Perception of Vowel Sounds Within a Biologically Realistic Model of Efficient Coding

Abstract

Predicated upon principles of information theory, efficient coding has proven valuable for understanding visual perception. Here, we illustrate how efficient coding provides a powerful explanatory framework for understanding speech perception. This framework dissolves debates about objects of perception, instead focusing on the objective of perception: optimizing information transmission between the environment and perceivers. A simple measure of physiologically significant information is shown to predict intelligibility of variable-rate speech and discriminability of vowel sounds. Reliable covariance between acoustic attributes in complex sounds, both speech and nonspeech, is demonstrated to be amply available in natural sounds and efficiently coded by listeners. An efficient coding framework provides a productive approach to answer questions concerning perception of vowel sounds (including vowel inherent spectral change), perception of speech, and perception most broadly.