Peak Intraoral Air Pressures During Speech

Abstract

Peak intraoral air pressures were recorded during speech acts of ten children and ten adults by use of a polyethylene tube positioned in the oral-pharyngeal cavity. These pressures were measured during selected consonants spoken under a variety of conditions. Air pressures for voiceless consonants were found to be significantly higher than for voiced consonants, and higher peak intraoral air pressures were associated with stop consonants than with continuant consonants. For adults, successively higher magnitudes of peak intraoral air pressures were found at progressively higher levels of speech intensity. For the children, higher pressures were associated with consonants in the intervocalic context than in pre- and postvocalic contexts.

Stop consonant voicing and intraoral pressure contours in women and children

“…Lucero and Koenig (2005) recently observed that scaling a laryngeal model down to a size appropriate for a 5 year old increased the phonation threshold pressure, as a result of less glottal tissue area absorbing the aerodynamic energy that fuels oscillation. Several past studies have found higher subglottal pressures in children compared to adults (Arkebauer et al, 1967;Bernthal and Beukelman, 1978;Brown, 1979;Netsell et al, 1994;Stathopoulos and Sapienza, 1993;Stathopoulos and Weismer, 1985;Subtelny et al, 1966). Some researchers have pointed out that the increased resistance afforded by children's smaller airways will, all else being equal, lead to higher pressures (Stathopoulos and Sapienza, 1993;Stathopoulos and Weismer, 1985).…”

“…Past work has established that children as young as 4 years of age, like adults, produce higher peak P io in voiceless stops than in voiced (Arkebauer et al, 1967;Bernthal and Beukelman, 1978;Brown, 1979;Lisker, 1970;Malécot, 1966;Miller and Daniloff, 1977;Stathopoulos and Weismer, 1985;Subtelny et al, 1966;Warren and Hall, 1973), thereby demonstrating some aerodynamic differentiation of consonants according to voicing category. At the same time, previous authors (particularly Kewley-Port and Preston, 1974) have attributed limited closure voicing in young children to immature control over intraoral pressure, and Müller and Brown (1980) specifically suggested that P io might rise faster in children than adults.…”

Aerodynamic and Laryngeal Characteristics of Place-Dependent Voice Onset Time Differences

“…They reported that in general, peak intraoral pressure increased as the articulatory placement moved from bilabial to dental and palatal. However, Arkebauer et al [30] reported that in normal children the mean peak Po was greater for /t/ than for /p/ in both intervocalic and postvocalic phonetic contexts, but it was lower than for /p/ in the prevocalic contexts. Subtelny et al [31] also reported that the mean magnitudes of Po for intervocalic /p/ and /t/ was 6.43 and 6.18 cm H 2 O, respectively, for male speakers and 7.52 and 7.44 cm H 2 O, respectively, for female speakers.…”

Effect of Age, Gender, and Repeated Measures on Intraoral Air Pressure in Normal Adults

“…P 0 is greater for voiceless than voiced cognate pairs. 3,5,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The degree of P 0 produced in the oral cavity is also dependent on the consonant itself. reported data acquired during a syllable repetition task from young (n = 20) and elderly (n = 21) male and female adults.…”