Description
An online, short course on speech acoustics is being offered by CReSS Books starting the first full week of January, 2025. Weekly sessions will be based on sections of Richard McGowan’s three books, which are listed below. The course is intended for speech
clinicians and linguists who want to know more about the relation between vocal tract shape and speech acoustics.
The emphasis will be on understanding physical acoustics as a type of air motion in the vocal tract. All the necessary mathematics will be discussed with the attitude that no topic is too elementary, especially if the students have questions.(*) One of the goals of the course is an understanding of how formants arise, as well as the ability to easily estimate the formant frequencies from the shape of a vocal tract in terms of area function.
Students must have access to the three books, some willingness to stretch their understanding, as well as a willingness to ask questions.There may be times when it is not clear how the discussion is directly relevant to speech, but the reward is that we will greatly enhance our understanding of speech production.
There will be six to eight 1 1/2 hour class sessions. These weekly classes begin at 4:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on Mondays. The classes will start on Monday, January 6.
Tuition is $75 and the course is limited to 15 students.
(*) I have taught basic mathematics (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) to
adults at a community college. I also have taught college level mathematics, acoustics, and dynamics.
