Individual Sounds Research Articles

Decoding reveals the neural representation of perceived and imagined musical sounds.

Vividly imagining a song or a melody is a skill that many people accomplish with relatively little effort. However, we are only beginning to understand how the brain represents, holds, and manipulates these musical "thoughts." Here, we decoded perceived and imagined melodies from magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain data (N = 71) to characterize their neural representation. We found that, during perception, auditory regions represent the sensory properties of individual sounds. In contrast, a widespread network including fronto-parietal cortex, hippocampus, basal nuclei, and sensorimotor regions hold the melody as an abstract unit during both perception and imagination. Furthermore, the mental manipulation of a melody systematically changes its neural representation, reflecting volitional control of auditory images. Our work sheds light on the nature and dynamics of auditory representations, informing future research on neural decoding of auditory imagination.

Active Models in Speech Perception: A Critical Review in Phonetics

This critical review examines four prominent active models of speech perception: quantal theory, motor theory, hyper-hypo-articulation theory, and exemplar theory. Each of these models offers distinctive insights into how listeners perceive, interpret, and categorize speech sounds. Quantal theory explores the non-linear relationship between articulation and acoustic output, emphasizing stable and unstable regions in speech production. Motor theory posits that speech perception is grounded in articulatory gestures, suggesting a direct link between production and perception. The hyper-hypo-articulation theory focuses on the speaker’s adaptive articulation, which ranges from hyper- to hypo-articulation depending on the listener's needs and the communicative context. Exemplar theory, rooted in cognitive psychology, highlights the role of memory and experience, with individual speech sounds compared to stored exemplars in memory to aid perception. Despite their contributions, none of these models offers a comprehensive solution to all speech perception challenges. Each theory is suited to specific contexts, speech features, or tasks, making it crucial for researchers to understand their limitations. Furthermore, the review underscores the importance of selecting the appropriate model for particular research or practical applications, given the variability in their functionality. Finally, it calls for future research to delve deeper into passive models of speech perception and suggests that comparative studies between active and passive models could yield valuable insights.

Neural processing of speech sounds at premature and term birth: ERPs and MMR between 32 and 42 weeks of gestation

Prenatal listening experience reportedly modulates how humans process speech at birth, but little is known about how speech perception develops throughout the perinatal period. The present experiment assessed the neural event-related potentials (ERP) and mismatch responses (MMR) to native vowels in 99 neonates born between 32 and 42 weeks of gestation. The vowels elicited reliable ERPs in newborns whose gestational age at time of experiment was at least 36 weeks and 1 day (36 + 1). The ERPs reflected spectral distinctions between vowel onsets from age 36 weeks + 6 days and durational distinctions at vowel offsets from age 37 weeks + 6 days. Starting at age 40 + 4, there was evidence of neural discrimination of vowel length, indexed by a negative MMR response. The present findings extend our understanding of the earliest stages of speech perception development in that they pinpoint the ages at which the cortex reliably responds to the phonetic characteristics of individual speech sounds and discriminates a native phoneme contrast. The age at which the brain reliably differentiates vowel onsets coincides with what is considered term age in many countries (37 weeks + 0 days of gestational age). Future studies should investigate to what extent the perinatal maturation of the cortical responses to speech sounds is modulated by the ambient language.

Decoding reveals the neural representation of perceived and imagined musical sounds.

Vividly imagining a song or a melody is a skill that many people accomplish with relatively little effort. However, we are only beginning to understand how the brain represents, holds, and manipulates these musical "thoughts". Here, we decoded perceived and imagined melodies from magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain data (N = 71) to characterize their neural representation. We found that, during perception, auditory regions represent the sensory properties of individual sounds. In contrast, a widespread network including fronto-parietal cortex, hippocampus, basal nuclei, and sensorimotor regions hold the melody as an abstract unit during both perception and imagination. Furthermore, the mental manipulation of a melody systematically changes its neural representation, reflecting volitional control of auditory images. Our work sheds light on the nature and dynamics of auditory representations, informing future research on neural decoding of auditory imagination.

