• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.521-528
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• 1996

This presentation explores on the perceptual characteristics of the lateral sound /l/ in CV syllables. At initial position we found that /l/ has well marked formant transitions. Then several questions arise: 1) are these formant structures dependent on the following vowel\ulcorner. 2) Are the formant transitions giving an additional cue for the identification\ulcorner Considering that the French vocalic system presents a greater variety of vowels than Spanish, several experiments were designed to verify to what extent a more extensive range of vocalic timbres contribute to the perception of /l/. Natural emissions of /l/ produced in Argentine Spanish and Canadian French CV syllables were recorded, where V was successively /i, e, a, o, u/ for Spanish and /i, e, $\varepsilon$, a, $\alpha$, o, u, y, \phi$/ for French. For each item, the segment C was maintained and V was replaced by cutting & splicing by each of the remaining vowels without transitions. Results of the identification tests for Spanish show that natural /l/ segments with low Fl and high formants F3, F4 can be clearly identified in the /i, e, u/ vowel contexts without transitions. For French subjects the combination of /l/ with a vowel without transitions reflected correct identifications for its own original vowel context in /e, $\varepsilon$, y, $\phi$/. For both languages, in all these combinations, F1 values remained rather steady along the syllable. In the case of /o, u/ very likely the F2 difference lead to a variety of perceptions of the original /l/. For example in Ilul, French subjects reported some identifications of /l/ as a vowel, mainly /y/. Our observations reinforce the importance of F1 as a relevant cue for /l/, and the incidence of the relative distance between formants frequencies of both components.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.957-963
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• 2007

In this paper, Nonlinear Autoregressive (NAR) method based on Least Square-Support Vector Regression (LS-SVR) is introduced and tested for nonlinear sustained vowel modeling. In the database of total 43 sustained vowel of Benign Vocal Fold Lesions having aperiodic waveform, this nonlinear synthesizer near perfectly reproduced chaotic sustained vowels, and also conserved the naturalness of sound such as jitter, compared to Linear Predictive Coding does not keep these naturalness. However, the results of some phonation are quite different from the original sounds. These results are assumed that single-band model can not afford to control and decompose the high frequency components. Therefore multi-band model with wavelet filterbank is adopted for substituting single band model. As a results, multi-band model results in improved stability. Finally, nonlinear sustained vowel modeling using NAR based on LS-SVR can successfully reconstruct synthesized sounds nearly similar to original voiced sounds.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.326-336
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• 2022

This study aims to examine Korean learners' production of American English vowel focused on feature analysis. Specifically, the present study adopts feature analysis so that vowel production is analyzed in terms of vowel features as well as overall segmental accuracy. To this end, 22 Korean college students participated in a production test which contained 11 English vowels /i, ɪ, eɪ, ɛ, æ, ɑ, oʊ, ɔ, ʊ, u, ʌ/. The results revealed that the degree of difficulty varied depending on features; the Korean participants showed higher accuracy for front/back features than for tongue height features and tense/lax features. In particular, the participants had more difficulty producing back vowels and non-high vowels than front vowels and high vowels with respect to tongue height features and lip rounding features. Among the individual vowels, /eɪ/ showed the highest accuracy in feature analysis. On the other hand, /ɑ, ɔ, ʌ/ showed low accuracy with respect to height features and lip rounding features, and high vowels /i, ʊ, u/ showed low accuracy with respect to tense/lax features. As for the correlation between the vowel features, tongue height features and lip rounding features are significantly correlated. Also, tongue height features and tense/lax features showed a strong correlation. Finally, pedagogical implications for teaching English vowels were further discussed based on the findings of the current study.

