Exploring vowel formant estimation through simulation-based techniques

This paper contributes insight into the sources of variability in vowel formant estimation, a major analytic activity in sociophonetics, by reviewing the outcomes of two simulations that manipulated the settings used for linear predictive coding (LPC)-based vowel formant estimation. Simulation 1 explores the range of frequency differences obtained when minor adjustments are made to LPC settings, and measurement time points around the settings used by trained analysts, in order to determine the range of variability that should be expected in sociophonetic vowel studies. Simulation 2 examines the variability that emerges when LPC settings are varied combinatorially around constant default settings, rather than settings set by trained analysts. The impacts of different LPC settings are discussed as a way of demonstrating the inherent properties of LPC-based formant estimation. This work suggests that differences more fine-grained than about 10 Hz in F1 and 15-20 Hz in F2 are within the range of LPC-based formant estimation variability.