title: Somatosensory function in speech perception.
abstract: Somatosensory signals from the facial skin and muscles of the vocal tract provide a rich source of sensory input in speech production. We show here that the somatosensory system is also involved in the perception of speech. We use a robotic device to create patterns of facial skin deformation that would normally accompany speech production. We find that when we stretch the facial skin while people listen to words, it alters the sounds they hear. The systematic perceptual variation we observe in conjunction with speech-like patterns of skin stretch indicates that somatosensory inputs affect the neural processing of speech sounds and shows the involvement of the somatosensory system in the perceptual processing in speech.
authors.affiliation: Haskins Laboratories, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiede
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ostry
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D010700:Phonetics; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors