Gender Difference in Voice Onset Time

Voice onset time is known to be affected by phonetic context, age, native language of the speaker, or presence of a communication disorder in the speaker. The role of gender in VOT production has not been investigated. The present study reports a significant gender difference in VOT production of the /d/ and /t/ stops, with men having shorter VOTs than women (n subjects = 16). Qualitative differences in VOT based on gender are also noted. Although a significant difference in speaking rate between the genders was found, this was not correlated with VOT. Gender differences in VOT have implications for other research.

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