Formant Tracking by Computer

At the last meeting of the Acoustical Society of America a method of formant tracking using a digital computer was described. By this method synthetic speech spectra, constructed within the computer from a catalog of elemental spectra, are compared with measured spectra of a speech signal. The present paper discusses the evaluation, extension, and refinement of this method of analysis. Computer techniques which result in the display of a “synthetic sonagram” are described, together with examples of the use of the computer oscilloscope for displaying intermediate steps in the spectral matching process. Results obtained with a variety of speakers are presented. The problems of preparing a representative catalog of glottal spectra, evaluating the role of analyzing filter banks, and determining a meaningful “fit criterion” are considered. A method similar to the foregoing for synthesizing fricative spectra is also described. [[This work was supported in part by the U. S. Army (Signal Corps), the U. S. Air For...