The influence of actual and imputed talker gender on fricative perception, revisited (L)

J Acoust Soc Am. 2011 Nov;130(5):2631-4. doi: 10.1121/1.3641410.

Abstract

To examine the role of perceived gender on fricative identification, a study was conducted in which listeners identified /s/-/∫/ and /s/-/θ/ continua combined with vowels produced by a man and a woman. These were acoustically modified to be consistent with different-sized vocal tracts (VT), and were presented with pictures of men or women. Listeners identified more tokens of /s/ in the /s/-/∫/ and more tokens of /θ/ in the /s/-/θ/ continuum when these sounds were combined with men's vowels, with vowels consistent with a 17 cm VT, and with pictures of men. Results support the hypothesis that listeners incorporate information about talker gender during fricative perception.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acoustic Stimulation
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Audiometry, Speech
  • Cues
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Sex Factors
  • Speech Acoustics*
  • Speech Perception*
  • Young Adult