Speech Timing Research Articles

Exploring Agreement in Voice Acoustic Parameters: A Repeated Measures Case Study Across Varied Recording Instruments, Speech Samples, and Daily Timeframes

Aims: The aim was to assess the agreement between microphone-derived and neck accelerometer-derived voice acoustic parameters and their associations with recording moments and speech types. Methods: Using simultaneous recordings, a 7-week study on a single individual was conducted to reduce intersubject variability. Agreement was assessed using Bland–Altman plots, and associations were examined with generalized estimating equations. Results: Bland–Altman plots showed no significant bias between microphone (MIC) and accelerometer (ACC) measurements for alpha ratio, CPP, PPE, SPL SD, fundamental frequency (fo) mean, and SD. Speech type and measurement timing were significantly associated with alpha ratio, while the instrument was not. Microphone measurements resulted in slightly lower CPP compared to the accelerometer, while reading samples yielded higher CPP compared to vowel productions. PPE, SPL SD, and fo mean showed significant associations with speech type, based on univariate analysis. Microphone measurements yielded a statistically smaller fo SD compared to the accelerometer, while reading productions had a larger fo SD than vowel productions. Conclusions: Fundamental frequency, alpha ratio, PPE, and SPL SD values were robust, regardless of the instrument used, suggesting the potential use of accelerometers in less-controlled environments. These findings are crucial for enhancing confidence in voice metrics and exploring efficient clinical assessment protocols.

Auditory Temporal Processing Can Predict Reading Measurements in Neurotypical Adults: Evidence for Cascading Effects of Low-Level Auditory Processing on High-Level Cognitive Ability

ABSTRACT Accurate processing of auditory timing information has been proposed as crucial for the development of various complex cognitive abilities, such as literacy. However, empirical validation of this hypothesis has primarily involved using isochronous stimuli, which do not capture the nonlinearity inherent in the perception of timing in speech and music. Additionally, most work has focused on clinical/developmental populations and assessed timing at slower time scales, limiting our knowledge of this relationship. The current study introduces a perturbation stimulus design aimed at overcoming these limitations. We examined the association between reading abilities and behavioral entrainment to perturbation stimuli and applied a novel curve-fitting technique to analyze participants’ entrainment in response to perturbations. We demonstrate that behavioral entrainment during the post-perturbation time window yields superior predictive value across a wide array of reading measurements compared to entrainment to isochronous stimuli (before the perturbation) in a neurotypical adult population. Our perturbation paradigm effectively reveals individual differences in auditory temporal processing among neurotypical adults, offering a novel approach to investigating the link between auditory temporal processing and literacy skills beyond clinical/developmental contexts. Our novel curve-fitting analysis effectively captures the nonlinear aspects of participants’ entrainment when recovering from tempo perturbations.

Numerical Cincinnati Stroke Scale Versus Stroke Severity Screening Tools for the Prehospital Determination of Large Vessel Occlusion

Objectives Previous research demonstrated that the numerical Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) identifies large vessel occlusion (LVO) at similar rates compared to dedicated LVO screening tools. We aimed to compare numerical CPSS to additional stroke scales using a national emergency medical services (EMS) database. Methods Using the ESO Data Collaborative, the largest EMS database with linked hospital data, we retrospectively analyzed prehospital patient records from 2022. Each EMS record was linked to corresponding emergency department (ED) and inpatient records through a data exchange platform. Prehospital CPSS was compared to the Cincinnati Stroke Triage Assessment Tool (C-STAT), the Field Assessment Stroke Triage for Emergency Destination (FAST-ED), and the Balance Eyes Face Arm Speech Time (BE-FAST). The optimal prediction cut points for LVO screening were determined by intersecting the sensitivity and specificity curves for each scale. To compare the discriminative abilities of each scale among those diagnosed with LVO, we used the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC). Results We identified 17,442 prehospital records from 754 EMS agencies with ≥1 documented stroke scale of interest: 30.3% (n = 5,278) had a hospital diagnosis of stroke, of which 71.6% (n = 3,781) were ischemic; of those, 21.6% (n = 817) were diagnosed with LVO. CPSS score ≥2 was found to be predictive of LVO with 76.9% sensitivity, 68.0% specificity, and AUROC 0.787 (95%CI 0.722–0.801). All other tools had similar predictive abilities, with sensitivity/specificity/AUROC of: C-STAT 62.5%/76.5%/0.727 (0.555–0.899); FAST-ED 61.4%/76.1%/0.780 (0.725–0.836); BE-FAST 70.4%/67.1%/0.739 (0.697–0.788). Conclusions The less complex CPSS exhibited comparable performance to three frequently employed LVO detection tools. The EMS leadership, medical directors, and stroke system directors should weigh the complexity of stroke severity instruments and the challenges of ensuring consistent and accurate use when choosing which tool to implement. The straightforward and widely adopted CPSS may improve compliance while maintaining accuracy in LVO detection.

