Listener's Attention Research Articles

Deep-learning models reveal how context and listener attention shape electrophysiological correlates of speech-to-language transformation.

To transform continuous speech into words, the human brain must resolve variability across utterances in intonation, speech rate, volume, accents and so on. A promising approach to explaining this process has been to model electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of brain responses to speech. Contemporary models typically invoke context invariant speech categories (e.g. phonemes) as an intermediary representational stage between sounds and words. However, such models may not capture the complete picture because they do not model the brain mechanism that categorizes sounds and consequently may overlook associated neural representations. By providing end-to-end accounts of speech-to-text transformation, new deep-learning systems could enable more complete brain models. We model EEG recordings of audiobook comprehension with the deep-learning speech recognition system Whisper. We find that (1) Whisper provides a self-contained EEG model of an intermediary representational stage that reflects elements of prelexical and lexical representation and prediction; (2) EEG modeling is more accurate when informed by 5-10s of speech context, which traditional context invariant categorical models do not encode; (3) Deep Whisper layers encoding linguistic structure were more accurate EEG models of selectively attended speech in two-speaker "cocktail party" listening conditions than early layers encoding acoustics. No such layer depth advantage was observed for unattended speech, consistent with a more superficial level of linguistic processing in the brain.

Rapid modulation in music supports attention in listeners with attentional difficulties

Background music is widely used to sustain attention, but little is known about what musical properties aid attention. This may be due to inter-individual variability in neural responses to music. Here we find that music with amplitude modulations added at specific rates can sustain attention differentially for those with varying levels of attentional difficulty. We first tested the hypothesis that music with strong amplitude modulation would improve sustained attention, and found it did so when it occurred early in the experiment. Rapid modulations in music elicited greater activity in attentional networks in fMRI, as well as greater stimulus-brain coupling in EEG. Finally, to test the idea that specific modulation properties would differentially affect listeners based on their level of attentional difficulty, we parametrically manipulated the depth and rate of amplitude modulations inserted in otherwise-identical music, and found that beta-range modulations helped more than other modulation ranges for participants with more ADHD symptoms. Results suggest the possibility of an oscillation-based neural mechanism for targeted music to support improved cognitive performance.

Sexual selection for single song repertoires.

Despite birdsong being one of the most studied models of sexual selection, how it operates in birds that sing only one song remains poorly understood. A recent study using a big data approach reveals a novel aspect of song that may potentially function as an honest signal of male quality and a way to maintain listener attention.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CHUNKING AND PAUSING TECHNIQUE ON ENGLISH SPEECH FLUENCY ABILITY OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AT SMA NEGERI 2 UNGARAN

Based on observations in several schools, speaking skills are considered more difficult for students to master than other passive English skills (reading and writing). Public speaking as the ability to speak well in public for students is less than optimal. Students often experience difficulties due to lack of preparation so they are not confident when doing public speaking. Another cause is excessive anxiety so that the presentation they make does not match expectations. There are several methods and techniques that can be used in making presentations or public speaking so that the presenter can produce a good performance and the material presented can be accepted by the audience, one of which is chunking and pausing techniques. This research aims to determine the effect of using Chunking and Pausing techniques on English Speech Fluency abilities for high school students in Semarang Regency area. This activity was carried out for 18 students of the English Club at SMA Negeri 2 Ungaran class X and XI by conducting a pre-test, providing material and ending with a post-test. From the results of this activity, it was found that there was a significant change in the students' speech fluency before and after being given chunking and pausing technique material, namely an increase in the fluency aspect of 2.6, the pronunciation and accent aspect of 1.3. , the vocabulary mastery aspect is 1.4, the grammar aspect is 0.4, and the details aspect is 1.3. It can be concluded that the students' ability to use chunking and pausing techniques makes their speech performance look more natural so that the level of understanding of the listener becomes better and the listener's attention becomes higher than before. Keywords: Public speaking, chunking techniques, pausing techniques

Воспитательный потенциал церковнославянского памятника «Святогорская повесть»

