3 Reasons Why Some People Hear Different Speech Illusions

Hearing different speech illusions can be based on a number of factors.

It can range anywhere from how well a person hears, how familiar they are with a particular dialect and how their speech processing mechanism works.

1.     Hearing System

Not everyone hears the same.

Some people have very good hearing, while others have-not-so good hearing.

While speech illusions depend a lot on a person’s ability to categorically recognize phonological sounds, the way we hear speech illusions can be individualistic.

For instance, sometimes people with really good hearing may not hear speech illusions compared to less accurate listeners.

Similarly, the opposite is also true.

An audio illusion can be heard by people with really good hearing and possibly not heard by people with less accurate hearing.

This can be an interesting phenomenon as it highlights how unaware we are at forming meanings in speech.

2.     Priming and Perception

A lot of the reason why we hear different speech illusions can be based on what we expect to hear.

When people speak, we unconsciously anticipate words that follow naturally in a sentence for example.

This kind of priming of perception also works with the different phones of speech we selectively identify.

Having this human ability makes speech illusions possible.

3.     Linguistic Knack

Perhaps a more interesting reason why people hear different speech illusions has to do with the ability to comprehend multiple languages and dialects.

Take for instance the Trinidadian dialect simple care / said he doh care audio illusion.

Having the ability to recognize phonological features in alternative ways may be one of the reasons why some people hear one phrase more over the other.

Of course, the other factors outlined in this article play a role as well.

It is a combination of reasons that explain this wonder of our hearing.

Check out sound wonders & speech illusions to learn more about this hidden world of audio phenomena.