Comparing Measuring Methods for Speech Timing During Rapid Automatic Naming Tasks Using Arabic and English Bilingual Adults

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks have been used to assess word retrieval speed and reading speed. However, measures of reading rate may be affected by structural differences between languages. This study was designed to measure talking speed differences in the utterances of a group of speakers whose first language (L1) was Arabic and second language (L2) was English. Three hypotheses were tested: the language structure differences would result in L2 productions with slower utterance rates; the L2 speaking rate would be characterized by greater utterance interruptions than the L1; and the articulation rate would more accurately indicate the naming speeds of the participants. Twenty Arabic- and English-speaking young adults completed RAN tasks for number and object naming in both languages. Utterance rate, speaking rate, and articulation rate were measured. The participants exhibited similar utterance durations in the two languages and utterance rate in words per second, but faster utterance rates in Arabic when measuring the utterance rate in syllables per second. They exhibited more pauses and longer pauses during the English productions, particularly for the object naming. Finally, the speaking rate in syllables per second and articulation rate in syllables per second were equivalent as utterance rates.

The Complexity of Freedom of Speech: Wittgenstein’s Language Game and Gadamer’s Hermeneutics

Freedom of speech is filled in various facets of daily life, which has long been the focus of people’s attention and debate. The concept has multiple layers, including mode, content, and timing of speech. It is worth noting that in different cultural, political and legal contexts, different groups of people interpret and apply freedom of speech in various ways. The purpose of this paper is to compare and analyze Austin’s Speech Act Theory, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Language Game Theory and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Hermeneutics. Also it aims to demonstrate and summarize three philosophers’ views on freedom of speech from multiple perspectives. By examining these philosophical frameworks, this paper attempts to guide people to further understand the factors that influence freedom of speech and clarify its inherent complexity. This paper not only provides a detailed analysis of the role of language in different contexts, but also provides a relatively complete model for understanding the dynamic interaction between language and society. In the era of globalization, the contradiction between the basic principle and practice of freedom of expression has become increasingly prominent. The results of the paper are intended to provide a reference for future efforts to strengthen intercultural dialogue to guarantee freedom of speech in pluralistic societies.

Vertical larynx actions and intergestural timing stability in Hausa ejectives and implosives.

The current project undertakes a kinematic examination of vertical larynx actions and intergestural timing stability within multi-gesture complex segments such as ejectives and implosives that may possess specific temporal goals critical to their articulatory realization. Using real-time MRI (rtMRI) speech production data from Hausa non-pulmonic and pulmonic consonants, this study illuminates speech timing between oral constriction and vertical larynx actions within segments and the role this intergestural timing plays in realizing phonological contrasts and processes in varying prosodic contexts. Results suggest that vertical larynx actions have greater magnitude in the production of ejectives compared to their pulmonic counterparts, but implosives and pulmonic consonants are differentiated not by vertical larynx magnitude but by the intergestural timing patterns between their oral and vertical larynx gestures. Moreover, intergestural timing stability/variability between oral and non-oral (vertical larynx) actions differ among ejectives, implosives, and pulmonic consonants, with ejectives having the most stable temporal lags, followed by implosives and pulmonic consonants, respectively. Lastly, the findings show how contrastive linguistic 'molecules'- here, segment-sized phonological complexes with multiple gestures- interact with phrasal context in speech in such a way that it variably shapes temporal organization between participating gestures as well as respecting stability in relative timing between such gestures comprising a segment.

