Abstract
Research reported last year [W. Strange, J. J. Jenkins, and T. R. Edman, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 61, S1 (1977)] was extended to investigate the contribution of dynamic spectral and temporal information to the specification of vowels. Two tokens each of ten American English vowels produced in /b/-vowel-/b/ syllables by four speakers were digitized and several stimulus conditions were constructed: (1) silent-center syllables (in which a variable-duration center “vowel” portion of each syllable was deleted). (2) variable-duration centers (with initial and final transitions removed). (3) fixed-duration centers (52 ms), and (4) long silent centers, and short silent centers (in which the temporal relations of initial and final portions were changed). Vowel identification was best for the silent-center syllables produced by three of four speakers. Vowels in the variable-duration center condition were identified better than in the fixed-duration center condition. Lengthening the silent centers increased errors while shortening did not. Effects of speaking rate, vocal tract differences, and dialect are discussed. [Supported by NIMH.]
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