{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02295684113865932, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.6871165644171775, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Morphological Variation in the Adult Vocal Tract: A Modeling Study of its Potential Acoustic Impact

In order to fully understand inter-speaker variability in the acoustical and articulatory domains, morphological variability must be considered, as well. Human vocal tracts display substantial morphological differences, all of which have the potential to impact a speaker’s acoustic output. The palate and rear pharyngeal wall, in particular, vary widely and have the potential to strongly impact the resonant properties of the vocal tract. To gain a better understanding of this impact, we combine an examination of morphological variation with acoustic modeling experiments. The goal is to show the theoretical acoustic effect of common inter-speaker differences for a set of English vowels. Modeling results indicate that the effect is indeed strong, but also surprisingly complex and context-specific, even when morphology varies in relatively straightforward ways. Index Terms: speech production, vocal tract morphology, inter-speaker variability, acoustic modeling, speaker modeling