Speech Technology Books

This is a group effort from a trio of investigators at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, an institution whose researchers were among the creators of modern acoustic phonetics. It is almost a research monograph disguised as a textbook, published by a distinguished scientific publisher. This leads to frustration of the specialist reader at times, when one looks for technical summaries of the material which may be lacking. The book could be considered a complete revision of the classic Bell Labs book by Potter, Kopp, and Green (Kopp) under the title Visible Speech, published in 1947 and including with broader material on speech acoustics and its applications a 225-page description of the sounds of American English from an acoustic point of view.

The book is a systematic description of the phonetics of American English based on acoustic data from one male informant, a native of Pittsburgh, with limited data from a woman speaker. This is a weakness shared by most of the literature on speech acoustics; because the fundamental frequency of women's speech is higher than that of men, women's speech is technically more difficult to analyze precisely in acoustic terms. The limitation to one main subject is far outweighed by the precious systematic data which the book contains for most aspects of American English phonetics. Of course, it also suggests further investigation of the ways in which humans speaking somewhat different versions of the same language understand one another, which could be said to constitute the other, perceptual, side of the subject matter of this work. This aspect, by the way, is well reviewed in the excellent chapters on perception in J.M.Picket's revised book The Acoustics of Speech Communication (Allyn and Bacon, 1999).

The Bell authors provide valuable introductory chapters on basic concepts of phonetics and phonology, and speech acoustics. There is a growing literature on the basic concepts of acoustic phonetics, such as the new editions of the well-established books by Ladefoged (1996) and Kent and Read (2001), which some readers may wish to consult. Then follows a chapter on the static properties of speech sounds; many treatments of acoustic phonetics never get past this elementary level. However, the book by Olive, Greenwood, and Coleman makes a precious contribution in the systematic following chapters on the treatment of English sounds in context. Many individual aspects of this topic are well treated in the research literature, but
this comprehensive investigation of the speech of a single speaker is unique. There is broad treatment not only of formant transitions between consonants and vowels, but also of consonant clusters and interactions, contextual variants of sounds such as [l] and [r](using standard notation for phonetic units), and a long final chapter on acoustic variability of sounds and dialectal variability. A precious feature of the index is that it not only includes a detailed phonetic and technical listing but also gives the location in the text of treatments of individual sound sequences, shortening many searches.

Apart from its merits as a research monograph, this work
also works well as a classroom text. The reviewer has used it in a class on applied English phonetics with extensive spectrographic lab experience, in which the students studied their own speech acoustically and compared it to the results described by Olive et al. A particularly valuable role of the book is for non-English speakers who are able to use the objective character of the acoustic analysis to bypass the obstacle of uncertain perception of English sounds and assist themselves in improving their mastery of English phonetics. Elementary speech acoustics on this level is not difficult, and this aspect of the work was very much appreciated by foreign students in my class.

This is a work of enormous value to a variety of students and specialists, particularly in phonetics, linguistics, and speech pathology, but also for engineers and the increasing ranks of those working on speech recognition. The reviewer finds that he has had to gradually increase the number of loaner copies of this work on his office shelf, because the Olive book is not in the local library, and his students want prolonged access to a work which describes English acoustic phonetics competently and(within its limits)comprehensively. This book is is not as well known as it deserves to be.

The reviewer has some complaints. In general, the articulatory discussions are not as accurate or precise as the acoustic ones; of course, that is not what the book is about. If one must mention published collections of papers on speech acoustics, the indispensable book Readings in Acoustic Phonetics edited by Lehiste (1967 with several reprints) which preserves publication format is more useful than the one cited. It is regrettable and puzzling that there is not a single first-author work of Gordon Peterson in the bibliography. These are minor details. This work deserves to be well known, and to be in all major university libraries and institutions in which linguistic or clinical phonetics has significance, as well as in scholars' libraries. It should be read carefully and repeatedly until its pages are dirty and scribbled on, like my copy. The first acoustic specification of sounds of a language known to the reviewer was the publication of formant frequencies of whispered vowels published by Samuel Reyher in 1679. The book by Olive and his colleagues reflects a long and proud past, and its subject matter seems at present to be enjoying a deserved revival of interest.

extremely helpful. it's a compilation of the discipline's latest innovations/researches. a must-have book for those involved in dsp audio applications in industry.

Excellent text. Thorough and illuminating. Clark is able to explain detailed and complicated processes with ease - very well written.

Constance Hawke alleviates the confusion pertaining to the internet and security issues that are prevelant as our society becomes more reliant on the use of computers to spread information. Her work was enjoyed by the entire class.

This very easy to read and look at book talks about how to use the most popular music programs from MP3 Player prorams, to music managers, to iTUNES. It helps you choose your MP3 player, install your Player....use Napster and even burnmusic discs....how to use a USB Jump drive...and even set up your wireless router. Eight easy to read and use chapters range from:
1) Understanding Digital Music -- what is an MP3 (this will tell you) 2) Getting Digital Music with Media Cretor 7, 3) Using Napster 4) Getting Organized with Media Manager 5) Enjoying Your music on the PC 6) Editing your music 7) Distributing your Music and 8 Using Popular Music Programs.....Great screen shots...and plenty of tips -- more visuals than text-- as it should be --- very easy to use -- from age 14 and up -- great for teens and for gray hairs who are mystified by digital music....

Together with its Lab Guide and Journal and excellent grounding in structured cabling. Recommended.

Taking Chomsky and Halle's "Sound Pattern of English" as a starting point, Durand explains the perceived inadequacies in the theory and how they led to the various schools within the generative tradition collectively known as non-linear phonology. A list of chapter titles should suffice to give prospective readers an idea of the book's scope:

The theory of Distictive Features;

Binarism, full and partial specification, markedness and gestures;

The derivational issue: aspects of the abstractness-concreteness debate;

Underspecification Theory and Lexical Phonology; Metrical Structures;

Autosegmental and Multidimensional Phonology;

An outline of Dependency Phonology.

Note that the book was first published in 1990, so anyone needing information about more recent developments will have to look elsewhere.

This is an absolutely delightful book about how humans speak. It talks about the anatomy and physiology of speech, place and manner of articulation (without ever mentioning those, or any other, technical terms), and discusses why children learning language don't get all sounds right immediately. If you're a linguist, speech therapist, or anything similar, and you have kids, you REALLY want this book.

This book was very solid technically, and a fascinating read. On the development side, it is filled with ideas and examples, some of which showed me completely different approaches to common problems. Conceptually, the book is even richer, not only explaining complex technologies in simple ways, but showing how some seemingly unrelated technological developments from the past few years can fit and work together. Overall, I think the book's most worthwhile aspect is the way it married its overall vision, which anticipates the future of integration and knowledge-driven computing, with very specific design and code examples that I could incorporate into my practice right away. A top book for people who want to stay ahead of the pack in the latest practical developments that will shape information architecture for the future.

Michael Bugeja's presentation of the issues that surround the use of technology in todays world are clear and concise. His point of the need of face-to-face contact between individuals is vital in developing civic engagement within a civil society. However, what Mr Bugeja fails to realize is the recursive self-reflective thinking process of individuals who are engaged in civil discourse with the aide of technolgy. Even though it is true to recognize that marketing technics do diminish the thought process of passive participants with technology, yet, when individuals do become aware of the marketing methods of 'group think', an active interaction with technology can enhance the thought and decision making process of those individuals who use technology as a tool for solving social and human capital problems.