• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.105-110
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• 2002

This study compared nasalance in low pressure and high pressure consonants and high and low vowels. The subjects were 8 children with cleft palate ranging from 3 years 6 months to 8 years in age. The measurement were taken in terms of the nasalance scores associated with 20 different word stimuli (high consonants+high vowels, high consonants+low vowels, low consonants+high vowels, and low consonants+low vowels) for subjects. The nasalance scores may be affected by high consonants and vowels types, low vowels and consonants types.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

This study investigates how the phonological and phonetic information of vowels influences prosodic prominence among linguistically untrained listeners using public speech in American English. We first examined the speech material's phonetic realization of vowels (i.e., maximum F0, F0 range, phone rate [as a measure of duration considering the speech rate of the utterance], and mean intensity). Results showed that the high vowels /i/ and /u/ likely had the highest max F0, while the low vowels /æ/ and /ɑ/ tended to have the highest mean intensity. Both high and low vowels had similarly high phone rates. Next, we examined the effects of the vowels' phonological and phonetic information on listeners' perceptions of prosodic prominence. The results showed that vowels significantly affected the likelihood of perceived prominence independent of acoustic cues. The high and low vowels affected probability of perceived prominence less than the mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ʌ/, although the former two were more likely to be phonetically enhanced in the speech than the latter. Overall, these results suggest that perceptions of prosodic prominence in English are not directly influenced by signal-driven factors (i.e., vowels' acoustic information) but are mediated by expectation-driven factors (e.g., vowels' phonological information).

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.135-145
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• 2010

This study investigates the differences in mean F0, intensity, jitter, and shimmer across hearing aid, gender, and vowels. For this study, 18 hearing-impaired children, 18 cochlear implanted children, and 18 normal hearing children as a control group were asked to read seven Korean vowels (/$\alpha$, $\wedge$, o, u, w, i, $\varepsilon$/). Subjects' readings were recorded by NasalView and analyzed by Praat. Results showed that the means of F0 were significantly higher in the hearing impaired group than in the normal hearing group; in the female group than in the male group; and in high vowels than in low vowels. Second, intensity was significantly higher in the hearing impaired group than in the normal hearing group; in the female group than in the male group; and in low vowels than in high vowels. Third, jitter was significantly higher in the normal hearing group than in the hearing impaired group; in the female group than in the male group; and in back vowels than in front vowels. Finally, shimmer was significantly higher in the CI group than in the normal hearing group or the hearing aided group; in the male group than in the female group; and in low vowels than in high vowels.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.215-220
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• 2001

This study was done to find out the difference in vowel length between English produced by Americans and KATUSA soldiers. Though English pronunciation by Koreans shows different features in many ways, I focused on English vowel length of KATUSA soldiers. I wanted to know if English low vowels show a foreign accent by comparing vowel lengths in English produced by Americans and KATUSA soldiers. The reason I wanted to deal with English low vowels is that most Koreans have difficulty in pronouncing them. Therefore I selected three English low vowels, /$\{\ae}$, /c/, and/$\alpha$/, as the experimental object, and I tried to find out the foreign accent of them. In this study, I also tried to find out the vowel lengths in relation to their utterance positions and see the foreign accent of English low vowels. I investigated the difference of the English low vowels lengths between Americans and KATUSA soldiers using information gathered from experimental results.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.177-185
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• 2009

This study investigates the differences in mean F0, intensity, jitter and shimmer across hearing aid, gender and vowels. For this study, 20 hearing-impaired adults and 20 normal hearing adults as a control group were asked to read 7 Korean vowels(/$\alpha$, $\Lambda$, o, u, ɯ, i, $\varepsilon$/). Subjects' readings were recorded by NasalView and analyzed by Praat. Results showed that the means of F0 were significantly higher in the hearing impaired group(HL) than in the normal hearing group(NH), in the female group than in male group, and in high vowels than in low vowels. Second, intensity was significantly higher in the normal hearing group(NH) than in the hearing impaired group(HL), in male group than in female group, and in low vowels than in high vowels. Third, jitter was significantly higher in the normal hearing group(NH) than in the hearing impaired group(HL), and in female group than in male group and in the back vowels than in front vowels. Finally, shimmer was significantly higher in the normal hearing group(NH) than in the hearing impaired group(HL), and in male group than in female group. In particular, the male group showed that front vowels tend to have higher shimmer than back vowels.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.229-238
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• 2010

This study investigates the differences in acoustic parameters in vowel space across hearing loss, gender and vowels. The parameters include F1, F2, Euclidean Distance between vowels, and vowel triangular area comprised of /i/, /a/ and /u/. For this study, 20 hearing-impaired and normal hearing adults as a control group were asked to read 7 Korean vowels (/a, $\wedge$, o, u, w, i, $\varepsilon$/). Subjects' readings were recorded by NasalView and analyzed by Praat. Results showed that F1 were significantly higher in the hearing impaired group than in the normal hearing group, higher in the female group than in male group, and higher in low vowels than in high vowels. And the means of F2 was significantly higher in the hearing impaired group than in normal hearing group, higher in high vowels than in low vowels, and there was no difference between male and female group. Secondly, Euclidean distance between vowels was significantly shorter in the hearing-impaired group than in the normal group. Finally, acoustic vowel space area was significantly smaller in the hearing-impaired group than in the normal hearing group. The hearing-impaired group showed that front vowels tended to be backed and back vowels to be fronted.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.81-98
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• 2007

