The role of anatomical factors in speech production: towards the speaker-independent articulatory model.

这项研究的总体目标是提高我们对发音控制中说话人之间的变异性的理解。除了理论上的重要性，这一知识还具有许多重要的实践意义。其中包括为语音识别和合成开发一个不依赖于说话者的模型，以及创建一个可用于跨语言和语音产生培训研究的综合语音运动参考数据库。*本应用程序的具体焦点是语音产生可变性背后的解剖学因素。提出这一问题的原因是，文献中缺乏关于口腔和舌头大小、头骨形态和颌骨长度等因素与言语和口腔运动特征之间存在关系的一致意见。在这项研究中，我们将探讨以下问题：(1)说话人是否可以根据他们的口腔解剖学指标进行分类？(2)具有相似解剖结构的说话人在言语中是否表现出相似的发音运动模式？(3)在说话过程中，解剖变异是否会导致舌颌协调和发音策略的不同。*将使用计算机辅助的侧位头影测量获得60名成年人的解剖数据。不同复杂性(例如，音节对短语)、风格(例如，快、慢、清晰)和非语音任务(例如，最大张嘴)的大语料库将使用电磁发音描述术来记录。解剖学测量(例如，舌头大小、下巴和下颌的大小和形状)将用于聚类分析，以将说话者分组。运动学测量将包括那些将发音运动作为一个整体(例如，发音工作空间、运动动态范围)、特定声音(例如，发音位置变异性)和音节/短语特定测量(例如，平均运动速度、峰值速度、运动持续时间和范围)的测量。它们将与解剖学测量相关联，并在不同解剖组别的说话者之间进行比较。*这项研究将是第一次全面检查发音器官解剖维度的可变性，以及它们在大量说话者的语音运动可变性中所起的作用。这项工作的结果将导致识别语音产生中普遍存在的“规范”发音参数，并促进非特定人发音模型的发展。

The overall goal of this research is to improve our understanding of inter-speaker variability in articulatory control of speech. Along with the theoretical importance, this knowledge has a number of important practical implications. These include the development of a speaker-independent model for speech recognition and synthesis and creation of a comprehensive speech movement reference database that can be used in cross-linguistic and speech production training studies. *** The specific focus of this application is on the anatomical factors underlying speech production variability. This line of enquiry is motivated by the lack of agreement in the literature on the existence of a relationship between factors such as oral cavity and tongue size, skull morphology and jaw length with speech and oral movement characteristics. In this study we will pursue the following questions: (1) Can a speaker be classified based on measures of their oral anatomy? (2) Do speakers with similar anatomies show similar articulatory movement patterns in speech? and (3) Does anatomic variability contribute to differences in tongue-jaw coordination and articulatory strategies during speaking. *** Anatomic data will be obtained from 60 adults using computer-aided lateral cephalometry. A large corpus of speech of different complexity (e.g., syllable to phrase to paragraph), style (e.g., fast, slow, clear) and non-speech tasks (e.g., maximum mouth opening) will be recorded using electromagnetic articulography. Anatomic measurements (e.g., tongue size, jaw and mandible size and shape) will be used in a cluster analysis to classify speakers into groups. Kinematic measures will include those focused on articulatory movements as a whole (e.g., articulatory working space, motion dynamic range), sound specific (e.g., articulatory position variability), and syllable/phrase specific measures (e.g., average movement speed, peak speed, movement duration, and range). They will be correlated to the anatomic measurements and compared between speakers in different anatomic groups. *** This research will be among first to comprehensively examine the variability in the anatomical dimensions of articulators and their role in speech movement variability in a large cohort of speakers. The outcome of this work will lead to identification of “canonical” articulatory parameters in speech production common across speakers and facilitate the development of the speaker-independent articulatory model of speech production.