Quasiarticulatory tactile syllables in a long‐term training experiment Free

Tactile syllable equivalents were constructed that map relevant articulatory gestures onto the left forearm in a quasi‐isomorphic way [cf. H. G. Piroth, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 79, S73 (1986)]. The patterns were delivered by the 16‐channel “system for electrocutaneous stimulation SEHR‐2” [H. G. Tillmann and H. G. Piroth, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 79, S73–574 (1986)]. The present investigation was designed to determine whether a subject is able to acquire extensive inventories of tactile patterns. One subject had to train tactile obstruent‐vowel syllables with a fixed vowel. During each test run, a subset of the set of tactile obstruents followed by /ɑ:/ was presented repeatedly in a systematic order. Then, the same subset was trained in an identification test with a feedback after each stimulus. When the average recognition rate yielded 80%, the subset was enlarged. After 35 test runs, the subject could identify 12 obstruent patterns (/p,t,k,b,d,g,f,∫,x,v,ȝ,v̥/) at criterion levels. Training the complete set of 16 patterns (/s,z,ç,j/added), he just failed to reach the criterion after 39 additional test runs (75.8%).