Antiformant

/ˌæntiːˈfɔːrmənt/ noun

Definition

In speech and acoustics, a frequency region where sound energy is reduced or absent, the opposite of a formant which enhances certain frequencies.

Etymology

From anti- + formant (from Latin formare, 'to shape'). Developed in 20th-century phonetics and acoustic engineering to describe dips in the frequency spectrum of speech sounds.

Kelly Says

Antiformants are the silent parts of your voice—literally the frequencies your mouth actively suppresses—and analyzing them helped computers finally understand and synthesize human speech.

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