Speech Timing Research Articles

Auditory feedback control in adults who stutter during metronome-paced speech I. Timing Perturbation

PurposeThis study determined whether adults who stutter (AWS) exhibit deficits in responding to an auditory feedback timing perturbation, and whether external timing cues, which increase fluency, attenuate any disruptions due to altered temporal auditory feedback. MethodsFifteen AWS and sixteen adults who do not stutter (ANS) read aloud a multisyllabic sentence either with normal pacing or with each syllable paced at the rate of a metronome. On random trials, an auditory feedback timing perturbation was applied, and timing responses were compared between groups and pacing conditions. ResultsBoth groups responded to the timing perturbation by delaying subsequent syllable boundaries, and there were no significant differences between groups in either pacing condition. Furthermore, no response differences were found between normally paced and metronome-paced conditions. ConclusionThese findings are interpreted as showing that 1) AWS respond normally to pure timing perturbations, and 2) metronome-paced speech has no effect on online speech timing control as assessed in the present experiment.

The timing of visual speech modulates auditory neural processing

In face-to-face communication, visual information from a speaker’s face and time-varying kinematics of articulatory movements have been shown to fine-tune auditory neural processing and improve speech recognition. To further determine whether the timing of visual gestures modulates auditory cortical processing, three sets of syllables only differing in the onset and duration of silent prephonatory movements, before the acoustic speech signal, were contrasted using EEG. Despite similar visual recognition rates, an increase in the amplitude of P2 auditory evoked responses was observed from the longest to the shortest movements. Taken together, these results clarify how audiovisual speech perception partly operates through visually-based predictions and related processing time, with acoustic–phonetic neural processing paralleling the timing of visual prephonatory gestures.

Changes in speech and voice characteristics following two hours and eight hours of acute sleep deprivation

Objectives: Sleep loss is known to affect aircrew performance. The study intended to examine the changes in speech and voice characteristics following 2 and 8 h of sleep deprivation for their potential usage as screening methods for detecting sleep deprivation in aircrew. Material and Methods: In a repeated measure design, the study analyzed the effects of 2 h and 8 h of acute sleep deprivation on speech and voice parameters among 30 healthy male volunteers by analyzing standard paragraph reading for 15 s and sustained vowel/a/for 6 s using the commercially available Dr. Speech Voice assessment tool. Subjective appreciation of sleepiness and fatigue was measured by Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) and Chalder’s Fatigue Scale (CFS), respectively, and objective assessment of performance by psychomotor vigilance task (PVT). Results: The subjective markers (SSS and CFS) and objective parameters (PVT reaction time) indicated evidence of fatigue onset even after 2-h of sleep deprivation. In speech parameters, average fundamental frequency (F0), F0 range, and % silence time decreased significantly; whereas, speech time, percent voiceless time, and mean percent voiced time increased significantly following 8-h of sleep deprivation, while percent silence time decreased significantly after 8-h of sleep deprivation . In voice parameters, shimmer % and NNE increased significantly while harmonic-to-noise ratio and signal-to-noise ratio decreased significantly after 8-h of sleep deprivation. Mean shimmer % showed a significant change even after 2-h of sleep deprivation. Conclusion: The findings of the study bring out significant changes in both the speech and voice spectrum following periods of acute sleep deprivation. The changes were more pronounced during sleep deprivation of 8-h as compared to 2-h. These findings have potential application in aviation environment in objective detection of aircrew fatigue following periods of continuous wakefulness and resultant sleep deprivation.

Effect of asthma on the English-speaking and reading comprehension ability of dusty allergy affected school children

Background: This study examines the effect of Asthma on the English-speaking time of school children. The study was investigated systematically in 34 patients with a history of asthma from the Cholistan desert of Punjab province in Pakistan, who attended an emergency department of a hospital in Bahawalpur city having dust allergy with asthma for an acute aggravation. Each patient listened to an educational audiotape on the appropriate counting technique before inhaling maximally and counting until a second breath was mandatory. This indicated the "speech time" of the patient in seconds. The researcher collected a total of 250 pairs of pretreatment and posttreatment PEFR and speaking time measurements. The results of speaking time discovered that the PEFR may be statistically anticipated by speaking time [P .0001]. Conclusions of the study also showed that aggravation of acute asthma badly affects the students’ English-speaking ability.