The Optimal Speech-to-Background Ratio for Balancing Speech Recognition With Environmental Sound Recognition.

This study aimed to determine the speech-to-background ratios (SBRs) at which normal-hearing (NH) and hearing-impaired (HI) listeners can recognize both speech and environmental sounds when the two types of signals are mixed. Also examined were the effect of individual sounds on speech recognition and environmental sound recognition (ESR), and the impact of divided versus selective attention on these tasks. In Experiment 1 (divided attention), 11 NH and 10 HI listeners heard sentences mixed with environmental sounds at various SBRs and performed speech recognition and ESR tasks concurrently in each trial. In Experiment 2 (selective attention), 20 NH listeners performed these tasks in separate trials. Psychometric functions were generated for each task, listener group, and environmental sound. The range over which speech recognition and ESR were both high was determined, as was the optimal SBR for balancing recognition with ESR, defined as the point of intersection between each pair of normalized psychometric functions. The NH listeners achieved greater than 95% accuracy on concurrent speech recognition and ESR over an SBR range of approximately 20 dB or greater. The optimal SBR for maximizing both speech recognition and ESR for NH listeners was approximately +12 dB. For the HI listeners, the range over which 95% performance was observed on both tasks was far smaller (span of 1 dB), with an optimal value of +5 dB. Acoustic analyses indicated that the speech and environmental sound stimuli were similarly audible, regardless of the hearing status of the listener, but that the speech fluctuated more than the environmental sounds. Divided versus selective attention conditions produced differences in performance that were statistically significant yet only modest in magnitude. In all conditions and for both listener groups, recognition was higher for environmental sounds than for speech when presented at equal intensities (i.e., 0 dB SBR), indicating that the environmental sounds were more effective maskers of speech than the converse. Each of the 25 environmental sounds used in this study (with one exception) had a span of SBRs over which speech recognition and ESR were both higher than 95%. These ranges tended to overlap substantially. A range of SBRs exists over which speech and environmental sounds can be simultaneously recognized with high accuracy by NH and HI listeners, but this range is larger for NH listeners. The single optimal SBR for jointly maximizing speech recognition and ESR also differs between NH and HI listeners. The greater masking effectiveness of the environmental sounds relative to the speech may be related to the lower degree of fluctuation present in the environmental sounds as well as possibly task differences between speech recognition and ESR (open versus closed set). The observed differences between the NH and HI results may possibly be related to the HI listeners' smaller fluctuating masker benefit. As noise-reduction systems become increasingly effective, the current results could potentially guide the design of future systems that provide listeners with highly intelligible speech without depriving them of access to important environmental sounds.

Exploring ultrasonic communication in mice treated with Cannabis sativa oil: Audio data processing and correlation study with different behaviours.

Studying ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) plays a crucial role in understanding animal communication, particularly in the field of ethology and neuropharmacology. Communication is associated with social behaviour; so, USVs study is a valid assay in behavioural readout and monitoring in this context. This paper delved into an investigation of ultrasonic communication in mice treated with Cannabis sativa oil (CS mice), which has been demonstrated having a prosocial effect on behaviour of mice, versus control mice (vehicle-treated, VH mice). To conduct this study, we created a dataset by recording audio-video files and annotating the duration of time that test mice spent engaging in social activities, along with categorizing the types of emitted USVs. The analysis encompassed the frequency of individual sounds as well as more complex sequences of consecutive syllables (patterns). The primary goal was to examine the extent and nature of diversity in ultrasonic communication patterns emitted by these two groups of mice. As a result, we observed statistically significant differences for each considered pattern length between the two groups of mice. Additionally, the study extended its research by considering specific behaviours, aiming to ascertain whether dissimilarities in ultrasonic communication between CS and VH mice are more pronounced or subtle within distinct behavioural contexts. Our findings suggest that while there is variation in USV communication between the two groups of mice, the degree of this diversity may vary depending on the specific behaviour being observed.

