J Korean Acad Prosthodont.  2010 Jan;48(1):69-74. 10.4047/jkap.2010.48.1.69.

The effect of palatal height on the Korean vowels

• Chung BY
• Lim YJ
• Kim MJ
• Nam SE
• Lee SP
• Kwon HB

• KMID: 2000323
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4047/jkap.2010.48.1.69

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of palatal height on Korean vowels and speech intelligibility in Korean adults and to produce baseline data for future prosthodontic treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty one healthy Korean men and women who had no problem in pronunciation, hearing, and communication and had no history of airway disease participated in this study. Subjects were classified into H, M, and L groups after clinical determination of palatal height with study casts. Seven Korean vowels were used as sample vowels and subjects' clear speech sounds were recorded using Multispeech software program on computer. The F1 and the F2 of 3 groupswere produced and they were compared. In addition, the vowel working spaces of 3 groups by /a/, /i/, and /u/ corner vowels were obtained and their areas were compared. Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whiteny U test were used as statistical methods and P < .05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS
There were no significant differences in formant frequencies among 3 groups except for the F2 formant frequency between H and L group (P = .003). In the analysis of vowel working space areas of 3 groups, the vowel working spaces of 3 groups were similar in shape and no significant differences of their areas were found.
CONCLUSION
The palatal height did not affect vowel frequencies in most of the vowels and speech intelligibility. The dynamics of tongue activity seems to compensate the morphological difference.

Keyword

Palatal height; Vowel; formant; Vowel working space

MeSH Terms

Adult
Female
Hearing
Humans
Male
Phonetics
Prosthodontics
Speech Intelligibility
Tongue

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1. Vowel working spaces of H, M, and L groups. The apices of the triangle represent the coordinates of the mean values of first two formant frequencies of the vowels /ㅏ/, /ㅣ/, and /ㅜ/ produced by the H goup (thick solid line), M group (dotted line), and L group (thin solid line).

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