EFFECTS OF PROLONGATION OF SPEECH AND SYLLABLE TIME SPEECH ON REDUCTION OF SEVERITY OF STUTTERING IN STUTTERING PATIENTS

Background: Stuttering is an organic process utterance condition. This utterance condition is broken by prolongation of sounds and repetitions of part words and phrases. Speech constitution strategies facilitate the client to use a new way of oral communication in stutters. Objective: to determine the effects of prolongation of speech and syllable time speech on reduction of severity of stuttering in stuttering patients. Methods This Randomized clinical trial study design was conducted in National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Islamabad. A total of n=30 participants of both gender having developmental stuttering with age between 20-30 years were included in the study through purposive sampling. The n=30 participants were randomly divided in to Group A received prolonged speech protocol (PSP) and Group B received syllable time speech protocol. The data was collected using the Scale of rating severity of stuttering (SRSS) at baseline, after 6th weeks and after 12th weeks of training. The data was analyzed through SPSS-21. Results The mean age of the study participants was 22±2.05 years. The median number of sibling was 4(2), birth order 2.5(2) and age of onset was 4(1) years. With-in group analysis showed that the group received prolong speech protocol {F=25.24(2), p<0.001} and syllable time speech protocol {F=29.52(2), p<0.001}, both were significantly improved from the baseline to the end of 12th week of intervention as well as at each level of assessment. While comparing the groups, there was significantly large mean difference (MD) of SRSS in group received syllable time speech protocol (2.53±.83 ver 1.73±.59, p=0.005, Cohen’s d=0.72) as compared to group received prolong speech protocol. Conclusion It is concluded that Syllable time speech was effective in reducing severity of stuttering and improving fluency in stutterers. . Key words: Stuttering, stammering, fluency shaping therapy, speech therapy.

The clinical relevance assessment of ROSIER scale in emergency care

Stroke incidence and its consequences are nowadays a common cause of death, disability and financial burden for the health system. The scale of this phenomenon is estimated to increase in further years. To ensure the best patients care, therapy should be applied in a dedicated stroke unit as soon as possible. Nevertheless, even 2 out of 3 suspected patients visit the emergency department in the first place. The probable lack of knowledge and experience from the personnel indicates up to a 60% rate of misdiagnosis resulting in delays in treatment administration and consequently a reduction of chance for survival and full recovery. The Recognition of Stroke in the Emergency Room scale has been developed to improve the emergency physicians’ assessment. It evaluates the initial event history and physical examination, which translates into a score from –2 to 5 with a > 0 cut-off point anticipating a high probability of stroke. Simple construction assures easy use and evaluation quality by all emergency staff members. The scale shows satisfactory accuracy, which establishes its superiority over the basic neurological examination, Face Arm Speech Time Test (FAST), and Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) proven in several studies. On the contrary, the application is considerably reduced in cases of hemorrhage stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA) and posterior circulation infarct in both adult and pediatric patients. Despite those limitations, the Recognition of Stroke in the Emergency Room Scale (ROSIER) scale constitutes a valuable instrument that can improve the insufficient stroke recognition rate and following patients’ prognosis.

To think thatconstructions and Japanesetowa/nanteconstructions

AbstractEnglish has what is called ‘theto think thatconstruction’, in which the subordinate clause (theto-infinitive clause) is used as if it were an independent clause (e.g.,To think that she could be so ruthless!). This paper shows that theto think thatconstruction can be divided into two types depending on the contents of thethatclauses: one is the “recall” type, in which thethatclauses represent a speaker’s knowledge (i.e., his/her past event or experience); and the other is the “surprise” type, in which thethatclauses describe an event at the speech time which the speaker regards as unbelievable. This paper further shows that the “surprise” type of theto think thatconstruction corresponds to the Japanese exclamatory sentence, or thetowa/nanteconstruction such asKodomo-ni anna koto-o iw-are-ru{towa/nante}!‘(Lit.) That my child should say such a thing!’.

Temporal malleability to auditory feedback perturbation is modulated by rhythmic abilities and auditory acuity.

Auditory feedback perturbation studies have indicated a link between feedback and feedforward mechanisms in speech production when participants compensate for applied shifts. In spectral perturbation studies, speakers with a higher perceptual auditory acuity typically compensate more than individuals with lower acuity. However, the reaction to feedback perturbation is unlikely to be merely a matter of perceptual acuity but also affected by the prediction and production of precise motor action. This interplay between prediction, perception, and motor execution seems to be crucial for the timing of speech and non-speech motor actions. In this study, to examine the relationship between the responses to temporally perturbed auditory feedback and rhythmic abilities, we tested 45 adult speakers on the one hand with a temporal auditory feedback perturbation paradigm, and on the other hand with rhythm perception and production tasks. The perturbation tasks temporally stretched and compressed segments (onset + vowel or vowel + coda) in fluent speech in real-time. This technique sheds light on the temporal representation and the production flexibility of timing mechanisms in fluent speech with respect to the structure of the syllable. The perception tasks contained staircase paradigms capturing duration discrimination abilities and beat-alignment judgments. The rhythm production tasks consisted of finger tapping tasks taken from the BAASTA tapping battery and additional speech tapping tasks. We found that both auditory acuity and motor stability in finger tapping affected responses to temporal auditory feedback perturbation. In general, speakers with higher auditory acuity and higher motor variability compensated more. However, we observed a different weighting of auditory acuity and motor stability dependent on the prosodic structure of the perturbed sequence and the nature of the response as purely online or adaptive. These findings shed light on the interplay of phonological structure with feedback and feedforward integration for timing mechanisms in speech.

