Perception of Dynamic Properties of Speech: Peripheral and Central Processes
Diane Kewley-Port, Amy T. Neel · Psychology Press eBooks · 2012
This part conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters. The part discusses novel experimental paradigms that have been employed to gain insights into how to describe and quantify dynamic cues to speech perception. It suggests that the capability to process acoustic infonnation in the auditory periphery is systematically restructured when more cognitive processes or more complex stimuli are invoked. The part examines the perception of a highly dynamic aspect of speech, the vocalic fonnant transitions for plosive consonants. It suggests that psychoacoustic cues such as frequency, duration, and intensity are integrated into subsequent levels of processing and that temporal processing is more essential for speech perception than is generally recognized. The part investigates the effects of smearing the temporal envelope of syllables without disturbing the fine acoustic structure. It provides detailed reports on novel methods to determine the spectro-temporal features of speech.