Perceptions of tonal changes in normal laryngeal, esophageal, and artificial laryngeal male Cantonese speakers.

Listeners were asked to identify six tonal variations in the production of the syllables /ji/ and /si/ produced by 10 normal laryngeal (NL), 10 standard esophageal (SE), and 10 Servox-type electrolarynx (EL) Cantonese speakers. The purpose of the present study was to determine if alaryngeal Cantonese speakers could differentiate meanings associated with different tone levels. Results indicated that listeners' identification of the six tones for each syllable produced by the SE speakers was similar in pattern to those produced by the NL speakers of Cantonese. For both NL and SE speech, the high-level, low-falling, and high-rising tones were perceived more accurately than the mid-level, low-level, and low-rising tones. Identification of the six tones for each syllable as produced by the EL speakers was significantly poorer due to the limitations of the electrolarynx.