FORMATION AND TUNING OF COMPLEX AUDITORY CATEGORIES
James Andrew
Carnegie-mellon Universitycity: Pittsburgh country: United States (us)
Grant 5R01DC004674-10 from National Institute On Deafness And Other Communication Disorders
Keywords: Accent; Accounting; Acoustics; Affect; Anatomy; Auditory; Autistic Disorder; base; Categories; Characteristics; Clinical; Cochlear Implants; Communication impairment; Complex; Comprehension; computerized data processing; design; developmental disease/disorder; digital; Dimensions; Disease; Environment; Event; evidence base; experience; Exposure to; Foundations; Funding; Goals; Health; Hearing Aids; hearing impairment; Implant; Individual; Individual Differences; Intuition; Knowledge; Language; language processing; lexical; Maps; Modeling; novel; Outcome; Pattern; Perception; Perceptual Disorders; Perceptual learning; Performance; Phonetics; Play; Process; programs; public health medicine (field); public health relevance; Relative (related person); Research; research study; Role; Series; Solid; Solutions; sound; Specificity; Speech; speech accuracy; Speech Disorders; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Perception; Speech Sound; Structure; Testing; theories; therapy development; Time; United States National Institutes of Health; Work
Relevance: Public health requires therapies developed based on detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. Understanding how listeners encode the complex acoustic structure of speech across many talkers is critical to developing and evaluating therapies for individuals affected with language processing disorders, hearing impairment and developmental disorders like autism
Project start date: 2001-09-01
Project end date: 2016-01-31
Budget start date: 1-FEB-2012
Budget end date: 31-JAN-2013
5R01DC004674-10 (2012): $325301
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Grants awarded to James Andrew
FORMATION AND TUNING OF COMPLEX AUDITORY CATEGORIES
James Andrew, Professor
Carnegie-mellon Universitycity: Pittsburgh country: United States (us)
Grant 2R01DC004674-09 from National Institute On Deafness And Other Communication Disorders
Abstract: This collaborative research program investigates processes underlying the formation and tuning of complex sound categories. The overall goal is to provide a model of auditory categorization that can be readily applied to challenges of speech perception and communication disorders. Language learners form (phonetic) auditory categories of native-language sounds from the distributions of experienced speech sounds produced by many talkers. However, these averaged categories may not be appropriate for the speech produced by a specific talker. For example, non-native speech may not adhere to the patterns typical of native speakers. The aim of the current project is to develop and test a theoretical and practical model of how listeners use context to normalize, or tune, speech perception to the characteristics of a particular listening situation. The proposed experiments will move the model beyond mere demonstrations of normalization to make quantitative predictions of performance as a function of the content and temporal extent of the context. Such a practical model can be used to develop signal processing strategies for hearing aids and implants as well as to predict intelligibility of disordered speech. Building on the empirical outcomes of the previous project, the present research tests predictions arising from the hypothesis that a general auditory mechanism sensitive to the spectral interactions that occur between context and target sounds can account quantitatively for patterns of speech perception that appear to require extraction of vocal-tract-specific talker information. Another set of experiments will test the influence of perceptual learning of talker-specific patterns of speech in supporting this mechanism. A final series of experiments will bridge the gap that often exists between tests of speech perception phenomena and understanding real-world speech intelligibility and comprehension. Such a linkage is critical for deriving theory- and evidence-based clinical approaches in treatment of communication disorders. Public health requires therapies developed based on detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. Understanding how listeners encode the complex acoustic structure of speech across many talkers is critical to developing and evaluating therapies for individuals affected with language processing disorders, hearing impairment and developmental disorders like autism
Keywords: Accent; Accounting; accurate speech; Acoustic; Acoustics; Affect; Anatomic; Anatomical Sciences; Anatomy; anatomy; Auditory; Auditory Prosthesis; Autism; Autism, Early Infantile; Autism, Infantile; Autistic Disorder; base; Categories; Characteristics; Clinical; Cochlear Implants; Cochlear Prosthesis; Communication Disorders; Communication impairment; Communicative Disorders; Complex; Comprehension; computerized data processing; data processing; design; designing; developmental disease/disorder; developmental disorder; digital; Dimensions; Disease; disease/disorder; Disorder; Environment; Event; evidence base; experience; experiment; experimental research; experimental study; Exposure to; Foundations; Funding; Goals; Health; Hearing Aids; hearing impairment; Hearing Loss; Hypoacuses; Hypoacusis; Implant; Individual; Individual Differences; intervention development; Intuition; Kanner`s Syndrome; Knowledge; Language; language processing; lexical; Maps; Modeling; National Institutes of Health; National Institutes of Health (U.S.); NIH; novel; Outcome; Pattern; Perception; perception disorder; Perceptual Disorders; Perceptual learning; Performance; Phonetics; Play; Process; programs; Programs (PT); Programs [Publication Type]; Public Health; public health medicine (field); public health relevance; Relative; Relative (related person); Research; research study; Role; Science of Anatomy; Series; signal processing; social role; Solid; Solutions; sound; Sound; Sound - physical agent; Specificity; Speech; speech accuracy; Speech Disorders; Speech Intelligibilities; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Manifestations; Speech Perception; Speech Sound; Structure; Testing; theories; therapy development; Time; treatment development; United States National Institutes of Health; Work
