Identifying isolated, multispeaker Mandarin tones from brief acoustic input: a perceptual and acoustic study

Lexical tone identification relies primarily on the processing of F0. Since F0 range differs across individuals, the interpretation of F0 usually requires reference to specific speakers. This study examined whether multispeaker Mandarin tone stimuli could be identified without cues commonly considered necessary for speaker normalization. The sa syllables, produced by 16 speakers of each gender, were digitally processed such that only the fricative and the first six glottal periods remained in the stimuli, neutralizing the dynamic F0 contrasts among the tones. Each stimulus was presented once, in isolation, to 40 native listeners who had no prior exposure to the speakers' voices. Chi-square analyses showed that tone identification accuracy exceeded chance as did tone classification based on F0 height. Acoustic analyses showed contrasts between the high- and low-onset tones in F0, duration, and two voice quality measures (F1 bandwidth and spectral tilt). Correlation analyses showed that F0 covaried with the voice quality measures and that tone classification based on F0 height also correlated with these acoustic measures. Since the same acoustic measures consistently distinguished the female from the male stimuli, gender detection may be implicated in F0 height estimation when no context, dynamic F0, or familiarity with speaker voices is available.