Vowel Production Research Articles

Acoustic Cues of /ħ/ and /ʕ/ in Hourani Jordanian Arabic: Investigating Sociolinguistic Variation

This paper examines the interaction between the coarticulatory effects of pharyngeals on adjacent vowels and the speakers’ age and gender in Hourani Jordanian Arabic. To this end, 28 participants were recorded reading a list of 24 words containing a pharyngeal sound (/ħ/ or /ʕ/) preceded (word-finally) or followed (word-initially) by a short or long vowel. A total of 1344 tokens were extracted and then analyzed in PRAAT. The first three formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3) of each vowel were manually measured at the midpoint. The measurements were then normalized using Nearey’s (1977) intrinsic formula to reduce the effect of physiological differences between male and female speakers. The findings of the study show no significant effects of age or gender on the production of the adjacent vowels word-initially or word-finally. This suggests that, unlike the case of pharyngealized sounds (e.g., Omari and Jaber (2019)), pharyngeal-to-vowel coarticulation is not affected by the sociolinguistic variables of age and gender. Keywords: Coarticulation; Extralinguistic variables; Hourani Jordanian Arabic; Pharyngeals.

Valores de nasalancia para vocales, serie numérica y oraciones producidas por adultos hablantes de español chileno

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to establish and compare nasalance scores in Spanish-speaking adults of both genders from Chile during the production of sustained vowels, an automatic speech sample and the reading of sentences. Methods46 adults participated, 25 women and 21 men, aged between 18 and 29 years. All without a history of speech therapy, neurological pathologies, intellectual deficit, hearing loss, syndromes or other pathologies that affect speech production. Adequate velopharyngeal function was determined in vivo through a perceptual evaluation of resonance. Nasalance was determined with the Nasometer, model 6450, during the sustained production of the vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/, an automatic repetition of the number series 1-10 and the reading of six sentences, five with consonants high pressure orals and one with nasal consonants. The comparison between both genders was made with the Mann-Whitney U test. ResultsThe sentence with nasal sounds («Mi mamá me mima») presented the highest percentage of nasalance with 66.36%, followed by the numerical series with 24.61% and the vowel /i/ with 23.57%. Meanwhile, sentences with oral sounds and sustained vowels /a/ and /u/ presented an average nasalance that fluctuated between 10.5% (vowel /u/) and 16.52% (sentence: «Fifi fue feliz»). Finally, a significantly higher average was observed in women for three oral sentences: «Pipo patea la pelota» (P=.044), «Tito tapa tarros» (P=.041), and «Fifi fue feliz» (P=.027). ConclusionThe nasalance values obtained in Chilean adults showed variations according to the speech stimulus and the gender of the speakers.

The effects of vocal exertion on lung volume measurements and acoustics in speakers reporting high and low vocal fatigue.

PurposeVocal exertion is common and often results in reduced respiratory and laryngeal efficiency. It is unknown, however, whether the respiratory kinematic and acoustic adjustments employed during vocal exertion differ between speakers reporting vocal fatigue and those who do not. This study compared respiratory kinematics and acoustic measures in individuals reporting low and high levels of vocal fatigue during a vocal exertion task.MethodsIndividuals reporting low (N = 20) and high (N = 10) vocal fatigue participated in a repeated measures design study over 2 days. On each day, participants completed a 10-minute vocal exertion task consisting of repeated, loud vowel productions at elevated F0 sustained for maximum phonation time. Respiratory kinematic and acoustic measures were analyzed on the 1st vowel production (T0), and the vowels produced 2 minutes (T2), 5 minutes (T5), 7 minutes (T7), and 10 minutes (T10) into the vocal exertion task. Vowel durations were also measured at each time point.ResultsNo differences in respiratory kinematics were observed between low and high vocal fatigue groups at T0. As the vocal exertion task progressed (T2-T10), individuals reporting high vocal fatigue initiated phonation at lower lung volumes while individuals with low vocal fatigue initiated phonation at higher lung volumes. As the exertion task progressed, total lung volume excursion decreased in both groups. Differences in acoustic measures were observed, as individuals reporting high vocal fatigue produced softer, shorter vowels from T0 through T10.ConclusionsIndividuals reporting high vocal fatigue employed less efficient respiratory strategies during periods of increased vocal demand when compared with individuals reporting low vocal fatigue. Individuals reporting high vocal fatigue had shorter maximum phonation time on loud vowels. Further study should examine the potential screening value of loud maximum phonation time, as well as the clinical implications of the observed respiratory patterns for managing vocal fatigue.

