The course begins broadly by summarizing basic topics in anatomical organization of the body, such as tissue types, and reviews core anatomical terminology, but then quickly narrows in on the main theme, which concerns how the body produces and perceives speech. Topics are organized functionally so as to maintain student focus on the relationship between form and function. The broader organization will first outline speech production, and then the processes of speech perception and the associated mechanisms of hearing will be discussed. Within each topic, the key elements of the musculoskeletal system are described first, and then the physiological principles governing their operation are covered. Because of the natural anatomical overlap across functional topics, each layer discussed will build on the last.
The course will first cover the mechanism of respiration. Next, phonation, pitch, and laryngeal articulation (including protective maneuvers) will be introduced and the relationship between laryngeal control and respiration will be elucidated. These components will be connected to the notion of the sound source (in acoustic theoretic terms). Students will be introduced to live demonstrations of low-dimensional biomechanical models of the vocal folds and the basic elements of myoelastic- aerodynamic theory will be discussed. Laryngoscopy and laryngeal ultrasound for speech and non-speech processes will also be used to support anatomical and physiological theory, and students will be required to know how to identify the laryngeal structures as observed with these instrumental techniques. The mechanism of the supralaryngeal structures will then be discussed. This is a broad subject area and its subtopics include the jaw, the tongue and pharynx, the velopharyngeal port and nasal cavity, and the lips. A significant amount of attention will be given to the structure of the bones of the skull and their muscular connections. Each of these components will be illustrated using biomechanical models developed in ArtiSynth to visually demonstrate to students the individual and joint effects of muscle action on the articulators. Students will be made aware of how this supralaryngeal component concerns the acoustic filter of the vocal tract and live demonstrations of articulatory speech synthesizers (such as VocaiTractlab; http://www.vocaltractlab.de/) will reinforce this principle. Students will also be exposed to speech imaging data in the form of MRI and lingual ultrasound. Students will be required to identify relevant vocal tract structures observable with these methods. Once the full mechanism is outlined, speech-related processes will be introduced with a focus on consonant and vowel production. The laryngeal components of these, such as voicing and aspiration, will allow students to integrate what they learned about the larynx into the subject of supralaryngeal articulation. Students will gain an appreciation of the complex orchestration involved in producing basic eve sequences and be required to produce detailed descriptions of the physiological events involved such sequences, including those discussed in relation to the larynx. Students will also gain an appreciation of how the life-supporting functions of chewing and swallowing relate to speech. Some attention will also be given to the muscles of the lower face and their use in facial expression.
The course will then focus on the perceptual side of speech and introduce the mechanism of hearing by examining, in turn, the outer, middle, and inner ear. Students will be taught about theories of aural sensation and be introduced to some of the physical principles governing the hearing mechanism, including impedance transformation and the mechanoelectrical transduction processes of the hair cells. Some discussion will be given to the neural ear and how speech sounds become perceived by the brain. The students will be introduced briefly to the anatomy of the brain and the cranial nerves. The details of these topics will be related back to the preceding major sections of the course concerning speech production and perception by describing (in light detail) the neural pathways involved in motor control of speech, including the topics of the reflex arc, muscle spindles, and proprioception, and those for the perception of (speech) sound. The final topic discussed will introduce the topic of ontogenetic development of the vocal tract structures. Development in general will be briefly described and the students will be introduced to some of the genetic mechanisms that guide this process (with the side effect of sowing an interest for a potential course about Language and Genetics). Students will then be given a short tour of the developing vocal tract. A final link will then be made to phylogenetic development of vocal tract structures, with an equally short survey of the comparative morphology of structures found in other specifies that are homologous to those of the human vocal tract. Variation of vocal tract structures as a function of factors such as age, sex, and broad ethnic-background, will also be noted and supported with irnaging data whenever possible.
Key subjects covered include:
1. using anatomical and physiological terminology to describe the processes of speech production and perception;
2. the relationship between the auditory categories of the IPA and the mechanisms of speech production;
3. an appreciation of the link (and sometimes lack thereof) between anatomical form and physiological function;
4. an appreciation of the relationship between physical principles (such as acoustics or aerodynamics) and the processes of speech and hearing;
5. practice interpreting anatomical and speech-instrumentation data.
