Competing rhyming pairs of both natural and synthetic speech were presented both monotically and dichotically to normal right-handed listeners. When the onsets of the words were simultaneous (±2½ msecs), the right ear scores were generally higher than the left ear scores. However, voiceless consonants were much more intelligible dichotically than voiced consonants, regardless of which ear received the voiceless consonant. When both consonants competed monotically, the difference between voiced and voiceless consonant perception was either reversed or markedly attenuated. An explanation based on lagging of the aperiodic-to-periodic transition of the voiceless CV is offered.