Biophysical basis for principles of universality of speech perception

There is increasing evidence that the synergistic interaction of the objectively accepted low-frequency rhythm and the subjectively accepted high-frequency sound is a source of speech "sense". The lack of one of these components or of their synergistic interaction results in the loss of "sense" of the acoustic signal being perceived. As for the universality of perception of the sound component of speech, there is a model of sound perception, which ensures this universality. This model describes the dynamics of audition using the synchronization model of oscillations in the Ruell-Takens scenario of transition to chaos. The oscillations are described by Hopf bifurcations known to be structurally stable, which just provides the universality of sound perception. However, up till now, nothing was known about the mechanism of rhythm. It was shown in our study that the mechanism of rhythm is described by the Feigenbaum scenario of transition to chaos. Upon transition from oscillations to chaos, this scenario incorporates a critical point near which the dynamics of the system is described in an universal way.