The article describes the experience of using the Church Slavonic monument " Svyatogorskaya Tale" in the context of patriotic education and expanding the scientific horizons of the younger generation obtained by the author during classes with schoolchildren and students of military-patriotic camps in the period from 2007 to 2020 and pilgims.The presentations of the material and features of its use in the classroom are given.The immersion into the historical context of the events described in the story allows us to draw the attention of listeners to edifying moments in the history of North-West Russia in the second half of the 16th century. An important aspect of the use of " Svyatogorskaya Tale" for educational purposes is that of the presence of a theological component and a significant role of the personality of the hero of the story - Blessed Timofey Svyatogorsky describing his high moral qualities. A special significant moment in the entire history of the appearances of the Svyatogorsky icons in 1563 and 1569 underlines the blessing of Russian statehood with its center in Moscow and the conditions for the prosperity of the people and the state. The importance of immersing the listeners into the environment of moral, theological and socio-political problems having been raised in the text of an ancient monument cannot be overestimated. The presented issues of the national importance and mastering them is current for representatives of all regions of modern Russia.

How the Listener’s Attention Dynamically Switches Between Different Speakers During a Natural Conversation

The neural mechanisms underpinning the dynamic switching of a listener’s attention between speakers are not well understood. Here we addressed this issue in a natural conversation involving 21 triadic adult groups. Results showed that when the listener’s attention dynamically switched between speakers, neural synchronization with the to-be-attended speaker was significantly enhanced, whereas that with the to-be-ignored speaker was significantly suppressed. Along with attention switching, semantic distances between sentences significantly increased in the to-be-ignored speech. Moreover, neural synchronization negatively correlated with the increase in semantic distance but not with acoustic change of the to-be-ignored speech. However, no difference in neural synchronization was found between the listener and the two speakers during the phase of sustained attention. These findings support the attenuation model of attention, indicating that both speech signals are processed beyond the basic physical level. Additionally, shifting attention imposes a cognitive burden, as demonstrated by the opposite fluctuations of interpersonal neural synchronization.

Are acoustics enough? Semantic effects on auditory salience in natural scenes

Auditory salience is a fundamental property of a sound that allows it to grab a listener's attention regardless of their attentional state or behavioral goals. While previous research has shed light on acoustic factors influencing auditory salience, the semantic dimensions of this phenomenon have remained relatively unexplored owing both to the complexity of measuring salience in audition as well as limited focus on complex natural scenes. In this study, we examine the relationship between acoustic, contextual, and semantic attributes and their impact on the auditory salience of natural audio scenes using a dichotic listening paradigm. The experiments present acoustic scenes in forward and backward directions; the latter allows to diminish semantic effects, providing a counterpoint to the effects observed in forward scenes. The behavioral data collected from a crowd-sourced platform reveal a striking convergence in temporal salience maps for certain sound events, while marked disparities emerge in others. Our main hypothesis posits that differences in the perceptual salience of events are predominantly driven by semantic and contextual cues, particularly evident in those cases displaying substantial disparities between forward and backward presentations. Conversely, events exhibiting a high degree of alignment can largely be attributed to low-level acoustic attributes. To evaluate this hypothesis, we employ analytical techniques that combine rich low-level mappings from acoustic profiles with high-level embeddings extracted from a deep neural network. This integrated approach captures both acoustic and semantic attributes of acoustic scenes along with their temporal trajectories. The results demonstrate that perceptual salience is a careful interplay between low-level and high-level attributes that shapes which moments stand out in a natural soundscape. Furthermore, our findings underscore the important role of longer-term context as a critical component of auditory salience, enabling us to discern and adapt to temporal regularities within an acoustic scene. The experimental and model-based validation of semantic factors of salience paves the way for a complete understanding of auditory salience. Ultimately, the empirical and computational analyses have implications for developing large-scale models for auditory salience and audio analytics.

Predicting EEG Responses to Attended Speech via Deep Neural Networks for Speech.

Attending to the speech stream of interest in multi-talker environments can be a challenging task, particularly for listeners with hearing impairment. Research suggests that neural responses assessed with electroencephalography (EEG) are modulated by listener's auditory attention, revealing selective neural tracking (NT) of the attended speech. NT methods mostly rely on hand-engineered acoustic and linguistic speech features to predict the neural response. Only recently, deep neural network (DNN) models without specific linguistic information have been used to extract speech features for NT, demonstrating that speech features in hierarchical DNN layers can predict neural responses throughout the auditory pathway. In this study, we go one step further to investigate the suitability of similar DNN models for speech to predict neural responses to competing speech observed in EEG. We recorded EEG data using a 64-channel acquisition system from 17 listeners with normal hearing instructed to attend to one of two competing talkers. Our data revealed that EEG responses are significantly better predicted by DNN-extracted speech features than by hand-engineered acoustic features. Furthermore, analysis of hierarchical DNN layers showed that early layers yielded the highest predictions. Moreover, we found a significant increase in auditory attention classification accuracies with the use of DNN-extracted speech features over the use of hand-engineered acoustic features. These findings open a new avenue for development of new NT measures to evaluate and further advance hearing technology.