Relevance: Public health requires therapies developed based on detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. Understanding how listeners encode the complex acoustic structure of speech across many talkers is critical to developing and evaluating therapies for individuals affected with language processing disorders, hearing impairment and developmental disorders like autism
Project start date: 2001-09-01
Project end date: 2016-01-31
Budget start date: 16-FEB-2011
Budget end date: 31-JAN-2012
PFA/PA: PA-07-070
2R01DC004674-09 (2011): $337394
PERCEPTION OF DYSARTHRIC SPEECH
James Andrew
Arizona State University-tempe Campuscity: Tempe country: United States (us)
Grant 3R01DC006859-07S1 from National Institute On Deafness And Other Communication Disorders
Abstract: Reduced intelligibility is at the heart of the communication disorder associated with the dysarthrias and other speech production deficits, undermining quality of life. This research program aims to develop a comprehensive model of intelligibility deficits that offers an explanation for communication failure and success, and thereby identifies targets for remediation, as well as dependent variables that will serve as outcome measures. We have shown that when listeners encounter speech that is difficult to understand, they turn their attention to prosody to help them decide where words begin and end. However this strategy for lexical segmentation becomes challenged when the prosodic information itself is degraded, as in the dysarthrias. Further, the nature of the prosodic degradation predicts the ways in which word boundary identification is impaired. The differences in perceptual error patterns resulting from speech produced by two equally intelligible speakers are predictable and provide information both about the underlying motor deficit and the perceptual representations and strategies of the listener. The present proposal defines this relationship through the development of sensitive dependent variables that predict listener performance patterns and production characteristics. Specifically, we will refine a set of acoustic measures and establish their predictive relationship to perceptual performance (intelligibility and error patterns), using speakers with dysarthria and healthy controls. These automated acoustic measures include measures of based on the low-frequency modulations of the amplitude envelope and measures of fundamental frequency and average spectral variability. This set of acoustic measures will be used to classify speakers by traditional dysarthric subtypes as well as by groupings based on a perceptual-outcome clustering that will be developed using the error patterns obtained from listeners´ transcription of each speaker´s samples. The model will be tested and refined on a new more diverse group of speakers with intelligibility deficits. The causality of the relationships between acoustics and perception uncovered by these analyses will be tested through perceptual experiments using speech samples that are digitally manipulated to match the prosodic patterns that are associated with particular error types. The proposed project holds promise for immediate clinical impact by providing both sensitive and meaningful outcome measures and an overarching theoretical framework in which to interpret them. The overall goal of the current project is to develop a theoretically-derived model of intelligibility deficits that has immediate clinical impact by identifying targets for remediation and offering dependent variables that may be used to predict perceptual outcome and track changes in speech due to intervention or disease progression. By defining a set of objective measures that map to meaningful aspects of speech understanding, these dependent variables can be applied to any communication disorder for which intelligibility is reduced
Keywords: Accounting; Acoustics; Age; Attention; base; Characteristics; Classification; Classification Scheme; Clinical; clinical practice; Cognitive; Collection; Communication; Communication Disability; Communication impairment; Comprehension; Control Groups; Cues; Data; Databases; design; Development; digital; Digital Signal Processing; Disadvantaged; Discriminant Analysis; Disease; Disease Progression; Dysarthria; Environment; Etiology; Event; expectation; experience; Failure (biologic function); flexibility; Frequencies (time pattern); Funding; Gender; Genetic Transcription; Goals; Grouping; Hearing; Heart; Intervention; Lead; Learning; lexical; Maps; Measures; Mediating; Metric; Modeling; motor deficit; Nature; nervous system disorder; novel; Outcome; Outcome Measure; Pattern; Perception; Perceptual learning; Performance; Periodicity; Population; Principal Component Analysis; Production; programs; public health relevance; Quality of life; Reading; Regression Analysis; remediation; Research; research study; Sampling; Scheme; Severities; Signal Transduction; Specific qualifier value; Speech; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Perception; Stimulus; success; System; Techniques; Testing; theories; Time; Transcend; Uncertainty; United States National Institutes of Health; Variant; Work
Relevance: /Relevance The overall goal of the current project is to develop a theoretically-derived model of intelligibility deficits that has immediate clinical impact by identifying targets for remediation and offering dependent variables that may be used to predict perceptual outcome and track changes in speech due to intervention or disease progression. By defining a set of objective measures that map to meaningful aspects of speech understanding, these dependent variables can be applied to any communication disorder for which intelligibility is reduced
Project start date: 2004-07-01
Project end date: 2015-06-30
Budget start date: 26-OCT-2011
Budget end date: 30-JUN-2012
3R01DC006859-07S1 (2012): $43129
5R01DC006859-07 (2011): $304231