Researchers explore how anatomical variations in a speaker's vocal tract affect speech production. Using MRI, the team recorded the shape of the vocal tract for 41 speakers as the subjects produced a ...

Why do languages sound so different, when people across the world have roughly the same speech organs (mouth, lips, tongue and jaw)? Does the shape of our vocal tract explain some of the variation in ...

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Sound doesn’t fossilize. Language doesn’t either. Even when writing systems have developed, they’ve represented full-fledged and functional languages. Rather than preserving the first baby steps ...

Cochlear implants give children with profound hearing loss a much better chance to learn spoken language. However, the sounds ...

In a noisy school cafeteria, two children speak over the conversations and clanging utensils happening around them. While many observers may see the children talking and think their ears are doing all ...

Of the 43 muscles that comprise the human face, only a few are actually important to speaking. And yet replicating the movements of the mouth by mechanical means always seems to end up only partly ...

Death metal band logos often have a spiky look while romance novel titles often have a swirly script. The jaggedness or curviness of a font can be used to express an emotional tone. A new study finds ...

A lack of confidence, an abundance of nerves, shyness, and not having the correct vocal training can all lead to mumbling. Being an actor in any medium requires an audience to hear and understand what ...

WASHINGTON, March 21, 2023 – Only humans have the ability to use speech. Remarkably, this communication is understandable across accent, social background, and anatomy despite a wide variety of ways ...