Venäläisen aksentin tunnistaminen suomen suullisen kielitaidon arvioinnissa

The paper focuses on the Russian accent in the Finnish oral proficiency test. The data consist of spontaneous monologues on an intermediate proficiency level from 10 speakers (about 90 s each). Raters (n=44) were asked to identify the accent in the speech samples as well as to give justifications for their recognition in their own words. The analysis is based on a classification of the raters’ comments as well as auditory and acoustic analysis by the author. The results show that the raters paid most attention to individual sounds, but also palatalization and intonation were mentioned as the reasons for detection of the Russian accent. To conclude, further and more detailed acoustic analysis is needed to gain more understanding of the phonetic features of Russian accented Finnish.

Falling Movements in Free Verse: Turning Back in Poems by William Carlos Williams and Sylvia Plath

ABSTRACT Verse rhythm is formed in a process, where reading adjusts the individual sounds of the poem. It may be perceived as a play between directions and balances. The directions can be rising or falling. Here, the author investigates four kinds of falling rhythm, which are back-structuring (the phrase is perceived as a whole), equivalences (approximate repetition), falling phrases (the stress comes first), and extensions (from a focus). In William Carlos Williams’ poem “A Red Wheelbarrow,” the line pairs form closed back-structures that are completed with the gestalts of the closed equivalences out of repeated enjambments in the middle of every line pair. In Sylvia Plath’s poem “Words,” the heavy streaming extensions in the first part turn into irregular balances in the second part, which provides a picture of depressive tranquility.

The Role of Video-Based Shadowing Practices in L2 Oral Proficiency Development

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of shadowing practices on oral proficiency and pronunciation, specifically in terms of comprehensibility, pronunciation, intonation, and speech rate in second language learners. To this end, intact freshmen classes in an English language teaching program were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group carried out 11 shadowing tasks bi-weekly in two academic terms and submitted their shadowing recordings to the learning management system to receive feedback from their instructor. After the intervention, oral rating forms, an activity evaluation survey, and a semi-structured interview were used to investigate the outcomes. The oral assessment forms including pre- and post-treatment oral recordings of the participants were rated online through a 7-point Likert scale by native speakers of English. The ratings of the experimental and control groups were compared through ANOVAs. The descriptive statistics revealed that the experimental group demonstrated a relatively higher but small increase in the oral rating components (comprehensibility, intonation, speech rate) except for the pronunciation of individual sounds. However, the pre- and post-test differences of both groups were not found to be statistically significant in the ANOVA analysis. The 5-point Likert scale activity evaluation questionnaire and the content analysis of the interviews showed that the experimental group participants thought shadowing improves pronunciation and overall, participants had positive attitudes towards the shadowing practice.

Development of auditory scene analysis: a mini-review.

Most auditory environments contain multiple sound waves that are mixed before reaching the ears. In such situations, listeners must disentangle individual sounds from the mixture, performing the auditory scene analysis. Analyzing complex auditory scenes relies on listeners ability to segregate acoustic events into different streams, and to selectively attend to the stream of interest. Both segregation and selective attention are known to be challenging for adults with normal hearing, and seem to be even more difficult for children. Here, we review the recent literature on the development of auditory scene analysis, presenting behavioral and neurophysiological results. In short, cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting stream segregation are functional from birth but keep developing until adolescence. Similarly, from 6 months of age, infants can orient their attention toward a target in the presence of distractors. However, selective auditory attention in the presence of interfering streams only reaches maturity in late childhood at the earliest. Methodological limitations are discussed, and a new paradigm is proposed to clarify the relationship between auditory scene analysis and speech perception in noise throughout development.

Multizone sound field reproduction using pressure matching with sparse equivalent source

Multizone sound field reproduction aims to create different acoustic environments in multiple spatial zones, allowing listeners to enjoy their individual sounds without being disturbed by sound from other zones. The conventional pressure matching method is used in practice to reproduce the desired sound field by minimizing the sound field error with a limited number of control points, whose reproduction performance decreases above the cutoff frequency. In this paper, a multizone sound field reproduction method based on a sparse equivalent source method is proposed to reproduce the sound field in the whole target region. The acoustic transfer function of each loudspeaker and the desired sound field are represented by the sparse equivalent sources. The whole target region is controlled by interpolating fine virtual control points within the region of the uncontrolled points, and the acoustic transfer functions between the virtual control points and the loudspeaker array are interpolated by the sparse equivalent sources. An optimization reproduction model with the objective of reproducing a desired sound field in the bright zone and constraining the acoustic energy in the dark zone is formulated to find the sparse loudspeaker weights. The simulation results and experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better performance than the conventional pressure matching method in free field and reverberant environments.