A contrastive study on the production of double vowels in Mandarin

Abstract The concept of ‘global village’ has linked all countries in the world as a whole. The exchanges and cooperation between different countries in politics, economy, culture, and education are becoming more and more frequent. To master a language, the study of its pronunciation is crucial. Based on the above considerations, this paper uses the Chinese pronunciation corpus of 30 learners and 10 Chinese native speakers as basic data to discuss the pronunciation patterns of learners’ mandarin diphthongs and their similarities to standard pronunciations. In this paper, by using the theory and methods of experimental phonetics, comparative analysis and error analysis, we exam and analyse the acoustic features of different levels of learners in the learning process, and the pronunciation and bias of learners’ mandarin diphthongs are obtained. From the experimental results, it can be seen that all three groups of learners have some difficulties in pronunciation of mandarin diphthongs. In particular, the learners have the greatest differences to standard pronunciations when pronouncing the diphthongs [ua] and [uo]. And some important rules and conclusions are summarised through experiments. This provides an important reference for learners to solve the problems of diphthongs pronunciation in Chinese speech synthesis and recognition.

Acoustic Voice Analysis during Phonation Onset, Measured from High-Speed Videoendoscopy in Connected Speech

Adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) is a neurological voice disorder, which affects the control of intrinsic muscles of the larynx during speech. Our previous research has shown that high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) can be used to measure the glottal attack time for patients with AdSD during connected speech. This study builds upon that to analyze the acoustic signal during the phonation onset and prephonatory adjustments. The phonation onset events are quantified using the HSV data that were obtained simultaneously with the acoustic data. We analyze the power and energy waveform of the acoustic signal during vocal folds’ first contact, first oscillation, and transitory behaviors, extracted from high-temporal resolution HSV data. The data were obtained from five patients with AdSD and five vocally normal participants. The data were recorded while the participant produced: 2 productions of vowel /i/ at habitual pitch and loudness, 2 with a soft glottal attack and 2 with a hard glottal attack, six CAPE-V sentences, and the “Rainbow Passage.” The HSV system included a monochrome high-speed camera coupled with a flexible nasolaryngoscope. The results of this study could assist for more accurate clinical management of adductor spasmodic dysphonia.

Dynamic targets in second language vowel articulations

This study examines L1 English-L2 French vowel productions, with the goal of exploring whether representing vowel targets as dynamic rather than “steady-state” better predict L2 production patterns. It is hypothesized that learners will transfer L1 vowel dynamic information to produce L2 vowels if the two are perceived as “similar,” but it is unclear whether learners will transfer dynamic vowel information to “new” L2. As such, six L1 English-L2 French learners completed production tasks in English and French with the target vowels /i, u, e, o/ and /y, ø/ in real words. Participants were recorded using a stabilization headset attached to an ultrasound probe and microphone. F1 and F2 measurements and tongue contours were extracted at three timepoints throughout the vowel duration. Results shows that while learners produce L2 French vowels /i, e, u, o/ with a similar amount of formant and gestural movement to L1 vowels, they do not transfer midpoint F1-F2 values. Learners do produce new L2 vowels /y, ø/ with similar formant and gestural movements to English vowels. The results of this study indicate that learners transfer dynamic acoustic information and articulatory gestures from their L1 to produce L2 vowels, which has implications for the representation of vowels.

