Test Bank

Student-contributed study questions [per these guidelines] for

Core 103 (Byrd) Human Speech

This TestBank was begun in 2019 and has expanded thanks to student contributions since that time.

Navigation: Test Bank Instructions Exam One Test Bank Exam Two Test Bank Exam Three Test Bank

For Test One (first third of course)

If Jenny’s tenth harmonic falls at 2000Hz and her eleventh harmonic falls at 2200Hz, how many waveform periods will occur while she is yelling “AAAH” for 5 seconds (assuming the pitch of her voice remains constant during that time)?

a) 40b) 80c) 200d) 400e) 500f) 1000g) 1500

Imagine someone is sustaining voicing for a vowel. Suppose that the air pressure below the glottis is 101,000Pa (pascals) and that that pressure decreases at 250Pa per second. (Atmospheric pressure is measured at 100,000Pa.) How long will the voicing be sustained for (assuming no other forces or vocal tract actions are brought into play)?

a. 5 secondsb. 400 secondsc. 4 secondsd. 10 seconds

There is a power spectrum that contains the data from a word spoken by a subject in your study. You note that the fundamental frequency (F0) is 120 Hz. What is the frequency of the 5th harmonic?

a. 120b. 600c. 240d. 24e. 5

What word among these choices is most likely represented in this spectrogram? =>link to spectrogram

a. “cat”b. "bow"c. “fundamental frequency”d. “buy”e. "guy"

Which of the following English words would NOT have a positive VOT for its first stop consonant?

a. Padb. Tillc. Spotd. Pode. Keep

Why are the amplitudes of vowels generally greater/louder than those of most consonants?

a. Vowel sounds are longer than consonant soundsb. Vowel sounds are voiceless and generate louder soundsc. The air gets blocked completely for all consonantsd. Vowel sounds are voiced and their airflow not restricted by constrictions as much for consonantse. Consonant sounds are mostly nasal

Consider the following transcription: panther / pænθr /. Select the IPA transcription below having the correct diacritics.

a. / ̍pænθɹ̩/b. / ̍pʰæ̃nθɹ̩/ c. / p̥æ̃nθɹ̩/d. / ̍pʰænθə̃r/e. / p̥ænθɹ̩/

Which of the following best matches an acoustic cue to a phonetic dimension of contrast?

a. Formant transitions help determine our perception of consonant voicing, and VOT helps determine our perception of consonant place of articulation.b. Formant transitions help determine our perception of consonant manner of articulation, and VOT helps determine our perception of voicing.c. Formant transitions help determine our perception of consonant place of articulation, and VOT helps determine our perception of consonant voicing.d. Formant transitions help determine our perception of voicing, and VOT helps determine our perception of consonant manner of articulation.

As a result of vowel rounding (i.e. lip protrusion), vowel formants will (all else equal) be:

a. higher in frequencyb. lower in frequencyc. unaffected

Which is a correct transcription of the word “language”?

a. [ˈlẽŋgwɪdʒ]b. [læŋgˈwɪdʒ]c. [lengwidʒe]d. [ˈlẽngwǝdʒ]

Among the world's languages, one can observe systems of vowel contrast that include the following parameters EXCEPT:

a. nasalityb. formant frequencies, particularly F1 and F2c. two categories of durationd. amplitude

Which of the following correctly relates physical and perceptual properties of sound?

a. Frequency determines the percept of pitch; amplitude determines the percept of loudness.b. Pitch determines the percept of frequency; loudness determines the percept of amplitude.c. Frequency determines the percept of loudness; amplitude determines the percept of pitch.d. Loudness determines the percept of frequency; pitch determines the percept of amplitude.e. Amplitude determines the percept of frequency; loudness determines the percept of pitch.

All of the following words begin with a fricative EXCEPT:

a. Favoriteb. Thighc. Therefored. Charte. Share

Which of the following is false about phonotactics?

a. An example of a word that violates the phonotactics of the English language is “bnick.”b. Phonotactic constraints typically develop due to articulatory limitations of speakers of a given language.c. Phonotactics differ from language to language.d. It is still possible to pronounce pseudowords that do not obey a language's phonotactic constraints.e. There are words that obey the phonotactic constraints of a language but do not actually occur in that language.