Deictic Analysis of Cohesive Markers in Religious Discourse

This study investigates the deployment of deixis as cohesive markers in religious text drawing insight from theories of deixis and cohesion. The data for the study were generated from a religious sermon preached by Dr Daniel Kolawole Olukoya of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) during Manna Water programme held on Wednesday 22nd of September, 2021. With the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the study identifies the type of deixis used in the sermon, and their deployment as cohesive markers in the text. The findings reveal five different types of deixis that appeared as cohesive markers which include person deixis, spatial deixis, temporal deixis, discourse deixis and demonstrative deixis. The person deixis was used to designate the participants in the discourse, spatial deixis helps to focus the attention of listeners to the different locations mentioned in the sermon, temporal deixis was employed to make reference to different time periods during the sermon, discourse deixis appeared to linking linguistic elements and ideas in the text; while the demonstratives identify notional elements mentioned in the sermon. As cohesive devices, the person deixis, spatial deixis, temporal deixis and demonstratives function as references and substitution, while discourse deixis functions both as references, substitute and conjunctions to link linguistic elements and ideas in the text. The study concludes that the deictic elements used in the religious sermon function as an integral part of text creation to enhance cohesion in the text.

Menjelajahi Komposisi Musik Instrumental Kontemporer: Teknik dan Tren di Era Modern

Contemporary instrumental music has developed rapidly in recent decades, creating unique sounds and attracting the attention of many listeners. This article aims to explore the techniques and trends in contemporary instrumental music composition in the modern era. The methods used in this research are data analysis and literature review, which include case studies of several prominent instrumental music composers, as well as a review of the latest techniques in contemporary instrumental music composition. The results of this research show that in contemporary instrumental music composition, composers use various techniques to create more dynamic and complex music. Some commonly used techniques are the use of complex harmonies, unusual musical instruments, and modern technology to create innovative sound effects. Trends in contemporary instrumental music composition also continue to change over time, ranging from the fusion of different music genres to the use of AI technology and real-time music applications for sound design. In conclusion, this article provides an overview of the techniques and trends in contemporary instrumental music composition in the modern era. It is hoped that this will provide insights and inspiration for composers, music enthusiasts, and stakeholders in the music industry to continue to develop and create innovative and interesting music in the future.

Between alpha and gamma oscillations: Neural signatures of linguistic predictions and listener's attention to speaker's communication intention

When listeners hear a message produced by their interlocutor, they can predict upcoming words thanks to the sentential context and their attention can be focused on the speaker's communication intention. In two electroencephalographical (EEG) studies, we investigated the oscillatory correlates of prediction in spoken-language comprehension and how they are modulated by the listener’s attention. Sentential contexts which were strongly predictive of a particular word were ended by a possessive adjective either matching the gender of the predicted word or not. Alpha, beta and gamma oscillations were studied as they were considered to play a crucial role in the predictive process. While evidence of word prediction was related to alpha fluctuations when listeners focused their attention on sentence meaning, changes in high-gamma oscillations were triggered by word prediction when listeners focused their attention on the speaker's communication intention. Independently of the endogenous attention to a level of linguistic information, the oscillatory correlates of word predictions in language comprehension were sensitive to the prosodic emphasis produced by the speaker at a late stage. These findings thus bear major implications for understanding the neural mechanisms that support predictive processing in spoken-language comprehension.

