Vibrotactile communication of consonantal Information: Vowels mask consonants

Abstract

Identification of vibrotactile transformations of CVs was measured first for eight consonants (stops and nasals) in /_a/ context. The stimuli were 24‐channel spectral representations of the acoustic energy in the CVs, presented to the fingertip via the 6 × 24 matrix of an Optacon transducer. Performance reached only 50% to 60% correct, with nasals identified best, followed by voiceless and voiced stops. Confusions were greatest among stops that differed only in place of articulation. Perception of the place feature was examined in another experiment by testing identification of /b/, /d/, and /g/ with five different vowels. Place of articulation was increasingly well identified as the CVs were shortened in duration by truncating the vocalic portion of the stimulus: Performance stood at 54% correct when the CV lasted 258 ms, but rose to 77% correct when the CV lasted only 48 ms. This result indicates that vibrotactile communication of consonants may be poor because of temporal masking induced by the vocalic portion of the stimulus. [Supported by NSF.]