What is acoustic phonetics in linguistics?

Acoustic phonetics is a branch of phonetics that focuses on the study of the physical properties of speech sounds. It involves analyzing the acoustic signals produced during speech, including aspects such as frequency, amplitude, and duration of sound waves. Acoustic phoneticians use specialized equipment, like spectrographs, to visualize and measure these acoustic features.

The primary goals of acoustic phonetics include understanding the acoustic properties of speech sounds, investigating how different speech sounds are produced, and exploring how these acoustic signals are perceived by listeners. This field provides valuable insights into the quantitative and measurable aspects of spoken language, contributing to our understanding of speech production and perception.

Phonetics concentrates on the speech organs employed in producing human speech sounds, while acoustic phonetics centers on the acoustic properties of human speech. Acoustic phonetics also delves into the phonetic perception of speech, examining how listeners perceive various sounds. When studying acoustic speech, phoneticians analyze the frequency, amplitude spectrum, and duration of sounds. These factors are employed to characterize sound.