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Compensation for coarticulation reflects gesture perception, not spectral contrast
1Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA. carol.fowler@haskins.yale.edu
Perception & Psychophysics
|June 16, 2006
Summary
Listeners compensate for speech coarticulation without needing precursor syllables. This study challenges spectral contrast theories, suggesting attention to gestural overlap drives speech perception.
Area of Science:
- Phonetics and Speech Perception
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Psychoacoustics
Background:
- Speech perception involves complex processing of acoustic signals.
- Coarticulation, where speech sounds influence each other, poses a challenge for listeners.
- Previous theories proposed spectral contrast effects from precursor syllables explain coarticulation compensation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the underlying mechanisms of speech perceivers' compensation for coarticulation.
- To test the spectral contrast account of coarticulation compensation.
- To explore the role of attention to gestural overlap in speech perception.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments using hybridized natural speech stimuli (/da/ to /ga/ continua).
- Stimuli manipulated to include carryover coarticulation from preceding /l/ or /r/ contexts.
- Manipulation of precursor syllables and synthesized tones to assess their influence on perception.
Main Results:
- Listeners compensated for coarticulation even without precursor syllables, refuting the spectral contrast account.
- Experiment 2 showed an enhancing effect of endpoint monosyllables on precursor continuum judgments.
- Experiment 3 demonstrated a contrastive effect of /da/, /ga/ syllables on preceding tones, contrasting with Experiment 2.
Conclusions:
- The spectral contrast account of coarticulation compensation is disconfirmed by the experimental results.
- Listeners' attention to information relevant to gestural overlap provides a stronger explanation for coarticulation compensation.
- Findings support an attention-based account of speech perception, emphasizing the listener's active role.
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