The role of formant amplitude in the perception of /i/ and /u/

Abstract

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.

Using speech sounds to test functional spectral resolution in listeners with cochlear implants

“…Blumstein et al, 1982;Kiefte et al, 2010;Alexander and Kluender 2008). The results of this study suggest that spectral tilt is an accessible cue for many listeners with CIs.…”

Audibility of American English vowels produced by English-, Chinese-, and Korean-native speakers in long-term speech-shaped noise

“…Thus, detection thresholds were lower for the front vowels than for the back vowels. An influence of formant amplitude on vowel perception was also found by Nábélék et al (1992) and Kiefte et al (2010). Kiefte et al (2010) showed that identification of /u/ and /i/ in quiet was significantly affected by formant amplitude for steady vowels.…”

“…An influence of formant amplitude on vowel perception was also found by Nábélék et al (1992) and Kiefte et al (2010). Kiefte et al (2010) showed that identification of /u/ and /i/ in quiet was significantly affected by formant amplitude for steady vowels. Nábélék et al (1992) reported that listeners sometimes misidentified /u/ as /i/ mainly due to the noise masking the F2 of /u/.…”

Analysis of Spatiotemporal Pattern Correction Using a Computational Model of the Auditory Periphery

“…As well, analysis of the synchronized rate gives a synchrony measure of the response to formants of voiced speech. The frequencies of vowel formants have been suggested to determine the specific vowel type (Peterson & Barney 1952;Kiefte et al 2010). Synchrony to a formant frequency suggests that an auditory neuron is responding to that formant energy in the stimulus, providing a representation of the formant in neural code (Young 2008).…”