Development of an algorithm for characterizing speech production patterns as context-based Cue Production Profiles

A given word or sound can take on a wide range of acoustic forms in conversational speech, and these patterns of variation are systematic with context. This substantial variability poses a problem for modeling human speech perception, but it can also be highly informative if it can be measured quantitatively; surface phonetic patterns can be used to characterize different speakers, dialects, speaking styles and speech disorders, as well as context-driven variation within a speaker. Adopting the view that individual acoustic cues provide a useful vocabulary for describing these variation patterns, we are developing an algorithm for tabulating the range of acoustic cue production patterns for each phoneme, in a corpus of recorded speech, with the potential for extension to words and phrases. This algorithm will enable the determination of key factors that govern systematic speech variation, including segmental, prosodic and lexical contexts, which can be used to create a profile for a speaker or defined population of speakers, i.e., a Cue Production Profile.