PATRICIA ANN A.

PEREZ MAEd-English April 15,2023

Auditory Phonetics

 is a subfield of phonetics that deals with the perception of speech sounds by the human ear and
brain

 It involves the study of how we hear and interpret different sounds and patterns of speech

Aims of the Auditory Phonetics

The aims of auditory phonetics are to study how speech sounds are perceived by the human ear and
brain and to understand the acoustic properties of speech sounds. Some of the specific aims of auditory
phonetics include:

 To investigate how different speech sounds are produced and perceived by speakers of different
languages, and how this can impact communication.
 To understand how the human ear and brain process different types of speech sounds, including
vowels, consonants, and intonation patterns.
 To study the acoustic properties of speech sounds, such as their frequency, intensity, and
duration, and how these properties contribute to our perception of different sounds.
 To develop new techniques and technologies for measuring and analyzing speech sounds, such
as spectrograms, electroencephalography (EEG), and functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI).
 To apply the findings of auditory phonetics to areas such as speech therapy, language learning,
and the development of new technologies for speech recognition and synthesis.

Overall, the aims of auditory phonetics are to deepen our understanding of how speech sounds are
produced and perceived and to develop new tools and techniques for studying and improving human
communication.

Example:

Let's consider the English consonant sounds /p/ and /b/. These sounds are both produced by
stopping the airflow with the lips, but the only difference is that /p/ is voiceless (no vibration of
the vocal cords) and /b/ is voiced (vocal cords vibrate). The acoustic properties of these sounds
differ in terms of their frequency and intensity, which can be analyzed using spectrograms or
other acoustic analysis tools.
PATRICIA ANN A. PEREZ MAEd-English April 15,2023

When we hear the sounds /p/ and /b/, our brain perceives them as distinct phonemes because
we can differentiate between the acoustic properties of these sounds. This ability to perceive
and distinguish between different speech sounds is an important aspect of auditory phonetics.