Pronunciation Time Research Articles

Segmental and suprasegmental encoding of speaker confidence in Wuxi dialect vowels.

Wuxi dialect is a variation of Wu dialect spoken in eastern China and is characterized by a rich tonal system. Compared with standard Mandarin speakers, those of Wuxi dialect as their mother tongue can be more efficient in varying vocal cues to encode communicative meanings in speech communication. While literature has demonstrated that speakers encode high vs. low confidence in global prosodic cues at the sentence level, it is unknown how speakers' intended confidence is encoded at a more local, phonetic level. This study aimed to explore the effects of speakers' intended confidence on both prosodic and formant features of vowels in two lexical tones (the flat tone and the contour tone) of Wuxi dialect. Words of a single vowel were spoken in confident, unconfident, or neutral tone of voice by native Wuxi dialect speakers using a standard elicitation procedure. Linear-mixed effects modeling and parametric bootstrapping testing were performed. The results showed that (1) the speakers raised both F1 and F2 in the confident level (compared with the neutral-intending expression). Additionally, F1 can distinguish between the confident and unconfident expressions; (2) Compared with the neutral-intending expression, the speakers raised mean f0, had a greater variation of f0 and prolonged pronunciation time in the unconfident level while they raised mean intensity, had a greater variation of intensity and prolonged pronunciation time in the confident level. (3) The speakers modulated mean f0 and mean intensity to a larger extent on the flat tone than the contour tone to differentiate between levels of confidence in the voice, while they modulated f0 and intensity range more only on the contour tone. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms of segmental and suprasegmental encoding of speaker confidence and lack of confidence at the vowel level, highlighting the interplay of lexical tone and vocal expression in speech communication.

Articulation Timing and Orthographical Representation of Consonant Gemination in Sinhala

Consonant gemination, in general, has two major aspects: either lengthening or doubling the pronunciation of the consonant. This study mainly focuses on articulation and orthography in Sinhala, the two parts of the language where consonant gemination occurs. It examines the pronunciation time ratios of 16 pairs of singleton and geminated Sinhala consonants in order to analyze the relationship that exists between their articulation and orthography. The research problem was stated as ‘what relationship is disclosed by the articulation time ratios and orthography of consonant gemination in Sinhala’. To answer it, the articulation timings of the singleton and geminated consonants were measured with the ratios between them being calculated. Then, as the second step, the ratios and the orthographic symbolization were compared and contrasted. A group of ten adult participants contributed to the data: five males and five females. Praat.exe was the main technical instrument used to measure pronunciation timings. The data revealed that the ratios lie between a minimum of 1:1.6 and a maximum of 1:2.4 times. Therefore, consonant gemination in Sinhala is a lengthening process. Moreover, the alpha-syllabic writing system ignores the length ratios of the geminated consonants.

Real-time Informatized caption enhancement based on speaker pronunciation time database

IBM Watson is one of the representative tools for speech recognition system which can automatically generate not only speech-to-text information but also speaker ID and timing information, which is called as Informatized Caption. However, if there is some noise in the voice signal to the IBM Watson API, the recognition performance is significantly decreased. It can be easily found in movies with background music and special sound effects. This paper aims to improve the inaccuracy problem of current Informatized Captions in noisy environments. In this paper, a method of modifying incorrectly recognized words and a method of enhancing timing accuracy while updating database in real time are suggested based on the original caption and Informatized Caption information. Experimental results shows that the proposed method can give 81.09% timing accuracy for the case of 10 representative animation, horror and action movies.

