Speech Perception Laboratory

Research in the Speech Perception Lab investigates the manner by which adult listeners decode the acoustic signal of spoken language. The acoustic form of a particular speech sound varies dramatically from utterance to utterance, yet this variability poses no problem for listeners, whose ability to identify spoken words seems under normal circumstances to be effortless. Our research focuses on the perceptual processes underlying this ability, as well as the learning mechanisms involved in the adjustment to new phonetic environments. Experiments in the lab typically employ methods that test listeners’ identification and/or discrimination of natural or synthetic speech sounds.

Principal Investigator

Jessica Maye, Ph.D
j-maye@northwestern.edu