Acoustic analysis of vowel production in children with childhood apraxia of speech

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a complex neurological subtype of speech sound disorder (SSD), involving impaired speech motor planning and programming. Speech characteristics of CAS include difficulty in sequencing speech movements in the absence of muscle weakness resulting in segmental (e.g., vowel/consonant distortions) and suprasegmental (e.g., inappropriate lexical stress) speech deficits. Acoustic analysis offers a robust objective diagnostic measurement of CAS for lexical stress and consonant accuracy/consistency. However, other reported CAS features, such as vowel errors and distortions, have yet to be extensively validated using acoustic analyses. This study will acoustically analyze vowel errors and inconsistencies for corner vowels (/i, u, æ, ɑ/) in children with CAS (aged 8;0 to 15;11) compared to peers with SSD and typical development (TD). Vowel space measures (e.g., vowel space area and formant centralization ratio) and consistency (e.g., vowel cluster distribution) will be assessed in 24 children (CAS = 4, SSD = 10, and TD = 10) across various phonetic contexts (e.g., syllable sequencing between anterior to posterior voiced/voiceless stops of increasing syllable length). It is predicted that children with CAS will demonstrate (1) greater vowel inconsistencies as context complexity increases and (2) a neutralized vowel space based on the corner vowels relative to children with SSD and TD.

Production of Vowel Reduction by Mexican Learners of English as L2 and Russian as L3

AbstractIn this study, we examined to what extent cross-linguistic influence is observed in the production of unstressed vowels in Mexican learners of L2 English and L3 Russian. Phonological spectral vowel reduction is a widespread process present in both English and Russian, but not in Spanish. In total, 18 Mexican learners, six American speakers, five Russian speakers and six Mexican speakers performed a delayed word repetition task and a sentence completion task. Euclidean distances and temporal values were measured to assess vowel reduction in 1,192 tokens. Mexican learners showed hybrid values of vowel reduction in both foreign languages: while they tended to use quality cues in the case of the L2, they relied on duration cues in the case of the L3. Our results do not show any direct evidence of cross-linguistic influence of temporal values or vowel quality from the L1 or the L2 on the L3. We examine these findings in light of similar studies and current L3 acquisition models.

Training the pronunciation of L2 vowels under different conditions: the use of non-lexical materials and masking noise.

The current study extends traditional perceptual high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in a foreign language learning context by implementing a comprehensive training paradigm that combines perception (discrimination and identification) and production (immediate repetition) training tasks and by exploring two potentially enhancing training conditions: the use of non-lexical training stimuli and the presence of masking noise during production training. We assessed training effects on L1-Spanish/Catalan bilingual EFL learners' production of a difficult English vowel contrast (/æ/-/ʌ/). The participants (N=62) were randomly assigned to either non-lexical (N=24) or lexical (N=24) training and were further subdivided into two groups, one trained in noise (N=12) and one in silence (N=12). An untrained control group (N=14) was also tested. Training gains, measured through spectral distance scores (Euclidean distances) with respect to native speakers' productions of /æ/ and /ʌ/, were assessed through delayed word and sentence repetition tasks. The results showed an advantage of non-lexical training over lexical training, detrimental effects of noise for participants trained with nonwords, but not for those trained with words, and less accurate production of vowels elicited in isolated words than in words embedded in sentences, where training gains were only observable for participants trained with nonwords.

Acoustic characteristics of fricatives, amplitude of formants and clarity of speech produced without and with a medical mask.

