SLHS 565, Fall 2014, B. Story
Acoustics for the Speech and Hearing Sciences
SLHS 565
Room & Time:
Instructor:
Office
Office Phone:
Email:
Office Hour:
Course Website:
Fall 2014
316 Harvill, TTh 9:30 am -10:45 pm
Brad Story, Ph.D.
514 SPH
626-9528
bstory@email.arizona.edu
Drop in or by appt
d2l.arizona.edu, For help go to: help.d2l.arizona.edu
Course description
This course will cover the basic principles of acoustics, especially with regard to speech and hearing
science. The target audience is students majoring in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. The course
may also be of interest to students in Music, Linguistics, and Engineering. The mathematical demands of
the course will be at the level of college algebra. The first part of the course will address descriptions of
sound, simple harmonic motion, pressure waves, decibels, complex waves, resonance, and sound transmission.
The second part will focus on the acoustics of speech production, the relation of acoustics to articulation,
spectrographic analysis, and speech synthesis.
Recommended Textbook
This book is only recommended, not required. It is available at online bookstores.
• Speaks, C.E. (1999). Introduction to sound: Acoustics for the hearing and speech sciences, Any
edition, Singular Publishing.
Course Website
At the instructor’s discretion, most of the lecture notes and handouts will be made available on the
course website (listed above). In addition, this website may also be used for messages related to the course.
Useful references
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Haughton, P. (2002). Acoustics for Audiologists, First edition, Academic Press.
Rossing, T.D. (2002). The science of sound, 3rd Edition, Moore & Wheeler.
Fletcher, N. (1992). Acoustic systems in biology, Oxford University Press, New York.
Stevens, K., (2000). Acoustic Phonetics, MIT Press.
Titze, I.R., (1994). Principles of Voice Production, Prentice Hall.
Beranek, L. (1954,1986). Acoustics, Published by the Acoustical Society of America.
Fletcher, H. (1953). Speech and Hearing in Communication, Van Nostrand.
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SLHS 565, Fall 2014, B. Story
Course requirements and grading policies
• Scientific calculator: You will need a basic scientific calculator with logarithms and trigonometric
functions. You should be able to find one for around ten dollars. You will not be allowed to use a
calculator app on a smartphone, iPad, or laptop during quizzes and exams.
• Reading: All students are expected to read and study the textbook/course notes and any other material
provided by the instructor.
• Homework assignments: Homework will be assigned to coincide with many of the lectures. These
assignments will be collected and are given 1 point if completed and a 1/2 point if more than half
the assignment is completed. At the end of the semester the two lowest homework scores will be
dropped and the remaining homework scores will be normalized to 50 points, regardless of the number
of assignments given. Late homework assignments will not be accepted (that’s why the two
lowest are dropped!).
• Quizzes and Exams: There will be two quizzes given throughout the semester. These will be taken
either during the first or last 25 minutes of a class period, and will be worth 25 points each. Three
exams will also be given during the semester and will be taken during either the first or last hour of
a class period. Each exam will be worth 50 points. Quizzes and exams may include information from
the notes, lectures, or any other material provided or assigned by the instructor for the topics covered.
• Reviews of Journal Articles: All students are required to turn in reviews of two articles published in
the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The first review will be of an article published prior
to 1960 and is due on October 30. The second review should be based on an article published after
1960 and will be due on December 4. More details will be given in class. Each review should be
about 2-3 pages and is worth 15 points. They will be graded on content, clarity of writing, as well as
punctuation, spelling, etc.
• Grading policies: Course grades will be based on the sum of five sets of scores (maximum pts = 380):
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–
–
–
–
Three (1) hour examinations (50 points, each) = 150 points
Two quizzes (25 points each) = 50 points
Homework = 50 points
Final examination = 100 points
Article reviews = 30 points
Generally, a point accumulation of 90% of the maximum number of points (380) will earn an “A”,
80% = “B”, and so forth.
• Regrading policies: There is no regrading unless there is clearly an objective grading error.
Class Policies
1. Absences: Students are expected to attend class unless there is an unavoidable circumstance such
as illness or emergency. Attendance may be taken periodically. Anyone who is chronically absent may
have their grade lowered or be dropped from the class. All holidays or special events observed by
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organized religions will be honored for those students who show affiliation with that particular religion.
Absences pre-approved by the UA Dean of Students (or Dean designee) will be honored.
