ARTICULA - a tool for Spanish vowel training in real time

This paper describes a free tool for the training of Spanish vowels called ARTICULA. This tool shows an accurate approximation in real time to the position and movements of the tongue, jaw and lips during vowel utterances independent of user’s characteristics as age and gender. At the same time, the tool displays acoustic parameters as intensity, pitch, formants and spectrum, thus making ARTICULA a good alternative for vocalic articulation in voice therapy and training in Spanish language studies. The tool uses a formant normalization through the vocal tract length in order to reduce the high variability between speakers. A preliminary study in voice therapy in children with voice disorders shows the adequate biofeedback provided by the tool and, the improvement in specific vowels after ten weeks of therapy.