auditory phonetics

The branch of PHONETICS which studies the perceptual response to speech sounds, as mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain. It is a less well-studied area of phonetics, mainly because of the difficulties encountered as soon as one attempts to identify and measure psychological and neurological responses to speech sounds. Anatomical and physiological studies of the ear are well advanced, as are techniques for the measurement of hearing, and the clinical use of such study is now established under the headings of audiology and audiometry. But relatively little pure research has been done into the attributes of speech-sound sensation, seen as a phonetic SYSTEM, and the relationship between such phonetic analyses and PHONOLOGICAL studies remains obscure. The subject is closely related to studies of auditory perception within PSYCHOLINGUISTICS.