Application of monaural fusion technique for exploration of potential interaction between channels of phonetic analysis

Interaction of detectors in speech recognition has been investigated using a monaural superposition technique which permits simultaneous probing of individual detectors. Waveforms of two natural speech tokens of similar temporal patterns are mixed after careful period-by-period alignment. A stimulus continuum is generated by varying the relative amplitude of the two components. In monaural presentation certain speech stimulus types fuses in perception so that only one of the two components of the mixed stimulus is perceptible. For all tested consonant pairs monaural fusion takes place. In the case of the vowels tested, fusion has not been observed. Instead, both component vowels are perceived simultaneously even for extreme level differences of 26 dB. This suggests that detectors responsible for recognition of vowels are essentially independent, while detectors for stop consonants interact in an inhibitory manner

[1]  J. Cutting.  Auditory and linguistic processes in speech perception: inferences from six fusions in dichotic listening. , 1976, Psychological review.

[2]  A E Ades,et al.  Bilateral component in speech perception? , 1974, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[3]  P. D. Eimas,et al.  Selective adaptation of linguistic feature detectors , 1973 .

[4]  Dale C. Stevenson,et al.  Dispersion in models of categorical perception , 1985 .

[5]  J. L. Miller.  Properties of feature detectors for VOT: the voiceless channel of analysis. , 1977, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[6]  J L Elman.  Perceptual origins of the phoneme boundary effect and selective adaptation to speech: a signal detection theory analysis. , 1979, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[7]  千葉 勉,et al.  The vowel : its nature and structure , 1941 .

[8]  B. Repp.  Perceptual equivalence of two kinds of ambiguous speech stimuli , 1981 .

[9]  P. Saunders.  An Introduction to Catastrophe Theory , 1980 .

[10]  Joanne L. Miller.  Properties of feature detectors for speech: Evidence from the effects of selective adaptation on dichotic listening , 1975 .

[11]  D. C. Stevenson.  Categorical perception and selective adaptation phenomena in speech , 1979 .

[12]  W. A. Ainsworth,et al.  Mechanisms of selective feature adaptation , 1977 .

[14]  M. Studdert-Kennedy,et al.  Speech Perception , 2004, Annual Review of Psychology.

[15]  Locus of selective adaptation in speech perception. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[16]  B. Repp.  Identification of dichotic fusions. , 1976, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[17]  A J Rozsypal,et al.  Digital Gating of Speech Signals , 1976, Language and speech.

[18]  B. Repp.  Stimulus dominance in fused dichotic syllables: trouble for the category goodness hypothesis. , 1980, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[19]  J E Cutting,et al.  Aspects of phonological fusion. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[20]  T. Chiba.  The vowel, its nature and structure , 1958 .

[21]  Dale C. Stevenson,et al.  Generation of speech continua through monaural fusion , 1985 .