Voice analysis of early glottic carcinoma treated by carbon dioxide laser

Objective:The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of CO2 laser cordectomy on the voice of early glottic carcinoma. Method:A retrospective analysis of 40 patients who underwent CO2 laser treatment early glottis preoperative clinical data of postoperative laryngeal cancer patients, patients with postoperative recurrence rate, survival rate, and the postoperative complications of patients with preoperative and postoperative laryngoscopy, voice disorders index（voice handicap index, VHI） simplified Chinese version（VHI 13） rating scale, affecting the stability sound quality postoperatively in patients with laryngeal cancer were discussed. Result:All patients underwent voice reexamination 8-97 months after surgery, and the survival rate was 100%, no local recurrence and no obvious postoperative complications. Compared with the healthy control group, there were statistically significant differences in the four indicators F0（fundamental frequency）, Jitter（fundamental frequency perturbation）, Shimmer（amplitude perturbation） and MPT（maximum pronunciation time）, suggesting that CO2 laser surgery resulted in significant changes in acoustic parameters. Jitter and Shimmer indexes in the pre involved combined group were statistically significant different from those in the non involved combined group, suggesting that the sound quality of the pre involved combined group was worse in the postoperative stability period. The VHI score indicated that most patients with early glottic cancer were in severe voice disorder before operation and most were in moderate voice disorder after operation. Compared with the healthy control group, the VHI score and total score of the healthy control group were lower in terms of physiology, psychology and emotion. Compared with the healthy control group, the VHI score and physiology of the early glottic laryngeal cancer patients were lower in the early glottic laryngeal cancer patients before and after surgery, and they were statistically significant. Conclusion:CO2 laser surgery for early glottic cancer, the overall survival rate of patients, low recurrence rate, fewer complications, CO2 laser surgery led to significant changes in acoustic parameters, postoperative sound quality and whether the involvement of pre-associated factors; The total score of VHI and physiological score of early glottic carcinoma patients after CO2 laser operation were better than those before operation.

Speech recognition using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)

Sound is one of the most common communication medias used by humans. Every human has different sound characteristics. To recognize the compatibility of a sound, a special algorithm is needed, which is Dynamic Time Warping (DTW). DTW is a method to measure the similarity of a pattern with different time zones. The smaller the distance produced, the more similar between the two sound patterns. Both sound patterns are similar, thus the two voices are said to be the same. The initial data on the speech recognition process is transformed into frequency waves. Pronounce volume, pronunciation time, and noise from the sound around the recording takes place affecting the distance generated. The smaller the effect, the smaller the distance that will be generated.

Beyond prosody: Foreign accent syndrome in a Spanish-speaking patient. Case report

Introduction: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder. It is becoming increasingly common to find reports of cases about alterations different from the suprasegmental aspects of speech, although these reports are not frequent in Spanish-speaking patients.Case presentation: 48-year-old female patient from Colombia diagnosed with FAS, segmental and suprasegmental speech alterations, and changes in cognitive domains (executive functions and language). The woman also presented with motor and affective changes. Brain imaging studies ruled out structural involvement and follow-up at one year did not show significant changes in speech.Discussion: This case presents the neurological, neuropsychological and speech features of a Spanish-speaking patient with FAS. Greater alteration in vowels than in consonants, alteration in pronunciation time, variation in rhythm and intonation of words and phrases, decrease of time between syllables, and insertion of vowels are common elements between this patient and other cases of FAS in non-Spanish speaking subjects.Conclusions: FAS is essentially a speech alteration; however, it can be accompanied by other physical and psychological signs. This case report allows recognizing the essential components for the definition, diagnosis and intervention of this syndrome.

Modeling individual differences in text reading fluency: a different pattern of predictors for typically developing and dyslexic readers.