Which of the following is not an example demonstrating phonological contrast in a language:

A) A Spanish speaker saying [peɾo] meaning "but" versus a Spanish speaker saying [pero] meaning "dog."B) A user of ASL (American Sign Language) signing <apple> at the cheek location versus signing <onion> at the eye location.C) An English speaker elongating the [u] sound in "boot" in order to convey emphasis.D) A Mandarin speaker using tone to distinguish word meaning.

What of the following is an example demonstrating phonological contrast:

A) A Spanish speaker saying [peɾo] meaning "but" versus a Spanish speaker saying [pero] meaning "dog."B) A user of sign language shrugging their shoulders to indicate indifference.C) An English speaker elongating the [u] sound in "boot" in order to show emphasis.D) A German speaker using intonational inflection to convey emotion.

Which of the following is not an example of manipulating a filter?

a) Rounding a vowelb) Narrowing the tongue profile to create a lateralc) Devoicing a voweld) Lowering the velum to create a nasale) Constricting the tongue tip at the palate to produce a retroflex consonant

Which of the following words include a diphthong?

a. Fry b. Bootc. Pow d. Both b & ce. Both a & c

Why are IPA symbols NOT considered cognitive units of information?

a. Because IPA symbols are not a representation of what the brain is deploying when we speakb. Because IPA symbols are an auditory record of articulatory characteristicsc. Because IPA symbols fail to tell us information about manner and place of articulationd. Because IPA symbols are not designed for individuals outside the linguistic community

This chart @ https://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~krussll/phonetics/acoustic/formants.html) displays the average frequencies of F1 and F2 for one speaker's system of Canadian English vowels. Using your knowledge as well as the info on this page , which of the following is incorrect with regard for this speaker?:

a. F2 formant frequencies for back vowels are generally relatively low.b. F1 and F2 for high and mid front vowels can be expected to be further apart than for high and mid back vowels. c. F1 formant frequencies for high vowels are generally relatively low.d. On an IPA vowel chart high F1 is associated with the top of the chart.e. On an IPA vowel chart high F2 is associated with the top left of the chart.

Which of the following correctly lists the sequence of events that occurs in a glottalic egressive stop, i.e., an ejective?

1. Glottal release 2. Vocal fold vibration 3. Oral release4. Larynx raising 5. Oral constriction/seal 6. Glottal closure/seal7. Larynx lowering 8. Velum lowering A. 5 & 6, then 7 then 3 then 2 then 1B. 5 & 6, then 7 then 3 then 1 then 2C. 5 & 6, then 4 then 3 then 2 then 1D. 5 & 6, then 4 then 3 then 1 then 2E. 5 & 6 & 8, then 4 then 3 then 1 then 2

Which of the following is false about the power spectrum of a human voicing sound source?

A. Fundamental frequency can be determined by the frequency of the harmonics.B. A person with a high fundamental frequency has more sparse harmonics than a person with a low fundamental frequency.C. Fundamental frequency can be estimated by calculating the distance between any two harmonics.D. Amplitude decreases over time.

Why do clicks produce some of the loudest sounds in speech?

A. The speakers of languages that utilize clicks tend to use a lot of voicing when producing clicksB. A pulmonic egressive airstream adds to the airflow being expelled upon front seal releaseC. A simultaneous nasal can amplify the perceived sound of the clickD. The rarefaction (i.e. lowered pressure) in the small cavity size between seal at the tongue rear and the more anterior seal can generate a very large pressure differential relative to atmospheric pressure

What property would yield a greater likelihood that an individual’s harmonics will coincide with peaks in their transfer function and excite them strongly?

a. A wider vocal tract constrictionb. A narrower vocal tract constrictionc. A higher fundamental frequencyd. A lower fundamental frequency

Formant frequencies are dependent on the following factors EXCEPT:

A) Position of maximum constrictionB) Degree of maximum constrictionC) Length of voicingD) Length of vocal tract

Which is correct regarding the Invariant Properties Model of speech perception?

a. Humans can and often do use visual signals to help comprehend speech signals, therefore “looking harder” would help them understand speech.b. The model posits that humans as they are exposed to more and more instances/examples of a certain linguistic unit are more likely to perceive those units accurately.c. The model proposes that there are acoustic or auditory components of speech that are stable across contexts and speakers and that therefore are reliable cues in speech perception.d. The model insists that researchers need to exploit an innate link between the development of speech articulation mechanisms and speech perception mechanisms to understand how humans can comprehend speech across contexts.

