Vibrotactile perception of phonetic features of speech: A comparison of single‐channel and multi‐channel aids

Abstract

In an earlier paper [C. A. Beachler and A. E. Carney, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 69, S123 (1981)], two vibrotactile devices, one single‐channel and one multi‐channel, were compared with regard to their ability to transmit suprasegmental aspects of speech. Subjects trained with a single‐channel device were significantly better trained than those trained with a multi‐channel device in the identification of number of syllables in a word, syllable stress and intonation contour. As a follow up, two additional groups of subjects were trained with the same two different vibrotactile devices to recognize 20 consonants and eight vowels, all in a CV context. Subjects were trained in three conditions—visual only, vibrotactile only, and visual plus vibrotactile. Results indicated that there was essentially no difference between instruments in the percentage of phonemes transmitted correctly. Some slight differences between instruments were observed in the pattern of errors and the particular phonemes which were transmitted best by each instrument. These data are discussed with regard to the selective applicability of these devices to speech training for the hearing impaired.