Pulsation threshold patterns of synthetic vowels: Study of the second formant emergence and the center of gravity effects
Pierre Escudier, Jean‐Luc Schwartz · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1984
Very small spectral irregularities are detected by the auditory system, thus suggesting the existence of a derivation-like mechanism. We have already shown this fact by the estimation of formant detection thresholds in relation to the spectral pattern of a given reference [Lublinskaya et al.], J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 67, S102 (1980)]. On the other hand, the center of gravity phenomenon suggests the existence of an integrationlike mechanism [Lublinskaya et al., Acts of the “Symposium Franco-Soviétique de Grenoble,” 19–20 (1981)]. These two facts have been studied by means of pulsation threshold techniques. We have obtained psychophysical estimations of the internal representation of vowel-like spectra, to see how these two opposite spectral mechanisms are combined, and at what level of the auditory system they are susceptible to appear. This kind of information is necessary for the elaboration of auditory perception models.