• KIISE Transactions on Computing Practices
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.69-76
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• 2016

With the recent increase of the interest in IoT in almost all areas of industry, computing technologies have been increasingly applied in human environments such as houses, buildings, cars, and streets; in these IoT environments, speech recognition is being widely accepted as a means of HCI. The existing server-based speech recognition techniques are typically fast and show quite high recognition rates; however, an internet connection is necessary, and complicated server computing is required because a voice is recognized by units of words that are stored in server databases. This paper, as a successive research results of speech recognition algorithms for the Korean phonemic vowel 'ㅏ', 'ㅓ', suggests an implementation of speech recognition algorithms for the Korean phonemic vowel 'ㅣ'. We observed that almost all of the vocal waveform patterns for 'ㅣ' are unique and different when compared with the patterns of the 'ㅏ' and 'ㅓ' waveforms. In this paper we propose specific waveform patterns for the Korean vowel 'ㅣ' and the corresponding recognition algorithms. We also presents experiment results showing that, by adding neural-network learning to our algorithm, the voice recognition success rate for the vowel 'ㅣ' can be increased. As a result we observed that 90% or more of the vocal expressions of the vowel 'ㅣ' can be successfully recognized when our algorithms are used.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2000.07a
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• pp.86-87
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• 2000

In this paper, we discuss why two different surface forms appear in loanwords for English and German /${\int}$/ In Korean, a vowel is inserted into loanwords if a consonant cannot be properly syllabified. Therefore, /${\int}$/ in some positions of loanwords trigger vowel insertion. Interestingly, /${\int}$/s in the onset cluster of English and German words were borrowed in Korean as Iful with the inserted vowel [u] whereas If Is in the coda position of English and German words were borrowed as Ifil with the inserted vowel [i]. For example, 'shrimp' is adopted as [${\int}urimphi$] whereas 'rush' is adopted as [$ra{\int}i$]. In this paper, we attempt to find out the phonetic reason for the distribution of the surface forms of /${\int}$/. We assume that since the formant frequency of [i] is higher than that of [u], the peak frequency of /${\int}$/ with the surface form of [${\int}$i] in loanwords may be higher than that of /${\int}$/ with the surface form of [${\int}u$]. We also assume that duration may be another factor for the distribution of [${\int}i$] and [${\int}u$]. Since /${\int}$/ and /u/ use lip rounding whereas /i/ doesn't, the duration for [${\int}i$] might be longer than that of [${\int}u$]. German supports our assumption. /${\int}$/ in the onset cluster is longer than /${\int}$/ in the coda position. It also has higher peak frequency than that of /${\int}$/ in the coda position. In loanwords, ${\int}$ in the onset cluster is borrowed as [${\int}u$] as in Spiegel whereas /${\int}$/ in the coda position is borrowed as [${\int}i$] as in Bosch. English, however, does not support our assumption. Peak frequency of [${\int}$] depends on the preceding vowel, not on its position in the syllable structure. If the preceding vowel is front, then the peak freuency of the following of the following /${\int}$/ is high but if the preceding vowel is back, than the peak frequency of the following /${\int}$/ is low. The peak frequency of /${\int}$/ in the onset cluster seems to be in between. As we assumed, however, the duration of /${\int}$/ in the coda position is longer than of /${\int}$/ in the onset cluster. With the mixed results, we question whether Koreans really hear two different xounds for /${\int}$/ in English words. For the future experiment, we would like to perform the perception tet for /${\int}$/ in English words.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.71-78
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to compare the acoustic voice outcomes of children with cochlear implant to those of children with normal hearing. Participants were 41 children using unilateral cochlear implant (18 males and 23 females), and children with normal hearing from the same age and sex. Mean age of implantation was approximately 3 years old, mean duration of implant use was 4 years in CI group. Acoustic analyses were performed using MDVP of CSL. Speech samples were 3 sustained vowels, /a, i, u/. 9 parameters (F0, Fhi, Flo, Jitter, Shimmer, vF0, vAm, NHR, and SPI) were analyzed. Children with CI did not show the significant differences in those parameters after the vowel /a/ phonation. Meanwhile, there were significantly different results in F0, Fhi, vF0, and SPI after /i, u/ phonation. These results revealed that differences of voice characteristics in children with CI compare to children with NH persist regarding vowel context. It suggests that high vowels would recommend as speech samples for acoustic evaluation. Futhermore perceptual analysis and speech therapy for phonation control would be necessary for children with CI.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2002

