On the Transmission and Confirmation of Messages in Noise

Abstract

In several experiments, the restrictions imposed upon the communication process by an articulation test were relaxed by increasing the number of events in the communication sequence. A communication event is the transmission of a message from the source to the receiver followed by the return of a message (correct or incorrect) from receiver to source for confirmation. Although both source and receiver serve as talker and listener, the relation between them is asymmetric. Since the source knows the original message, he must accept or reject the message sent back to him according to some criterion. Various types of communication events arise depending upon (1) whether or not the receiver correctly hears the message, and (2) whether or not the source confirms the message returned by the receiver. The various probabilities associated with these events were investigated as a function of speech-to-noise ratio. The behavior of the source is examined in terms of the relation between the two conditional probabilities associated with a correct and with an incorrect confirmation. If each message is sent repeatedly until all are confirmed, a sequence of communication events is generated. A simple mathematical model accurately describes this process.