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SSC 0158: The Science of Talking
(For year 1 students of medicine)

Course Organiser:
Fang Liu

Lecturers:
Michael Ashby
Rachel Baker
Mark Huckvale
Fang Liu
Jyrki Tuomainen
Yi Xu

Course Description:
This course will introduce students to the fascinating world of speech communication (focussing on the production of speech). We will study the anatomy, physiology and acoustics of speech production and the logical organisation of spoken communication. We will look at the sounds of the world’s languages, the structure of the larynx and the vocal tract, the production of vowels and consonants, and the acoustic characteristics of speech. We will touch on how speech varies across languages or accents and also across different emotions of a speaker. We will also examine the relationship between speaking and singing, and discuss disordered speech/music production.  

Objectives:
  • We will use talks, discussions, exercises and laboratory experiments to provide a hands-on investigation of the nature of speech and the vocal apparatus.
  • The student will gain skills in analysing the sounds of speech using computers.
  • The student will gain an appreciation of the sophistication and variety of speech in human communication.

Prerequisites (if any):
An interest in speech communication and language

Teaching methods:
A typical afternoon session will involve an interactive lecture, a practical class and a tutorial. The last week will be used for student presentations.
The course will be co-taught by a number of experts in speech sciences from the Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences at UCL (see above). This will give students the opportunity to meet directly with experts in the field and learn about their work and ideas.  

Assessments:

Assessments comprise both a written and an oral component:

  • One report on a teaching session (50%): For the written component students will write a 2000 word report on one of the sessions. Details about this report will be discussed in class.
  • One oral presentation (50%): For the oral component students will make short (app. 15 min) presentations in groups of 2 or 3 on a topic related to the course that will be assigned to them. Topics will be chosen at some point during the course and presentations will be in the final session. 

Course topics week by week:

Week 1: Voice (Mark Huckvale)
Week 2: Source-Filter Model (Fang Liu)
Week 3: The sounds of the world's languages (Michael Ashby)
Week 4: Speech is highly variable (Rachel Baker)
Week 5: Speaking and singing (Fang Liu)
Week 6: Disorders of speech production (Jyrki Tuomainen)
Week 7: How do we express emotions with speech? (Yi Xu)
Week 8: Student presentations (Fang Liu & volunteers)


Please download course materials at the following link:
Course materials


Please see course programme (teaching time & location) at the following link:
Course programme

Resources

Students are recommended to study the book 'Introducing Phonetic Sciences' by Michael Ashby and John Maidment, CUP 2005, to back-up the material covered on the course.

The web site www.speechandhearing.net has much useful background information about the field at a suitable level.