def read_phones(path):
    """
    From a TIMIT file, reads the phone lines, appends label, begin, and end to output
    
    Parameters
    ----------
    path : str
        path to file
    
    Returns
    -------
    list of tuples
        each tuple is label, begin, end for a phone

    """
    output = []
    sr = 16000
    with open(path, 'r') as file_handle:
        for line in file_handle:
            l = line.strip().split(' ')
            begin = float(l[0]) / sr
            end = float(l[1]) / sr
            label = l[2]
            output.append((label, begin, end))
    return output