In considering the challenge of vowel normalization–how vowels that are acoustically different across speakers are interpreted to belong to the same linguistic category—there are three potential strategies that we discussed. These strategies could be considered solutions that are (i) qualitative and system-based, (ii) algorithmic and quantitative (i.e. computational), or (iii) temporal and path-based. Below match the normalization strategies to the type of approach each pursues (i. qualitative, ii. quantitative, or iii. temporal).

A. i. (qualitative)=>Absolute Normalization, ii (quantitative) Relative Normalization; iii (temporal)=> Dynamic NormalizationB. i. (qualitative)=>Relative Normalization, ii (quantitative) Dynamic Normalization; iii (temporal)=> Quantitative NormalizationC. i. (qualitative)=>Dynamic Normalization, ii (quantitative) Absolute Normalization; iii (temporal)=> Relative NormalizationD. i. (qualitative)=>Relative Normalization, ii (quantitative) Absolute Normalization; iii (temporal)=> Dynamic Normalization

A transcription of which of the following word(s) would likely include the use of a devoiced diacritic:

a) Potatob) Bleedc) Pryd) Both a) and c)e) Both b) and c)

How would increasing the frequency of F0 affect the frequency of F1?

A) Increasing the frequency of F0 will increase the frequency of F1?B) Increasing the frequency of F0 will decrease the frequency of F1?C) It won’t affect the frequency of F1?D) It depends on the vowel.

Which formant frequency values best schematically describe the vowel /a/ relative to the other vowels of American English?

a) Low F1 and Low F2 b) Low F1 and High F2 c) High F1 and Low F2 d) High F1 and High F2

If a recording instrument allows us to pick up the acoustic signal of a person’s vocal folds during speech (and only that signal), which type(s) of speech information would we hear when we play the sounds recorded by this instrument?

a) the vowels only
b) the consonants only
c) the pitch only
d) the vowels and the pitch
e) the vowels and the consonants

What is a plausible IPA translation of American English “Polar Bear”?

A) [phoˈleɹ ˈbeaɹ]

B) [ˈphʊlr bhar]

C) [ˈphoʊlɹ beɹ]

D) [ˈpoʊlɹ beɔɹ]

Tommy has a relatively tall vocal tract, say about 18cm in length. When his vocal tract is in a a neutral non-constricted posture, which of the following is a plausible lowest natural resonance frequency of his vocal tract?

a. 50 Hz
b. 100 Hz
c. 500 Hz
d. 1000 Hz
e. 5000 Hz

The Native Hawaiian language has the following characteristics:

1. [w] and [v] are not contrastive

2. Glottal stops contrast with [p] and with [t/k] (though [t] & [k] do not contrast with each other)

3. Gemination (length) is contrastive

Given this, which of the following word pronunciations could mean the same thing as: [hə waːi ʔi]

A) [hə vaːi ʔi]B) [hə vaːi i]C) [həː waːi ʔi]D) Both (A) and (C)

For Test Two (second third of course)

Which of the following is false with regard to the facial emotion continuum from happy to fearful shown here [from Tomomi Fujimura], if the continuum is perceived categorically with a boundary between face 4 and face 5?

a. Identification functions for happy and for fearful will cross over between stimuli 4 and 5 on the continuum.b. Viewers are good at telling apart (discriminating) face 3 and face 5.c. Viewers randomly identify the emotion of face 6 as either happy or fearful.d. The visual difference between face-2 and face-4 is the same in degree as between face-6 and face-8.e. Viewers are poor—perform at chance level—at telling apart (discriminating) face 6 and face 8

Elena and Sam both speak English primarily around the house but want their newborn baby to learn Spanish as well. Unsure of the best way to teach the baby a second language, they try a multitude of methods over the course of the first year of the baby’s life. Which of the following is likely to help the baby learn to discriminate contrasting sounds in Spanish the most?

