After determining the resonance of the vowel sounds, Helmholtz set about reproducing them. He was no less clever here than he was in figuring out how to analyze the pitches of human speech. After completing this analysis, he combined the sounds of various combinations of pitchforks until he achieved the same resonance as the human vowel. No one before had ever mechanically reproduced human speech sounds in such a conscious and accurate manner before, nor thought of vowels as purely interactions of different pitches. Helmholtz combined a very objective mind and ear to a fantastic and precise knowledge of the physics of sound in order to develop these reproductions. His knowledge and research into physics was essential to his study, as sound is ultimately a physical phenomenon. But his research into the human biological ability to produce sound was also groundbreaking, proving the breadth of his knowledge and worth as a scientist.
Part of his analysis of the sound of human...
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