Glossary

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Formant(also: Vocal Formant, Formant Frequency)

A concentration of acoustic energy around a particular frequency in the speech signal, produced by the resonance of the vocal tract. Formants are labeled sequentially (F1, F2, F3, etc.) from lowest to highest frequency and are key to distinguishing different vowel sounds and…

Fundamental Frequency(also: F0, Pitch Frequency, Voice Pitch)

The lowest frequency of a periodic sound wave, corresponding to the rate at which the vocal folds vibrate during voiced speech. Fundamental frequency (F0) is perceived by listeners as pitch and is a primary component of prosody — the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. F0…

Pitch Polarity(also: Pitch Mapping Direction)

The direction in which pitch changes correspond to navigation direction in an auditory interface — specifically, whether pitch increases (ascending polarity) or decreases (descending polarity) as a user scrolls downward through a list or menu. Pitch polarity is a design variable…

Shepard Tone(also: Shepard Scale, Shepard-Risset Glissando)

A psychoacoustic auditory illusion created by layering sine waves separated by octaves, producing the paradoxical perception of a tone that continuously rises (or falls) in pitch indefinitely, yet cycles back without apparent discontinuity. Named after cognitive scientist Roger…

Speech Prosodics(also: Prosodic Features, Suprasegmental Features)

Speech prosodics refers to the nonverbal acoustic features of speech that convey meaning beyond the words themselves, including pitch (fundamental frequency), rhythm, stress, intonation patterns, pausing, and speaking rate. In accessibility research, prosodic analysis serves as…

Timbre(also: Tone Colour, Tone Color)

The perceived quality or 'colour' of a sound that distinguishes different sources playing the same pitch and loudness — for instance, the difference between a flute, a violin, and a human voice singing the same note. Timbre is determined largely by the spectral content (the…

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