What distinguishes the burst characteristics of a /p/ sound from a /b/ sound in speech acoustics?

💡 Explanation

Aspiration distinguishes /p/ from /b/ because voiceless stops like /p/ exhibit a longer period of aspiration after the burst, resulting from a delay in vocal fold vibration. Therefore, increased aspiration interval duration correctly identifies this difference, rather than other subtle phonetic properties such as formant transitions.

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