BackgroundPrevious research has found that high‐frequency energy of speech signals decreased while wearing face masks. However, no study has examined the specific spectral characteristics of fricative consonants and vowels and the perception of clarity of speech in mask wearing.AimsTo investigate acoustic–phonetic characteristics of fricative consonants and vowels and auditory perceptual rating of clarity of speech produced with and without wearing a face mask.Methods & ProceduresA total of 16 healthcare workers read the Rainbow Passage using modal phonation in three conditions: without a face mask, with a standard surgical mask and with a KN95 mask (China GB2626‐2006, a medical respirator with higher barrier level than the standard surgical mask). Speech samples were acoustically analysed for root mean square (RMS) amplitude (A RMS) and spectral moments of four fricatives /f/, /s/, /ʃ/ and /z/; and amplitude of the first three formants (A1, A2 and A3) measured from the reading passage and extracted vowels. Auditory perception of speech clarity was performed. Data were compared across mask and non‐mask conditions using linear mixed models.Outcomes & ResultsThe A RMS of all included fricatives was significantly lower in surgical mask and KN95 mask compared with non‐mask condition. Centre of gravity of /f/ decreased in both surgical and KN95 mask while other spectral moments did not show systematic significant linear trends across mask conditions. None of the formant amplitude measures was statistically different across conditions. Speech clarity was significantly poorer in both surgical and KN95 mask conditions.Conclusions & ImplicationsSpeech produced while wearing either a surgical mask or KN95 mask was associated with decreased fricative amplitude and poorer speech clarity.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDSWhat is already known on the subject Previous studies have shown that the overall spectral levels in high frequency ranges and intelligibility are decreased for speech produced with a face mask. It is unclear how different types of the speech signals that is, fricatives and vowels are presented in speech produced with wearing either a medical surgical or KN95 mask. It is also unclear whether ratings of speech clarity are similar for speech produced with these face masks. What this paper adds to existing knowledge Speech data collected using a real‐world, clinical and non‐laboratory‐controlled settings showed differences in the amplitude of fricatives and speech clarity ratings between non‐mask and mask‐wearing conditions. Formant amplitude did not show significant differences in mask‐wearing conditions compared with non‐mask. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Wearing a surgical mask or a KN95 mask had different effects on consonants and vowels. It appeared from the findings in this study that these masks only affected fricative consonants and did not affect vowel production. The poorer speech clarity in these mask‐wearing conditions has important implications for speech perception in communication between clinical staff and between medical officers and patients in clinics, and between people in everyday situations. The impact of these masks on speech perception may be more pronounced in people with hearing impairment and communication disorders. In voice evaluation and/or therapy sessions, the effects of wearing a medical mask can occur bidirectionally for both the clinician and the patient. The patient may find it more challenging to understand the speech conveyed by the clinician while the clinician may not perceptually assess patient's speech and voice accurately. Given the significant correlation between clarity ratings and fricative amplitude, improving fricative signals would be useful to improve speech clarity while wearing these medical face masks.

Compensation in Time and Space: Prominence Marking in Aging and Disease

This study aims to explore the effects of healthy aging and Parkinson’s disease on speech motor performance. One area of speech production which requires fine speech motor control is prominence marking. Therefore, strategies of prominence marking of three speaker groups with four speakers each were investigated: younger speakers, older speakers, and speakers with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Acoustic and articulatory data were collected. Speech data were analyzed focusing on prominence-related adjustments of vowel production and tongue body movements in the temporal and spatial domain. Longer durations, varying initiation of the tongue movements and smaller vowel sizes in older speakers and in speakers with PD were found compared to younger speakers. The data indicate further that all speaker groups mark prominence by changing relevant parameters in the vowel articulation; however, strategies seem to differ between the groups: (i) in the temporal domain, articulatory movement durations increase with age and are further prolonged in speakers with PD; (ii) in the spatial domain, the articulation space is resized by the older speakers in a non-symmetrical way, while no systematic vocalic modulations were found for speakers with PD. To conclude, the speech system seems to be affected by age and disease, but speakers develop compensatory strategies to counteract influences in the spatial domain.

Production, Perception and Identification of English and Arabic Vowels and Semi-vowels by Iraqi Arabic EFL Learners

The recent paper centers on reporting the error in the production, perception and identification of segmental phonemes of both Arabic and English. Formerly Arabic learners may come across many difficulties in the recognition and pronunciation a foreign language, such as English, due to the enormous variations, principally, in vowels and consonants inventory and their acoustic realizations. It also examines gender influence on learners' performance in three tasks. The total number of subjects are (36) Iraqi EFL learners; categorized into six groups based on their education proficiency levels. MP3 recording device is used in the tasks to record learners' pronunciation. The list of tested words contains (20) words that exemplify simple, long vowels and semi vowels. The results revealed that most Iraqi L2 learners have problems in articulating short and long English vowels and they come across fluctuating gradations of difficulty. The results also show that there is an effect of the level of education on the accuracy rate for some vowel categories. The most problematic vowels were /ɒ, ʌ, ɔ: / which were difficult for most subjects regardless their education level and proficiency in English.

