Preface

Summary

The study of speech is relevant to a variety of different fields such as psychology, linguistics, anthropology, primatology, electrical engineering, and computer science, as well as the fields of speech science and language pathology. In teaching introductory courses on the production and perception of speech, and on the procedures of acoustic phonetics and speech physiology, we have encountered students with very different academic backgrounds. Some of these students have had a working knowledge of the acoustics of speech, electrical circuit theory, experimental psychology, or the anatomy of the vocal tract. Many of our students, however, have had very little quantitative knowledge of physics, anatomy, or psychology. Others may be familiar with one area but are deficient in other aspects of the study of speech. We have felt for some time that there is a need for a text that guides students from different backgrounds to a quantitative understanding of speech without their having to take a two or three year sequence of specialized courses. This book thus provides a step-by-step introduction that starts with simple examples that put the subject into perspective. It ends with a detailed exposition of recent theories and data. The book assumes no knowledge of physics or mathematics beyond the high school level. The background that is necessary for understanding the physics of sound, the source-filter theory of speech production, and the principles that underlie electrical and computer models of speech production is presented in stages and is illustrated by means of simple examples. Problem sets are presented at the end of each chapter.