Consonant categorization exhibits a graded influence of surrounding spectral context.

Abstract

When spectral properties differ across successive sounds, this difference is perceptually magnified, resulting in spectral contrast effects (SCEs). Recently, Stilp, Anderson, and Winn [(2015) J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 137(6), 3466-3476] revealed that SCEs are graded: more prominent spectral peaks in preceding sounds produced larger SCEs (i.e., category boundary shifts) in categorization of subsequent vowels. Here, a similar relationship between spectral context and SCEs was replicated in categorization of voiced stop consonants. By generalizing this relationship across consonants and vowels, different spectral cues, and different frequency regions, acute and graded sensitivity to spectral context appears to be pervasive in speech perception.