BSTJ 10: 3. July 1931: Some Physical Characteristics of Speech and Music. (Fletcher, Harvey)

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The Bell System Technical Journal

July, 1931

‘Some Physical Characteristics of Speech and Music

Pe ee

Campane the cave catenan’ soa aetna te ime The
iia sai se ptr feed
ata’ akon by eas atonal es oReS avec ed

perch or musical sand i rraranted from themouth of spaer
fr froma skal dnskrasentchicuga the ait te the ene af the
Tisiener by mean of a preseuie wave. a sucossion of condemationa
ard reesaelions of the az. Such «wave spre 5 ll dieetions
SBvay crow the woe af sun av! s9nn encouneers sl ober which
fuse ceksecone. Thier reflected waves combine wich the original
fe anche mSety the presen evanges Uae pls 26 any point
I this pager we shall be eomeerned chin with he wee charges
‘which cae place before reFections cere

Sphert it cwmpesed c2 furdamental sounds catled vowels aed
ccnmomests Aw coavtration poocoeds there fs» cilan! iling
from one af these sous tn sutras oom then Being eounded
At ove tine, lost 0! these soy tmiy he coatinued a a ately
tener ence aay Ze designated ss wtinsaate, ‘The atbers require
thet the ecu stream be internal wel are tevelnee called st275
"The Gust ease includes the fore and short veel, he lipahongs. 3
esiivimls aid the Leleatve conor, he sual 31,044 Land &
Ting typi, reserves, of wae ofthese groups. The pure sis
are pt ch and kT prosdeeag the corresponding swine stop
bij ad jy sie vuieed tsenm ie noe early interrupted, alchoug
‘le anes fiers te vocal ond ae very sult auhdued. A conversation,

sc BOA LOL RE a
thea, consis of siccesion af ence atl stops and & physic
iineapuceaton of speech conse Their, a diiplion a there
‘ontinnants and a Huruiom of the mane of jolaing Ee contiausns
together cher dire ly or Sy means of slop

Mavomic Stepans uv Sresca

Ar an exomple of how this analyse of speech muy Ie male consider
the sentence, "Joe took fathers lu Leah out,” an ereagram of
Shion bshiown in Vig, Tilly sentence was chosen eeaus it

PRACT YR

Joe sts Face ec out —epen.

fs one fs ur lanai for ating teats en che eine of trephine
roomier, This sentence Ingetes with its mato "Ske xa wating
st ny awn” solaine el ef tae fundamental sole fe the Euglish
PRVSICAL CHARscTRSrICS OP

Iancuige that eoreiburn howar the loudaee ot epeschs Hips 1
he rulicstes ace wire ina to the pucanure change in oe ale
hecisas sve trae intervals of seed. The eghueen fusdarsental
Fir seaman ae jn ge her whose the steam of rd,
Tring iutenupeed except frre alops lead ob, Thestop comennant
Ine voiced eo thet alli: the vasel cor sind # Ftersupuel Dy
the ceeg of Ur lips Honan co sound fa ufaled wsy uns
Ue sinc -emcoved ond she w snl bagins, Pants, that i elere

oo

i |
3. ie
4| 1A

H

ek

6

Iixervele, ae made berwven sencerues and sometimes berweea 535
Tell be ssi that Ir use was insert at che intervas 17
fe aoe A Go AGS a Sh tl au 1.46 e018 sorande, Theres
zs euch pr bere ated th

ri, mus sof svi of tsatvely steady states of
‘ration jot ogee iy Cau ce Ly ienecs oF anstinns stem
‘ne steady state te arothe: ach one of test stesdy eae
CChiraceriwal hy jit al a laws queiey. ane tke eoquerce is
cenclly a melody. The meledy of the sentence whose wave form
ie shows in Fg. 1 may be iustcaced geaphically as irdieacdin Wig. 2
In this Fguee the ordinates enorezant he pitch im octaves Bele oF
above a tame basin 4 frequency of ane Hoyele jer ncn: oF Hf
the frequency is meaaired in keeyeles, then oe pitch P boc by
the mation

P= loa ay

he abcisas vsprest the hme iv ssc Ths layer rar ice
the changes nthe rth the finan al sol epee the lay
ws ordinily uncermal in shure, The wills wa curves nepesent
the pile posioss of the sucngect hartzonie. ‘The Iecaron af these
sii fe eceeuined oy che vesonaa poopertie ofthe Uco82 eal
Inout coves, These euves may be cons dese as sceones¥ code
ftcame Te combination of these two srenulary mele eter fe
eerpteted by the sage aya sequence uf soolem verve cher than
se 4 stte of pitch charge. The small ramber alove rach part
he vr gives fl anor a araie whi fe tage! by
tine renault Uae dhe woud e iv eel
dh Harmonie was che strongest at the Beginning of te sound, but
the Sth coms in suetgest rear is end. I beve ted indleate che
‘ecelve lnteailice of che harmonics a che ound proceeds by the cola
tive hicmcass ofthe lines, An examination of threaillgram shows
that che frersity of the aarmrielrave fests ts te besomes
rearee the chacacteretc itch forthe vawel being poker

‘Xs faite! ty the shor Ties a Ue ny the art Ue ex
a1 erin intervals ep pelol enapaaena whieh ace characte
of che frcaive sounds, The uavoiced ecunds t kf ane, nize
frly when the chee melodie stream are topped, | Tae Hid pitehed
components ef Use voiced rounds, jth and by cee supstimpased upon
the dhe mele strerns

Besides tee four important wireams waynes (Fx. 23, here are
‘a eceat mony others with invenstiee wach are in general muck lowes,
thu acher cenit wile tae suai sien ey ese the kind
lem that's eleeler Hi suey axl sie ov snug en
ad,‘ mn, unkalfe asus fr a nOnuatls vice ie berweeen the
pitehes — 1 and — 2 octaves wile tor & man's vole iti» between

3 and —2 octaves, The sccaudary melodic streams produce

ilileepesking the eamne sentence ate approwimarny she same for me
and womes and o pitches von in Tig.

