Though tone recognition is primarily influenced by pitch cues, phonation type may also play a role. For example, creaky voice, a non-modal phonation, can enhance Mandarin Tone 3 (T3) recognition. While most studies explore creaky voice in tone recognition behaviorally, its neural processing remains unclear. This study aims to investigate tone processing using Electroencephalography to examine how the brain integrates pitch and creaky voice to process T3. We measured Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses of 10 native Mandarin speakers exposed to an oddball paradigm with real-word single syllable stimuli in two conditions: creak and non-creak. Results showed stronger MMN responses in the creak condition, with larger mean MMN amplitude, shorter peak MMN latency, and larger negative peak MMN amplitude. These findings suggest that creaky voice enhances T3 distinctiveness and facilitates more efficient phonological processing, contributing to a deeper understanding of tone processing mechanisms.

@inproceedings{fan25b_interspeech,
  title     = {{Creaky Voice Facilitates More Efficient Phonological Processing of Mandarin Tone 3}},
  author    = {Zixia Fan and Ronny Ibrahim and Joshua Penney and Felicity Cox},
  year      = {2025},
  booktitle = {{Interspeech 2025}},
  pages     = {1303--1307},
  doi       = {10.21437/Interspeech.2025-1168},
  issn      = {2958-1796},
}