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Interpreting the Language of Environmental Sounds

Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

James H. Howard, Jr.

Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.

Comparisons are made between the perception of environmental sound and the perception of speech. With both, two types of processing are involved, bottom-up and top-down, and with both, the detailed form of the processing is, in several respects, similar. Recognition of isolated speech and environmental sounds produces similar patterns of semantic interpretations. Environmental sound "homonyms" are ambiguous in much the same manner as speech homonyms. Environmental sounds become integrated on the basis of cognitive processes similar to those used to perceive speech. The general conclusion is that environmental sound is usefully thought of as a form of language.

Environment and Behavior, Vol. 19, No. 1, 91-114 (1987)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916587191005


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