Psychophysical performance differences associated with auditory spatial attention in older listeners with and without hearing loss

In a busy listening environment with multiple speakers, even normal-hearing listeners may face difficulties in understanding speech (i.e., “the cocktail party problem”). Individual factors related to bottom-up and/or top-down processing difficulties may be associated with the listener’s ability to attend to speech, a key component in navigating complex acoustic environments. The present study tested listeners on a battery of psychophysical measures and compared listener performance to cortical measures (EEG) of spatial-change tuning and auditory spatial attention. The behavioral tests measured both perceptual and cognitive performance and included: frequency modulation detection, spectro-temporal modulation sensitivity, spatial release from masking, temporal gap detection, auditory and non-auditorysustained attention, and visuo-spatial problem solving. The EEG paradigm tested the listener’s ability to attend to moving speech in quiet or background babble in the free field. Older listeners with and without hearing loss (n = 20 per group) demonstrated wide individual performance for some measures and significant correlations between behavioral thresholds and cortical responses, consistent with a more refined view of age-related hearing loss and a need for a more holistic approach in diagnoses for individuals beyond standard clinical tests. [Work supported by NIH R21DC017832.]

Effects of Transient Levels of Speech on Auditory Attention Decoding Performance in a Two‐Speaker Paradigm

Stimulus reconstruction decodes the listener's auditory attention through the greater neural tracking of the attended speech over the unattended stream. While acoustic features of speech are vital to the listening task and comprehension, very few studies have analyzed the effects of acoustic features of speech on stimulus reconstruction. This paper investigates approaches of stimulus reconstruction, where correlations between the neurally decoded and actual speech envelopes are calculated from specific speech segments, varying in transient levels as measured by spectral transition measures. Additionally, two methods of calculating correlations were adopted enabling analysis of the effects of relatively lower and higher frequency components of the speech envelope. Correlation after concatenation analysis showed that STM level of only the attended speech affected decoding performance, hinting at a top‐down attentional effect. A bottom‐up effect of salient aspects of speech momentarily dominating neural entrainment was also inferred from the weighted mean of multiple correlations. Future studies on the link between acoustic features of speech and its corresponding neural tracking behavior are suggested. © 2023 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Metaphors in Minangkabau Language: Meaning Shift and Change

Metaphor is a tool to explain the nature of shifts and changes in meaning because it is able to serve the thoughts and feelings of language users. Metaphor serves as a source of strong motivation to express such thoughts and feelings and becomes expressive means of language. Not all meanings can be conveyed literally, and if speakers feel that there are no words with literal meaning available, they will convey the meaning figuratively which can be more captivating to the listener's attention or can bring out complexities that cannot be done in other ways. Minang native speakers consider settlement in the outside of deliberation to be bad. To avoid disputes, they must be good at finding and uttering expressions whose meanings are different from the sentences that are said, so, they do not immediately feel offended or humiliated. The utterance in (8) means ‘to clean village from all threats and disturbance.’ The analogy of red in (10) refers to saga fruit and the sentential meaning of (11) is associated to a person who has capability to posit him-/her-self. Meanwhile, the sentence in (13) might mean ‘what is hoped appears.’ There are similarities in the nature of animals equated with human character, for example, in Minang, the phrases pipik andak menjadi elang ‘the sparrow wants to be an eagle’ and gajah dilulue ular lidih ‘elephant is wrapped around by a small snake’ refer to a weak against a strong person or can be described as a person who is not aware of his abilities. Keywords: Metaphor, ontological, structural, inference, Minangkabau, meaning shift and change

When the Imagination Replaces an Absent Memory

The art cannot be limited to overcoming limitations, however those are important facts in its history. After modernism, the idea of time as a straight line, loaded the linear orientation. Even fuzzy and without a trace of it attributed distinctiveness, time is in the author’s power. The creation allows the imagination to replace true memory or its failure. If the creator is able to organize a temporality which tempts him and at the same time attracts the attention of certain listeners, there are all conditions for a success of the creation.

THE FORM AND FUNCTION OF THE PHATIC COMMUNION IN PALEMBANG LANGUAGE

This study aims to describe the form and function of phatic communion in Palembang. This research is a descriptive study. The object of this research is the phatic communion in Palembang language utterances. The data were collected using listening techniques and recording speeches containing phatic phrases. Data are classified and analyzed based on the form and function of phatic expressions. Based on the results of observations and data analysis, 16 phatic phrases are used in Palembang language utterances. The sixteen utterances are in the form of phatic particles, phatic words, and phatic phrases. The function of the Palembang language phatic communion, namely to start a conversation or get the listener's attention; expresses disappointment, pique, disbelief, amazement; confirms justification /argumentation; express personal closeness; refine requests; maintaining and ending conversations, etc.
 Keywords:
 Phatic Communion, Form of Phatic, Function of Phatic, Palembang Language

