In
phonetics,
voice-onset time (VOT) is a feature of the production of
stop consonants. It is defined as the length of time that passes between the release of a stop consonant and the onset of
voicing, the vibration of the
vocal folds, or, according to other authors, periodicity. Some authors allow negative values to mark voicing that begins during the period of articulatory closure for the consonant and continues in the release, for those unaspirated voiced stops in which there is no voicing present at the instant of articulatory closure.