Speaker-specific information in the acoustic characteristics of English fricatives
Keywords:
speaker-specificity, sibilants, forensic speaker comparison, dynamic features, static features
Abstract
There is still much to learn about speakers’ similarities and differences in the field of Forensic Phonetics with respect to consonant acoustics. This article analyses of acoustic features of three sibilants /s, z, ʃ/ in British English. The analyses have been carried out on twenty male speakers from the DyViS corpus focusing on static features (intensity, centre of gravity, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) and dynamic features (centre of gravity depending on F2 vowel onset and offset) to see if they cue speaker-specific information. The results obtained demonstrate the high speaker-specificity of centre of gravity, standard deviation and intensity. However, we must be careful with intensity because it depends on the recording circumstances. As for skewness and kurtosis, they show speaker-specificity for /z/, but results are weaker the other two. This article has shown that spectral and acoustic properties of these three sibilants in English present promising results.
References
Balise, R., & Diehl, R. (1994). Some Distributional Facts about Fricatives and a Perceptual Explanation. Phonetica, 51(1–3), 99-110.
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2017). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.35, retrieved 24 October 2017 from http://www.praat.org/
Coulthard, M. (2004). Author Identification, Idiolect and Linguistic Uniqueness. Applied linguistics, 25(4), 431-447.
Delattre, P.C., Liberman, A.M. & Cooper, F.S. (1995). Acoustic loci and transitional cues for consonants. Journal of Acoustic Society of America. 27, 769-773.
Fry, D. (1979). The Physics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Glass, J., & Zue, V.W. (1984). Acoustic characteristics of nasal consonants in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,76(S1), S15.
Haley, K.L., Seelinger, E., Callahan Mandulak, K. & Zajac, D.J. (2010). Evaluating the spectral distinction between sibilant fricatives through a speaker-centered approach. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 548-554.
Hughes, G., & Halle, M. (1956). Spectral Properties of Fricative Consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 28(2), 303-310.
Hussain, Q., Proctor, M., Harvey, M., & Demuth, K. (2017). Acoustic characteristics of Punjabi retroflex and dental stops. Journal of The Acoustical Society of America,141(6), 4522-4542.
Jongman, A. (1989). Duration of frication noise required for identification of English fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 85(4), 1718-1725.
Jongman, A., Wayland, R., & Wong, S. (2000). Acoustic characteristics of English fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 108(3), 1252-1263.
Kavanagh, C. (2012). New Consonantal Acoustic Parameters for Forensic Speaker Comparison, PQDT - UK & Ireland.
Lindblom, B. (1963). The pursuit of invariance in speech signals. Journal of Acoustic Society of America. 77, 1199-1202.
Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McDougall K. & Nolan, F. (2007) Discrimination of speakers using the formant dynamics of /u:/ in British English. In J. Trouvain and W. Barry (eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 6-10 August 2007, Saarbrücken, (pp. 1825-1828).
Munson, B. (2004). Variability in /s/ production in children and adults: Evidence from dynamic measures of spectral mean. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(1), 58-69.
Nirgianaki, E. (2014). Acoustic characteristics of Greek fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 135(5), 2964-2976.
Nolan F., McDougall K., de Jong K., & Hudson T. (2009). Dynamic variability in speech. A forensic phonetic study of British English. http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/dyvis/index.html
Ogden, R. (2009). An introduction to English phonetics (Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Pouplier, M. & Hoole, P. (2016). Articulatory and Acoustic Characteristics of German Fricative Clusters. Phonetica. 73(1), 52-78.
Rose, P. (2003). Forensic Speaker Identification. New York: Taylor&Francis.
Shosted, R. (2008). Acoustic characteristics of Swedish dorsal fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5), 3888.
Stevens, K. N., Williams C.E., Carbonell, J.R. & Woods, B. (1968). Speaker authentication and identification: A comparison of spectrographic and auditory presentations of speech material. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 44, 1596–1607.
Stevens, K.N. (1971). Sources of inter- and intra-speaker variability in the acoustic properties of speech sounds. Proceedings 7th ICPhS, Montreal, 206-232.
Stuart-Smith, J. (2007). “Empirical evidence for gendered speech production: /s/ in Glaswegianâ€. In J. Cole, & J. I. Hualde (Eds.), Laboratory Phonology 9. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter (pp. 65-86).
Stuart-Smith, J., Timmins, C., & Wrench, A. (2003). Sex and gender differences in Glaswegian /s/. Proceedings 15th ICPhS, Barcelona, 1851-1854.
Sussman, H. M. (1994). The phonological reality of locus equations across manner class distinctions: Preliminary observations, Phonetica, 51, 119–131.
Tabain, M. (1998). Non-Sibilant Fricatives in English: Spectral Information above 10 kHz. Phonetica, 55(3), 107-130.
Yeou, M. (1997). Locus equations and the degree of coarticulation of Arabic consonants, Phonetica, 54, 187–202.
