Second language pronunciation training using acoustic-to-articulatory inversion

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The current work presents articulatory kinematic, acoustic, and perceptual data characterizing the effects of how visual biofeedback derived from acoustic-to-articulatory inversion may influence vowel pronunciation training for native-Mandarin speakers of English. Ten participants were engaged in a six-week pronunciation training program that included a focus on English vowel production. As an addition to traditional pronunciation training techniques often used by speech-language pathologists, half of the participants were also provided with visual biofeedback displays detailing aspects of their current tongue position as well as idealized positions for vowel targets. Visual displays were obtained using an acoustic-to-articulatory inversion model based on the Parallel Reference Speaker Weighting (PRSW) method for model adaptation. Pre- and post-training changes in articulation were compared between participants that used only traditional pronunciation training methods and those who were given visual biofeedback based on acoustic-to-articulatory inversion. Data analyses focus on articulatory-kinematic measures, obtained via electromagnetic articulography, measures of vowel formant frequencies, and perceptual assessments based on phonetic transcriptions from expert listeners. The results of the current work provide insights regarding the value of PRSW-based adaptation of acoustic-to-articulatory inversion models and the resulting visual feedback displays as tools in second-language learning of English pronunciation.