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Acoustic Phonetics (Current Studies in Linguistics)

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The author, Ken Stevens, together with Gunnar Fant, is largely responsible for the development of our understanding of the acoustics of speech production, that is, of how the changing configuration of the articulators is related to the acoustic properties of speech. This book is the culmination of that work.

It is in theory self-contained, with a lengthy introductory chapter
on the anatomy and physiology of speech production and chapters on sound sources, resonances of the vocal tract, and auditory processing of speechlike sounds that provide the background for chapters devoted to the various major types of speech sounds. However, a full understanding requires a fair background in mathematics, physics, and electrical engineering. The book is nonetheless lucidly written.

The closest that I can come to criticism is that the title is slightly misleading. "The Acoustics of Speech Production" might have been a better title. The emphasis is on elucidating the basic principles of the acoustics of speech production rather than on describing the details of the production of particular speech sounds; it is not a compendium of the acoustic properties of all known speech sounds. Similarly, unlike some books with titles like "Acoustic Phonetics", it does not attempt to teach the reader how to conduct acoustic phonetic research.

This book has no competitor. No other work provides such a comprehensive view of the acoustics of speech production with such a depth of analysis. It will be the standard reference in the field for many years to come.

Stevens' treatise carries Fant's classic of 1960 up to date, and to a more linguistic level in describing the essential, basic acoustic features of speech. The mathematics are beyond me but I expect to find answers to any question I have about the acoustics of speech communication for explanations in my own book. J.M. Pickett