Abstract
The hypothesis of a large scale frequency integration mechanism in the auditory system was introduced long ago in vowel perception theories. It underwent two main developments in the last 15 years, first through the F’2-concept (see 2, 5), secondly with the “center of gravity effect” and the 3.5 Bark critical distance of Chistovich and colleagues (6, 7). This 3.5 Bark critical distance could provide a very powerful tool for understanding some of the main properties of vowel systems (see 10, 18, and Bladon, this volume), but experimental evidence for the critical distance concept is very scarce. We shall try here to reinforce this experimental basis, around three questions. First, can we understand data about F’2 matching tests and about the center of gravity effect without a large scale spectral integration with a 3.5 Bark critical distance? Second, does such a mechanism explain the seemingly contradictory results about the part played by formant amplitudes in front vowel identification? Third, what could be its contribution in the auditory representation of the labiality opposition for front vowels?
The influence of C. Abry, from the Phonetic Institute of Grenoble, on this whole work is particularly important: every discussion with him on the topic led to new insights or proposals. Thanks also are due to R. Carré, for discussions... and for his ear as the third subject.
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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Schwartz, J.L., Escudier, P. (1987). Does the Human Auditory System Include Large Scale Spectral Integration?. In: Schouten, M.E.H. (eds) The Psychophysics of Speech Perception. NATO ASI Series, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3629-4_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3629-4_23
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