Hearing What You Can't See: Influence of Face Masks on Speech Perception and Eye Movement by Adults With Hearing Loss.

The aim of the study was to analyze how face masks influence speech perception and time spent looking at the speaker's mouth and eyes by adults with and without hearing loss. Twenty participants with hearing loss and 20 without were asked to repeat Spanish words presented in various conditions, including different types of face masks (no mask, transparent window mask, and opaque mask FFP2) and presentation modes (audiovisual, video only, and audio only). Recognition accuracy and the percentage of time looking at the speaker's eyes and mouth (dwell time) were measured. In the audiovisual condition, participants with hearing loss had significantly better word recognition scores when the speaker wore no mask compared to when they wore an opaque face mask. However, there were no differences between the transparent mask and no mask conditions. For those with typical hearing, the type of face mask did not affect speech recognition. Audiovisual presentation consistently improved speech recognition for participants with hearing loss across all face mask conditions, but for those with typical hearing, it only improved compared to video-only mode. These participants demonstrated a ceiling effect in audiovisual and audio-only modes. Regarding eye movement patterns, participants spent less time looking at the speaker's mouth and more time at the eyes when the speaker wore an opaque mask compared to no mask or a transparent mask. The use of transparent face masks (ClearMask-type model) is recommended in contexts where face masks are still used (hospitals) to prevent the hindering effect of opaque masks (FFP2-type model) in speech perception among people with hearing loss, provided that any fogging of the window of the transparent mask is controlled by wiping it off as needed and the light is in front of the speaker to minimize shadows.

The effect of emotional prosody and referent characteristics on novel noun learning

Abstract Prosody includes the pitch, timing and loudness in speech, which can convey meaning and emotion. This study examines whether prosodic categories affect novel noun learning and whether the referent characteristic influence learning. Previous research showed that emotional prosody interfered with adults’ noun learning (West et al., 2017), but it had no effect on children (West et al., 2022). However, these researchers varied their method across ages, including animacy and complexity of the referent, and it is unclear if the results extend beyond the three emotional prosodies tested. Participants in the current set of studies heard novel words presented in five prosodic categories (within-subject) in order to learn the label for either animate or inanimate objects (between-subject). Study 1 compared inanimate objects and aliens, with better noun learning performance for inanimate objects. Study 2 compared inanimate objects with the same objects with faces added, but there was no difference in noun learning by object type. Both studies showed differences in noun learning by the prosodic category, with warning less accurate than naming. These results demonstrate how extralinguistic factors like prosody, attention and referent complexity influence noun learning.

A data fusion method for maritime traffic surveillance: The fusion of AIS data and VHF speech information

The more comprehensive information supply for Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), the greater capacity for maritime traffic surveillance. To supply ship intention information contained in very high frequency (VHF) speech for VTS, we propose an automatic identification system (AIS) data and VHF speech information fusion method. In the first part of this method, the feature information of VHF speech is extracted by Bert-BiLSTM-CRF-based entity extraction method, likes location, ship name, and ship intention information, etc. In the second part, we design a spatio-temporal range to filter AIS data, the temporal range is determined by receive time of VHF speech, and the spatial range is determined by the location information extracted from VHF speech. In the third part, by measuring the ship name similarity between AIS data and VHF speech, the barriers to fusion are successfully overcome. The similarity is calculated by combining with Chinese pinyin character similarity and Arabic number similarity and Chinese pinyin characters are encoded by pronunciation characters, calculated by the dynamic time warping (DTW) distance. Through experiments, the method can effectively provide comprehensive information for maritime traffic surveillance, and even when crews misreport ship name within a small deviation, our method still possesses a great fusion capability.