This study was aimed at predicting individual differences in text reading fluency. The basic proposal included two factors, i.e., the ability to decode letter strings (measured by discrete pseudo-word reading) and integration of the various sub-components involved in reading (measured by Rapid Automatized Naming, RAN). Subsequently, a third factor was added to the model, i.e., naming of discrete digits. In order to use homogeneous measures, all contributing variables considered the entire processing of the item, including pronunciation time. The model, which was based on commonality analysis, was applied to data from a group of 43 typically developing readers (11- to 13-year-olds) and a group of 25 chronologically matched dyslexic children. In typically developing readers, both orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components contributed significantly to the overall prediction of text reading fluency. The model prediction was higher (from ca. 37 to 52% of the explained variance) when we included the naming of discrete digits variable, which had a suppressive effect on pseudo-word reading. In the dyslexic readers, the variance explained by the two-factor model was high (69%) and did not change when the third factor was added. The lack of a suppression effect was likely due to the prominent individual differences in poor orthographic decoding of the dyslexic children. Analyses on data from both groups of children were replicated by using patches of colors as stimuli (both in the RAN task and in the discrete naming task) obtaining similar results. We conclude that it is possible to predict much of the variance in text-reading fluency using basic processes, such as orthographic decoding and integration of reading sub-components, even without taking into consideration higher-order linguistic factors such as lexical, semantic and contextual abilities. The approach validity of using proximal vs. distal causes to predict reading fluency is discussed.

Dyslexic and skilled reading dynamics are self-similar.

The shape of a word pronunciation time distribution supplies information about the dynamic interactions that support reading performance. Speeded word-naming pronunciation and response time distributions were collected from 20 sixth grade Dutch students with dyslexia and 23 age-matched controls. The participants' pronunciation times were modeled and contrasted with a lognormal inverse power-law mixture distribution. Identical contrasts were also conducted on the same participants' response time distributions derived from flanker, color-naming, and arithmetic tasks. Results indicated that children with dyslexia yield slower, broader, and more variable pronunciation time distributions than their age-matched counterparts. This difference approximated a self-similar rescaling between the two group's aggregate pronunciation time distributions. Moreover, children with dyslexia produced similar, but less prominent trends toward slower and more variable performance across the three non-reading tasks. The outcomes support a proportional continuum rather than a localized deficit account of dyslexia. The mixture distribution's success at describing the participants' pronunciation and response time distributions suggests that differences in proportional contingencies among low-level neurophysiological, perceptual, and cognitive processes likely play a prominent role in the etiology of dyslexia.

The Self-Organization of a Spoken Word

Pronunciation time probability density and hazard functions from large speeded word naming data sets were assessed for empirical patterns consistent with multiplicative and reciprocal feedback dynamics – interaction dominant dynamics. Lognormal and inverse power law distributions are associated with multiplicative and interdependent dynamics in many natural systems. Mixtures of lognormal and inverse power law distributions offered better descriptions of the participant’s distributions than the ex-Gaussian or ex-Wald – alternatives corresponding to additive, superposed, component processes. The evidence for interaction dominant dynamics suggests fundamental links between the observed coordinative synergies that support speech production and the shapes of pronunciation time distributions.