Speech characteristics of patients with cleft palates are resonance disorders, articulatory disorders and voice disorders. The purpose of this study is to find the acoustic, physiological and articulatory characteristics of cleft palate speakers. Thirteen control groups and 3 cleft palate patients participated in this experiment. Test words were composed of simple vowels and consonants imbedded in low vowel /a/, /p 'ap'i/ and /sasi/ according to the evaluation experiments. CSL, Video fluoroscopy, Fiberscope and Nasometer were used to analyze VOT, vowel formants, profiles of articulator, VP port images and nasalance. The results are as follows : (1) The nasalance of cleft palate patients in the high vowel /i/, stop sounds and fricative sounds were 60%, 34.8% and 44.1%, respectively. These values were higher than those of the control group. (2) Posterior articulatory movements /k'a/ in patients with cleft palates showed backward movement in comparison with the control group on Video Fluoroscopic images and palatograms. These results suggested that patients with cleft palate have the compensatory oral sounds to close the VP port. (3) The VOT in patients with cleft palates was longer than that of the control group.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.107-115
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• 2015

In this paper English word-final /s/ and /z/ produced by English and Korean speakers were investigated. The durations and maximum intensities of these fricatives with those of their preceding vowels were compared. In the English speakers' productions, they relied on the ratio of the durations of them as well as the ratio of the maximum intensities of them. In their productions, the /s/ was long in duration and high in maximum intensity and its preceding vowel was short in duration whereas the /z/ was short in duration and low in maximum intensity and its preceding vowel was long in duration. However, the maximum intensities of the preceding vowels were not different in their productions. But in the Korean speakers' productions, they relied on neither the ratio of the durations of them nor the ratio of the maximum intensities of them. In their productions, the /s/ and the /z/ were not different in durations, but the duration of the preceding vowel of the /s/ was shorter than that of /z/, and the maximum intensities of the /s/ and /z/ as well as their preceding vowels were not different. Based on these results we can conclude that in distinguishing /CVs/ and /CVz/ words, English speakers used durations and intensities of the word-final fricatives in addition to durations of the vowels whereas Koreans used only durations of the vowels.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.171-184
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• 2013

This study investigated the devoicing rate of Japanese high vowels, focusing on regional and generational differences by acoustically analyzing vowels from two large speech databases. The first speech database used in this study was collected between 1986 and 1988 from 41 areas (prefectures) which included 607 participants (299 high school students and 308 their grandparents). The second was taken from a 2006-2007 collection from seven areas as a follow-up investigation to the first database consisting of 463 participants ranging in age from 8-90 year olds. The results revealed there is a generational as well as regional difference in the devoicing rate in almost all areas. Based on those results, a new distribution map reflecting a current devoicing rate of the younger generation was presented. Furthermore, by comparing the two data sets, this study confirmed age difference in the devoicing rate is not age-grading but a sound change in progress. This study discusses the social factors for changes in the devoicing rate of some areas and then applies the devoicing rate of five areas to an S-curve model to predict the future devoicing rate.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2004

The aim of this study is to reveal the order and the age of mastery of phonemic contrast in vowel sounds of Korean. For this purpose, we made an observation of the correspondences between the sounds produced by children of 12-35 months and the target sounds produced by adults. The provisional order and the age of contrast acquisition shown from the results of this study are as follows. First, the differential production of vowels by the feature relating to the body of the tongue precedes the differential production of vowels by the feature relating to the lip rounding. Second, as for the differential production of vowels by the feature relating to the body of the tongue, the contrast between the low vowels and the others is accomplished first, and the contrast between the high and low vowels and the contrast between the front and the back vowels are established around the age of 24 months. Third, as for the differential production of vowels by the feature relating to the lip rounding, the contrast between the rounded and the unrounded vowel is not accomplished until 36 months. Finally, we observed, prior to the completion of the differential production of phonemes, children use a specific phoneme excessively. This passing phrase could be interpreted as a result of over-application of a distinctive feature in the course of acquisition of it.