Vocal tract area functions can be used to model the acoustic properties of speech sounds, but most reports of measured vocal tract area functions have focused on adult vocal tracts. Children’s vocal tracts are morphologically different from adults’ vocal tracts, not least because of the lengthening of the pharynx during adolescence. Furthermore, children learn to articulate speech sounds over a period of several years. Children’s vocal tract area functions might therefore differ in shape from those of adults. The present study explores this possibility with measured vocal tract area functions for 5–9-year-old children during production of the consonant /s/. Structural 3-D MR images of the head and neck and 3-D/4-D ultrasound images of the tongue during /s/ production were combined, and measurements of the vocal tract cross-sectional area were made in roughly 0.2-cm-long sections. Results revealed that children’s vocal tract area functions for /s/ resemble those reported for adults. Annual longitudinal changes within the same participant did not exhibit a clear pattern.
Sivarkar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.