Effect of fundamental frequency on medial [+voice]/[-voice] judgments.

Previous research has suggested that the direction of short-duration fundamental frequency (F0) perturbations following consonants helps to signal consonant [+voice]/[-voice] (abbreviated as [voice]) status. It has been proposed that the [voice] cue corresponds to the direction and extent of F0 perturbations relative to the overall intonation contour. A competing view, the low-frequency hypothesis, suggests that F0 participates in a more general way whereby low-frequency energy near the consonant contributes to [+voice] judgments. Listeners identified multiple stimulus series, each varying in voice onset time and ranging from /aga/ to /aka/. The series differed in overall intonation contour as well as in the direction of F0 perturbation relative to that contour. Consistent with one version of the low-frequency hypothesis, the F0 value at voicing onset, rather than the relative direction of the F0 perturbation, was the best predictor of [voice] judgments.