Introduction to Speech Science

Information for Students 2005-2006

1. Course Structure

The course runs each Thursday over the Autumn term (10 sessions, with no lecture during Reading Week). There will be a lecture each morning from 9:05-9:55, followed by a laboratory or tutorial session from 10:00-11:30. Students on the MSc Voice Pathology and MSc Speech and Hearing Sciences degree will receive an additional tutorial from 11:30-12:15.

2. Course Assessment

Your assessment will be based on two take-home exams; the first set Nov 3 and due Nov 17, and the second set Nov 24 and due Dec 8. The exam will have a short essay format. For example, in the first assessment you will be given a print-out of an acoustic analysis and be asked a few questions about it. The length of your answers will vary from a sentence to a few paragraphs, depending on the question. The total length of your answers should be 1000-1500 words.

3. Staff

4.Learning Resources

The Listening Centre contains copies of readings; video tapes of lectures; multimedia software for acoustic phonetics, hearing, physics and mathematics; materials for phonetics revision.

The Web site for the course can be found at:

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/courses//spsci/ish/

The site contains links to a range of learning resources relevant to the course, replies to frequently asked questions, example examination answers, software, and more.

5. Reading

Each week one or more recommended readings are shown on the lecture handout.  It is important that you read these to consolidate and deepen your understanding and to back-up the material presented in the lectures and labs.  A limited number of copies of each week's recommended readings can be borrowed from the Listening Centre.  Many are taken from the recommended text books.

Each year we ask students which text books they have found most useful.  Listed below are the best currently available texts in this area. You are not expected to read all the books listed here.  Unfortunately, no single book adequately covers all aspects of the course so you need to use the list to help you decide which ones meet your requirements. Some of the books will be of use for other units (such as Hearing sciences and Clinical units).  All of them should be available in the University libraries for reference or for loan.  For information about other books, refer to the "Books" page on the web site.

¨      The Speech Chain (Peter Denes, Elliot Pinson, 2nd edition 1993). This is the classic introduction to speech communication, and while dated in parts, it still provides the essential information you need in a fairly easy-to-read style. The recent addition of chapters on digital technology don't help much - they don't match in style to the rest of the book. You'll get a more thorough grounding in physical acoustics from Rosen & Howell. Really you should read this before you start the course. [W H Freeman, ISBN: 0716723441].

¨      New Elements of Acoustic Phonetics (Peter Ladefoged, 2nd edition 1995). A very gentle walk through the basics without any of the discouragements that come from mathematics or rigour. Written by an academic phonetician for linguists it is rather too elementary by itself, but is good enough to get you started with some of the concepts in B214. Only buy this if you're having trouble with Bordern, Harris & Raphael, or with Rosen & Howell. [University of Chicago Press; ISBN: 0226467643]

¨      Speech Science Primer : Physiology, Acoustics, and Perception of Speech (Gloria Borden, Katherine Harris, Lawrence Raphael, 4th edition 2002). This is a very widely used text in Speech Science courses. Good things are that it covers Speech Production and Speech Perception at about the same level as we do; also it does seem to be regularly updated. On the other hand its Physical acoustics section is rather terse, old-fashioned, and with horrible diagrams. Also it is very expensive (about £40 in the U.K.) for what it contains. If you are thinking of buying a book to help with term 2 material, you might also consider Johnson, below. Alternatively you can probably find older editions (just as good) second-hand; and there are many copies in UCL libraries. [Williams & Wilkins, ISBN: 0683009443].

¨      Acoustic and Auditory Phonetics (Keith Johnson, 2nd edition 2002). This covers the acoustic-phonetic material very well, and is a possible alternative to Borden, Harris & Raphael. Its early acoustics chapters are not good though, and contain some misleading details. [Blackwell Publishers; ISBN: 1405101237]

¨      Fundamentals of Sound with Applications to Speech and Hearing (William Mullin, et al, 2003).  This is a new book on acoustics explicitly written for speech therapy and audiology students.  It has good reviews and may be worth looking at if you want more material on the physical acoustics part of the course. [Allyn & Bacon, 2003, ISBN: 020537087X] to the everyday world.  Bring your discoveries to tutorial.