Ta Lig. sven en esellegraps uf the selene “How sre you?”
“Thiesentence contains no stopm. ‘The sound stream a aoe intesrupred
itis sea continous variations Fru one vowel oanotace. In Fig.
Ihe rain melodie ream is give.

LIS AIR RO

Tn Fig. § an osellograph of the sannence “Joe took facher’s whew
bench ove" i ata when the vowels ofthis enter are inte on
the simple melorly nse mefa mn da and is Tig. 6 the melodic

seronma soe givens Fy thie ease only the characteristic vee
pitch sitions er the twa attondacy melee streams are given. The
"hil diexence Letween tale gure art that forthe spoken seneence i
s0uKAL

inthe main meric vinare. Tor porperes of romparin the curves
fof the epolen and sung sestence are enlarged and shown together in
ig. J. Ta the cate of the sung seaceace the pizch chanses are in
Atste incervals om the moat scale while forthe spoken rertence

Suen

RETR

. = eee

ee |
FR

4,5 Cella Je tek Fethe soe Reach oat.

the piteh varies ienglan'y, depenaling upon the exphade ven,
‘The pitch af the Fev ed no romeo ignored fa the mae
score, and ence Lieeeconsonanca form no pars of the rmuie taey are
detealy slid aver, mung i dieu for aHstener to understand the
T
“aa TT
meaning of the wonts, Sowe of my fiends i the musa! profession
Object tu this stutenant of Che situation fut I think you wil agar
thot singers prinljl init prude Veaulful vowel quality and
to manipulate the meledis steam o0 a6 to produce emotional eects.
“To do this. i i necessary in singing to lengthen the vowels and to
sbosten and give lee emphasis to the stop ard frieatve consonant,
It for thie reso chat fe fs ure ciclo wrested ong that
seech

Coanscremismic Prem on PREOUENeE LuvaLs roR Tue Vownis

[Now le us examine part of the speech wave of Fig. Lin more deta
Consider the wom in the wor sh,"

"The fimdamental rycle wn pated 130 times per second Te is
evident that the second hariosie i very ttuch snagnided until fe i
tary a6 intense ae the fundamental. Ia Fig. 8 is chown another

en A

seilogram of tame 3° 120 eyes per seri. Th thie ee he
Srd harmonic is meagtiad. Ax aulvae of u nusaber of @ woud
shows that components falling hetreen 300 and 400 cycles per second
fre always renlotoed, This eafeceement is probably doc 10 the
evwstnoe ctcaeterate of the mouth cavity

‘nile characteristic low pitch sepione exis for the vowels in the
words, pul, te, tlk, com ard father. 8 characcsristia hph pitch
Foie leo esis fos these sted bt the fnteaity othe somponents
falling in it are much lesz Hor the vowels im the worde tap ter,
pert, tape tip and team there are ew charactertie regions of ein.
orcement which ane if apprunimately the same intensity and which
ace lnleperlent of the fundamental ite Thin i iustrated in
Fig. 9, which ives a spectrum analysis of Ue vowel "2" pronounced
at the four pitches indiestad. The chacseterite regions ate at 375
cycles per seoond and 2400 eyes per send conespondting co pices
“1a octaves below al + 1A actaven above te refeenee pitch.

‘Experimental work” has iadeated that for Amaviesn speech the
charaeterisic pitch repions for tie vowels ad semi-vowels are those
shown in Fig. 10. Lor the fet eis vowels the components comre=

pitch ace much less

poring tn the sectarian vegion of igs
Finer Thon thee of ow pitch. For te ates wens th
(both mgione are al le,

Osenrocneas oF 2Re Usrvoreen Conmmsuasts

¢ the wave forms fo: the fdeadive
ig. Le These show cxly

‘Nay lel ty examine noe ea
somidhy may fell, They ae show

ort of Pie regen yewlioal whe sale Ha sauna wae
Conisual Sey sbout ene eeconl. i egen thas thee tounde contain
fnpodats having high petces aneely akewe | 1. It ds seen that
they do uot have the wave losm reposted a uniormiy aa ee the a
with the vere) couse, They reer e be comaual af a sevis of
faplesons, For example, che oacloerim for ah" hauls very are,
like one obtained si tho sourd of sky rocket,

“The ard th ard are rae ae tes un ia empared
so the rand sours. Alt ough wh Fer they ail shane te
esplusve characcer. There are 10,45, 37 ond 55 waves per eath OL
Serum? Fetrval, epee, fe hea fe sands crvquoiey
‘non, 4500, 5, F200 cytes ye ec