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arXiv · 2410.18590

Speech perception: a model of word recognition

Jean-Marc Luck·Anita Mehta
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Abstract

We present a model of speech perception which takes into account effects of correlations between sounds. Words in this model correspond to the attractors of a suitably chosen descent dynamics. The resulting lexicon is rich in short words, and much less so in longer ones, as befits a reasonable word length distribution. We separately examine the decryption of short and long words in the presence of mishearings. In the regime of short words, the algorithm either quickly retrieves a word, or proposes another valid word. In the regime of longer words, the behaviour is markedly different. While the successful decryption of words continues to be relatively fast, there is a finite probability of getting lost permanently, as the algorithm wanders round the landscape of suitable words without ever settling on one.

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Jean-Marc Luck, Anita Mehta. 2024-10-24. Speech perception: a model of word recognition. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb%2Fs10051-025-00882-w

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