äänentutkimus

Äänentutkimus, also known as phonetics, is the scientific study of speech sounds. It investigates the physical properties of sound produced by the human vocal tract and how these sounds are perceived by the listener. Phonetics is broadly divided into three main areas: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics.

Articulatory phonetics focuses on how speech sounds are produced by the vocal organs, such as the tongue, lips, and vocal cords. It describes the position and movement of these organs to create different sounds. Acoustic phonetics, on the other hand, examines the physical characteristics of speech sounds as sound waves. This involves analyzing properties like frequency, amplitude, and duration. Auditory phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the ear and processed by the brain. It explores the relationship between the physical properties of sounds and our subjective experience of hearing them.

Phonetics has applications in various fields, including linguistics, speech therapy, audiology, and the development of speech technology. For linguists, it provides a foundational understanding of the sound system of languages. Speech therapists use phonetic principles to diagnose and treat speech disorders. Audiologists utilize phonetic knowledge to assess hearing abilities and develop hearing aids. In speech technology, phonetics is crucial for creating systems that can recognize and synthesize human speech.