The Effects of Sleep Inertia on the Acoustic and Perceptual Voice Changes in Adult University Students

Background: Sleep inertia, characterized by reduced alertness and cognitive functioning upon waking, has been well-researched in its effects on cognitive and motor abilities. However, its impact on voice quality remains less clear. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep inertia following nocturnal sleep and changes in acoustic and perceptual voice parameters in adults. Methods: Ninety healthy participants (45 females, 45 males, ages: 18 - 30 years) took part in a pre-post study using convenience sampling. Their voices were recorded before and after nocturnal sleep across multiple tasks, including vowel /a/ phonation, spontaneous speech, text reading, and maximum phonation time (MPT). Recordings were made in a quiet room using a Zoom H6 recorder at a 44.1 kHz rate. The acoustic analysis included measures of fundamental frequency (F0), standard deviation of F0 (SD F0), vocal intensity, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), cepstral peak prominence smoothed (CPPS), jitter, shimmer, and formant frequencies. Auditory-perceptual evaluation was conducted using the GRBAS Scale. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS-19. The Shapiro-Wilk test assessed normality, and a paired t-test compared variables, separately for males and females at a 0.05 significance level. Results: Acoustic analysis revealed that both females and males experienced a decrease in mean F0, mean intensity, HNR, and CPPS, and an increase in jitter, shimmer, and SD F0 across most voice samples after sleeping. These changes were particularly significant for females in all voice samples (P < 0.001). Perceptual analysis also showed a significant increase in grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain for both genders after sleep (P < 0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrated that sleep inertia negatively impacts vocal performance, resulting in a decline in voice quality for both genders after sleep compared to before. Notably, this decline in voice quality was more pronounced in women than in men.

Implementing discourse-gating tasks to study the timing of speech act recognition

This paper presents the development of two novel discourse-gating tasks to investigate the processing of pragmatic information, namely, the timing of the recognition of genuine (sincere) and ostensible (transparently insincere) refusals in Chinese and provides preliminary validity evidence for the tasks. Gating tasks were introduced to investigate spoken word recognition and have been successfully extended to spoken language processing, most notably sentences. Following Grosjean's (1996) observation that gating tasks could be used to investigate a variety of linguistic features, we extended the gating tasks to spoken discourse using turns as gates. The open-prediction gating task allows participants to make a single prediction about the outcome of each of 12 recorded conversations as soon as they can. The fixed-prediction gating task asks participants to make predictions at regular intervals while listening to a second set of 12 conversations. One hundred and seven participants (60 L1 speakers and 47 third- and fourth-year learners of Chinese) were recruited to test the tasks. The tasks reveal a lag in speech-act identification not found when retrospective speech-act identification tasks are used. The fixed-prediction task additionally reveals alternatives that are considered during processing. The paper discusses the benefits of the discourse gating tasks and the merits of each, the quantitative and qualitative evidence for the tasks, and future directions for discourse gating tasks.

TEACHING TEMPORAL WORDS TO ELEMENTARY LEVEL STUDENTS

Several scientists and educational researchers have worked on the concept “time”, they were interested in how to express time in speech. In this article, we studied their works and wrote about teaching temporal words to elementary level students at the same time a few methods were given that help to teach temporal words.

Realistic About Reference Production: Testing the Effects of Domain Size and Saturation.

