Lombard Effect on Discourse and Prosodic Word Production for Native Chinese Speakers

The current study investigated the Lombard effect on acoustic features of discourse and prosodic words produced by native Chinese speakers. The results showed that on the discourse level, the overall intensity was significantly increased, vowel duration was significantly lengthened, while the fundamental frequency (F0) was slightly increased for the speech produced in noise conditions compared to that produced in quiet conditions. Further analysis illustrated the Lombard effect on acoustic features of prosodic words. The results showed that the high-pitched point and low-pitched point were significantly increased, the vowel duration was significantly lengthened, while the pitch range was slightly wider for the speech produced in noise conditions compared to that produced in quiet conditions. These findings shed light on the Lombard effect on the acoustic characteristics of prosodic production among native Chinese speakers in noise conditions.