Speech Perception By Ear and Eye

First published in 1987. This book is about the processing of information. The central domain of interest is face-to-face communication in which the speaker makes available both audible and visible characteristics to the perceiver. Articulation by the speaker creates changes in atmospheric pressure for hearing and provides tongue, lip, jaw, and facial movements for seeing. These characteristics must be processed by the perceiver to recover the message conveyed by the speaker. The speaker and perceiver must share a language to make communication possible; some internal representation is necessarily functional for the perceiver to recover the message of the speaker. The current study integrates information-processing and psychophysical approaches in the analysis of speech perception by ear and eye.

Dominic William Massaro, Program in Experimental Psychology University of California, Santa Cruz.

1. Scientific Framework for Psychological Inquiry, 2. Single versus Multiple Sources of Speech Information: The Contribution of Visible Speech, 3. Integration versus Nonintegration of Auditory and Visual Information in Speech Perception, 4. Categorical versus Continuous Information in Speech Perception: The Relationship between Identification and Discrimination, 5. Categorical versus Continuous Information in Speech Perception: Model Tests and Ratings, 6. Independent versus Dependent Evaluation of Sources, 7. Additive, Minimization, or Multiplicative Integration, 8. Lifespan Changes in Speech Perception by Ear and Eye, 9. Specificity versus Generality of the Findings, References, Author Index, Subject Index