Vowel quality in intermediate L2 Spanish learners: a study of lexical, linguistic, and individual variables

ABSTRACT The current study analyzes vowel quality production across the lexical factors of cognate status and timing of word introduction, the linguistic factor of vowel position (pre-tonic, tonic, or post-tonic), and individual factors including age of acquisition of Spanish and length of study abroad. Participants were 29 intermediate second language Spanish learners who completed an oral text reading task. Results found that learners pronounced vowels differently in early as compared to later introduced words and in tonic (stressed) position compared to unstressed (pre-tonic/post-tonic) position. However, cognate status and individual factors were in general not statistically significant. These results lead us to suggest that pronunciation instruction should ideally begin early in the acquisition process and include explanations of vowel production in unstressed syllables.

Early Cochlear Implantation Allows Deaf Children to Control Voice Pitch and Loudness independently.

Congenitally deaf children with a cochlear implant (CI) improve their speech production intelligibility, but their prosody, including stress and intonation produced by voice pitch and loudness changes, often differs from normal hearing people, which affects their fluent oral communication. This study is aimed to clarify abnormal characteristics of voice pitch and loudness control in CI recipients using a newly developed visually guided pitch change task. We included 13 normal hearing volunteers (NH group) and 17 congenitally deaf CI users who showed good speech intelligibility. The 17 CI users were divided into Early-CI and Late-CI groups, based on their age at implantation of 2.5 years. Using the visually guided pitch change task and acoustic voice analysis of sustained vowels, we assessed their vocal skills to maintain constant pitch and loudness and intentionally change the voice pitch independent from loudness. At the time of examination, the mean age was 24.1, 12.7, and 18.9 years in the NH, Early-CI, and Late-CI groups. During constant vowel production, Early-CI and Late-CI groups showed more significant fluctuations in pitch and loudness than the NH group. However, when focusing on intentionally changing only the pitch of the voice, the Early-CI group was significantly better than the Late-CI group and comparable to the NH group in terms of their ability to change vocal pitch independently from loudness. Among congenitally deaf patients, age at implantation was associated with the development of voice skills to control voice pitch and loudness separately, which may influence their fluent prosody production.

Target Attainment in the Production of English Vowels by Polish Students: The Influence of Language Instruction in the Time of Covid-19, Imitation, and Musicality

This pilot experimental study pursues a number of goals. Firstly, it aims to assess the phonetic attainment of selected English vowels among twelve Polish students of English philology after one term of intensive online pronunciation training in pandemic conditions. Secondly, it looks at potential differences between production outcomes in two experimental contexts, that is, reading and imitation. Finally, it seeks to determine if there is any correlation between musicality and target attainment with a view to identifying a broader scope for potential future research questions. For this purpose, recorded samples of read and imitated English words containing vowels in a uniform context /h_d/ were assessed by six raters using a 5-point Likert scale. The results, including those of an online musicality test, were analysed and subjected to statistical testing. The majority of total scores exceed the assumed acceptability benchmark of 50%. The study yielded a number of unexpected results. Firstly, female participants performed significantly better than male ones in the reading experiment, but not in imitation. Secondly, a stronger correlation was found between the reading results and musicality than between imitation results and musicality.