A. Listening to Spanish-language radio and music whenever they’re in the car with the babyB. Traveling to Puerto Rico for a week immediately after the baby is born to expose the baby to as much Spanish as possibleC. Leaving the baby with extended family who primarily speak Spanish during the day while they’re at workD. Watching Spanish-language TV with the babyE. Elena’s mom calls weekly to speak to the baby in Spanish over the phone

Which of the following statements is correct:

a) Accents involve primarily pronunciation; dialects involve primarily word choice and grammarb) Pronouncing “marry,” “merry,” and “Mary” may be characteristic of a particular accentc) Pronouncing the first vowel in “water” as /ɔ/ or /a/ can be best described as a dialectal characteristicd) Dialects involve word selection, while accents involve grammatical patternse) A and B

Which of the following choices refers to a speech perception theory that claims to explain the phenomena of categorical perception, duplex perception, and the McGurk Effect?

I. Motor TheoryII. Invariant Property ModelIII. Direct Perception a. I onlyb. II onlyc. I and IId. I and IIIe. All of the above

Which model/theory is most consistent with the following statement: “All speech processes occur within a functionally distinct, specialized unit of the brain, the purpose of which is to produce as well as understand speech. Face identification and a few other specialized perceptual abilities of humans also operate in a similarly distinct way.”

a. Direct Perception Theoryb. Modularity Theoryc. Motor Theoryd. Invariant Property Modelse. Dual-Stage Models

Mirror neuron theory is explained by the firing of a neuron both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another. A famous experiment in Science by Fogassi, et al. 2005, tested monkeys observing an experimenter reaching for an object and either bringing it to the mouth or placing it in a container. Which ones of these choices correctly identifies the fundamental flaw that Gergley Csibra (2007) noticed in the logic of the mirror neuron theory? [NB: not covered every year]

A. Mirror neurons represent/encode high-level interpretation of the observed actions and thus may not necessarily be directly tied to encoding a low-level perception-action link.B. A mirror neuron system is fundamentally a a link between observed and performed actions; there is thus little evidence for it having a role in interpreting action intention.C. In order to activate neurons when the object is hidden, two requirements need to be met: the monkey must know that there is an object behind the occluding screen and must see the hand of the experimenter behind the occluding screen.D. The presence of the container in the experiment acts as a cue allowing the monkey to predict the most likely subsequent motor act.

If a test subject is presented with an auditory signal [ga] but is shown the visual signal (i.e. moving face) for [ba] synchronously, they are likely to perceive:

a. A phonetic percept of [ba]b. A phonetic percept of [ga]c. A fusion of [ba] and [ga] resulting in [da]d. A fusion of [ba] and [ga] resulting in an ambiguous syllable that might be either [ba] or [ga]

Which of the following demonstrates the difference an identification task and a discrimination task?

a) Identification: Labeling a band of a rainbow as the color blue; Discrimination: Telling a rainbow from jet contrail.b) Identification: Labeling a band of a rainbow as the color blue; Discrimination:. Telling sky-blue from navy-blue. c) Identification: Labeling a [p] at the start of a word; Discrimination: Determining whether [p] is the first or third sound in a word. d) Identification: Labeling a [p] at the start of a word; Discrimination: Determining whether two stimuli are both the word "pop."e) Both B and D

Which of the scenarios would be the least challenging for a listener to succeed in word segmentation?

A) Listening to a podcast in French as a non-native speakerB) Listening to the lyrics of a songC) Listening to a voice recording that has been distorted to disguise the identity of the speaker

Which of the following words could be represented by the gestural score pictured below?

a. swatb. banc. spotd. boote. pot

Which of the following is an example of the Ganong effect?

A. A velar stop close to the VOT category boundary is played before [ɪd], and an English speaker hears [gɪd] B. A velar stop close to the VOT category boundary is played before an [ɪd], and an English speaker hears [kɪd] C. A velar stop close to the VOT category boundary is played before [ɪd], and an English speaker hears [kɪŋ]D. A velar stop close to the VOT category boundary is played before [ɪd], and an English speaker hears [gɪŋ]E. A English speaker is primed that a synthetic sine wave speech stimulus will be the word “kid,” and after the sine wave speech is played, the participant hears “kid.”

