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Chapter 11 Overview

Music and Speech Perception

In Chapter 10 we discussed methods the auditory system uses to locate and identify sound sources. But for humans, the visual system is the primary channel for perceiving where and what an object is. For our species, the most important function served by hearing is probably communication. Perception of music and speech, the two most common methods of auditory communication, are the topics of this chapter.

A string of musical sounds as short as five notes (click the image at above to hear one such string) is plenty long enough to convey a memorable message. The first activity for this chapter covers the basic building blocks of musical melodies, Notes, Chords, and Octaves.

As important as music is to our Top 40-obsessed culture, speech is much more central to our species’ identity. In all likelihood, our visual systems were already pretty highly evolved by the time primates reached the proto-chimpanzee stage. But the evolutionary leap from there to Homo sapiens seems to have depended in large part on developing brain structures that could process complex symbolic sounds—language (click the image above).

You will develop a better appreciation of the complexities of language processing in the activities on Categorical Perception, The McGurk Effect, and how we find Word Breaks in spoken sentences. An essay on the issues researchers face when Studying Brain Areas for Language Processing helps to make the connection between neuroanatomy and auditory perception.

Once you’ve read the chapter in the textbook and done the activities here, use the study aids (Study Questions, Flashcards, and Chapter Summary) to review.