Keefektifan Sense of Humor sebagai Media Dakwah

In preaching, using humor inserts in Islamic communication is something often practiced by some preachers. Humor aims to attract the attention of da'wah listeners and the part that listeners look forward to even though humor is only a complement an Islamic communication. However, the use of humor in da'wah sometimes becomes a boomerang for preachers who don’t pay attention to ethical boundaries and the provisions of applicable norms. So from the results of the author's analysis that the use of humor in Islamic communication is allowed to be a good way as long as the preacher pays attention that in inserting his humor he doesn’t forget the courtesy stipulated in the Hadith & Qur'an. Due to technological advances in preaching, at this time preachers and listeners don’t need to meet in person in one place, but with technological advances, there are a lot of media that can be used in online preaching on social media. In this study, we used quantitative methods by using data collection techniques in the form of surveys conducted online. From the survey, several respondents had different opinions, but 95% of them more often found and liked da'wah with humor inserts through the TikTok application.

Figurative Language in Joel Osteen’s Speech “Your Words Become Your Reality”

This study attempts to explore figurative language in Joel Osteen's speech. This study employed a qualitative approach. The data of this research were from the utterances that occurred in the speech from the speech of Joel Osteen entitled "Your Words Become Your Reality". It was found that from 30 data in the speech, there are 9 simile forms, 5 metaphor forms, 4 personification forms, 2 irony forms, 3 hyperbole forms, 3 litotes forms, 2 metonymy forms, and 2 synecdoche forms. Then, the results of the meaning analysis found 9 denotative meanings and 21 connotative meanings. In addition, the simile is the most frequently used by the speaker in his speech. The figurative function in this speech is used to make the listener's imagination and attract the listener's attention

Gesture and reference to objects in the here-and-now: Listeners' use of gesture cues in quiet and in noise.

In face-to-face interaction, speakers spontaneously produce manual gestures that can facilitate listeners' comprehension of spoken language. The present study explores the factors affecting the uptake and influence of gesture cues in situations where a speaker is referring to objects visible to the listener. In this context, the listener's attention must be distributed across various scene regions, potentially reducing the ability to draw on and apply gesture cues in real time. In two experiments, the instruction provided by a speaker (e.g., "pick up the candy") was accompanied by an iconic grasp gesture (produced alongside the verb) that reflected the size/shape of the intended target. Effects on listeners' comprehension were compared with a no-gesture condition. Experiment 1 (audiovisual gating task) showed that, under simplified processing circumstances, gesture cues allowed earlier identification of intended targets. Experiment 2 (eye tracking) explored whether this facilitation is found in real-time comprehension, and whether attention to gesture information is influenced by the acoustic environment (quiet vs. background noise). Measures of gaze position showed that although the speaker's gesturing hand was rarely fixated directly, gestures did facilitate comprehension, particularly when the target object was smaller relative to alternatives. The magnitude of the gesture effect was greater in quiet than in noise, suggesting that the latter did not provoke listeners to increase attention to gesture to compensate for the challenging auditory signal. Together, the findings clarify how situational factors influence listeners' attention to visual information during real-time comprehension. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Textual Analysis in TEDxSalem Speech on 'Prioritizing mental health in schools by Hailey Hardcastle'

This study aims to determine the realization of textual metafunctions 
 and the types of themes that are dominated in speeches about mental 
 health on the TEDxSalem YouTube channel entitled 'Why you should 
 take a break: Prioritizing mental health in schools and brought by 
 Hailey Hardcastle. The method in this research is qualitative with a 
 content analysis approach. The data was obtained from the speech text 
 and the data were analyzed using Halliday's Theory by considering the 
 data analysis steps proposed by Gay et al. From the results of the 
 analysis, it was found that the realization of the textual metafunction in 
 Hailey Hardcastle's speech was applied. Found 105 clauses in the 
 speech. And in those 105 clauses, there are themes and rhymes that 
 mediate messages to their listeners. So it can be concluded that based on 
 the textual metafunction perspective, the speaker tries to attract the 
 listener's attention to focus more on the message of what is being said, 
 and gives a lot of statements to tell the listener his confession that 
 mental health should be considered the same as physical health and 
 preferably starting at an early age.