Habilitation for the Aging Avocational Singer

Habilitation for the Aging Avocational Singer Dann Mitton (bio) VOICE PEDAGOGY We are getting older. Nearly seven million Canadians are currently age 65 or older.1 More than two-fifths of U.S. Baby Boomers have already reached the de facto retirement age of 65; the first Gen Xers to cross this aging milestone will do so in 2030. By 2060, 94.7 million Americans are projected to be age 65 or older.2 Williamson reports that "the fastest growing segment of the population is in the over age 85 category."3 This means a steadily growing market segment for the informed voice teacher who understands and can address the needs of the aging singer. The purpose of this article is to curate some thoughts on voice pedagogy (listening, interventions, and resources) that can equip voice teachers to better support an aging singer clientele. It will identify aspects of the aging process that impact the singing voice, and touch on pedagogic interventions for six common challenges experienced by aging singers: onset, power, intonation, vibrato, noise, and vowel production. An in-depth discussion of serious age-related diseases such as Parkinson's, chronic illness, or vocal pathologies is outside the scope of this article. The assumption is that voice teachers understand and embrace their role as part of a greater voice care team that will include certified medical experts to whom one defers whenever issues of health and singing intersect. WHAT IS AGING? Aging is a complex process in which changes at the molecular, cellular, and organ levels result in a progressive and inevitable decrease in the body's ability to respond appropriately to disruptions.4 [Aging affects] accuracy, speed, endurance, stability, strength, coordination, breathing capacity, nerve conduction velocity, heart output, and kidney function. Muscle and neural tissues atrophy, and the chemicals responsible for nerve transmissions change. Ligaments atrophy, and cartilages turn to bone (including those in the larynx). Joints develop irregularities that interfere with smooth motion. The vocal folds themselves thin and deteriorate, losing their elastic and collagenous fibers. This makes them stiffer and thinner and may correlate with voice changes often noted with aging such as breathiness, slightly decreased volume, "thinning" of the voice, and loss of vocal efficiency … The vocal fold edge also becomes less smooth.5 The loss of muscle mass from aging is also known as sarcopenia. [End Page 347] Johnson and Brunssen correlate these widespread systemic changes to the following effects for the aging singer: loss of range (up and/or down); noise in the sound; breaks in the voice; "knerdly" sound and other compensatory effort; intonation; need to take a few more breaths; vibrato slower; warming up takes longer; unclear open vowels; slower coloratura; less ring and intensity in the sound; vocal fatigue; cramping in voice: ceiling; /h/ between notes; difficulty with soft singing and decrescendos; debilitating and compensatory efforts to make up for compromised function.6 Gerontologist Dr. Tracey Gendron questions the ethics of feeding the larger narrative of aging as a progressive decline.7 "Older age is a time that we can actually look forward to. People really just enjoy themselves more and are at peace with who they are. I would love for everyone to say their age at every year and celebrate it."8 Can one recapture youthful vigor? Exciting new research shows that it soon may be possible to undo the reduction in capillary density that accompanies aging. Capillaries are the vehicles through which oxygen off-loads from the blood to the muscle cells. The greater the density of capillaries, the faster the metabolism is excited.9 A 2018 study on aging mice successfully restored the number of blood capillaries and capillary density seen in younger mice, concomitantly restoring their ability to exercise rigorously as in youth.10 This is encouraging as we develop future therapies that can benefit humans. One manifest advantage enjoyed by the aging performing artist is life experience. Lived experience "allows older singers to bring a level of emotion to a performance that is not possible in youth."11 Another point of optimism is that aspects of the aging process respond very well to intervention. Physical decline does not take place uniformly among the...

