Assimilation is when sounds blend together or influence each other due to neighboring sounds. There are several types of assimilation including progressive, regressive, and coalescent assimilation. Progressive assimilation occurs when a sound is influenced by a following sound, regressive assimilation is when a sound is influenced by a preceding sound, and coalescent assimilation is a bidirectional influence between two neighboring sounds. Assimilation can involve changes in place of articulation, manner of articulation, or voice quality of sounds. Common examples of assimilation include /t/ changing to /p/ before bilabial sounds or /k/ before velar sounds in English connected speech.