Editing Mechanical synthesis (section)

== Historical Context ==
The broad context of the very first attempts at mechanical speech synthesis of the 1700s is the [[wikipedia:Age_of_Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] as a cultural and historical era, together with its fundamental ideas. This historical era encompassed ideas centred around human well-being, knowledge acquisition through rational thinking and sensory evidence, as well as freedom and scientific advancement. This brought about an overall growing recognition of the human intellect, with a strong emphasis on the scientific approach and principles of reductionism<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment</ref>.

The 17th century had already brought about a clear understanding of the head an neck anatomy, as evidenced by the illustrations of the sagital sections found in anatomy handbooks and scientific articles<ref>Casserius, G. (1600). De vocis auditusque organis historia anatomica. Baldinus, Ferrara, Italy.</ref><ref name=":0">Mersenne, M. (1636). Harmonie Universelle. S. Cramoisy, Paris.</ref>. However, there was still no clear understanding of how these components were responsible for speech production, as well as where the sound of voice exactly comes from<ref name=":1">Ramsay, G. (2019). Mechanical Speech Synthesis in  Early Talking Automata. ''Acoustics Today'', ''15''(2), 11–19. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2019.15.2.11</nowiki></ref>.

One of the most detailed accounts of speech production and proposed speech synthesis mechanisms is given by Marin Mersenne<ref name=":0" /> in 1636, where he provides clear instructions on constructing a set of organ pipes capable of 'articulating vowels, consonants, syllables, and complete utterances'. His work, along with later contributions form [[wikipedia:Denis_Dodart|Denis Dodart]]  <ref>Dodart, D. (1700). Mémoire sur la cause de la voix de l'homme, et de ses differens tons. Suite des mémoires de mathématique et de physique tirés des registres de l'académie royale des sciences de l’année MDCC, 343-410.</ref> and [[wikipedia:Antoine_Ferrein|Antoine Ferrein]] <ref>Ferrein, A. (1741). De la formation de la voix de l'homme. Suite des mémoires de mathématique et de physique tirés des registres de l'académie royale des sciences de l'année MDCCXLI, 545-579.</ref>, were already correctly assuming the critical role of a tube's shape and manipulation thereof in reproducing speech sounds. 

As of the 1750s, the theoretical framework for mechanisms underlying speech production revolved around the idea that a pair of lungs generated an aerodynamic flow of air, which passes through the vocal folds, causing them to vibrate under tension and create sound. This sound is subsequently modulated into speech through a tube-shaped vocal tract. In other words, at this point there was already no doubt regarding the analogy between the vocal tract and a 'special musical instrument', with the scientific focus shifting towards how this unique vocal instrument can be effectively played to produce speech<ref name=":1" />. At the same time, [[wikipedia:Leonhard_Euler|Leonhard Euler]] had already brought his major contribution to the field of physics regarding the understanding of sound waves, speculating from early on that it might be possible to build some kind of music instrument that would generate sounds which come close to human speech.

All together, these contributions from different fields in the context of a science-driven Enlightenment era mark a crucial juncture in the early understanding of speech production and potential approaches to speech synthesis.