Speech science concerns the quantitative, instrumental analysis of the anatomical, physiological, and acoustic bases of speech production and perception, and of the cognitive processes involved in verbal and nonverbal communication. Speech science is typically synonymous with phonetics, which is the study of the speech signal in all its aspects, including its production and perception, and its acoustic properties.

The study of speech production primarily involves the use of systems and instruments for observing and recording respiration, resonance, and speech movements (e.g., vocal fold vibration and tongue movement).

The study of speech perception covers auditory capabilities in respect of physical parameters such as loudness and pitch, the relationship between these physical parameters and psychological percepts, and the categorisation of speech sounds (e.g., into minimally distinctive sound units, or "phonemes").

The acoustic analysis of speech concerns the physical properties - such as the frequency and intensity - of speech sounds. Instruments used to measure these properties include the spectrograph and the oscillograph.

In the history of speech science, there was an early focus on the anatomy and physiology of speech production. In the 1960s, there was an additional focus on the acoustics of speech, and in the 1980s, on speech perception (Borden and Harris 1984, p. vii). Pioneering speech scientists include Hermann von Helmholtz, Henry Sweet, A. M. Bell, and Alvin Liberman. Important theories in the history of the discipline include production and perception theoretical models, and, more generally, phonetic theories such as traditional articulatory phonetic theory and quantal vowel theory.

Research conducted in speech science is relevant to: speech synthesis and coding, automatic speech recognition, human-computer dialogue systems, the medical application of speech and hearing technologies (e.g., the technical assessment of pathological speech or the development of aids for the speech and/or hearing handicapped), and the study of language acquisition by children and both native and non-native speakers.

Reference books

Borden, G. J., K. S. Harris, & L. J. Raphael (1994). Speech science primer (4th Ed.). Sydney: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Lieberman, P., and S. E. Blumstein (1988). Speech physiology, speech perception, and acoustic phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Recommended Text book

Ladefoged, P. (2006). A Course in Phonetics (5th Ed.). Sydney: Harcourt Thomson.

Reference

Borden, G. J., K. S. Harris, & L. J. Raphael (1984). Speech science primer (2nd Ed.). Sydney: Williams & Wilkins.

Summary written by

Simone Graetzer

Phonetics Laboratory

University of Melbourne

May 2006