Formant discriminating mechanism suggested by factor analysis of vowel spectra
Wm J. Baker, Anton J. Rozsypal · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1978
An objective basis for perceptual distinctions among vowels was developed by a principal factors factor analysis of the spectra of English vowels in the neutral h(V)d consonantal context, produced by eight speakers. This analysis resulted in a five-factor solution. Two factors were related to speaker distinctions. All the three vowel discriminating factor profiles show single pronounced peaks, mutually shifted in frequency. Frequency ranges of the first three vowel formants cover the lower frequency slopes of the three corresponding factor peaks. This configuration resembles, for each formant, a single tuned circuit frequency discriminator as used in demodulation of frequency-modulated signals.