Abstract
This study investigated the acoustic correlates of perceptual centers (p-centers) in CV and VC syllables and developed an acoustic p-center model. In Part 1, listeners located syllables’ p-centers by a method-of-adjustment procedure. The CV syllables contained the consonants /š/, /r/, /n /, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/; the VCs, the consonants /š/, /r/, and /n/. The vowel in all syllables was /a/. The results of this experiment replicated and extended previous findings regarding the effects of phonetic variation on p-centers. In Part 2, a digital signal processing procedure was used to acoustically model p-center perception. Each stimulus was passed through a six-band digital filter, and the outputs were processed to derive low-frequency modulation components. These components were weighted according to a perceived modulation magnitude function and recombined to create sixpsychoacoustic envelopes containing modulation energies from 3 to 47 Hz. In this analysis, p-centers were found to be highly correlated with the time-weighted function of the rate-of-change in the psychoacoustic envelopes, multiplied by the psychoacoustic envelope magnitude increment. The results were interpreted as suggesting (1) the probable role of low-frequency energy modulations in p-center perception, and (2) the presence of perceptual processes that integrate multiple articulatory events into a single syllabic event.
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Portions of this work were submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD in applied biopsychology at the University of New Orleans.
This work was supported by a University of New Orleans Chancellor’s Fellowship, by the University of New Orleans Department of Psychology, and by National Multipurpose Research and Training Center Grant DC-01409 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
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Harsin, C.A. Perceptual-center modeling is affected by including acoustic rate-of-change modulations. Perception & Psychophysics 59, 243–251 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211892
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211892