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Listener sensitivity to individual talker differences in voice-onset-time
J Sean Allen1, Joanne L Miller
1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|July 9, 2004
Summary
Listeners can identify talker-specific voice-onset time (VOT) differences after training. This acoustic-phonetic sensitivity extends to novel words, aiding speech perception.
Area of Science:
- Psychoacoustics
- Speech Perception
- Auditory Neuroscience
Background:
- Listeners leverage prior experience with a talker's voice for efficient speech processing.
- This suggests sensitivity to talker-specific acoustic-phonetic characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate listener sensitivity to talker-specific voice-onset time (VOT) variations.
- To determine if this sensitivity generalizes to novel words.
Main Methods:
- Listeners trained on two talkers with manipulated short and long VOTs.
- Paired-comparison task to assess identification of talker-specific VOT variants.
- Experiments used both trained and novel words.
Main Results:
- Listeners successfully identified the VOT variant matching their training experience for a given talker.
- This ability was demonstrated for both trained and novel words, indicating generalization.
- Results confirm sensitivity to talker-specific VOT differences.
Conclusions:
- Listeners are sensitive to talker-specific acoustic-phonetic properties, specifically VOT.
- This sensitivity aids in recognizing and processing speech from familiar talkers.
- Generalization of VOT information to new words highlights robust talker-specific learning.