It has been nearly two years since the Federal Reserve began to raise its core interest rate, yet income investors in the United States are still waiting for a tailwind to kick in.

Those who are willing to bear additional risk might turbocharge their returns with emerging market bond funds, an often ignored slice of the fixed income sector that lately has delivered a combination of high yield and high total returns.

The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond, for example, pays a 4.5 percent yield and delivered a total return of more than 9 percent through the first nine months of the year. By comparison, the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond E.T.F., an exchange-traded fund that invests in a broad slice of the investment-grade domestic bond market, pays a 2.5 percent yield and gained 3.1 percent in the same period.

Emerging market bonds denominated in local currency have had an especially good run recently as a slump this year in the dollar increased the purchasing power of other currencies. The Pimco Emerging Local Bond fund has a 5.2 percent yield and a total return of more than 14 percent through the end of September. (Total return is the combination of yield plus any change in the value of a portfolio’s bonds.)