An inverse problem to determine the shape of a human vocal tract

The inverse problem of determining the cross-sectional area of a human vocal tract during the utterance of a vowel is considered. The frequency-dependent boundary condition at the lips is expressed in terms of the acoustic impedance of a vibrating piston on an infinite plane baffle. The corresponding pressure at the lips is expressed in terms of the normalized impedance and a key quantity related to the so-called Jost function of an associated Schrödinger equation. Various input data sets are considered to solve the inverse problem, including the pressure at the lips, the absolute pressure at the lips, and the poles of the pressure at the lips. The solution to the inverse problem is obtained with the help of the Gel’fand–Levitan method for the associated Schrödinger equation.