Visual feedback and self-monitoring in speech learning via hand movement

Abstract

While human speech learning largely relies on perceiving sounds [Brainard and Doupe, Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 1(1), 31–40 (2000)], being able to see articulators also contributes to learning speech sounds [Gick et al. (2008), Phonology Second Language Acquisition 36, 315–328 (2000)]. However, seeing hands is not necessarily helpful for learning new hand movements [Emmorey et al., J. Memory Lang., 61(3), 398–411 (2009)]. This study investigates whether being able to see a hand, acting as a speech articulator, facilitates the learning of speech production via hand movements. Two groups of participants under different visual feedback conditions were asked to produce different vowel sequences via a system that maps hand movements to F1 and F2 of English vowels [Liu et al., Can. Acoust. 48(1) (2020)]. The results suggest that visual feedback contributes to the speed of speech learning and reaching vowel targets more accurately via hand movements. This study provides insight on the importance of visual feedback in monitoring speech, and supports the view that monitoring speech articulators visually can accelerate speech learning.