Effects of consonant manner and vowel height on intraoral pressure and articulatory contact at voicing offset and onset for voiceless obstruents.

In obstruent consonants, a major constriction in the upper vocal tract yields an increase in intraoral pressure (P(io)). Phonation requires that subglottal pressure (P(sub)) exceed P(io) by a threshold value, so as the transglottal pressure reaches the threshold, phonation will cease. This work investigates how P(io) levels at phonation offset and onset vary before and after different German voiceless obstruents (stop, fricative, affricates, clusters), and with following high vs low vowels.

Speech production variability in fricatives of children and adults: results of functional data analysis.

This study investigates token-to-token variability in fricative production of 5 year olds, 10 year olds, and adults. Previous studies have reported higher intrasubject variability in children than adults, in speech as well as nonspeech tasks, but authors have disagreed on the causes and implications of this finding. The current work assessed the characteristics of age-related variability across articulators (larynx and tongue) as well as in temporal versus spatial domains.

Stop-consonant voicing and intraoral pressure contours in women and children.

Previous authors have established that stop consonant voicing is more limited in young children than adults, and have ascribed this to immature vocal-tract pressure management. Physical development relevant to speech aerodynamics continues into adolescence, suggesting that consonant voicing development may also persist into the school-age years. This study explored the relationship between stop consonant voicing and intraoral pressure contours in women, 5 year olds, and 10 year olds.