This study aims to investigate whether shortened vowel duration conditioned by a following voiceless stop induces phonetic reduction of vowel space in English, and whether the reduction appears more in the height dimension than in the backness dimension (Lindblom, 1963; Flemming, 2005). Fifteen native speakers of American English read minimal pairs containing ten American English vowels in [bVd] and [bVt] syllables in a carrier phrase. All the subjects produced shorter vowels in the voiceless than in the voiced context. However, a reduction in vowel space and a raising of low vowels due to the shortened vowel duration were generally not found. To the contrary, the speakers tended to exhibit even more lowering of low vowels in the voiceless context, and vowel space was more commonly compressed in the backness dimension than in the height dimension. Many speakers, in particular, demonstrated fronting of the high back vowel [u] in the voiceless context. It was interpreted that due to a relatively large number of English vowels in the narrower low vowel space, the raising of low vowels may give rise to confusion in vowel contrasts, and therefore the degree of phonetic vowel reduction is restricted in that region. On the other hand, the high vowel region, being relatively spacious in English, allows a certain degree of phonetic vowel reduction in the F2 dimension. It is possible that heavy requirements for maintaining vowel contrasts may cause speakers to overachieve vowel target values, especially when faced with vowels which are difficult to distinguish due to shortened vowel duration, leading to an over-lowering of the low vowels.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.81-89
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• 2014

Korean English learners tend to have difficulty perceiving and producing English vowels. The purpose of this study is to examine a link between perceived and produced vowel spaces of Korean learners of English. Sixteen Korean male and female participants perceived two sets of English synthetic vowels on a computer monitor and rated their naturalness. The same participants produced English vowels in a carrier sentence with high and low pitch variation in a clear speaking mode. The author compared the perceived and produced vowel spaces in terms of the pitch and gender variables. Results showed that the perceived vowel spaces were not significantly different in either variables. Korean learners perceived the vowels similarly. They did not differentiate the tense-lax vowel pairs nor the low vowels. Secondly, the produced vowel spaces of the male and female groups showed a 25% difference which may have come from their physiological differences in the vocal tract length. Thirdly, the comparison of the perceived and produced vowel spaces revealed that although the vowel space patterns of the Korean male and female learners appeared similar, which may lead to a relative link between perception and production, statistical differences existed in some vowels because of the acoustical properties of the synthetic vowels, which may lead to an independent link. The author concluded that any comparison between the perceived and produced vowel space of nonnative speakers should be made cautiously. Further studies would be desirable to examine how Koreans would perceive different sets of synthetic vowels.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.55-68
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• 2004

The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the relationship between English pronunciation and listening comprehension of English diphthongs and low vowels of Korean college students from the Chungnam and Gyungnam provinces. Of 22 test sentences for listening comprehension, 15 sentences were recorded by native speakers and seven sentences were edited from Springboard by Oxford University Press. For the listening comprehension test, 90 subjects from two groups, Chungnam dialect speakers and Gyungnam dialect speakers, were selected. They listened to 22 sentences produced by audio cassette tape and completed a cloze exercise. By the results of this experiment, we observed that Korean collegians of Gyungnam province showed a better listening comprehension of words including front low vowels when they preceded voiced sounds than those of Chungnam province. When the back low vowel came in an open syllable, we also recognized the same result; Gyungnam province collegians showed better listening comprehension of words including back low vowels than those of Chungnam province. As the results of Hee-Suk Park & Jung-Soak Kim(2003) showed that Gyungnam province collegians pronounced the English low vowels longer than Chungnam province collegians, we discovered that there was a positive relation between English pronunciation and listening comprehension, especially in Gyungnam province collegians. However regarding words including English diphthongs we discovered almost no relation between English pronunciation and listening comprehension.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.87-93
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• 2009

The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate and compare the vowel lengths of English diphthongs and low vowels among native-English-speaking Americans and Korean college exchange students. To do this eight words and sixteen sentences were uttered and recorded by nine subjects, five Korean subjects and four American subjects. Results showed that the vowel lengths of English low vowels between American subjects and Korean subjects were different, which may lead to foreign accent of Korean speakers. Comparing the average length of English low vowels of Korean subjects with those of American subjects, we can see that American subjects tend to pronounce the English low vowels longer than Korean subjects do. In the pronunciation of diphthongs /eI/ and /ou/, Korean subjects pronounced longer than American subjects did. However, in the pronunciation of diphthongs /au/, /aI/, and /ɔI/, American subjects pronounced longer than Korean subjects did.