DIFFERENCES THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE - DO LOCUS EQUATIONS RESULT FROM PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES CHARACTERIZING ALL MAMMALIAN VOCAL TRACTS - OPEN PEER COMMENTARY

Sussman and colleagues provide no evidence supporting their claim that the human vocal production system is specialized. to produce locus eq uations with high correlations and linearity. We propose the alternati ve null hypothesis that these features result from physical and physio logical factors common to all mammalian vocal tracts and we recommend caution in assuming that human speech production mechanisms are unique .