Closure and constriction duration for alveolar consonants during voiced and whispered speaking conditions

Abstract

Ten normal adult speakers produced the alveolar consonants /t, d, n, s, z/ in VCV bisyllables embedded in a carrier sentence. The stimulus consonants were produced in the symmetrical contexts /j/ and /a/ under voiced and whispered speaking conditions. Spectrographic analysis of steady-state portions of vowels and closure and constriction durations for consonants revealed significant durational differences associated with speaking conditions for /t, d, s, z, i, a/. Durational effects for /n/ were nonsignificant. Implications with regard to the Schwartz hypothesis [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 51, 2025–2029 (1972)] that individuals prolong air-arresting articulatory gestures in whispered speech are discussed.

Temporary ambiguity in whispered word recognition: a semantic priming study

“…The second characteristic is that, as it is the case for voice assimilation in French (Snoeren et al, 2008a), the voiced consonants in whispered speech maintain phonetic traces of their underlying identity. Whispered speech production studies have indeed revealed that vowels are longer when followed by a voiced obstruent than when followed by a voiceless obstruent, and voiced obstruents are shorter than voiceless obstruents (Jovičić & Šarić, 2008;Kohlberger & Strycharczuk, 2015;Meynadier & Gaydina, 2013;Parnell, Amerman & Wells, 1977;Sharf, 1964;Schwartz, 1972;Tartter, 1989;van de Velde & van Heuven, 2011), as typically observed in modal speech across languages (Chen, 1970;Flege, Munro & Skelton, 1992;Solé & Ohala, 2010) including French (Abdeli-Beruh, 2004;Mack, 1982;O'Shaughnessy, 1981).…”

Lip Kinematics for /p/ and /b/ Production during Whispered and Voiced Speech

“…They also showed greater duration for the vowels /i/ and /a/ for whisper. Parnell et al [13] rejected Schwartz's hypothesis, alternatively proposing that, during whisper, speakers enhance intelligibility by decreasing speech rate.…”

“…Schwartz [12] hypothesized that speakers conserve air by prolonging air-arresting articulatory gestures during whisper. Parnell et al [13] observed greater durations for /s/ and /t/ than for /z/ and /d/ during whispered speech using spectrographic analysis. They also showed greater duration for the vowels /i/ and /a/ for whisper.…”

“…Thus, aerodynamic and laryngeal EMG findings are equivocal, and we are led to evaluate other domains in search of the mechanisms that underlie these perceptually distinct phonemes. Recognizing this possibility, investigators have evaluated articulation, rather than laryngeal behavior, during whispered 'voiced' and 'voiceless' consonants [12,13].…”

Reconstruction of articulatory movements during neutral speech from those during whispered speech

“…It is known that the articulation during whispered speech differs from that during neutral speech, typically in two ways. First, exaggerated articulatory movements are known to exist in whispered speech (Yoshioka, 2008;Osfar, 2011;Schwartz, 1972;Parnell et al, 1977) unlike in neutral speech, in order to compensate for the lack of pitch in whispers. Second, whispered speech has a longer duration compared to the corresponding neutral speech (Jovičić and Sarić, 2008).…”