Re: Speech intelligibility and spatial information

[Tom Brennan <g_brennantg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You're correct in that piano tuning requires both otor and auditory actions but
the motor acts can only take place either after a sound has been heard so that
one knows in which direction to change a note (up or down) or if one knows the
result of a previous action on the tuning pins.  This does allow for some
separation of motor and auditory actions but it true that one must listen while
physically tuning a note to determine the result of whatever physical actions
are taking place.  It is also true that there are often motor actions related to
other listening tasks but few require a relationship to such fine motor skills
as required in tuning.  For those reasons, I would expect to see a different
between blind and sighted tuners as the visual component involved would
potentially seem to come closer to overloading the system with input than is the
case for the blind.  A difference just doesn't seem to be present although it
seems to me that blind tuners seem to have an easier time closing out other
environmental stimulation such as ambient noise when tuning.  Of course, this is
a very general statement with no research to back it up that I'm aware of.

Tom


Tom Brennan, CCC-A/SLP, RHD
web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/speechscience.html
web master http://titan.sfasu.edu/~f_freemanfj/fluency.html