1. resonant frequencies in speech sounds that give vowels and other sounds their distinctive acoustic characteristics
Usage: phonetics; linguistics

Examples

• The first two formants are crucial for vowel identification.
• Speech recognition software analyzes formants to distinguish between different vowel sounds.
• Linguists study formants to understand how speech sounds are produced.
• The formants of the vowel ‘a’ differ from those of the vowel ‘i’.
• Computer programs can synthesize speech by manipulating formant frequencies.
• Acoustic analysis revealed distinct formant patterns for each speaker.