This book is written as a guide to the understanding of the processes involved in human speech communication. Ten authorities contributed material to provide an introduction to the physiological aspects of speech production and reception, the acoustical aspects of speech production and transmission, the psychophysics of sound reception, the nature of language, and the language rules used by talkers and listeners. Chapter topics are the elementary properties of acoustics, the respiratory function in speech, phonation, the normal articulation processes, speech physiology, speech acoustics, auditory physiology, psychoacoustics, language, and linguistic performance. (RN)