Aspiration
Aspiration is a separate switch in consonant production: keep the mouth position and voicing constant, and an added burst of air can produce a different sound.
Two consonants can use the same mouth configuration and still sound different because one releases an audible h-like push of air and the other does not.
E1The airflow switch
A consonant has several independently adjustable parts. Place of Articulation describes where the airflow is obstructed, while Voicing tracks whether the vocal cords vibrate. Aspiration adds another variable: what happens to the air at release. An aspirated consonant sends out an extra puff; its unaspirated partner withholds that push. This turns sounds that may seem like wholly different units into combinations of a few physical controls.
E1Not every contrast is a puff of air
Aspiration explains only contrasts where the relevant change is the added or removed air release. If the tongue shifts position, the obstruction changes, or vocal-cord vibration switches, another articulatory dimension is doing the work.
E1Test the release
Say the two consonants while holding your palm just in front of your mouth. Compare the burst of air before changing anything else; this isolates aspiration from mouth position and voicing.
E1Episodes that teach this
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Mind-blowing Science of Indian Languages - Why Sanskrit is Amazing & Mother of All? FutureIQ
· explained at 4:21
333,107 views
"the only difference is the aspiration, the H part of it... voiceless unaspirated which means... you are not doing the h, the pushing of the air out."