Between-speaker variability in temporal organizations of intensity contours.

Intensity contours of speech signals were sub-divided into positive and negative dynamics. Positive dynamics were defined as the speed of increases in intensity from amplitude troughs to subsequent peaks, and negative dynamics as the speed of decreases in intensity from peaks to troughs. Mean, standard deviation, and sequential variability were measured for both dynamics in each sentence. Analyses showed that measures of both dynamics were separately classified and between-speaker variability was largely explained by measures of negative dynamics. This suggests that parts of the signal where intensity decreases from syllable peaks are more speaker-specific. Idiosyncratic articulation may explain such results.