ABSTRACT
Despite the rise of e-mail, text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter, speech remains the main means of human communication in those (admittedly rare) moments when we are away from our computer terminals and smartphones. Through speech, we can express our thoughts and feelings in a remarkably detailed and subtle way. We can allow other people an almost immediate appreciation of what is going on in our heads. The arrival of speech had a dramatic effect on our development as a species and made possible the cultures and civilizations that exist in the world today. For humans, speech is the most important acoustic signal, and the perception of speech the most important function of the auditory system.
