A modeling study of the effects of vocal tract movement duration and magnitude on the F2 trajectory in CV words

Purpose: This study used a computational vocal tract Results: On the basis of univariate analysis, measures model to investigate the relationship of diphthong duration of frequency predicted changes in magnitude, and temporal and vocal tract movement magnitude to measures of the measures predicted changes in speaking rate consistent F2 trajectory in CV words. with the hypothesis. The combined effects of duration and Method: Three words (bough, boy, and buy) were simulated magnitude showed that F2 was more sensitive to changes on the basis of an adult female vocal tract model, in in magnitude at shorter word durations compared with which the model parameters were estimated from audio longer word durations. This finding held across words and recordings of a female talker. Model parameters were vocal tract length. then modified to generate 35 simulations of each word Conclusions: Results suggest that there is an corresponding to 7 different durations and 5 movement interaction between duration and magnitude that magnitude settings. In addition, these simulations were affects the slope of the F2 trajectory. The next step is repeated with vocal tract lengths representative of an adult to relate kinematics to F2 trajectory output using real male and an approximately 6-year-old child. speakers.