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The effects of noise and low-pass filtering on the perception of tones and consonants in Mandarin

University of British Columbia

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how low-pass filtering and background noise affect the perception of Mandarin tones and initial consonants. Ten subjects (all native Mandarin speakers) listened to Mandarin syllables in varying conditions of background noise and filtering and were forced to guess at which consonant or tone was presented. It was found that low-pass filtering had no effect on the perception of tone, although significant main effects of background noise and tone presented were found and a significant interaction of background noise and tone was found in the perception of Mandarin tones. Low-pass filtering, background noise and tone were all found to have a significant effect on consonant perception, and significant interactions were found between background noise and filtering and between background noise and tone in the perception of Mandarin initial consonants. An investigation of the articulatory features of Mandarin consonants demonstrated that background noise and low-pass filtering have little effect on the amount of information transmitted by the features of voicing, nasality and aspiration, whereas they both have a negative effect on the amount of information transmitted by the features of manner of articulation and place of articulation.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-03-24

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6433

Audiology and Speech Sciences

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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