Introduction to Speech Perception

Speech Perception

The process of understanding spoken language; more complex than it appears due to automatic brain processing.

Co-articulation

The influence of adjacent sounds on one another during speech production, contributing to acoustic variability.

Source Filter Theory

A model describing speech production as involving a sound source (vocal cords) and a filter (vocal tract) that shapes the sounds.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of speech that conveys meaning; changing one phoneme can change the word's meaning.

Spectrogram

A visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies in a sound signal as they vary with time.

Formants

Distinct frequency bands of energy in speech, crucial for differentiating vowel and consonant sounds.

Categorical Perception

The phenomenon where perceivable sounds are classified into distinct categories rather than being perceived continuously.

The Now or Never Bottleneck

The challenge of processing speech in real time, where previous sounds must be understood before new sounds overwrite them.

McGurk Effect

A perceptual phenomenon where conflicting visual and auditory stimuli lead to a combination of the perceived sounds.

Acoustic Variability

The differences in acoustic signal even when the same speech sounds are produced, influenced by speaker differences and context.