THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
LINGUISTICS PROGRAM
PRESENTS
Dr. Dan Fogerty
Director, Speech Perception Laboratory
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
The University of South Carolina
Differential contributions of consonants and vowels to spoken word
recognition: Implications of aging
Understanding speech in interrupting contexts requires “glimpsing” the fragments of speech. Over a
number of different interruption conditions, the proportion of speech presented best predicts
performance. However, different acoustic properties likely contribute differently to speech
recognition. Indeed, limiting “glimpses” to the acoustic properties present during consonant or
vowel segments greatly impacts performance, and is dependent upon the linguistic context (i.e.,
isolated words versus sentences). This talk will examine how young and older listeners use
information contained within the consonants or vowels for overall word recognition. Individual
differences in auditory sensitivity and cognitive abilities appear to be differentially associated with
the ability of older listeners to use consonant and vowel cues. In addition, acoustic properties
underlying these findings will be examined. Overall, results from these investigations suggest
differential roles for consonants and vowels and highlight important acoustic properties that
mediate age differences in speech understanding.
September 23, 2011
3:30pm
Gambrell 152
(reception to follow in the English Department Lounge,
1st floor, Walsh Humanities Office Building)
For a full schedule of talks, please visit the Linguistics Program colloquia website:
www.cas.sc.edu/ling/activities/colloquia.html