Abstract
A mistuned harmonic makes a reduced contribution to the phonetic quality of a vowel. The two experiments reported here investigated whether the rate of frequency change over time of a harmonic influences whether it contributes perceptually to a vowel’s quality. In these experiments, frequency-modulating one harmonic at a different rate or with a different phase from that used to modulate remaining harmonics of a vowel had no effect on the vowel’s perceived category. These results are consistent with those of previous experiments and with the hypothesis that coherence of frequency modulation is not used to group together simultaneous frequency components into speech categories.
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This research was supported by Grants GR/C 60099, GR/D 65930, and GR/C 8522 from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council. Early discussions with Al Bregman during his visit to the laboratory helped to crystallize the experiments.
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Gardner, R.B., Darwin, C.J. Grouping of vowel harmonics by frequency modulation: Absence of effects on phonemic categorization. Perception & Psychophysics 40, 183–187 (1986). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203015
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203015