard clinical measurements (i.e., using a tone and word) fail to predict these differences. Sixteen English consonant-vowel (CV) syllables of six signal-to-noise ratios in speech-weighted noise were presented at the most comfortable level for ears with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The findings were as follows: (1) individual HI listeners with a symmetrical pure-tone threshold showed different consonant-loss profiles (CLPs) (i.e., over a set of the 16 English consonants, the likelihood of misperceiving each consonant) in right and left ears. (2) A similar result was found across subjects. Paired ears of different HI individuals with identical pure-tone threshold presented different CLPs in one ear to the other. (3) Paired HI ears having the same averaged consonant score demonstrated completely different CLPs. We conclude that the standard clinical measurements are limited in their ability to predict the extent to which speech perception is degraded in HI ears, and thus they are a necessary, but not a sufficient measurement for HI speech perception. This suggests that the CV measurement would be a useful clinical tool.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 2014

Intelligibility of speech transmitted to listeners can significantly be degraded in noisy environments such as in auditorium and in train station due to ambient noises. Noise-masked speech signal is hard to be recognized by listeners. Among the conventional methods to improve speech intelligibility, consonant-vowel intensity ratio (CVR) approach reinforces the powers of overall consonants. However, excessively reinforced consonant is not helpful in recognition. Furthermore, only some of consonants are improved by the CVR approach. In this paper, we propose the corrective weighting (CW) approach that reinforces the powers of consonants according to syllable-type such as consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC), consonant-vowel (CV) and vowel-consonant (VC) in Korean differently, considering the level of listeners' recognition. The proposed CW approach was evaluated by the subjective test, Comparison Category Rating (CCR) test of ITU-T P.800, showed better performance, that is, 0.18 and 0.24 higher than the unprocessed CVR approach, respectively.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2015

This study aims to compare the differences between 'consonant inventory size' and 'phonological variability' in order to examine the phonological development and characteristics of the late-talkers and typically developing expressive language agematched children and to consider the correlations between them. The study participants included fifteen late-talkers and fifteen typically developing expressive language age-matched children(TED group). The results are as follows. First, as regards consonant inventory size, there was a significant difference between late-talkers and TED group. The late-talkers' consonant inventory size was less than TED group. Second, as regards phonological variability, there was a significant difference between late-talkers and TED group. The late-talkers' phonological variability was higher than TED group. Third, in the case of late-talkers, there was no significant correlation between consonant inventory size and phonological variability; however in the case of TED group, there was a significant negative correlation between consonant inventory size and phonological variability. Therefore, phonological ability should be considered in evaluation and intervention of late-talkers.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.109-113
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• 2007

Second language learners' variable degree of production difficulty according to the cluster type has previously been accounted for in terms of sonority distance between adjacent segments. As an alternative to this previous model, I propose a Phonetically Based Consonant Cluster Acquisition Model (PCCAM) in which consonant cluster markedness is defined based on the articulatory and perceptual factors associated with each consonant sequence. The validity of PCCAM has been tested through Korean speakers' production of English consonant clusters.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.57-65
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• 2015

This study aimed to identify the development pattern of final stop consonant perception using the gating task. Sixty-four subjects participated in the study: 16 children aged 4 years, 16 children aged 5 years, 17 children aged 6 years, and 15 adults. One-syllable words with consonant-vowel-consonant(CVC) structure, mokㄱ-motㄱ and papㄱ-patㄱ were used as stimuli in order to remove the redundancy of acoustic cues in stimulus words, 40ms-length (-40ms) and 60ms-length (-60ms) from the entire duration of the final consonant were deleted. Three conditions (the whole word segment, -40ms, -60ms) were used for this speech perception experiment. 48 tokens (4 stimuli ${\times}3$ conditions ${\times}4$ trials) in total were provided for participants. The results indicated that 5 and 6 year olds showed final consonant perception similar to adults in stimuli, papㄱ-patㄱ and only the 6-year-old children showed perception similar to adults in stimuli, 'mokㄱ-motㄱ. The results suggested that younger typically developing children require more acoustic information to accurately perceive final consonants than older children and adults. Final consonant perception ability may become adult-like around 6 years old. The study provides fundamental data on the development pattern of speech perception in normal developing children, which can be used to compare to those of children with communication disorders.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.143-146
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• 2004

