Effect of burst amplitude on the perception of place of articulation for stops

Abstract

We have examined the effects of the relative amplitude of the burst on perception of the labial and alveolar place of articulation for voiceless and voiced stop consonants. The amplitude of the burst, i.e., the first 10–15 msec following consonant release, was systematically varied in 5‐dB steps from −10 to +10 dB relative to a “normal” burst amplitude for two bilabial‐to‐alveolar synthetic speech continua—one for voiceless stops and the other for voiced stops. The distribution of spectral energy in the burst for the bilabial and alveolar stops at the ends of the continuum were consistent with the shapes observed in natural utterances of these stops, and intermediate spectrum shapes were used for intermediate stimuli on the continuum. The results showed that the relative amplitude of the burst, even for the same spectrum shape, significantly affected the perception of place of articulation for both voiceless and voiced stops, but the effect was greater for the former than the latter. The results suggest t...