The Mechanism of Reverse Word Length Effect of Chinese in Working Memory

One theoretically influential and much studied phenomenon related to working memory is the word-length effect:the finding that lists of short words are recalled at substantially higher rates than lists of long words (Baddeley,Thomson, Buchanan,1975). However,researchers have also found a reverse word-length effect for mixed word lists:isolated long words are recalled better than isolated short words within the same list (Hulme,Neath,Stuart,Shostak,Surprenant, Brown,2006). Current theoretical accounts of the word-length effect can be divided into two very different forms of explanation:primarily list-based or item-based. According to list-based explanations,the word-length effect is the product of some overall characteristic of the list. For example,the classic phonological loop hypothesis posits that there is a positive correlation between the rate of subvocal rehearsal and overt pronunciation time (Baddeley,1986). In contrast,item-based explanations hypothesize that short words are inherently easier to recall than long words (Neath Nairne,1995). For example,the SIMPLE model assumes that word-length effects are due to item complexity,and this complexity affects the relative discrimination of items in a list. Unfortunately,the reverse word length effect contradicts models that explain the word-length effect in terms of list-based accounts of rehearsal speed or as item-based effects. Modifications to current models or new explanations should be generated. In the present study,three experiments were conducted not only to integrate list-based and item-based explanations to account for the reverse word-length effect but also to propose new ideas for the mechanism. The study compared serial recall of word lists with varying lengths. Materials included three types of words:two-character,three-character and four-character Chinese words. The words were combined into four sets of word list,each of which consisted of five words:a pure short word list,a pure long word list,a mixed list containing four long words (background) and one short word (isolated word),and a mixed list containing four short words (background) and one long word (isolated word). Fifty-eight undergraduates (28 males,30 females) participated in the study. Experiment 1 found a word length effect in pure lists and serial position effect in all lists. Furthermore,short background words were still better recalled than the long background words and a reverse word length effect was observed in isolated words:Isolated long words were recalled better than isolated short words,and the isolated words were recalled more accurately than background words. Experiment 2 reduced the length difference of total pronunciation time for the two types of mixed lists. The reverse word length effect was eliminated and the rate of recall was still higher for isolated words than background words. These findings indicated that total pronunciation time had a role in recall performance. Experiment 3 used a technique of output delay. After the final item disappeared,a white crossband lasting 2 seconds was presented in the same location of a computer screen. An attenuated reverse word length effect was observed. However,there were no significant differences in recall performance for isolated,pure,or background words. These findings indicated that aside from phonological encoding,visual encoding,contributed to the memory process. Taken together,the findings showed that the reverse word-length effect could be explained only if list-based and item-based theories were integrated. Furthermore,results implicated a hypothesis of competitive-complementary parallel processing (CCPP) in relation to immediate serial order recall. That is,working memory may involve multiple,parallel,and different encodings that are both competitive and complementary in memory processing.

The time-based word length effect and stimulus set specificity.

The word length effect is the finding that short items are remembered better than long items on immediate serial recall tests. The time-based word length effect refers to this finding when the lists comprise items that vary only in pronunciation time. Three experiments compared recall of three different sets of disyllabic words that differed systematically only in spoken duration. One set showed a word length effect, one set showed no effect of word length, and the third showed a reverse word length effect, with long words recalled better than short. A new fourth set of words was created, and it also failed to yield a time-based word length effect. Because all four experiments used the same methodologyand varied only the stimulus sets, it is argued that the time-based word length effect is not robust and as such poses problems for models based on the phonological loop.

Fractal Characteristics of Response Time Variability

The relations between English spellings and pronunciations have been described as a fractal pattern. Manipulations of word properties are constructed to coincide with the fractal pattern of ambiguity in these relations (sampled as random variables). New word naming and lexical decision experiments replicate previously established effects of relations between word spellings and pronunciations. The structure of these relations establishes a measurement scale, which is nested in a manner that is loosely analogous to the way that centimeters are nested within meters, and so on. The experiments revealed that broader, increasingly stretched-more variable-distributions of pronunciation and response time accompany the introduction of higher resolution measurement scales to the naming and lexical decision measurement process. Moreover, the distribution of lexical decision response times is shown to obey an inverse power-law scaling relation, which implies lexical decision does not conform to a characteristic measurement scale.

Fractal Characteristics of Response Time Variability

The relations between English spellings and pronunciations have been described as a fractal pattern. Manipulations of word properties are constructed to coincide with the fractal pattern of ambiguity in these relations (sampled as random variables). New word naming and lexical decision experiments replicate previously established effects of relations between word spellings and pronunciations. The structure of these relations establishes a measurement scale, which is nested in a manner that is loosely analogous to the way that centimeters are nested within meters, and so on. The experiments revealed that broader, increasingly stretched-more variable-distributions of pronunciation and response time accompany the introduction of higher resolution measurement scales to the naming and lexical decision measurement process. Moreover, the distribution of lexical decision response times is shown to obey an inverse power-law scaling relation, which implies lexical decision does not conform to a characteristic measu...

Output loss or rehearsal loop? Output-time versus pronunciation-time limits in immediate recall for forgetting-matched materials.

