Across studies when listeners perceive a syllable to have a fricative‐stop initial cluster, they report only one P center. Further, the locations of such P centers shift in a one‐to‐one millisecond manner with changes in pre‐vocalic acoustic durations. We also know there is a lower limit on the duration of silence which allows such clusters to be perceived. In this study we ask about the upper limit on intra‐syllabic silence and we ask if the number and location of P centers can be used to assess listeners' sensitivity to the segmental coherence of syllables. Using natural tokens of [s], [trip]and [strip] by two talkers, the silent interval was varied from (a) isochronous alternation to (b) overlap of [s]and [trip]. Listeners judged the number of events and the location of P centers. For (a) they perceive two separate events, each with a P center. For (b) they perceive two simultaneous events with one P center. When listeners report one event with one P center, they show sensitivity to the naturally produced silent intervals. [Work supported by Alvey.]