Articulatory constraints on vocal tract area functions and their acoustic implications

A mathematical model for generating vocal tract area functions for vowel‐like sounds has been developed. Using computer simulation of a transmission line analog of the vocal tract, the relationship between acoustic features (in this case formants) and parameters of the model (i.e., articulatory parameters) has been investigated in order to develop improved algorithms for acoustic‐articulatory and articulatory‐acoustic transformations. The model has been found to be a useful tool for study of acoustic phonetics, examination of the applicability of speaker normalization techniques, and for the refinement of high‐quality speech synthesis. Extensions of the model to include consonantal vocal tract configurations are also presented.