Lip Kinematics for /p/ and /b/ Production during Whispered and Voiced Speech

Abstract

In the absence of voicing, the discrimination of ‘voiced’ and ‘voiceless’ stop consonants in whispered speech relies on such acoustic cues as burst duration and amplitude, and formant transition characteristics. The articulatory processes that generate these features of whispered speech remain speculative. This preliminary investigation examines the articulatory kinematics differences between whispered /p/ and /b/, which may underlie the acoustic differences previously reported for these sounds. Computerized video-tracking methods were used to evaluate kinematic differences between voiced and voiceless stops. Seven subjects produced the target utterances ‘my papa puppy’ and ‘my baba puppy’ in voiced and whispered speech modes. The results revealed that mean peak opening and closing velocities for /b/ were significantly greater than those for /p/ during whispered speech. No differences in peak velocity for either oral closing or opening were observed during voiced speech. The maximum distance between the lips for oral opening for /b/ was significantly greater than for /p/ during whisper, whereas no difference was observed during voiced speech. These data supported the suggestion that whispered speech and voiced speech rely on distinct motor control processes.

Inharmonic speech reveals the role of harmonicity in the cocktail party problem

“…The noise-excited stimuli were thus generated from the same spectrotemporal envelope used for harmonic and inharmonic speech, just with a different excitation signal. In this respect, the stimuli differed somewhat from actual whispering, in which speakers may change their articulation relative to normal speaking 67 , 68 , and for which the spectral envelope is known to change relative to speech with normal voicing 37 , 38 .…”

Acoustic Analysis of Consonants in Whispered Speech

“…8 Recent research shows the role of lip kinematics in production of whispered plosives, supporting the suggestion that whispered speech and voiced speech rely on distinct motor control processes. 9 Due to these differences in the generation mechanism, the acoustic characteristics of whispered speech are different from those of normal speech.…”

Reconstruction of articulatory movements during neutral speech from those during whispered speech

“…The study revealed that the area of contact between the palate and the tongue during the production of whispered /z/ is larger compared to that during whispered /s/. The differences in the movements of the lips during the production of whispered and neutral bilabial consonants, /b/ and /p/, were studied using both speech and facial video (Higashikawa et al, 2003). The study revealed that the average peak opening and closing velocities and the distance between the upper and the lower lip for oral opening for /b/ were significantly higher than those for /p/ while whispering.…”

“…The study revealed that the average peak opening and closing velocities and the distance between the upper and the lower lip for oral opening for /b/ were significantly higher than those for /p/ while whispering. These studies show that exaggerated articulation occurs during the production of "voiced" whispered consonants [/z/ and /b/ from Yoshioka (2008) and a) Electronic mail: nishag@iisc.ac.in Higashikawa et al (2003), respectively]. Electro-palatography based experiments with neutral and whispered alveolar consonants, namely, /d/, /t/, and /n/, were done by Osfar (2011).…”