DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF FORMANT FREQUENCY AND BANDWIDTH IN INFANTS AND TODDLERS

Average formant frequency and formant bandwidth values are reported in a cross-sectional sample of 20 children between 4 and 25 months of ag e. With the exception of a slight rise in F-1 at 18 months of age, ave rage F-1 and F-2 values changed little during the time period, while t he average bandwidths far F-1 (B-1) and F-2 (B-2) were found to signif icantly decrease as age increased. The pattern observed for both avera ge formant frequencies and formant bandwidths were attributed to devel opmental reconfiguration of the vocal tract.