Reference data for the American English acoustic vowel space

Reference data for the acoustic vowel space area (VSA) in children and adolescents do not currently appear to be available in a form suitable for normative comparisons. In the current study, individual speaker formant data for the four corner vowels of American English (/i, u, æ, ɑ/) were used to compute individual speaker VSAs. The sample included 300 children aged 5–18 years and 38 adults aged 25–50 years. Age trends and sex differences were examined and reference data for clinical application were developed. Findings indicated significant declines in VSA with age; sex differences were not fully apparent until late adolescence and adulthood. Implications are discussed.

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