ASA 130th Meeting - St. Louis, MO - 1995 Nov 27 .. Dec 01

2aSC25. Organization of acoustic singularities in running speech.

Charles Andrew Harsin

Kerry P. Green

Natl. Ctr. for Neurogenic Commun. Disord., Tucson, AZ 85721

Investigating speech rhythm by examining an utterance's syllabic-beat organization seems natural, but is problematic. An utterance must first be divided into syllables, then each syllable's beat must be located through mathematical modeling or the collection of subjects' judgments. This study approaches the problem in a more straightforward way by examining the organization of singularities, specifically acoustic envelope amplitude and amplitude rate-of-change maxima, in the acoustic speech wave. These acoustic features are the basis for some acoustic models of syllabic beat location, and so are plausible candidates for more directly measurable correlates of speech rhythm. So far, qualitative analyses suggest that these acoustic features are organized in a quasiperiodic manner which is neither strictly periodicity nor random and that is similar to the organization found in the behaviors of other physical and biological systems. Quantitative analyses will be discussed that further specify the organization of the data. [Work supported by National Multipurpose Research and Training Center Grant DC-01409 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.]