Effect of voicing on the self-perception of effort in French consonant production

International audienceThis study aims to understand if and how French subjects perceive vocal effort in a production task. Vocal effort is engaged through all voiced phonemes. Consonants are particularly interesting because they constrain voice production in many ways. To study vocal effort in these phonemes, which also involve articulatory effort, we 􀏐irst want to assess if it is possible for speakers to perceive vocal effort. Ninety-six normal subjects produced 48 minimal pairs of items with a voicing contrast and indicated the item in each pair that required a greater effort. The results show an effect of voicing on the self-perception of effort in French consonants production with a larger effort produced for voiced consonants (62%) than for voiceless ones. This effect is modulated by the manner (stop > fricative), the placement (posterior > anterior) and the context (less vocalic > more vocalic). These results complete the theory of vocal effort mechanisms