Perceptual benefits of implicit auditory learning of rule-based nonspeech sound patterns in younger and older adults

Sounds in everyday environments typically precede and follow one another in systematic ways determined by the properties and interactions of corresponding sound sources. Familiar and predictable contextual relationships between consecutive sounds are known to provide perceptual benefit under adverse listening conditions. Previous work has demonstrated implicit learning of arbitrary rule-based sound patterns by young normal hearing adults. However, the role of such rule-based learning on identification of individual sounds within a sound pattern and the effect of listener age has not been investigated. Here younger and older adults with age-appropriate hearing were first familiarized with a set of rule-based nonspeech sound sequences produced by a finite-state machine. Subsequently, they identified individual target sounds within sequences under a range of signal-to-noise ratios (0 to -15 dB). The test sequences were (a) familiar, rule-based; (b) novel, rule-based; or (c) novel, non rule-based. The results for both younger and older listeners revealed superior sound identification in sequences versus in isolation, and a greater overall accuracy of rule-based versus non rule-based sequences. Younger listeners significantly outperformed older listeners. Implicit learning benefit did not correlate with measures of working memory processing. Current findings have implications for audiologic rehabilitation and auditory display design.

STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION SKILL ON THE ABILITY OF SUPRASEGMENTAL AND SEGMENTAL ASPECTS IN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

This article investigates the correlation between students' overall pronunciation proficiency and their competence in both suprasegmental and segmental aspects of English pronunciation. The study aims to shed light on the interplay between these two fundamental elements and their collective influence on students' pronunciation skills. Employing the qualitative approach, the research draws upon data collected from a diverse language background of the learners, exploring the intricacies of suprasegmental features such as stress, intonation, and rhythm, alongside the segmental elements involving individual sounds, phonemes, and their combinations. The research reveals nuanced insights into the challenges students face in mastering these pronunciation aspects and identifies potential factors contributing to any observed discrepancies. It also delves into the pedagogical implications of addressing both suprasegmental and segmental aspects concurrently in language instruction. The findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on effective pronunciation teaching methodologies and underscore the importance of a holistic approach that integrates suprasegmental and segmental elements to enhance overall pronunciation competence. The research presented herein serves as a valuable resource for enhancing the understanding of the intricate relationship between suprasegmental and segmental aspects in pronunciation, ultimately contributing to the improvement of language teaching and learning practices.

Discrimination of Degrees of Foreign Accent across Different Speakers

Second-language learners often encounter communication challenges due to a foreign accent (FA) in their speech, influenced by their native language (L1). This FA can affect rhythm, intonation, stress, and the segmental domain, which consists of individual language sounds. This study looks into the segmental FA aspect, exploring listeners’ perceptions when Spanish interacts with English. Utilizing the SIAEW corpus, which replaces segments of English words with anticipated Spanish-accented realizations, we assess the ability of non-native listeners to discriminate degrees of accent across male and female voices. This research aims to determine the impact of voice consistency on detecting accentedness variations, studying participants from Japanese and Spanish. Results show that, while listeners are generally able to discriminate degrees of foreign accent across speakers, some segmental transformations convey a more clear distinction depending on the phonological representations of the native and accented realisations on the listener’s system. Another finding is that listeners tend to better discriminate degrees of accent when words are more native-like sounding.

STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING PRONUNCIATION ONLINE: SERBIAN EFL LEARNERS’ PERSPECTIVE

Digital tools and online teaching platforms offer vast opportunities for language learning, yet, even though many indeed focus on pronunciation practice only, there seems to be a noticeable lack of research supporting their effectiveness. The current paper investigates Serbian EFL learners' views on the possible strategies employed for successful online pronunciation practice. A total of 105 tertiary-level English-major students at the Faculty of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac, Serbia, participated in the pre-designed survey concerning online learning strategies with a particular focus on pronunciation practice. The primary instrument was a questionnaire consisting of three parts: part one concerned with the demographic information on the sample, part two containing statements related to offline pronunciation learning strategies and part three focusing on online pronunciation learning strategies. Based on the results, dominant strategies for pronunciation practice in face-to-face classrooms are directed toward improving individual sounds and intonation. Thus, both segmental and suprasegmental features are incorporated in the students’ pronunciation instruction. When it comes to the pronunciation learning strategies online, students seem to prefer cognitive and metacognitive strategies, while social strategies seem to lack popularity among Serbian EFL students. In general, a relatively even distribution of responses was noted for both ends of the scale for the majority of proposed strategies which is explained by the specific professional orientation of the respondents. The findings underscore important pedagogical implications not only for learning English online, but for the improvement of pronunciation practice in the Serbian EFL context in general.

Association of Hearing Loss and Eating Habits in the Older Population

Background: Age-related hearing loss, also known as hearing loss, is an important and increasingly prevalent public health problem worldwide, as it induces disability and social isolation. Objective: To verify the association between eating habits and hearing loss in the older population. Methods: A cross-sectional study with data analysis of older patients treated in an Outpatient Hearing Health Service accredited to the Unified Health System. Older people aged 60 years and over who attended the Health Service to begin adaptation in the study. The audiological evaluation was performed through Tonal and Vocal Audiometry exams, the auditory rehabilitation process was done using the Individual Sound Amplification Device, and eating habits based on the Dietary Guide for the Brazilian Population. Results: The sample included (n = 654) participants, aged between 60 and 97 years. The type of hearing loss revealed a higher prevalence of sensorineural of moderate degree. Individuals with higher consumption of tea, non-fatty meats, rice, fish, and fruits presented better hearing compared to participants with lower consumption of these types of foods. Conclusion: A higher consumption of foods high in anti-inflammatories and antioxidants may decrease the risk of age-related hearing loss. A higher consumption of foods high in anti-inflammatories and antioxidants may decrease 50% of the risk of age-related hearing loss. The findings also indicate the hypothesis that a pro-inflammatory diet could increase the risk of hearing loss. Antioxidants are believed to counteract the deleterious effects of reactive oxygen species and may be effective in treating diseases related to oxidative stress, including hearing loss.

Malaysian cough sound analysis and COVID-19 classification with deep learning

The use of cough sounds as a diagnostic tool for various respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, has gained significant attention in recent years. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been employed in cough sound analysis to provide a quick and convenient pre-screening tool for COVID-19 detection. However, few works have employed segmentation to standardize cough sounds, and most models are trained datasets from a single source. In this paper, a deep learning framework is proposed that uses the Mini VGGNet model and segmentation methods for COVID-19 detection using cough sounds. In addition, data augmentation was studied to investigate the effects on model performance when applied to individual cough sounds. The framework includes both single and cross-dataset model training and testing, using data from the University of Cambridge, Coswara project, and National Institute of Health (NIH) Malaysia. Results demonstrate that the use of segmented cough sounds significantly improves the performance of trained models. In addition, findings suggest that using data augmentation on individual cough sounds does not show any improvement towards the performance of the model. The proposed framework achieved an optimum test accuracy of 0.921, 0.973 AUC, 0.910 precision, and 0.910 recall, for a model trained on a combination of the three datasets using non-augmented data. The findings of this study highlight the importance of segmentation and the use of diverse datasets for AI-based COVID-19 detection through cough sounds. Furthermore, the proposed framework provides a foundation for extending the use of deep learning in detecting other pulmonary diseases and studying the signal properties of cough sounds from various respiratory illnesses.

