In speech science, formants are primarily associated with which aspect of sounds?

Formants are primarily associated with the resonance characteristics of vocal tract configurations during speech production. They represent the frequency bands where the acoustic energy is amplified due to the resonating properties of the vocal tract. Each vowel sound has distinct formant frequencies that help characterize it, which is essential for intelligibility in speech.

When the shape and size of the vocal tract change—either by moving the tongue, lips, or other articulators—the resonances change, leading to different formant frequencies. This is why formants are critical for distinguishing between different vowel sounds.

In this context, while volume, pitch, and articulation do play roles in speech production, they do not inherently describe the unique resonant qualities of speech sounds as formants do. Volume is related to the loudness of the sound, pitch pertains to the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds, and articulation refers to the physical act of producing speech sounds. None of these directly describe the resonant quality represented by formants.