In an experiment procedure to test categorical perception in infants measured by nonnutritive sucking (e.g., the High Amplitude Sucking paradigm), at the beginning of the experiment the same auditory stimulus is repeatedly played to the infant with no change (no switch) in stimulus. What response would we expect from the infant?

a. Sucking rate remains the same as the baseline sucking rate when she wasn't hearing anything.b. Sucking rate increases as long as the stimuli is presented.c. Sucking rate decreases as long as the stimuli is presented.d. Sucking rate increases, then decreases.e. Sucking rate decreases, then increases.f. The infant stops sucking altogether.

A scientist is testing an English speaker’s ability to identify a speech sound recording as “pa.” As the scientist plots the subject’s response onto a graph in which the x-axis shows VOT of each recording increasing by equal increments of 20 milliseconds, what pattern should the scientist expect to see?

a. The likelihood of the speaker identifying the syllable as “pa” would increase proportionately with each 20ms added in VOTb. The likelihood of the speaker identifying the syllable as “pa” would decrease proportionately with each 20ms added in VOTc. The likelihood of the speaker identifying the syllable as “pa” would be difficult to predict without more data, given that humans have poor within-category perceptiond. The likelihood of the speaker identifying the syllable as “pa” would not linearly follow the 20 ms increases, but instead would be very low for the first few x-axis values, then steeply increase, then be very high for the final few x-axis values

Which of these is UNTRUE about an accent?

A. Varying pronunciations of the words “foyer”, “caramel”, and “almond” reflect different accents of the English languageB. Two people with two different accents of the same language are mutually intelligibleC. Accent (alone) is associated with differences in grammar, such as having double negatives versus a singular negative in a clause to mark negationD. Someone whose native language does not include an [r] may produce their native language’s [l] sound as a substitution when for [r] when speaking English, producing an accent in their production of English

The word formation process resulting in the word “Abso-freaking-lutely” can be used as cognitive evidence for which phonological unit?

a. Footb. Syllablec. Onsetsd. Segmentse. Gestures

While the pattern of saying [aks] instead of “ask” in some dialects of English may be derided by prescriptive grammarians, it can be particularly useful for linguists seeking evidence of phonological units in speech. What linguistic phenomenon is [aks] vs. “ask” an example of, and for what phonological unit does it provide evidence?

a) Metathesis, which demonstrates the existence of syllables as a unit of speech by maintaining the original word’s syllable count even in error.b) Harmony, which demonstrates the existence of sub-syllabic units by requiring that agreement in some quality.c) Reduplication, which demonstrates the existence of syllables as a unit of speech by crafting a new word via the repetition of a syllable.d) Metathesis in which the the existence of segments as a unit of speech is evidenced by shifting their temporal order in pronunciation.e) Infixation, which demonstrates the existence of feet as a unit of speech by inserting an element in a context defined by foot structure.

In addition to speech sounds in humans, the phenomenon of Categorical Perception has been observed (in some cases with training) for which of the following?

I: Non-speech in humans II: Speech in non-humans III: Non-speech sounds in non-humans a) I and IIb) I and IIIc) lI and IIId) AII of the above

What is UNTRUE about word segments/segmentability in speech?

A. Listeners can segment or decode a speech signal into words and sub-word components.B. The perception of word and segment boundaries is veridical, because each individual boundary is reliably and consistently indicated in the speech acoustic signal.C. Words are composed of smaller linguistic units or building blocks.D. Component segments of a word undergo parallel transmission, meaning that information about multiple neighboring units may be transmitted simultaneously in the acoustic signal.

In an experiment using the Conditioned Headturn procedure to test categorical perception in infants, the scientist might conclude that an infant is able to distinguish between two different speech sounds if which of the following occurs on the part of the infant?

The repeated speech sound is changed to a different sound and the infant: turns its head to the toy BEFORE the toy turns on
The repeated speech sound is changed to a different sound and the infant: turns its head to the toy AFTER the toy turns on
The repeated speech sound is changed to a different sound and the infant: turns its head to the toy AT THE SAME TIME the toy turns on
The repeated speech sound is changed to a different sound and the infant: LOOKS AWAY from the toy

In which of the following scenarios will a person, who speaks only English, be very unlikely to report that they heard the word “baby”?

