SPPA 5010: Speech Science
J. Hillenbrand
Course Description
Overview of the anatomy, acoustics, physics, biology, physiology, and psychology of
speech production and speech perception. This course is intended to focus not only on wellestablished concepts in speech science, but also on the many research areas in which our
understanding is incomplete. Details about the topics that will be covered can be found in the
attached course outline.
I. Text
No text. There are readings that I will make available.
II. Grading



Exam 1:
Exam 2:
Exam 3
30%
30%
40% (comprehensive, weighted toward new material)
Assignment of letter grades to scores will occur using something fairly close to the scheme
shown below. Adjustments might be made to this scheme depending on the exact distribution of
grades in the class.
94 - 100:
88 - 93:
82 - 89:
80 - 81:
70 - 79:
65 - 69:
below 65:
A
BA
B
CB
C
D
E
The format of the exams will be a very familiar combination of short answer, short essay,
definitions, identifying anatomical drawings, multiple choice, matching, and the drawing or
labeling of graphs related to sound or vibratory motion. Dates for the exams 1 and 2 will be
announced at least one week in advance. The date for the final exam is listed in the schedule of
classes – search the web for ‘wmu final exam schedule 2016’ (but use whatever the actual year
happens to be).
III. Laboratory exercises
There will be somewhere between four and six laboratory exercises. It should be possible to
complete the labs in under an hour. Due dates for the labs will be announced in class. The labs will
be graded pass/fail. They have to be turned in on time – at class time on the day that the lab is due.
If a lab is not turned in (or not turned in on time), is incomplete, or if you did not appear to have
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made an honest effort on the exercise (I do not expect this to happen), you will lose two points
from your final grade. If you made some kind of honest mistake, which happens sometimes, you
will be given a chance to fix the problem and resubmit. Resubmissions are due at the next regular
class meeting. The labs require a piece of software called SpeechTool (aka Ztool), which you can
download from my web page:
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr/501.html
The software runs under Windows only. If you do not have access to a Windows machine,
you can run the labs on the LRC machines on the first floor. Instructions for running the labs on an
LRC machine are attached following the course outline.
IV. Accommodation for disabilities
Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision,
hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the Office of Student
Disability Services at the beginning of the semester. A disability determination must be made by
this office before any accommodations are provided by the instructor.
V.
Office:
Phone:
Office Hours:
Web page:
Email:
CHHS 4468
387-8066
MW after class, or email me for an appointment.
homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr
james.hillenbrand@wmich.edu (I’m happy to answer questions sent via
email if the question can be answered briefly. If the answer requires an essay
I’ll ask you to stop by my office.)
VI. Some Advice
Most of you will not find this to be an unusually difficult course, but if experience is any
guide there will probably be a small but important minority of students who will struggle. There are
several things that you can do to avoid trouble.
1. Pay attention in class and take notes.
a. The Parable of the 6190 Unannounced Quiz
b. The Parable of the 2040 Unannounced Quiz
c. The Parable of the Vestibular System and the Jelly Brain Teacher
Moral: Learn things as they are taught. Do not go through class assembling a pile of things
that you plan to learn later – i.e., once an exam is announced. This is called cramming and no
student has ever made it work. If you need more than a few hours to prepare for an exam, that
means that you are not keeping up well enough. A modest amount of time spent looking your
notes over (or copying them) sometime between one class session and the next is way more
valuable than many hours spent cramming for an exam. And it takes way less time. So do
things the lazy way and keep up with things.
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2. Don't miss class, especially in the beginning of the course.
3. Keep up with things. If you wait until a day or two before the exam to study, it can sometimes
be very difficult to put things together. Taking good notes, keeping up with the readings, and
reviewing your notes between classes are the most important things that you can do. A modest
amount of time invested in these ways is far more important than many hours of cramming for
exams. If you find yourself putting in long hours preparing for exams it’s pretty well certain
that you’re doing something wrong. This is true of all your classes, in my opinion.
4. I am available to provide help outside of class and I am very willing to spend time with you.
5. Focus on understanding the material. Your grades will take care of themselves.
VI. Academic honesty, diversity, religious observance, and student disabilities
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and
procedures in the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These
policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism,
complicity and computer misuse. [The policies can be found at http://catalog.wmich.edu under
Academic Policies, Student Rights and Responsibilities.] If there is reason to believe you have been
involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will
be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will
have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your instructor if you are uncertain
about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
For information on the Code of Honor, and general academic policies on such issues as
diversity, religious observance, and student disabilities, see http://osc.wmich.edu and
www.wmich.edu/registrar.