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the stem-final consonant clusters beginning with the liquid /ㄹ/ in Korean are realized in speech. Most scholars claim that the Korean stem-final consonant clusters are simplified and reduced to a stop consonant when pronounced. An attempt is made in this paper to verify the claim by conducting a series of listening tests and an acoustic analysis. The listening tests show that, contrary to the previous claims, some Koreans actually pronounce the stem-final consonant clusters as a whole. The result of the spectrographical study confirms our auditory observation. It has been found that the duration time taken by the stem-final consonant clusters is clearly longer when both consonants are pronounced than when only a liquid is pronounced. Similarly the vowel length of the previous syllable in the former is found to be longer in scale than the latter.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.145-155
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• 2013

This study investigated the articulatory characteristics of Korean singleton and geminate sonorants in the word-medial position, effects of the duration of the sonorant consonant and the preceding vowel on perception, and the difference between native Korean speakers and foreign learners of Korean in perceiving the singleton and geminate consonant contrast. The Korean sonorant consonants(/m, n, l/) are examined from the VCCV, VCV sequences through speech production and perception experiments. The results suggest that the duration of the sonorant consonant is the most important factor for native Korean speakers to recognize whether sonorants are overlapped, and the duration of preceding vowel and other factors affect the recognition of singleton/geminate consonant contrast if the duration is not obvious. A perception experiment showed Chinese Korean language learners did not clearly distinguish singleton consonants from geminate consonants. The results of this study provide basic data for recognition of singleton/geminate consonant contrast in word-medial of Korean language, and can be utilized for teaching Korean pronunciation as a foreign language.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.155-157
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• 2007

Objective : There are close relationship between intraoral abnormal structure and speech-functional problem. Patients with cleft palate & ankyloglossia are typical examples. Patients with abnormal structure can be repaired toward normal structure by operation. Ankyloglossia may cause functional limitation - for example, speech disorder - even if adequate surgical treatment were done. And, each individuals have each speech disorders. The objective of this study is to evaluate the speechs of childrens with ankyloglossia, and to determine whether ankyloglossia is associated with articulation problem. We wanted to present criteria for indication of frenectomy. Study design The experimental group is composed of 10 childrens who visited our department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, dental hospital, Chonbuk university, due to ankyloglossia and articulation problem,. The average age is 5 Y 7M, M : F ratio is 4 : 1 at the time of speech test. The VPI consonant discrimination degree, PPVT, PCAT, Nasometer II, Visi-Pitch test result were obtained from each group. Result : There was significant difference for 'language development' through PPVT. Except 3 members of experimental group, all remainder showed retardation for 'language development'. For 'errored consonant rate', data showed more higher scores in alveolar consonant. There 'consonant error' in experimental group, mostly showed 'alveolar consonant', also a major modality of 'consonant error' was mostly distortion. Conclusion : We can judge the severity of ankyloglossia patient by examinig language development degree & speech test of 'alveolar consonant' . And we can make a decision for frenulotomy using these results.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2014

This study investigated whether Korean vowels, /ɨ/ and /u/, are distinctively perceived after a labial consonant given the fact that native and Sino-Korean nouns showed only vowel /u/ after a labial consonant while this pattern was massively broken by the recent introduction of loanwords. For this purpose, a perception experiment was conducted with $V_1C_1V_2$ sequences in which different vowels /a, i, u/ and consonants /p, t, k/ occurred in $V_1$ and $C_1$ before the target $V_2$, /ɨ/ and /u/. The data was produced by six speakers each from two different age groups, Age20 and Age40/50 in the read speech style. The results showed that consonant /p/ attracted significantly more responses of /u/ from /VCɨ/ sequences and significantly less responses of /u/ from /VCu/ sequence than the other consonants did in both age groups. Furthermore, Age20 group showed significantly less percentage of /u/ responses than Age40 group when the preceding consonant was /p/ regardless of the target vowel. We suggest therefore that unlike the traditional belief of labial assimilation, there is neutralization after a labial consonant in which vowels /ɨ/ and /u/ are often realized as any sound between two vowels, /ɨ/ and /u/. That is, this vowel change is not categorial but it rather produces an ambiguous stimulus which attracts different responses from different listeners. Ambiguous stimulus was produced due to coarticulatory efforts in speech production and perceptual compensation. We also argue that there is generational difference such that Age40/50 group speakers showed stronger tendency to produce /u/ after a labial consonant regardless of whether the target vowel was /ɨ/ or /u/.