The human auditory system evolved specifically for spoken-language analysis

Evidence

The purpose of hearing is to capture acoustic vibrations arriving at the ear and analyse the content of the signal to deliver information about the acoustic surroundings to the higher levels in the brain. … The human auditory system largely resembles the hearing system in other mammals, but humans have one property that has developed much farther: the ability to analyse and recognize spoken language. As a consequence, the sensitivity to and resolution of some speechand voice-related features of sound are very good. — Ville Pulkki, Matti Karjalainen, Communication Acoustics- An…, 716

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes what hearing is for, distinguishing the peripheral capture from central analysis.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in communication acoustics as applied to speech technology and spatial hearing.