Multimodal explainable AI predicts upcoming speech behavior in adults who stutter.

A key goal of cognitive neuroscience is to better understand how dynamic brain activity relates to behavior. Such dynamics, in terms of spatial and temporal patterns of brain activity, are directly measured with neurophysiological methods such as EEG, but can also be indirectly expressed by the body. Autonomic nervous system activity is the best-known example, but, muscles in the eyes and face can also index brain activity. Mostly parallel lines of artificial intelligence research show that EEG and facial muscles both encode information about emotion, pain, attention, and social interactions, among other topics. In this study, we examined adults who stutter (AWS) to understand the relations between dynamic brain and facial muscle activity and predictions about future behavior (fluent or stuttered speech). AWS can provide insight into brain-behavior dynamics because they naturally fluctuate between episodes of fluent and stuttered speech behavior. We focused on the period when speech preparation occurs, and used EEG and facial muscle activity measured from video to predict whether the upcoming speech would be fluent or stuttered. An explainable self-supervised multimodal architecture learned the temporal dynamics of both EEG and facial muscle movements during speech preparation in AWS, and predicted fluent or stuttered speech at 80.8% accuracy (chance=50%). Specific EEG and facial muscle signals distinguished fluent and stuttered trials, and systematically varied from early to late speech preparation time periods. The self-supervised architecture successfully identified multimodal activity that predicted upcoming behavior on a trial-by-trial basis. This approach could be applied to understanding the neural mechanisms driving variable behavior and symptoms in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The combination of direct measures of neural activity and simple video data may be applied to developing technologies that estimate brain state from subtle bodily signals.

Association between speech rate measures and cognitive function in people with relapsing and progressive multiple sclerosis.

BackgroundCognitive impairments are well-documented in multiple sclerosis (MS), while speech impairments are often overlooked despite their significant effect on quality of life. For effective clinical management of multisystem conditions such as MS, consideration should be given to the interaction between deficits in multiple domains, such as speech and cognition. To evaluate speech rate measures of spontaneous and read speech, in people with MS and to examine the link between speech and cognition.MethodsForty-five people with MS and 25 controls underwent an extensive cognitive battery, including executive functioning, information processing and memory tasks, and completed two speech tasks: a reading task and a picture description task, from which speech rate measures were derived.ResultsThe progressive MS cohort had reduced articulation (p < 0.04) and speech rate (p < 0.02) compared to controls and those with relapsing MS. Regression models also revealed information processing speed accounted for 18% to 30% of the variance of spontaneous speech rate measures, and 27% of read speech. Executive functioning accounted for a further 10% of the variance of speech rate in those with MS.ConclusionsThe present study suggests that speech production is contingent on cognitive ability, with information processing speed and executive functioning linked with speech timing patterns.

A hidden Markov optimization model for processing and recognition of English speech feature signals

Abstract Speech recognition plays an important role in human–computer interaction. The higher the accuracy and efficiency of speech recognition are, the larger the improvement of human–computer interaction performance. This article briefly introduced the hidden Markov model (HMM)-based English speech recognition algorithm and combined it with a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) to further improve the recognition accuracy and reduce the recognition time of English speech. Then, the BPNN-combined HMM algorithm was simulated and compared with the HMM algorithm and the BPNN algorithm. The results showed that increasing the number of test samples increased the word error rate and recognition time of the three speech recognition algorithms, among which the word error rate and recognition time of the BPNN-combined HMM algorithm were the lowest. In conclusion, the BPNN-combined HMM can effectively recognize English speeches, which provides a valid reference for intelligent recognition of English speeches by computers.

양측 인공와우이식 아동의 성대진동시작시간 특성

This study aimed to investigate the voice onset time (VOT) of plosives in the VCV syllables by the place of articulation and phonation type spoken by children with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) in comparison with children with typical hearing (TH). In all, 15 children with bilateral CIs and 15 children with TH participated in this study, aged between 5 to 10 years. All children produced 9 VCV syllables and their VOT were analyzed by the Praat software. There was no significant difference in mean VOT between children with bilateral CIs and children with TH. However, there was a significant difference in mean VOT by the place of articulation, such that the VOT for velars were longer than those for bilabials and alveolars. Additionally, there was a significant difference in mean VOT by the phonation type, such that the VOT of aspirated consonants were longer than those of lenis and fortis consonants. The results of this study suggest that children with bilateral CIs can distinguish the acoustic properties of plosive consonants and control the speech timing between the structures of the larynx and the oral cavity at a similar level as children with TH.

