Aeroacoustic and phonetic study of sound source interactions in speech

The production of speech sounds depends on sound sources of different nature. Voiced sounds involve the self-oscillation of the vocal cords, where the fluid-structure interaction between the deformable tissues of the vocal cords and the airflow from the lungs is the main sound source. Unvoiced sounds, on the other hand, depend on an aero-acoustic sound source located in the vocal tract. While physical and phonetic studies deal with both types of sound sources, their dynamics and interaction – the onset, maintenance, cessation or coexistence – are poorly studied. In this interdisciplinary project, it is proposed to study the dynamics and interaction of the sound sources in order to propose a phonetic-physical model validated on mechanical replicas that allows to explain the phonetic signals observed during normal speech (including plosives and voiced fricatives) and pathological speech (Parkinson’s disease) thanks to a close collaboration between phoneticians (LPP) and physicists (LEGI).

PhD proposal (2022-2015) within the interdisciplinary CNRS MITI project InteracSon