Effect of syllable-initial voicing on vowel duration during simultaneous communication

Vowel durations following the production of voiced and voiceless stop consonants produced during simultaneous communication (SC) were investigated by recording sign language users during SC and speech alone (SA). Under natural speaking conditions, or speaking alone (SA), vowels following voiced stop consonants are longer in duration than vowels following voiceless stops. Although the results indicated longer sentence durations for SC than SA, they showed no differences in the relative duration of vowels following voiced or voiceless stops. Vowel durations following voiced stop consonants were consistently longer than vowel durations following voiceless stops. This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that global temporal alterations in SC do not degrade temporal or spectral cues of spoken English. As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to (1) describe simultaneous communication; (2) explain the role of simultaneous communication in communication with persons who are hearing-impaired; (3) describe how the voicing characteristic of syllable-initial consonants affects the duration of subsequent vowels; and (4) explain that simultaneous communication does not influence the relative durations of vowels following voiced and voiceless stop consonants.