A simulation of the excitation pattern of the basilar membrane within the cochlea to an input [i] vowel.

INDEX

Michael Ashby & John Maidment

Introducing Phonetic Science

Chapter 11: Speaker and Hearer

Chapter Summary

The main aim of this chapter is to provide a survey of the way in which the phonetic concepts introduced throughout the book can be applied to the investigation of speech and the areas in which phonetic knowledge is useful and important.  Much of our book is concerned with how speech is produced from the articulatory point of view and with the acoustic consequences of the movements of the speech organs.  However, human speech is used for communicating information to a listener, so in this chapter we look at speech from the receiving end and outline ways in which human perception of speech may be investigated. We  point out the main characteristics of the hearing mechanism, show how auditory sensitivity can be measured, and look at some types of hearing impairment and their effect on speech perception We see that visual cues can be used to aid speech perception and understanding. We  also look briefly at the way in which the ability to produce and perceive speech develops in children.