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Contents

1. Introduction 1

The Dominance of Sinusoidal Tones 2

The Predilection for a “Microscopic” Approach 3

The Preference for the Psychophysical Aspects of Perception 6

Abstractions from “Dirty” Everyday Conditions 7

Discussion 9

Conclusions 11

2. The Perception of Single Sounds 12

The Ear as a Frequency Analyzer 13

Timbre as the Characteristic Quality of Tones 19

The Search for Pitch 25

The Stability of Loudness 29

Discussion 30

Conclusions 33

3. The Perception of Multiple Sounds 34

The Continuity Effect 35

Segregation of a Sequence of Sounds Into Two Sound Streams 40

Restoration of Speech Segments Replaced by Noise 46

Perceiving Temporal Order 48

The Seemingly Odd Phenomenon of Comodulation Masking Release 51

The Benefit of Listening With Two Ears 54

Discussion 56

Conclusions 59

4. Speech Perception 1: The Quest for Speech Units 60

The Dream of Visible Speech 61

The Phonemes as Letters of an Alphabet 63

Coarticulation: A Natural Rather Than a Disturbing Phenomenon 70

How Infants Learn to Speak 74

How Children Learn to Read 77

The Alphabet as a Unique Invention 82

Discussion 86

Conclusions 92

5. Speech Perception 2: The Intelligibility of Fluent Speech 93

The Variance of the Speech Signal 94

The Redundancy of the Speech Signal 100

The Significance of Context 104

Mental Lexicon and Lexical Access 111

The Role of Context in Reading 115

The Effects of Disturbing Noise 120

Discussion 125

Conclusions 129

6. Hearing Research in Perspective 131

Four Types of Bias 131

Sound Perception Is Categorical Perception 137

Sound Perception as a Form of Object Perception 141

The Prominence as Well as the Flexibility of Timbre 145

Theoretical Speculations 149

References 155

Author Index 167

Subject Index