Power spectral entropy as an information-theoretic correlate of manner of articulation in American English.

While all languages differentiate speech sounds by manner of articulation, none of the acoustic correlates proposed to date seem to account for how these contrasts are encoded in the speech signal. The present study describes power spectral entropy (PSE), which quantifies the amount of potential information conveyed in the power spectrum of a given sound. Results of acoustic analyses of speech samples extracted from the Texas Instruments-Massachusetts Institute of Technology database reveal a statistically significant correspondence between PSE and American English major classes of manner of articulation. Thus, PSE accurately captures an acoustic correlate of manner of articulation in American English.