Speech Science

Speech production I – Breathing

Topics

• Energy for speech

• The physical structures

• Controlling breathing in speech

Homework: a) Kent, Chap. 4, pp. 71-100

b) Borden, Harris & Raphael, Chap. 4, pp. 59-72/70-83

Deutsch: c) Pompino-Marschall, Teil II, pp. 20-30

Übung 3 (hand in by 19th Nov): See question sheet.

Breathing: Energy for speech

• The airstream provides kinetic energy which is transformed into acoustic energy for speech

• The normal airstream for speech is produced by breathing outwards (called an egressive pulmonic airstream)

• There are several other (egressive and ingressive) airstream mechanisms which are used for speech (in “more exotic” languages)

• The transformation of the kinetic energy into the acoustic energy needed for speech comes later – first things first!

High to low pressure = airstream

• Like the wind in our weather systems, Our breath moves from high- to low-pressure regions

• To breath in, we reduce the pressure in our lungs, and the air flows in (if we open our mouth!); to breath out we increase the lung pressure.

• We do this by lowering or raising our diaphragm and by raising and lowering our rib-cage.

• This increases or reduces the volume of our lungs, which reduces or increases the pressure in them (QED!)

The physical structures 1

The physical structures 2

Seen from front

Seen from back

The physical structures 3

Seen from front

Seen from back

The physical structures 4

The physical structures 5

Balance of forces

Lungs and thorax together

Thorax alone

Lungs alone

Breathing control

Breathing control …

… is different for speech thanfor living.

Breathing out is carefully controlled (and takes longer)

More air is breathed in (andout) than in normal, relaxedbreathing

Breathing control for speech I

The loudness of an utterance increases with increased airflow

We control loudness in speech;therefore we modify the pressure and flow – it is different from normal “breathing to live“.

Changing airflow (volume-velocity) is the result of changing pressure within the lungs.

After breathing in, the relaxation pressure is too high for the required loudness

Inspiratory effort isnecessary to reduce the excess pressure.

Breathing control for speech II

Breathing control for speech III

Different loudnesses require differentlung pressures

This means thatfor louder speechless time is neededto counteract theexcess relaxationpressure

Breathing control for speech IV

Inspirationmuscles

Expirationmuscles

EMG data show that muscles ofinspiration are used to workagainst the excess relaxationpressure…

… and that active expirationtakes over when relaxationpressure = required pressure

Non-pulmonic air-stream mechanisms

We mentioned other air-stream mechanisms for speech than egressive pulmonic air. They are:

• The egressive glottalic air-stream (for producing “ejective“ sounds)

• The ingressive glottalic air-stream (for producing “implosive“ sounds)

• The ingressive velaric air-stream (for producing “click“ sounds

The egressive glottalic air-stream

The ingressive glottalic air-stream

The ingressive velaric air-stream