Categorical and Noncategorical Modes of Speech Perception along the Voice Onset Time Continuum

ABSTRACTDiscrimination of synthetically produced stimuli differing along the voice onset time continuum was assessed for infants and adults within the context of the Visually Reinforced Infant Speech Discrimination (VRISD) paradigm. English-learning infants' discrimination abilities were compared with two groups of English-speaking adults (a phonetically naive and a phonetically sophisticated group). Contrary to the predictions of the innateness hypothesis, English-learning infants showed evidence of discrimination only across the English phoneme boundary. Adults, on the other hand, were very successful in discriminating both across and within a range of phoneme boundaries. These results are discussed in terms of the presumed relationship between categorical perception and linguistic processing and in terms of synthetic speech continua.

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Variation in Voice Onset Time for Korean Stops

Korean Linguistics ◽

10.1075/kl.13.01djs ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

David J. Silva

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The United States ◽

Age Group ◽

Acoustic Data ◽

Diachronic Change ◽

Phonemic Level ◽

The Voice

Abstract. Acoustic data elicited from 34 native speakers of Korean living in the United States pro-vide evidence for diachronic change in the voice onset time (VOT) of phrase-initial aspirated and lax stop phonemes. While older speakers produce aspirated and lax stops with clearly differentiated average VOT values, many younger speakers appear to have neutralized this difference, producing VOTs for aspirated stops that are substantially shorter than those of older speakers, and comparable to those for corresponding lax stops. The data further indicate that, within each age group, older speakers manifest sex-based differences in VOT while younger speakers do not. Despite this appar-ent shift in VOT values, the acoustic evidence suggests that all speakers in this study, regardless of age, continue to mark underlying differences between aspirated and lax stops in terms of stop closure and the fundamental frequency of the following vowel. It is concluded that the data point to a recent phonetic shift in the language, whereby VOT no longer serves as the primary cue to differentiate between lax and aspirated stops. There is not, however, evidence of any reorganization of the lan-guage as the phonemic level: the language's underlying lax ~ aspirated ~ tense contrasts endure.

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Comparison of plosive sounds in monolingual and bilingual children, using the voice onset time acoustic parameter: cases report

Revista CEFAC ◽

10.1590/1982-021620182052118 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 680-687

Author(s):

Maria Teresa R. Lofredo-Bonatto ◽

Marta A. Andrada e Silva

Keyword(s):

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Acoustic Signals ◽

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

Acoustic Parameter ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

The Voice

ABSTRACT The purpose was to compare differences in production of plosive phonemes through the voice onset time (VOT) measurement in the speech of monolingual children, speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and bilingual children, speakers of both Brazilian Portuguese and English. The sample consisted of three monolingual children and three bilingual children; average age was 7 years. A speech emission was recorded for the investigation, which had the following vehicle phrase: “Diga ‘papa’ baixinho” (“Say ‘papa’ quietly”). Papa was then replaced by “baba”, “tata”, “dada”, “caca” and “gaga”. The measurements of the acoustic signals were performed through broadband spectrograms, and VOT was descriptively analyzed for the non-voiced sounds [p, t, k] and voiced [b, d, g] plosive sounds. Monolingual children presented higher average VOT values for [p, t, k] compared to bilingual children. For the [b, d, g] sounds, monolingual children had lower average VOT values, as compared to bilingual children. It was concluded that in the comparison of VOT measures of the speech samples, the monolingual children of Brazilian Portuguese presented higher values for the non voiced ones and lower for the voiced ones in relation to the bilingual children speakers of Brazilian Portuguese and English.

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Speakers' Sex Differences in Voice Onset Time: Some Preliminary Findings

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1997.85.2.459 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 85 (2) ◽

pp. 459-463E ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Sandra P. Whiteside ◽

Caroline J. Irving

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The Voice

This study presents a brief investigation into sex differences of speakers in the voice onset time of English plosives that are stressed in both word-initial and prevocalic position. 72 short phrases were presented to 5 men (range 25 to 37 years, mean age 34.2 yr.) and five women speakers (range 28 to 38 years, mean 32.6 yr.). Analysis showed that the women as speakers had on average, longer voice onset time values than their male peers.

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Speakers' Sex Differences in Voice Onset Time: A Study of Isolated Word Production

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1998.86.2.651 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 86 (2) ◽

pp. 651-654 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

S. P. Whiteside ◽

C. J. Irving

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Word Production ◽

Isolated Word ◽

Age Range ◽

The Voice

This report presents a brief study into sex differences of speakers in the voice onset time of English plosives that are stressed in both word-initial and pre-vocalic positions. 36 isolated words were spoken by 5 men (age range 25 to 37 yr., M: 34.2 yr.) and 5 women speakers (age range 28 to 38 yr., M: 32.6 yr.) who were subjects. Analysis showed that the women speakers had on the average relative to the men, longer voice onset time values for voiceless plosives and shorter voice onset time values for the voiced plosives.

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Intracortical Responses in Human and Monkey Primary Auditory Cortex Support a Temporal Processing Mechanism for Encoding of the Voice Onset Time Phonetic Parameter

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhh120 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 170-186 ◽

Cited By ~ 79

Author(s):

M. Steinschneider

Keyword(s):

Auditory Cortex ◽

Temporal Processing ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Primary Auditory Cortex ◽

The Voice ◽

Processing Mechanism

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On pushing the voice‐onset‐time (VOT) boundary about

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.1995277 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 57 (S1) ◽

pp. S50-S50

Author(s):

Leig Lisker ◽

Alvin M. Liberman ◽

David Dechowitz ◽

Donna M. Erickson

Keyword(s):

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

The Voice

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Noise-Induced Change of Cortical Temporal Processing in Cochlear Implant Users

Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology ◽

10.21053/ceo.2019.01081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 241-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ji-Hye Han ◽

Jihyun Lee ◽

Hyo-Jeong Lee

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Temporal Processing ◽

Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Onset Time ◽

Noise Signal ◽

Noise Masking ◽

Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials

Objectives. Cochlear implant (CI) users typically report impaired ability to understand speech in noise. Speech understanding in CI users decreases with noise due to reduced temporal processing ability, and speech perceptual errors involve stop consonants distinguished by voice onset time (VOT). The current study examined the effects of noise on various speech perception tests while at the same time used cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to quantify the change of neural processing of speech sounds caused by noise. We hypothesized that the noise effects on VOT processing can be reflected in N1/P2 measures, the neural changes relate to behavioral speech perception performances.Methods. Ten adult CI users and 15 normal-hearing (NH) people participated in this study. CAEPs were recorded from 64 scalp electrodes in both quiet and noise (signal-to-noise ratio +5 dB) and in passive and active (requiring consonant discrimination) listening. Speech stimulus was synthesized consonant-vowels with VOTs of 0 and 50 ms. N1-P2 amplitudes and latencies were analyzed as a function of listening condition. For the active condition, the P3b also was analyzed. Behavioral measures included a variety of speech perception tasks.Results. For good performing CI users, performance in most speech test was lower in the presence of noise masking. N1 and P2 latencies became prolonged with noise masking. The P3b amplitudes were smaller in CI groups compared to NH. The degree of P2 latency change (0 vs. 50 ms VOT) was correlated with consonant perception in noise.Conclusion. The effects of noise masking on temporal processing can be reflected in cortical responses in CI users. N1/P2 latencies were more sensitive to noise masking than amplitude measures. Additionally, P2 responses appear to have a better relationship to speech perception in CI users compared to N1.

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