Characteristics of air puffs produced in English “pa”: Experiments and simulations

Three dimensional large eddy simulations, microphone “pop” measurements, and high-speed videos of the airflow and lip opening associated with the syllable “pa” are presented. In the simulations, the mouth is represented by a narrow static ellipse with a back pressure dropping to $1∕10th$ of its initial value within $60ms$ of the release. The simulations show a jet penetration rate that falls within range of the pressure front of microphone pop. The simulations and high-speed video experiments were within 20% agreement after $40ms$⁠, with the video experiments showing a slower penetration rate than the simulations during the first $40ms$⁠. Kinematic measurements indicate that rapid changes in lip geometry during the first $40ms$ underlie this discrepancy. These findings will be useful for microphone manufacturers, sound engineers, and researchers in speech aerodynamics modeling and articulatory speech synthesis.