Note on Information Transfer Rates in Human Communication

Information-transfer (IT) rates in bits/sec were estimated for a variety of methods of human communication and modalities of reception. Using previously published data, a range of communication rates for which transmission is highly accurate was established for each method and modality. These communication rates were converted into a normalized unit of transmission (words/sec). The normalized units were then converted into estimates of IT rate (bits/sec) using Shannon's (1951) calculations of the information content of a single letter of the alphabet. Maximal estimates of IT rates of roughly 40 to 60 bits/sec are observed for speech (through audition) and for reading and sign language (through vision). Maximal rates roughly 50 percent lower are obtained for reading through the tactual sense. Estimates of IT rates for motor output tasks are also considered. A close correspondence is generally observed between IT rates for receiving a given display and IT rates for the motor output task required for producing the display. These results have implications for the design of synthetic-environment systems and the displays and controls to be used in these systems, by providing examples of communication rates that have been achieved by humans in the area of language communication.

[1]  J. C. Bliss,et al.  A direct translation reading aid for the blind , 1966 .

[2]  W.J. Tompkins,et al.  Electrotactile and vibrotactile displays for sensory substitution systems , 1991, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[3]  C M Reed,et al.  A study of the tactual reception of sign language. , 1995, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[4]  D S Beasley,et al.  Intelligibility of time-compressed sentential stimuli. , 1980, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[5]  Harry Bornstein.  READING THE MANUAL ALPHABET--A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR DEVELOPING A FILMED PROGRAM FOR TEACHING THE MANUAL ALPHABET. , 1965 .

[6]  F A GELDARD,et al.  Some neglected possibilities of communication. , 1960, Science.

[7]  C M Reed,et al.  A study of the tactual and visual reception of fingerspelling. , 1990, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[8]  D. Gentner.  Expertise in Typewriting. , 1984 .

[9]  Kenneth J. Kokjer,et al.  The Information Capacity of the Human Fingertip , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.

[10]  W. R. Garner.  Uncertainty and structure as psychological concepts , 1975 .

[11]  I. Pollack,et al.  The Information of Elementary Multidimensional Auditory Displays , 1954 .

[12]  G. Stelmach.  Information processing in motor control and learning , 1978 .

[13]  W. R. Garner.  The Processing of Information and Structure , 1974 .

[14]  Nathaniel I. Durlach,et al.  Tactual Cued Speech as a Supplement to Speechreading , 1998 .

[15]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Information Processing and Human-Machine Interaction: An Approach to Cognitive Engineering , 1986 .

[16]  C M Reed,et al.  Research on the Tadoma method of speech communication. , 1983, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[17]  J. R. Pierce,et al.  Reading rates and the information rate of a human channel , 1957 .

[18]  J. I. Elkind,et al.  Transmission of Information in Simple Manual Control Systems , 1961 .

[19]  F Grosjean,et al.  A study of timing in a manual and a spoken language: American sign language and English , 1979, Journal of psycholinguistic research.

[20]  Robert G. Crowder,et al.  The psychology of reading: An introduction, 2nd ed. , 1992 .

[21]  T CAWTHORNE,et al.  Hearing and deafness. , 1961, London Clinic medical journal.

[22]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[23]  Thomas B. Sheridan,et al.  Man-machine systems;: Information, control, and decision models of human performance , 1974 .

[24]  Claude E. Shannon,et al.  Prediction and Entropy of Printed English , 1951 .

[25]  L A Delhorne,et al.  Effects of rate of presentation on the reception of American Sign Language. , 1999, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[26]  H. Quastler.  Information theory in psychology : problems and methods , 1955 .

[27]  U. Bellugi,et al.  A comparison of sign language and spoken language , 1972 .

[28]  C M Reed,et al.  Automatic speech recognition to aid the hearing impaired: prospects for the automatic generation of cued speech. , 1994, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[29]  M. Zimmermann,et al.  Neurophysiology of Sensory Systems , 1986 .

[30]  Frieda Goldman Eisler.  Psycholinguistics : experiments in spontaneous speech , 1968 .

[31]  C M Reed,et al.  Reception of Morse code through motional, vibrotactile, and auditory stimulation , 1997, Perception & psychophysics.

[32]  Arthur Boothroyd,et al.  A sentence test of speech perception: reliability, set equivalence, and short term learning , 1985 .

[33]  Serge Larochelle,et al.  A Comparison of Skilled and Novice Performance in Discontinuous Typing , 1983 .

[34]  G. A. Miller.  What is information measurement , 1953 .

[35]  Hong Z. Tan,et al.  Information transmission with a multi-finger tactual display , 1997, Scandinavian audiology. Supplementum.

[36]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Information Processing and Human-Machine Interaction , 1986 .

[37]  T. Sticht,et al.  Review of research on the intelligibility and comprehension of accelerated speech. , 1969, Psychological bulletin.

[38]  Thomas S. Tullis,et al.  An Evaluation of Alphanumeric, Graphic, and Color Information Displays , 1981 .

[39]  Thomas M. Cover,et al.  A convergent gambling estimate of the entropy of English , 1978, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[40]  J C Craig,et al.  Vibrotactile pattern perception: extraordinary observers. , 1977, Science.

[41]  M. C. Jones.  Cued speech. , 1992, ASHA.

[42]  Edward R. Tufte,et al.  Envisioning Information , 1990 .

[43]  F. A. Geldard.  Adventures in tactile literacy. , 1957 .

[44]  James Wc.  American association of mental deficiency presents panel on training the mentally retarded deaf. , 1967 .