The electrolarynx (EL) is an electromechanical device that enables patients to produce voice following the surgical removal of their larynx. The purpose of this study is to understand the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of Mandarin consonants produced by EL speakers. First, the acoustic characteristics (including speech intensity, consonant duration, spectral peak, and F2 onset) of Mandarin EL consonants are investigated by comparing the EL and normal consonants. Then, a perceptual evaluation of EL consonants is conducted to identify the relationship between acoustical characteristics and perceptual intelligibility. The results suggest three consonant confusion types are mainly responsible for the poor intelligibility of Mandarin EL consonants: (1) the “unaspirated-for-aspirated” confusion caused by the significantly shortened voice onset time of aspirated consonants; (2) the “voiced-for-voiceless” confusion caused by the continuous pulsing of the EL device and low consonant intensity; and (3) the “perceptual omission” caused by low intensity of consonants and / or consonant omission. The results obtained are promising and potential for further improvements in Mandarin EL speech intelligibility.

电喉（EL）是一种机电设备，可使患者在手术切除喉部后发出声音。这项研究的目的是了解由EL扬声器产生的普通话辅音的声学和感知特性。首先，声学特性（包括语音强度，辅音持续时间，频谱峰值和F2通过比较普通话和普通辅音来研究普通话的辅音。然后，对EL辅音进行感知评估，以识别声学特性与感知清晰度之间的关系。结果表明，三种辅音混淆类型主要是造成普通话EL辅音清晰度差的原因：（1）吸入辅音的语音起音时间明显缩短，导致“未吸气”。（2）由于EL装置的连续脉动和较低的辅音强度而引起的“无声发声”混乱；（3）辅音强度低和/或辅音遗漏引起的“知觉遗漏”。获得的结果是有希望的，并有望进一步改善普通话EL语音的清晰度。