The Phonetic Value of Vowels

[The aural evaluation of vowel sounds is a basic problem in both experimental and applied phonetics. This paper deals with the judgment of phonetic equivalence in the elementary case of sustained vowels. The definition of the phonetic value of vowels in terms of physiological and acoustical dimensions is considered, and the conventional vowel diagram is discussed as a means of representing vowel sounds in a multidimensional phonetic space.]