Auditory feedback control is involved at even sub-phonemic levels of speech production

Abstract

In the target article, Hickok asserts that auditory and somatosensory feedback control operate at different levels in the speech production hierarchy, with somatosensory feedback control involved in lower-level phonemic processing and auditory feedback control involved in higher-level syllabic processing. This assertion is based in part on a characterization of phonemes as timeless feature bundles. In this commentary I argue that the linguistic conception of phonemes as timeless feature bundles is insufficient for characterizing the production of phonemes by the motor system, and I review evidence that auditory feedback control is used even at the sub-phonemic level of speech production, contrary to its role in the hierarchical state feedback control model.