: a characteristic component of the quality of a speech sound
specifically
: any of several resonance bands held to determine the phonetic quality of a vowel
Examples of formant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But when these were compared with benchmark expectations for Canadian English F1 and F2 formants, US hockey players came close but fell just a bit short of the mark.
—
Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 16 May 2024
The thumb controlled the formant (that is, the amplitude peak in the spectrum that distinguishes the instrument’s timbre), the index finger controlled the waveform using a circular grid, and the three remaining fingers controlled the periodicity.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Feb. 2024
Acoustic simulation further supported that gibbons' singing is produced analogously to professional human soprano singing, in which a precise tuning of the first formant (F(1) ) of the SVT to f(0) amplifies exclusively the f(0) component of the source.
—Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 2 Oct. 2012
So that means that when the pitch of the recording is shifted, the formants remain unaffected.
—Rachel Gutman, The Atlantic, 15 May 2018
The first two formants, F1 and F2, are instrumental in being able to tell the different vowels apart.
—Fidel Martinez, latimes.com, 16 May 2018
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Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 16 May 2024
The thumb controlled the formant (that is, the amplitude peak in the spectrum that distinguishes the instrument’s timbre), the index finger controlled the waveform using a circular grid, and the three remaining fingers controlled the periodicity.
—IEEE Spectrum, 1 Feb. 2024
Acoustic simulation further supported that gibbons' singing is produced analogously to professional human soprano singing, in which a precise tuning of the first formant (F(1) ) of the SVT to f(0) amplifies exclusively the f(0) component of the source.
—Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 2 Oct. 2012
So that means that when the pitch of the recording is shifted, the formants remain unaffected.
—Rachel Gutman, The Atlantic, 15 May 2018
The first two formants, F1 and F2, are instrumental in being able to tell the different vowels apart.
—Fidel Martinez, latimes.com, 16 May 2018
Cite this Entry
“Formant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/formant. Accessed 21 May. 2025.
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