2. Electronic devices: Please turn off or silence all cell phones and other electronic devices during class.
If you must take a call for emergency purposes, please do so by placing your phone’s ringer on silent
or vibrate and leave the room to answer your phone.
3. Incomplete grade policy: Incomplete grades will be given ONLY in special circumstances as outlined
in the university’s policy. See: http://catalog.arizona.edu/2006-07/policies/grade.htm
4. Threatening Behavior: Threatening behavior is prohibited at the University of Arizona. “Threatening
behavior” means any statement, communication, conduct or gesture, including those in written form,
directed toward any member of the University community that causes a reasonable apprehension
of physical harm to a person or property. See http://policy.web.arizona.edu/threatening-behaviorstudents for the University’s policy.
5. Accessibility and Accommodations: It is the University’s goal that learning experiences be as
accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers based on disability,
please let me know immediately so that we can discuss options. You are also welcome to contact
Disability Resources (520-621-3268) to establish reasonable accommodations.
6. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: All students are expected to know and abide by the Code of
Academic Integrity. The complete code can be found at http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity.
All credit will be forfeited for any academic work completed for this class that violates the code.
7. Statement of Copyrighted Materials: Students are advised that all lecture notes, lectures, study
guides and other course materials disseminated by the instructor to the students, whether in class or
online, are original materials and as such reflect intellectual property of the instructor or author of those
works. All readings, study guides, lecture notes and handouts are intended for individual use by the
student. Students may not distribute or reproduce these materials for commercial purposes without
the express written consent of the instructor. Students who sell or distribute these materials for any
use other than their own are in violation of the University’s Intellectual Property Policy (available
at http://www.ott.arizona.edu/uploads/ip_policy.pdf). Violations of the instructors copyright may
result in course sanctions and violate the Code of Academic Integrity.
8. Change in Syllabus: This syllabus is a tentative document and is subject to change with reasonable
advance notice. The policies on grading and absences will NOT change.
SLHS 565, Fall 2014, B. Story
SPH 565: Tentative Semester Schedule for Fall 2013
Date
August 26
August 28
September 2
September 4*
September 9
September 11
September 16
September 18*
September 23
September 25
September 30
October 2
October 7
October 9*
October 14
October 16
October 21
October 23
October 28
October 30*
November 4
November 6
November 13
November 18
November 20
November 25
December 2*
December 4
December 9
December 17*
Topic
Introduction, Nature of sound
Nature of sound
Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)
Quiz 1, SHM
SHM, Impedance
Impedance
RMS pressure, logarithms & exponents
Exam 1, Sound intensity
Sound intensity
Sound intensity, Sound level meters
Complex waves
Complex waves & spectra
Spectra & spectrograms
Quiz 2, Modulation
Spectrograms, ModulationFilters
Filters, Application of filters & modulation
Microphones & signals
Resonance
Resonance & Source-filter theory
Exam 2, Source-filter theory
WB spectrograms, Speech acoustics
Speech acoustics
Speech acoustics
Speech acoustics
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis
Exam 3, synthesis
Speech synthesis & synthesis of musical instruments
Music synthesis and review
Final Exam, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
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SLHS 565, Fall 2014, B. Story
Learner Outcomes
1. State three standard descriptions,
of sound and describe the material
properties and forces responsible
for production of sound.
Assessment Method
in-class exam,
homework
A
♣
2. Plot waveforms of acoustic and
vibrational quantities.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
3. Calculate the period, frequency,
and wavelength of a sound wave.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
4. Describe different forms of
wave propagation.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
5. Calculate the period, frequency,
and wavelength of a sound wave.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
6. Compute a waveform from a
mathematical representation of
simple harmonic motion.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
7. Define three characteristics
of a sine wave.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
8. Explain how RMS pressure
is calculated.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
9. Explain why dB IL and dB SPL
are the same and calculate dB
for a variety of situations
in-class exam,
homework
♣
10. Explain the relation between
a waveform and spectral/spectrographic
representations.
in-class exam,
♣
11. Give examples of periodic
and nonperiodic sounds and describe
their expected spectral representations.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
12. Give examples of periodic
and nonperiodic sounds and describe
their expected spectral representations.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
13. Explain and calculate conditions
of resonance in waveguides.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
14. Graphically, show the output of
low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass filters.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
15. Apply knowledge of filters, vibration,
resonance, and spectra to explain the
the source-filter theory of speech.
in-class exam,
homework
♣
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B
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ASHA Standard III
C D E F G
IV
H
B
G