Experiments on visually grounded, definite reference production often manipulate simple visual scenes in the form of grids filled with objects, for example, to test how speakers are affected by the number of objects that are visible. Regarding the latter, it was found that speech onset times increase along with domain size, at least when speakers refer to nonsalient target objects that do not pop out of the visual domain. This finding suggests that even in the case of many distractors, speakers perform object-by-object scans of the visual scene. The current study investigates whether this systematic processing strategy can be explained by the simplified nature of the scenes that were used, and if different strategies can be identified for photo-realistic visual scenes. In doing so, we conducted a preregistered experiment that manipulated domain size and saturation; replicated the measures of speech onset times; and recorded eye movements to measure speakers' viewing strategies more directly. Using controlled photo-realistic scenes, we find (1) that speech onset times increase linearly as more distractors are present; (2) that larger domains elicit relatively fewer fixation switches back and forth between the target and its distractors, mainly before speech onset; and (3) that speakers fixate the target relatively less often in larger domains, mainly after speech onset. We conclude that careful object-by-object scans remain the dominant strategy in our photo-realistic scenes, to a limited extent combined with low-level saliency mechanisms. A relevant direction for future research would be to employ less controlled photo-realistic stimuli that do allow for interpretation based on context.

Child participation during outpatient consultations: a mixed methods study

Although children wish to be included in their own healthcare, they recognize a gap between their right to be heard and their ability to become involved. Despite adaptation of medical consultation styles which suit a more patient-centered approach, data on the current state of child participation in clinical encounters are missing. We aimed to assess actual child participation in a Dutch pediatric clinic. Children aged 4–18 years visiting a pediatric outpatient clinic for consultation after general practitioner’s referral were included. Sixteen consultations of six pediatricians were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Quantitative measurement included word count and speech turn; conversation analysis with qualitative appraisal provided data on participatory behavior. Quantitative child participation equaled parent participation in turns (28% vs 29%, respectively), but remained limited in words (relative contribution 11% for child, 23% for parent and 66% for pediatrician). Children spoke on average six words per speech turn. Child age correlated positively with participation in words (p = 0.022, r = 0.566) and turns (p = < 0.001, r = 0.746). Children were mostly involved during social history taking, introduction, and physical examination but did not actively speak during the decision-making process. Children took an active role by instigating talks. Qualitative facilitators included appropriate language and verbal or non-verbal child allocated turns. Adults involved children by asking them questions and verifying their opinions or plans with the child. Teenagers participated most during the entire consultation, while younger children were more likely to lose their focus by the end of the conversation.Conclusion: Despite increased turn taking, children’s verbal participation remains low in pediatric consultations. If pediatricians and parents maintain a triadic conversation style throughout every stage of the medical encounter, child participation may increase.What is Known:• Verbal child participation varies between 4 and 17%, measured in turns, words, speech time, or utterances.• Child participation is limited to social talk, laughter, and providing medical information.What is New:• Child speech turns equal parental speech turns (28%), but average relative word count remains low (11%).• Three percent of the children’s turns are defined a “contributing in decision making, giving their opinion or give consent,” which equals three turns per consultation.

The precision by the Face Arm Speech Time (FAST) algorithm in stroke capture, sex and age differences: a stroke registry study

BackgroundThe shift towards milder strokes and studies suggesting that stroke symptoms vary by age and sex may challenge the Face-Arm-Speech Time (FAST) coverage. We aimed to study the proportion of...

A case of cerebellar mutism initially diagnosed as adjustment disorder with anxiety

Cerebellum, along with balance and motor function, also plays a role in higher cognitive processes and affect regulation. Left cerebellar hemisphere may be responsible for executive tasks while right cerebellar hemisphere may play roles in language perception, speech timing, motor planning, transient storage of verbal information, verbal fluency and processing grammar. “Cerebellar mutism” (CM) defines absence or severe reduction of speech along with irritability, emotional lability and social withdrawal . CM may develop in 11.0-29.0 % of children after surgeries involving the posterior fossa and is especially seen among patients with medulloblastomas and/ or brainstem lesions. However, cases developing after ischemic strokes involving the cerebellum have also been described. In CM patients who were operated on for tumors, typically, the speech is normal for a brief period after surgery and deteriorates thereafter. In the majority of patients, mutism resolves after weeks to months although it may persist longer in some. The exact pathophysiology of CM is unclear and features of the syndrome may be interpreted as psychological in origin. Here, we report diagnosis of CM in a three-years old toddler.