VII. Knowledge and Skills
The following learning objectives will be covered and assessed through readings, class
discussion, assignments, laboratory exercises, and exams. Specific aspects of the standards that are
covered in this course are in bold face type.
Std. IV-A: The applicant must have demonstrated knowledge of the biological sciences, physical
sciences, statistics, and the social/behavioral sciences.
Std. IV-B: The applicant must have demonstrated knowledge of basic human communication
and swallowing processes, including the appropriate biological, neurological, acoustic,
psychological, developmental, and linguistic and cultural bases. The applicant must have
demonstrated the ability to integrate information pertaining to normal and abnormal human
development across the life span.
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Std. IV-C: The applicant must have demonstrated knowledge of communication and swallowing
disorders and differences, including the appropriate etiologies, characteristics,
anatomical/physiological, acoustic, psychological, developmental, and linguistic and cultural
correlates in the following areas:
articulation; fluency; voice and resonance, including respiration and phonation;
receptive and expressive language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics,
prelinguistic communication, and paralinguistic communication) in speaking, listening,
reading, and writing; hearing, including the impact on speech and language; swallowing
(oral, pharyngeal, esophageal, and related functions, including oral function for feeding,
orofacial myology); cognitive aspects of communication (attention, memory, sequencing,
problem-solving, executive functioning); social aspects of communication (including
challenging behavior, ineffective social skills, and lack of communication opportunities);
augmentative and alternative communication modalities
NOTE: It is important to recognize that ASHA Academic Accreditation standards are based upon
students demonstrating competencies across a wide range of areas rather than simply completing a
course sequence successfully. Therefore, it is conceivable that a student could receive a passing
grade in a course, but fail to demonstrate competency across all of the topics covered in that course.
If you fail to demonstrate competencies in a particular area through organized class activities (tests
& assignments), you may have to complete additional work (i.e. remediation) in that area before a
passing grade can be assigned.
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SPPA 5010: Speech Science
Course Outline
I. Overview and History
II. Review of Basic Acoustics
A. Sound propagation
B. Time- and frequency-domain representations of sound
C. Basic sound types
D. Terminology
E. Filters and resonance
F. Narrowband and broadband spectrograms
Reading: The Physics of Sound [http://homepages.wmich.edu/~hillenbr/206/ac.pdf] (Read everything up to but
not including the decibel scale.)
III. Introduction to Source-Filter Theory
A. A functional model of speech production
B. A source-filter model for sustained vowels
C. Brief introduction to generalized source-filter models
IV. Respiration
A. Anatomy
B. Respiratory function and measurement
V. Phonation
A. Anatomy
B. The physiology of voice production
C. Mechanisms of fundamental frequency control
D. Mechanisms of intensity control
E. Acoustic characteristics of pathological vocal quality
Reading: Phonation chapter by David Broad (from Minifie, F., Hixon, T., and Williams, F. Normal
Aspects of Speech, Hearing and Language, 1973, Englewood Cliffs, NJ). This chapter will be on
reserve in the LRC.
VI. The Auditory System: Overview/Review
A. Anatomy of the auditory system
B. The ear as a frequency analyzer
VII. Acoustic Phonetics
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A. Source-filter theory: A few new details
B. The acoustics of vowel production
C. The acoustics of consonant production
VIII. Speech intelligibility
IX. A Brief Introduction to Speech Perception
A. A sampling of speech perception phenomena
B. Some theories of what these findings might mean
X. Speech Synthesis
A. Formant Synthesis
B. Text-To-Speech Systems
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Running SpeechTool/Ztool on Windows Machines in the LRC
SpeechTool should run fine on the Windows machines in the LRC. You’ll find a shortcut to
Ztool on the desktop. It should show an icon with a hammer. Start the program by clicking on the
icon, then go to the File menu and choose Open. You’ll find a standard Windows file-open dialog
box like the one below. Let’s assume that you’re trying to open the file ‘avacado.wav’. At the
bottom of the dialog box you’ll find a text-entry box, and to the left you’ll see the words, “File
name”. Enter the text, ‘R:\ztool\avacado.wav’, then hit the Enter key (or click the Open button).
You only need to monkey with entering ‘R:\ztool\...’ once; after that, you can just pick the name
out of the list. All this step is doing is telling Ztool to look for the sound files in ‘R:\Ztool’ instead
of ‘C:\Ztool’.
The default directory for files gets reset every day, so you’ll have to repeat this 1st step for
each lab.