Characterizing Vocal Tract Dynamics Across Speakers Using Real-Time MRI

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI) provides information about the dynamic shaping of the vocal tract during speech production and valuable data for creating and testing models of speech production. In this paper, we use rtMRI videos to develop a dynamical system in the framework of Task Dynamics which controls vocal tract constrictions and induces deformation of the air-tissue boundary. This is the first task dynamical system explicitly derived from speech kinematic data. Simulation identifies differences in articulatory strategy across speakers (n = 18), specifically in the relative contribution of articulators to vocal tract constrictions.