Forgetting during recall may be one limit on memory span. Output time and accuracy of immediate serial recall using spoken and keypress responses were measured for digit, letter, and word sets approximately matched in phonemic discriminability and in immediate recognition memory. Nonetheless, the materials differed from one another in recall span, in output time during recall, and in pronunciation time (speech rate). Recall output times accounted precisely and completely for the measured memory span for these matched materials. Pronunciation times are correlated with recall output times, but output time gives a slightly better account of recall accuracy. The output time equivalent to the rule that short-term memory span corresponds to the number of items that can be said in about 1.5-2 s is that span corresponds to the number of items that can be recalled in about 4-6 s. Additional variations in span reflect differential item interference.

Output loss or rehearsal loop? Output-time versus pronunciation-time limits in immediate recall for forgetting-matched materials.

Forgetting during recall may be one limit on memory span. Output time and accuracy of immediate serial recall using spoken and keypress responses were measured for digit, letter, and word sets approximately matched in phonemic discriminability and in immediate recognition memory. Nonetheless, the materials differed from one another in recall span, in output time during recall, and in pronunciation time (speech rate). Recall output times accounted precisely and completely for the measured memory span for these matched materials. Pronunciation times are correlated with recall output times, but output time gives a slightly better account of recall accuracy. The output time equivalent to the rule that short-term memory span corresponds to the number of items that can be said in about 1.5-2 s is that span corresponds to the number of items that can be recalled in about 4-6 s. Additional variations in span reflect differential item interference.

Effects of generation on immediate memory span and delayed unexpected free recall.

We investigated the effects of generating words from fragments on pronunciation time, on immediate memory span, and on delayed free recall. Subjects read long words and short words aloud or generated them from strings with missing letters. Word-length and generation condition had multiplicative effects on speaking rate, as expected if each affected a separate process regulating the rate. We replicated the standard finding that span is smaller for longer words. Generation improved delayed free recall, indicating that relatively brief presentation times are adequate to produce a generation effect. Although generation improved long-term memory for the words, memory span was shorter for the words that were generated. The harmful effect of generation on span appears to be due to its slowing of speaking rate.

The role of verbal output time in the effects of word length on immediate memory

In three experiments, we examined the role of delays within overt verbal responding in causing effects of word length on immediate recall. Although a phonological memory decay mechanism has been implicated by past research on word length effects, the exact basis of the effect remains unclear. The added difficulty of recalling longer words could arise both while subjects attempt to rehearse words silently and while they attempt to repeat words aloud. To examine the latter mechanism, the lengths of words in the first and second halves of lists to be recalled were varied independently, and both forward and backward recall orders were used. Recall of each word was found to be influenced by the total pronunciation time for all items to be recalled prior to that word, although there was an additional advantage for the last item output. The results clarify and generally support the theory of the articulatory loop, and the method permits an improved analysis of immediate memory into decay-based and other factors.

Mixed case and masking interact in word recognition

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine if mixed letter case (e.g., MiXeD cAsE) and stimulus degradation (masking produced by overprinted backslash characters) interact in a word naming task. A 2 ×2 factorial design was used with 26 college students in a list pronunciation format. Both variables had a significant effect on pronunciation time and on errors. Additionally, mixed case and masking interacted in an overadditive fashion on both dependent variable measures. The data were interpreted as support for a model of human information processing in which both mixed case and masking affect the feature-extraction stage of processing.

Short-term memory capacity: magic number or magic spell?

Previous experiments have found that memory span is greater for items that can be pronounced more quickly. For a variety of materials the span equals the number of items that can be pronounced in about 1.5 s, presumably the duration of the verbal trace. This suggests a model for immediate recall: The probability of correctly recalling a list equals the probability that the time to recite the list is less than the variable duration of the trace. Recall probability for lists of various lengths was determined for six materials. Later, subjects read the lists aloud. The standard normal deviates corresponding to probability of correct recall were linear in pronunciation time. Evidently, over subjects, a normal distribution is a reasonable approximation of the distribution of the trace duration. The mean and variance of the trace duration were estimated. The mean (1.88 s) agrees well with previous estimates, and the model accounts for 95% of the variance in immediate recall.