Abstract
A three-dimensional finite element method is applied to investigate the acoustic trans missioncharacteristics of vocal tract. The accuracy of the finite element solutions is assessed by comparing with the exact solutions for an infinitely long rectangular duct. Using the FE models of vocal tract during pronunciation of vowels, we examine the sound field in vocal tract and the effects of multi-modal propagation due to an interac tionof the plane wave mode and the higher order modes in high frequency region. The results of calculation show that the modal interactions become significant at frequencies above 5 kHz during pronunciation of vowels/a/, /u/and/o/, and that some dips appear in the transfer responses of the system due to the multi-modal propagation. It is shown that the traditional equivalent circuit model has a validity only at the frequencies below 5 kHz.
