Relative perceptual prominence of fundamental frequency peaks in the presence of declination

Two experiments were conducted to determine the perceived relative prominence of two accented syllables within the same utterance. The fundamental frequencies (F0) at the two accent peaks (P1,P2) were varied as well as the rate of F0 declination over the unaccented syllables. Extending earlier work by Terken [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 89, 1768–1776 (1991)] with low-pitched reiterant speech, a real Dutch sentence was employed in both female and male pitch ranges. The results confirm earlier observations that P2 is usually lower than P1 when judged to be equal in prominence, and that this difference increases with P1 height. However, this second effect diminishes as declination rate increases. The results do not fit any simple model of prominence perception based on distance from a reference declination line. [Work carried out at IPO, Eindhoven.]