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Aero-tactile integration in speech perception

Author

Listed:
  • Bryan Gick

    (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
    Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut 06511-6695, USA)

  • Donald Derrick

    (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada)

Abstract

Feel the noise When we listen to human speech we use a combination of the senses: the ears, obviously, and the eyes to see how a speaker's face changes the perception of consonant sounds. Experiments seeking to add the sense of touch to the mix have until now been inconclusive. Many languages use an expulsion of air to change vowel or consonant sounds — in English to distinguish a sound like 'da' from the microphone-popping 'pa'. Bryan Gick and Donald Derrick take that 'puff of air' as the starting point for a study of whether the sense of touch can contribute to what we 'hear'. They applied small, inaudible air puffs to the skin of volunteers who were simultaneously listening to a series of consonant sounds. Air puffs aimed at either the hand or neck made it more likely that aspirated sounds would be heard. So 'b' was misheard as 'p' following an air puff. This work could prove useful in the future development of audio and telecommunication aids for the hearing impaired.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryan Gick & Donald Derrick, 2009. "Aero-tactile integration in speech perception," Nature, Nature, vol. 462(7272), pages 502-504, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:462:y:2009:i:7272:d:10.1038_nature08572
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08572
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    Cited by:

    1. Marie-Lou Barnaud & Jean-Luc Schwartz & Pierre Bessière & Julien Diard, 2019. "Computer simulations of coupled idiosyncrasies in speech perception and speech production with COSMO, a perceptuo-motor Bayesian model of speech communication," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-34, January.

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