The real and the non-real in speech measurements

The measurement of parameters from the output acoustic pressure waveform during speech has been a common activity in speech science laboratories for a number of decades. The widespread availability of personal computers with more than adequate processing capability to carry out speech analysis means that speech analysis is now commonly available and many more users have access to it. Indeed, there are some highly comprehensive speech analysis software packages available for PC computers as freeware. However, the results gained from speech analysis are not always a function only of the speech input itself, as there are some often surprising pitfalls to be aware of, due to the nature of the chosen measurement technique itself. This paper explores commonly applied speech analysis techniques and focuses particularly on some potential pitfalls and their consequences.