Wilde, L. (1993). Inferring articulatory movements from acoustic properties at fricative vowel boundaries, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 94, 1881.
Wolf, J. (1972). Efficient Acoustic Parameters for Speaker Recognition. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 51(6B), 2044-2056.
Zue, V. (1976). Spectral characteristics of English stops in pre-stressed position. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 59(S1), S71.
Boersma, P. & Weenink, D. (2017). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.35, retrieved 24 October 2017 from http://www.praat.org/
Coulthard, M. (2004). Author Identification, Idiolect and Linguistic Uniqueness. Applied linguistics, 25(4), 431-447.
Delattre, P.C., Liberman, A.M. & Cooper, F.S. (1995). Acoustic loci and transitional cues for consonants. Journal of Acoustic Society of America. 27, 769-773.
Fry, D. (1979). The Physics of Speech. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Glass, J., & Zue, V.W. (1984). Acoustic characteristics of nasal consonants in American English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,76(S1), S15.
Haley, K.L., Seelinger, E., Callahan Mandulak, K. & Zajac, D.J. (2010). Evaluating the spectral distinction between sibilant fricatives through a speaker-centered approach. Journal of Phonetics, 38(4), 548-554.
Hughes, G., & Halle, M. (1956). Spectral Properties of Fricative Consonants. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 28(2), 303-310.
Hussain, Q., Proctor, M., Harvey, M., & Demuth, K. (2017). Acoustic characteristics of Punjabi retroflex and dental stops. Journal of The Acoustical Society of America,141(6), 4522-4542.
Jongman, A. (1989). Duration of frication noise required for identification of English fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 85(4), 1718-1725.
Jongman, A., Wayland, R., & Wong, S. (2000). Acoustic characteristics of English fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 108(3), 1252-1263.
Kavanagh, C. (2012). New Consonantal Acoustic Parameters for Forensic Speaker Comparison, PQDT - UK & Ireland.
Lindblom, B. (1963). The pursuit of invariance in speech signals. Journal of Acoustic Society of America. 77, 1199-1202.
Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of sounds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McDougall K. & Nolan, F. (2007) Discrimination of speakers using the formant dynamics of /u:/ in British English. In J. Trouvain and W. Barry (eds.), Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 6-10 August 2007, Saarbrücken, (pp. 1825-1828).
Munson, B. (2004). Variability in /s/ production in children and adults: Evidence from dynamic measures of spectral mean. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(1), 58-69.
Nirgianaki, E. (2014). Acoustic characteristics of Greek fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 135(5), 2964-2976.
Nolan F., McDougall K., de Jong K., & Hudson T. (2009). Dynamic variability in speech. A forensic phonetic study of British English. http://www.ling.cam.ac.uk/dyvis/index.html
Ogden, R. (2009). An introduction to English phonetics (Edinburgh Textbooks on the English Language). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Pouplier, M. & Hoole, P. (2016). Articulatory and Acoustic Characteristics of German Fricative Clusters. Phonetica. 73(1), 52-78.
Rose, P. (2003). Forensic Speaker Identification. New York: Taylor&Francis.
Shosted, R. (2008). Acoustic characteristics of Swedish dorsal fricatives. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 123(5), 3888.
Stevens, K. N., Williams C.E., Carbonell, J.R. & Woods, B. (1968). Speaker authentication and identification: A comparison of spectrographic and auditory presentations of speech material. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 44, 1596–1607.
Stevens, K.N. (1971). Sources of inter- and intra-speaker variability in the acoustic properties of speech sounds. Proceedings 7th ICPhS, Montreal, 206-232.
Stuart-Smith, J. (2007). “Empirical evidence for gendered speech production: /s/ in Glaswegianâ€. In J. Cole, & J. I. Hualde (Eds.), Laboratory Phonology 9. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter (pp. 65-86).
Stuart-Smith, J., Timmins, C., & Wrench, A. (2003). Sex and gender differences in Glaswegian /s/. Proceedings 15th ICPhS, Barcelona, 1851-1854.
Sussman, H. M. (1994). The phonological reality of locus equations across manner class distinctions: Preliminary observations, Phonetica, 51, 119–131.
Tabain, M. (1998). Non-Sibilant Fricatives in English: Spectral Information above 10 kHz. Phonetica, 55(3), 107-130.
Yeou, M. (1997). Locus equations and the degree of coarticulation of Arabic consonants, Phonetica, 54, 187–202.
Wilde, L. (1993). Inferring articulatory movements from acoustic properties at fricative vowel boundaries, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 94, 1881.
Wolf, J. (1972). Efficient Acoustic Parameters for Speaker Recognition. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 51(6B), 2044-2056.
Zue, V. (1976). Spectral characteristics of English stops in pre-stressed position. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 59(S1), S71.
Published
2022-04-29
Issue
Section
Articles
Abstract viewed = 161 times
pdf downloaded = 185 times
