Investigation of Pitch and Tone Preference of Preschool Children in Mandarin

Child-directed speech (CDS) is characterized by a suite of exaggerated acoustic features, with elevated fundamental frequency (pitch) being a prominent and widely adopted component. While caregivers and educators frequently use high-pitch speech with young children, its perceptual preference among preschool-aged children, particularly in tonal languages like Mandarin, remains empirically unclear. This study aimed to investigate Mandarin-speaking preschoolers' explicit preferences for manipulated pitch levels at the sentence frame while also examining the potential influence of lexical tone. Ninety-four children aged 3-6 years completed a binary forced-choice preference task. They listened to sentences systematically varying in three pitch levels (high, normal, low F₀) and five tone conditions (the four Mandarin lexical tones and a mixed-tone condition), with other acoustic parameters controlled. Results revealed that children showed no significant preference for high-pitch over normal-pitch speech. However, they exhibited a strong aversion to low-pitch speech. Furthermore, children's pitch-level preferences were not modulated by the lexical tone of the sentences. These findings clarify that Mandarin-speaking preschoolers do not inherently prefer the high pitch typical of CDS over a normal speaking voice but are distinctly unfavorable toward low pitch. The study suggests that effective, listener-centered communication in early childhood settings may prioritize avoiding unusually low pitch rather than deliberately raising pitch, offering evidence-based guidance for pedagogical practice and adult-child interaction.