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES USED BY TEACHERS TO ENHANCE THE LITERACY DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AT RISK FOR SPEECH DISORDERS IN KIAMBU COUNTY, KENYA

The purpose of this study was to establish the phonological awareness instructional strategies used by teachers to enhance literacy development. This research was steered by the Phonological Awareness Theory. The study used a quasi-experimental design. Two groups of subjects were used: one is the control group, which did not participate in the treatment program. The other was the experimental group, which participated, in the given treatment. The study was conducted in Kiambu County, Kenya. Purposive sampling was employed to select 4 preschools and 40 preschool children. 8 teachers were randomly chosen from the selected preschools. Data was collected through interview schedules, tests, and questionnaires. Data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods. The study found that almost all the teachers did not apply clear-cut planned instructional strategies to increase the preschool learner’s phonological awareness skills, such as pointing out the individual sounds in words or highlighting the number of syllables in words. The teachers, additionally did not apply authorized early literacy methods, such as stimulating phonological awareness activities. The study concluded that phonological awareness, ideally, is a broad skill that focuses on phonemes and for that reason, the preschool learners did not need to know the graphemes to be able to develop phonological awareness. The study recommended that there is a need to assess teachers’ literacy instructional practices and the resources they use in the classrooms to enhance literacy development. Preschool teachers should focus on working on a range of activities with children who are at risk for speech disorders to enhance their linguistic and literacy development. The Ministry of Education, Science & Technology (MoEST) needs to provide trainings/ seminars/ continuous professional development (CPD) workshops for Early Childhood Education (ECDE) teachers where strategies/ best practices for teaching reading can be outlined. During such trainings, teachers can share their best practices and help one another overcome problems in the teaching of reading and writing.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0081/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Of words and whistles: Statistical learning operates similarly for identical sounds perceived as speech and non-speech

Statistical learning is an ability that allows individuals to effortlessly extract patterns from the environment, such as sound patterns in speech. Some prior evidence suggests that statistical learning operates more robustly for speech compared to non-speech stimuli, supporting the idea that humans are predisposed to learn language. However, any apparent statistical learning advantage for speech could be driven by signal acoustics, rather than the subjective perception per se of sounds as speech. To resolve this issue, the current study assessed whether there is a statistical learning advantage for ambiguous sounds that are subjectively perceived as speech-like compared to the same sounds perceived as non-speech, thereby controlling for acoustic features. We first induced participants to perceive sine-wave speech (SWS)—a degraded form of speech not immediately perceptible as speech—as either speech or non-speech. After this induction phase, participants were exposed to a continuous stream of repeating trisyllabic nonsense words, composed of SWS syllables, and then completed an explicit familiarity rating task and an implicit target detection task to assess learning. Critically, participants showed robust and equivalent performance on both measures, regardless of their subjective speech perception. In contrast, participants who perceived the SWS syllables as more speech-like showed better detection of individual syllables embedded in speech streams. These results suggest that speech perception facilitates processing of individual sounds, but not the ability to extract patterns across sounds. Our findings suggest that statistical learning is not influenced by the perceived linguistic relevance of sounds, and that it may be conceptualized largely as an automatic, stimulus-driven mechanism.

Suspected evening fish chorusing sounds detected in deep waters off Kauai, Hawaii

Noise analyses are crucial to understanding passive acoustic monitoring for marine mammals and their behavioral responses to natural and anthropogenic noises. Suspected biological sounds in the ambient noise data from hydrophones at the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Kauai, Hawaii have been found. The sounds are suspected to be chorusing associated with the Deep Scattering Layer (DSL) upward daily vertical migration given they peak around 2 hours after sunset. They have been observed occurring daily including a period in January 2017 when high ambient noise levels during a storm was associated with baleen whale cessation of calling. The sounds occur from 1.4 to 1.8 kHz with the peak near 1650 Hz. They are detectable on multiple broadband hydrophones (21 to 68 km offshore) in deep water (1.5 to 4.7 km), suggesting a large spatial extent. The maximum spectrum level in the 1.6 kHz 1/3rd octave band observed to date was 71 dB re 1 μPa2/Hz. Individual sounds have not been identified to date given the geometries involved and the large spatial extent sensed using deep water hydrophones. These results have similarities to related chorusing research which has suggested a potential link with Myctophidae fishes.