Press Releases | June 30, 2020

A new method to estimate English /l//r/ discrimination ability from human pupillary response

A research team of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute at Toyohashi University of Technology has discovered that the difference in the ability to hear and distinguish English words including L and R, which are considered difficult for Japanese people, appears in pupillary (the so-called "black part of the eye") responses. While the pupil has the role of adjusting the amount of light that enters the eye, it is known that the size changes reflect the cognitive state of humans. In this study, the research team conducted experiments to simultaneously measure the size of the pupil while playing English words in combinations such as "Light" and "Right", and clarified that it is possible to objectively estimate the ability to distinguish English words from the eyes.

Full text: The "eyes" say more than the "mouth" and can Distinguish English Sounds
TUT website: Press release