¿Notas La Diferencia? [Do You Hear the Difference?]: Perceptual Consequences of Intensive Voice Treatment in Spanish Speakers With Parkinson's Disease.

The primary objective of this study was to explore the effects of intensive voice-focused treatment on speech parameters in Spanish speakers with dysarthria associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) as perceived by naïve listeners. Fifteen Spanish speakers with dysarthria associated with PD received the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD) for a month. Voice and speech recordings were conducted pretreatment, posttreatment, and at a 1-month follow-up. Thirty naïve adult listeners rated the perceptual dimensions of ease of understanding (EoU), resonance, articulatory precision, prosody, and voice quality from sentences extracted from an emotional monologue on a visual analogue scale. EoU, resonance, articulatory precision, and voice quality significantly improved pre- to posttreatment, but gains were not maintained at follow-up. Speech severity was a significant source of variance in mean listener response for all perceptual dimensions, although the interaction between speech severity and time was only significant for resonance and voice quality. LSVT LOUD may be beneficial to improve perceptual speech domains affected by PD in Spanish speakers with dysarthria. Its impact on the different speech subsystems may reflect a universal distribution of effects when directly targeting the glottal source. Language-specific contributions of each perceptual domain to speech intelligibility should be explored in further research to determine linguistically sensitive treatment targets.

Knowledge and attitude towards stroke among the population of one rural community in southern Thailand: a survey

ObjectiveTo evaluate attitude and knowledge of stroke in a rural community in southern Thailand.DesignA survey.SettingA community in southern Thailand.ParticipantsAll community members aged ≥18 years who were at home during the...

Initial Syllable Vowel Duration as a Temporal Measure in Persons with Stuttering: Implication for Speech Motor Control

Stuttering is a fluency disorder characterized by involuntary repetitions, prolongations and hesitation. “Relational Speech Timing Task (RST)” refers to a phenomenon where in, when a set of words with a common base word, is used with progressively increasing length of suffixes it results in progressive reduction in the duration of vowel of the initial syllable. Since individuals with stuttering are reported to have difficulties in the temporal aspects of speech, this study aimed to assess and compare the Initial Syllable Vowel Shortening(ISVS) among individuals with stuttering and Fluent age matched controls. Eight males with stuttering and eight age and gender matched fluent adults served as subjects. Eight sets of meaningful Tamil words were developed for the RST tasks. The subjects were asked to repeat the modelled stimuli and only the stutter free responses were taken for the analysis. The duration of the initial vowel in the words were measured and compared between the two groups. Results revealed that individuals with stuttering exhibited difficulties for multisyllabic words, demonstrating the subtle timing difficulties in individuals with stuttering.

Deep Learning-Based Feature Extraction for Speech Emotion Recognition

Emotion recognition from speech signals is an important and challenging component of Human-Computer Interaction. In the field of speech emotion recognition (SER), many techniques have been utilized to extract emotions from speech signals, including many well-established speech analysis and classification techniques. This model can be built by using various methods such as RNN, SVM, deep learning, cepstral coefficients, and various other methods, out of which SVM normally gives us the highest accuracy. We propose a model that can identify emotions present in the speech, which can be identified by various parameters such as pitch, speaking rate, speech time, and frequency patterns. Emotion detection in digitized speech contains 3 components: Signal processing, Feature extraction, and Classification. The model first tries to remove the background noises then extract the features present in the speech and classify it into a single emotion. This model is capable of identifying seven different emotions that can be found in human speech. We can use different classifiers like GMM and HMM to classify features such as Spectral Subtraction, Wiener Filtering, Adaptive Filtering, and Deep Learning Techniques. This model can be used in various fields such as healthcare, security, psychology, medicine, education, and entertainment.