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History of Speech Spectrum Analysis

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Speech Spectrum Analysis

Part of the book series: Signals and Communication Technology ((SCT))

Abstract

This chapter traces the history of sound (and in particular, speech) spectrum analysis from its very beginnings in the theory developed by Fourier in the early 1800s. A particular goal of this historical outline is to describe not just the events and developments through the years, but also the beliefs and attitudes of scientists as these changed with the development of a better understanding. Some of the scientists whose work is discussed here are still widely known and cited, while others’ contributions have been unjustly forgotten. With this chapter, I also hope to straighten out the historical record in this respect, giving all due credit to those pioneers who uncovered many facts about speech spectra that are now taken for granted.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Until the early 1900s, light was not recognized as an electromagnetic particle/wave phenomenon, but rather was erroneously thought to involve waves in an otherwise undetectable substrate known as the \(ether.\)

  2. 2.

    I have been unable to ascertain which of Hermann’s many papers first uses this term, but it was certainly published around 1890.

  3. 3.

    The treatment of vowels was apparently not in the first edition of 1878, though I have not seen this version firsthand.

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  1. Department of Linguistics, California State University Fresno, N. Backer Ave. 5245, Fresno, CA, 93740-8001, USA

    Sean A. Fulop

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  1. Sean A. Fulop
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Fulop, S.A. (2011). History of Speech Spectrum Analysis. In: Speech Spectrum Analysis. Signals and Communication Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17478-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17478-0_3

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