Can speech envelopes' modulation spectra be used to support segmental decisions?
M. M. McCormick, R. J. Porter, F. Seitz, Ian M. C. Watson · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1988
The auditory system senses the rate, the magnitude, and the phase of temporal modulations of sounds' spectra and amplitudes. Such “modulation sensations” have been proposed as a possible basis for perception of speech segments and their features [see R. J. Porter, in Language Perception and Production, edited by Allport et al. (Academic, London, 1987), Chap. 5]. This preliminary study extends a Russian attempt to analog-model speech segmentation decisions using speech-envelope modulation magnitude [Malinnikova et al., Fiziol. Zh. SSSR im. I. M. Sechenova 66, 139–145 (1980)]. In the current study, comparisons are made between human segmentation decisions and a multistage, computer-based, spectral analysis of the modulations of the amplitude envelopes within different speech spectral regions. [Research supported in part by Alvey Grant No. MMI092.]