Vocal tract area function measurements: Two time-domain methods

Two methods are described for determining the vocal tract area function from measurements at the lips of the response to an impulsive acoustic pressure wave: - In one case, the impulse response at the lips obtained by deconvolution is used to compute the area function at all points; - Alternatively, the vocal tract is modeled by successive approximation, a search is made for the constrictions by decreasing order of importance rather than sequentially from the lips. Results obtained with both methods are good, the area functions are measured in absolute values rather than in arbitrary units. Advantages, difficulties and limitations of both methods are discussed.