Illustrating the Production of the International Phonetic Alphabet Sounds Using Fast Real-Time Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Recent advances in real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI) of the upper airway for acquiring speech production data provide unparalleled views of the dynamics of a speaker’s vocal tract at very high frame rates (83 frames per second and even higher). This paper introduces an effort to collect and make available on-line rtMRI data corresponding to a large subset of the sounds of the world’s languages as encoded in the International Phonetic Alphabet, with supplementary English words and phonetically-balanced texts, produced by four prominent phoneticians, using the latest rtMRI technology. The technique images oral as well as laryngeal articulator movements in the production of each sound category. This resource is envisioned as a teaching tool in pronunciation training, second language acquisition, and speech therapy.

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