Cues for intervocalic /t/ and /d/ in children and adults

Abstract

One naturally spoken token of each of the words petal and pedal was computer edited to produce stimuli varying in voice onset time (VOT), silent closure duration, and initial /e/ vowel duration. These stimuli were then played, in the sentence frame "Push the button for the----," to four adult and four 6-year-old listeners who responded by pressing a button associated with a flower (petal) or a bicycle (pedal). Among the findings of interest were the following: (a) VOT was statistically the strongest cue for both listener groups, followed by closure duration and initial vowel duration; (b) VOT was relatively stronger for children than for adults, whereas closure and initial vowel durations were relatively stronger for adults than for children; (c) except for a probable ceiling/floor effect, there were no statistically significant interactions among the three acoustic cues, although there were interactions between those cues and both listener group (adults versus children) and the token for which the stimulus had been derived (petal versus pedal).