Acoustical analysis of 30 words judged to be different in pitch and corresponding to a pitch modal

Abstract

In a previous study by Asp, Berry. and Bessel [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 64, S20(A) (1978)], listeners used a paired‐comparison procedure to judge the pitch of 30 monosyllabic words. These judgments were used to rank order the words from low to high pitch. The rank order agreed with the proposed pitch model used for selecting the words, which included low, middle, and high pitch categories. In the present study, these 30 words were analyzed with a spectrograph and a frequency analyzer for fundamental and formant frequencies, duration, and amplitude spectra. There was a significant correlation between the amplitude spectra and the rank order; visual inspection of the spectra revealed specific patterns associated with the three pitch categories. There was a significant correlation between formant two and the rank order; however, the fundamental frequency was not significantly correlated with the rank order. [Work supported by NIH Biomedical Science Support Grant.]