Abstract

A variety of tools and techniques have been developed to measure the movements of the vocal tract, specifically of the tongue and lips. In recent years, computer technology has allowed for extensive exploration of these precise movements and for the development of speech recognition systems. However, there has been relatively little work on the combination of visible facial movements and internal articulatory activity. In this study, two different technologies were used to explore the internal and external movements of speech production in eight speakers: palatometry quantified tongue contact patterns and computerized video image analysis was used to derive lip shape parameters. Results showed that the lip measures used here cannot predict the identity of phonemes in all speakers as well as the tongue contact patterns can. Results also indicated that the data from lip measures were strongly influenced by who the speaker was, whereas the palatometric data were not. These results suggest that more variation exists in lip shape than in tongue contact patterns during speech production. Understanding more about lip measures and vocal tract movement during speech production may potentially benefit the area of speechreading; however, more research is needed to refine the procedures used.

Degree

MS

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Communication Disorders

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2005-08-05

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd984

Keywords

lip shape, palatography, measures, speechreading, speech, video analysis

Language

English

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