Speech Perception Overview

Principles

Definition

Speech perception is the cognitive process by which listeners extract linguistic information from the acoustic signal of speech to comprehend spoken language. It investigates the mechanisms and representations involved in transforming complex auditory input into meaningful phonological, lexical, and semantic units.

Ontological type

Core Mechanisms

Theoretical Models

Experimental Paradigms

Key developments

Key Figures

Perception–Production Integration era

Alvin M. Liberman [1] studied at Yale University [3] and University of Connecticut [4] during the Perception–Production Integration era. Liberman [1] articulated key contributions such as the discrimination of speech sounds within and across phoneme boundaries [6], the discrimination of relative onset-time of the components of certain speech and nonspeech patterns [7], and the grammars of speech and language [8], which helped forge production-informed accounts of speech perception central to this era. Katherine S. Harris [2] studied at University of Connecticut [4] and The Graduate Center, CUNY [5] during this era. Harris [2] contributed to the perception–production integration through the paper The discrimination of relative onset-time of the components of certain speech and nonspeech patterns [7], reinforcing production-informed perspectives that influenced developmental, clinical, and psychoacoustic theories in this period.

Cue-Based Incremental Processing era

Janet F. Werker [1] was affiliated with University of British Columbia [3] and Dalhousie University [4] during this era. Her work on cross-language speech perception shows perceptual reorganization during the first year of life Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life [7], indicates developmental change in early perception Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and developmental change [9], and demonstrates that infants listen for more phonetic detail in speech perception than in word-learning tasks Infants listen for more phonetic detail in speech perception than in word-learning tasks [8], underscoring the role of fine-grained acoustic cues in early language processing. David B. Pisoni [2] was affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology [5] and Columbia University [6] during this era. His contributions include Recognizing Spoken Words: The Neighborhood Activation Model [10], Auditory and phonetic memory codes in the discrimination of consonants and vowels [11], and Some effects of talker variability on spoken word recognition [12], illustrating how cue-based, incremental processing supports robustness to talker variability and noise in this era.

Hierarchical Predictive Networks era

Jonathan Z. Simon [1], affiliated with Park University [3] and the University of Maryland, College Park [4], has been central to early 21st-century work on speech perception within hierarchical predictive networks. His key contributions include demonstrating selective neuronal tracking of attended speech in complex scenes, as captured in Mechanisms Underlying Selective Neuronal Tracking of Attended Speech at a ‘Cocktail Party’ [6], the emergence of neural encoding of auditory objects while listening to competing speakers [7], and neural coding of continuous speech in auditory cortex during monaural and dichotic listening [8], collectively advancing our understanding of how top-down predictions shape object-based representations in complex listening. David Poeppel [2], associated with the University of Maryland, Baltimore [5] and the University of Maryland, College Park [4], helped shape temporal-dynamics accounts of speech processing in this era, emphasizing how processing windows and lateralization inform comprehension. Key contributions include The analysis of speech in different temporal integration windows: cerebral lateralization as ‘asymmetric sampling in time’ [9], and Mechanisms Underlying Selective Neuronal Tracking of Attended Speech at a ‘Cocktail Party’ [6], underscoring the role of dynamic predictions and neural entrainment in organizing speech perception across brain networks.