Speech Science Primer

Offering a balanced, elementary approach to the subject, this study examines evolution of speech and language; pioneers of the field; and instrumentation. It presents a unified approach and a comprehensive treatment of speech perception.

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Providing a comprehensive view of speech science for beginning speech majors, this text gives a thorough yet understandable look at the production, acoustics and perception of speech. It treats basic areas of speech science, such as basic speech acoustics, instrumentation and speech perception with regard to theories and practical applications. This third edition presents recent versions of theories of speech motor control and perception. It takes into account many of the advances and changes in devices and techniques since 1983, especially with regard to the use of computers. The sections on theories of speech perception and research tools have been revised, updated and reorganized. Some figures have been redrawn and new figures added, to show the relationships between tongue positions, glottal stops and oral articulation, and array of techniques and instruments available for studying speech production. Due to the broad perspective taken, the work could also serve as a reference text for graduate students.