Vowel Production in Aphasia: Preliminary Acoustic Findings from Arabic

The present study examined the temporal and spectral characteristics of vowels produced by Palestinian Arabic- speaking individuals with Broca’s aphasia compared to healthy speakers. Specifically, vowel duration and formant frequency measures (F1&F2) were made. eight speakers with Broca’s aphasia and eight healthy speakers participated in the study. Repetition was used to elicit the target vowels to minimize language comprehension or reading difficulties by the individuals with Broca’s aphasia. The speech sample contains the long vowels (/a:,u:,i:/) embedded in CVC words with nasal initials. Statistical analysis was used to determine any significant differences concerning the formant values (F1/F2) between the speaker groups. Findings showed that speakers with Broca’s aphasia produced vowel categories with more variability than healthy speakers. For some, formant frequencies were comparable with those of the healthy speakers, and yet others showed an overlap of phonetic categories. Specifically, F1 and F2 for the vowel /u:/ were higher for individuals with Broca’s aphasia compared to normal-speaking individuals, but they were not statistically significant. Furthermore, although speakers with Broca’s aphasia produced longer vowel durations than the healthy speakers, they were not significantly different between speaker groups except for the vowel /i:/. Reduced vowel space was also observed in speakers with Broca’s aphasia. The vowel ellipses as shown by speakers with Broca’s aphasia were larger than those of healthy speakers. Results support previous studies showing abnormal temporal durations and spectral patterns in Broca’s aphasia. Findings can contribute to cross-linguistic research on vowel production in aphasia, mainly in understudied languages such as Arabic.

이집트인 학습자의 한국어 모음 지각과 산출*

This study aims to discuss how Egyptian learners of Korean perceive and categorize Korean vowels, how Koreans perceive Korean vowels they pronounce, and how Egyptian learners’ Korean vowel categorization affects their perception and production of Korean vowels. In Experiment 1, 53 Egyptian learners were asked to listen to Korean test words pronounced by Koreans and choose the words they had listened to among 4 confusable words. In Experiment 2, 117 sound files (13 test words×9 Egyptian learners) recorded by Egyptian learners were given to Koreans and asked to select the words they had heard among 4 confusable words. The results of the experiments show that “new” Korean vowels that do not have categorizable ones in Egyptian Arabic easily formed new categories and were therefore well identified in perception and relatively well pronounced, but some of them were poorly produced. However, Egyptian learners poorly distinguished “similar” Korean vowels in perception, but their pronunciation was relatively well identified by native Koreans. Based on the results of this study, we argued that the Speech Learning Model (SLM) and Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) explain the L2 speech perception well, but they are insufficient to explain L2 speech production and therefore need to be revised and extended to L2 speech production.

Synthesis of Sung Spanish Vowels in Lyrical Singing by Sopranos

The aim of this paper is perform the synthesis of sung Spanish vowels considering the soprano vocal category of lyrical singers, including variation of sustained pitches with vibrato and tremolo effects, considering sounds from Spanish language. The Fant source-filter theory is used to model the production of the sung vowels: the source is based on the Rosenberg glottal pulse model and the filter (the vocal tract) is composed by an all-pole filter model with formant frequencies and bandwidths from the vowels of the Spanish language, obtained through experimental voice signals from two soprano singers. All the sounds synthesized are available to be accessed and they were submitted to a group of listeners which gave a very good evaluation with respect to the intelligibility and naturalness of the sounds.

Subthalamic stimulation breaks the balance between distal and axial signs in Parkinson\u2019s disease

In Parkinson’s disease (PD), the effects of both Ldopa and subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) are known to change cost-valuation. However, this was mostly studied through reward-effort task involving distal movements, while axial effort, less responsive to treatments, have been barely studied. Thus, our objective was to compare the influence of both Ldopa and STN-DBS on cost-valuation between two efforts modalities: vowel production (as an example of axial movement) and hand squeezing (as an example of distal movement). Twelve PD patients were recruited to participate in this study. The task consisted in deciding whether to accept or reject trials based on a reward-effort trade-off. Participants performed two blocks with hand squeezing, and two with vowel production, in the four treatment conditions (LdopaOn/Off; STN-DBS On/Off). We found that STN-DBS changed the ratio difference between hand and phonation efforts. Vowel production effort was estimated easier to perform with STN-DBS alone, and harder when associated with Ldopa. The difference between hand and phonation efforts was correlated with quality of life in Off/Off and On Ldopa alone conditions, and with impulsive assessment On STN-DBS alone. We highlighted that STN-DBS could introduce an imbalance between the actual motor impairments and their subjective costs. With this finding, we also suggest paying particular attention to the different treatment effects that should be expected for axial and distal movement dysfunctions.