Tools for education in acoustics and phonetics

Abstract

We have developed a series of tools for education in acoustics and phonetics. Some of them are in electronic form, while some are physical models. A set of demonstrations and explanations in acoustic phonetics is now available as “Acoustic-Phonetics Demonstrations (APD)” through our WebSite: www.splab.net/APD/. We are adding content and have made YouTube video clips using physical models available on our WebPages. In particular, we use the physical models of the human vocal tract to demonstrate acoustic phenomena and theories. They are useful tools for explaining acoustics in speech production, such as the source-filter theory and the relationship between vocal-tract configurations and vowel quality. Furthermore, the models are effective when teaching articulation/pronunciation of native and non-native languages. Due to the high demand for vocal-tract models of various sounds in multiple languages, we are expanding the range of sounds to include more than Japanese sounds, but also additional vowels and consonants in different languages, including English. We also discuss how to apply three-dimensional printing.