Formant transition detection in isolated vowels with transitions in initial and final position

Thresholds for the detection of both rising and falling frequency transitions in both initial and final position were obtained for the second formants of the vowels /3/, /i/, and /a/. As expected, thresholds decreased with increasing transition duration and were easier to detect in final rather than initial position. Different patterns of responses were obtained for initial- and final-position transitions. The data for final transitions were explained in terms of masking theory. However, this proved to be inadequate for initial position data. A duplex theory of perception is discussed in light of this contrast