Effect of Third-Formant Transitions on the Perception of the Voiced Stop Consonants

Experiments using synthetic speech show that third-formant transitions are cues for the perception of /b,d,g/. Detailed results are presented for a variety of third-formant transitions paired with each of a number of second-formant transitions in initial position before the vowels, /i/ and /æ/. The results obtained with various third-formant transitions depend in part on the steady-state level of the third formant, implying the existence of third-formant loci analogous to those previously found for the first and second formants. The data of the present experiment are not sufficient to permit a specification of these loci. The effects of third-formant cues are independent of the two-formant patterns to which they are added. When a third-formant cue enhances the perception of a particular phoneme, it typically does not do so equally at the expense of the other response alternatives.