A. The person listens to a fast sentence “How’s it going, paby? You wanna go watch a movie tonight?” where the “p” in “paby” has a relatively short VOT.
B. The person listens to the word “daby,” where the first consonant sound lies very close to the category boundary between “ba” and “da,” while being shown a silent video of a person’s face saying “maybe”
C. The person watches a YouTube video in which Paul McCartney sings “Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away…” while being shown captioned lyrics of the song that says “baby all my troubles seemed so far away…”
D. After having just read the printed lyrics of the title line of the song “Baby it’s cold outside,” the person listens to an audio file in which synthesized sine waves are used to mimic the formant transitions of a naturally produced phrase “Baby it’s cold outside”

For Test Three (final third of course)

Your friend Alex knows you took Prof. Byrd’s CORE 103 class and comes to talk to you about what he thinks is the beginning of hearing loss. What would be a piece of good advice to tell your friend?

a. Hearing loss after prolonged or repeated sound exposure is temporary so don’t worry about losing your hearing. b. If you have hearing loss already, don’t worry about about protecting your ears since hearing loss doesn’t accumulate. c. If you’re not feeling any pain, you can’t have hearing loss. d. You need to start protecting your ears since hearing loss cannot currently be remedied by medicine, surgery, or cell regeneration.e. You shouldn’t really have hearing loss since you are still young.

Which of the following is NOT true about Cochlear Implants?

a. Implanted electrodes in the cochlea stimulate the auditory nerveb. Cochlear implants improve hearing via amplified sound productionc. Many users can attend and understand classes without an interpreterd. Cochlear implants are particularly effective when the individual receiving the implant has already acquired at least some spoken language, i.e. for post-lingually deafened individuals.

Which of the following are reasons that automatic speech recognition is difficult?

a) Speech is difficult to predictb) Speech is difficult to transcribec) Speech is variabled) There is not much corporate investment in ASR technologye) Both A and C

Which of the following is true regarding the two primary interventions for stuttering in children (The Lidcombe Program and the Demands and Capacities Model)?
[topic not covered in 2021]

a. Both interventions address the child directly rather than primarily managing the familial environment b. Both involve regular appointments with a speech-language pathologistc. Both heavily involve parentsd. Both utilize feedback from parent to child regarding fluencye. Both use negative feedbackf. There are no prevention interventions possible for stuttering in children.

True or False: Producing signs in a signed language uses the same brain regions that pantomime uses in non-signers.
Which of the following statement about signed languages and spoken languages is TRUE?

a. American Sign Language (ASL) originated from English.b. American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) are mutually intelligible.c. Bimodal bilinguals exist who use both signed and spoken languages.d. Because signed languages and spoken languages use different modalities, very distinct brain areas are recruited for signs and speech.

Hearing loss from which of the sources below is likely to be transitory, i.e. which is likely to improve/recover to unimpaired hearing?

a. geneticsb. noisec. ototoxic drugsd. otitis mediae. agingf. meningitis

Which of the following conditions can be life-threatening or lead to disease that is life threatening?

a. Cleft palateb. Vocal nodulesc. Laryngitisd. Spasmodic dysphoniae. HPV infectionf. More than one of the above

Doing which of the following will NOT make ASR easier:

a. Limit the fluency of speechb. Limit the length of wordsc. Limit the possible talkersd. Limit the number of possible words

What are the primary elements that determine the naturalness of synthesized speech?

a. Intelligibility (i.e. how easy it is to understand)b. Identity (can be attributed to an individual speaker or pseudo-speaker)c. Expression (has some sense of emotion, speaking style, and purpose)d. Both A and Be. Both B and Cf. All of the aboveg. None of the above

Which of the following are relatively common voice conditions? (more than one answer is possible)

a. Spasmodic Dysphoniab. Laryngitisc. Vocal nodules/nodesd. Vocal fold motion impairmente. Oral/pharyngeal cancerous lesions

Which of the following is NOT likely to be a probability calculated by statistical models used in ASR?

a. Probability of a sound given the preceding sound(s)b. Probability of a phrase given a phrase earlier in the dialoguec. Probability of a word given a sequence of soundsd. Probability of a word given the preceding word(s)