Degraded and computer-generated speech processing in a bonobo.

ABSTRACT: The human auditory system is capable of processing human speech even in situations when it has been heavily degraded, such as during noise-vocoding, when frequency domain-based cues to phonetic content are strongly reduced. This has contributed to arguments that speech processing is highly specialized and likely a de novo evolved trait in humans. Previous comparative research has demonstrated that a language competent chimpanzee was also capable of recognizing degraded speech, and therefore that the mechanisms underlying speech processing may not be uniquely human. However, to form a robust reconstruction of the evolutionary origins of speech processing, additional data from other closely related ape species is needed. Specifically, such data can help disentangle whether these capabilities

SUBMITTER: Lahiff NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9652166 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature