Although recent evidence reconfirmed the importance of spectral peak frequencies in vowel identification [Kiefte and Kluender (2005). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1395-1404], the role of formant amplitude in perception remains somewhat controversial. Although several studies have demonstrated a relationship between vowel perception and formant amplitude, this effect may be a result of basic auditory phenomena such as decreased local spectral contrast and simultaneous masking. This study examines the roles that local spectral contrast and simultaneous masking play in the relationship between the amplitude of spectral peaks and the perception of vowel stimuli. Both full- and incomplete-spectrum stimuli were used in an attempt to separate the effects of local spectral contrast and simultaneous masking. A second experiment was conducted to measure the detectability of the presence/absence of a formant peak to determine to what extent identification data could be predicted from spectral peak audibility alone. Results from both experiments indicate that, while both masking and spectral contrast likely play important roles in vowel perception, additional factors must be considered in order to account for vowel identification data. Systematic differences between the audibility of spectral peaks and predictions of perceived vowel identity were observed.
Although recent evidence reconfirmed the importance of spectral peaks in vowel identification [M. Kiefte and K.R. Kluender, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, 1395–1404 (2005)], the roles of formant bandwidth and amplitude in perception have not been firmly established. Although several studies have shown changes in vowel categorization with changes in bandwidth and amplitude, such manipulations often result in peaks that have very little local spectral contrast or which may be perceptually masked by other spectral prominences. This study compares local contrast and masking of spectral peaks in vowel perception. A stimulus continuum ranging from /i/ to /u/ in both the amplitude of the second formant as well as that of higher formants was presented to listeners for identification. Both full-spectrum and incomplete-spectrum stimuli were used to demonstrate the effects of local spectral contrast and simultaneous masking. A second experiment was used to determine if listeners were able to detect the presence of the second spectral peak in the same stimuli. Results from both experiments indicated that both masking and spectral contrast play a role in vowel perception.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.