Tonal perceptions in normal laryngeal, esophageal, and electrolaryngeal speech of Mandarin

The present study attempted to investigate if alaryngeal speakers of Mandarin Chinese could differentially produce the four tone levels of Mandarin: high-level, mid-rising, falling-rising and high-falling, as perceived by native listeners. Syllables /ma/ and /ba/ produced at four different tone levels by 8 normal laryngeal (NL), 7 standard esophageal (SE), and 8 electrolaryngeal (EL) speakers of Mandarin were perceived by 8 naïve listeners. Results from the listening experiments showed a higher percent correct identification of tone for NL speech than SE and EL speech. Perceptual data showed different patterns of tone confusion associated with the three types of speech. SE and EL speakers were not able to produce the four tone levels as accurately as were NL speakers. NL speakers achieved a near-perfect level of accuracy in signaling tonal contrasts. SE speakers produced the falling-rising and high-falling tones more accurately than high-level and mid-rising tones, but tonal confusions existed between mid-rising tone and falling-rising tone, and between high-level tone and high-falling tone. In EL phonation, high-level tone was produced more accurately than the other tones which were often misidentified as a high-level tone.