The expression of futurity in Spanish and Portuguese: similarities and differences

Abstract. The primary goal of this paper is to establish a comparison between the two most important forms that express futurity in Spanish and in European Portuguese, viz. the Futuro Simple / Futuro Simples (Simple Future) and the structure ir (‘go’) a / ir (‘go’) + Infinitive. Whereas the Simple Future behaves quite similarly in both languages, conveying temporal information of posteriority that may be strongly constrained by modal and aspectual factors, the periphrastic construction differs considerably in Spanish and in European Portuguese. In effect, contrary to its Spanish counterpart, which is considered, in the literature, ambiguous between an aspectual (prospective) and a temporal (future) operator, the data from European Portuguese point towards a consistent temporal meaning for the structure ir (‘go’) + Infinitive. So, we investigate the conditions under which these forms are licenced, in order to describe their semantic similarities and differences; moreover, since they both mainly bear temporal information, we compare the behaviour of the European Portuguese Simple Future and the structure ir (‘go’) + Infinitive, proposing that the former is less restricted than the latter: besides the location of a given situation in a future interval, ir (‘go’) + Infinitive seems to require an additional temporal boundary preventing the relevant eventuality to overlap the speech time.

Automated Detection of Speech Timing Alterations in Autopsy-Confirmed Nonfluent/Agrammatic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Motor speech function, including speech timing, is a key domain for diagnosing nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). Yet, standard assessments use subjective, specialist-dependent evaluations, undermining reliability and scalability. Moreover, few studies have examined relevant anatomo-clinical alterations in patients with pathologically confirmed diagnoses. This study overcomes such caveats using automated speech timing analyses in a unique cohort of autopsy-proven cases. In a cross-sectional study, we administered an overt reading task and quantified articulation rate, mean syllable and pause duration, and syllable and pause duration variability. Neuroanatomical disruptions were assessed using cortical thickness and white matter (WM) atrophy analysis. We evaluated 22 persons with nfvPPA (mean age: 67.3 years; 13 female patients) and confirmed underlying 4-repeat tauopathy, 15 persons with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA; mean age: 66.5 years; 8 female patients), and 10 healthy controls (HCs; 70 years; 5 female patients). All 5 speech timing measures revealed alterations in persons with nfvPPA relative to both the HC and svPPA groups, controlling for dementia severity. The articulation rate robustly discriminated individuals with nfvPPA from HCs (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.95), outperforming specialist-dependent perceptual measures of dysarthria and apraxia of speech severity. Patients with nfvPPA exhibited structural abnormalities in left precentral and middle frontal as well as bilateral superior frontal regions, including their underlying WM. The articulation rate correlated with atrophy of the left pars opercularis and supplementary/presupplementary motor areas. Secondary analyses showed that, controlling for dementia severity, all measures yielded greater deficits in patients with nfvPPA and corticobasal degeneration (nfvPPA-CBD, n = 12) than in those with progressive supranuclear palsy pathology (nfvPPA-PSP, n = 10). The articulation rate robustly discriminated between individuals in each subgroup (AUC = 0.82). More widespread cortical thinning was observed for the nfvPPA-CBD than the nfvPPA-PSP group across frontal regions. Automated speech timing analyses can capture specific markers of nfvPPA while potentially discriminating between patients with different tauopathies. Thanks to its objectivity and scalability; this approach could support standard speech assessments. This study provides Class III evidence that automated speech analysis can accurately differentiate patients with nonfluent PPA from normal controls and patients with semantic variant PPA.

Listeners are sensitive to the speech breathing time series: Evidence from a gap detection task

The effect of non-speech sounds, such as breathing noise, on the perception of speech timing is currently unclear. In this paper we report the results of three studies investigating participants' ability to detect a silent gap located adjacent to breath sounds during naturalistic speech. Experiment 1 (n = 24, in-person) asked whether participants could either detect or locate a silent gap that was added adjacent to breath sounds during speech. In Experiment 2 (n = 182; online), we investigated whether different placements within an utterance were more likely to elicit successful detection of gaps. In Experiment 3 (n = 102; online), we manipulated the breath sounds themselves to examine the effect of breath-specific characteristics on gap identification. Across the study, we document consistent effects of gap duration, as well as gap placement. Moreover, in Experiment 2, whether a gap was positioned before or after an interjected breath significantly predicted accuracy as well as the duration threshold at which gaps were detected, suggesting that nonverbal aspects of audible speech production specifically shape listeners' temporal expectations. We also describe the influences of the breath sounds themselves, as well as the surrounding speech context, that can disrupt objective gap detection performance. We conclude by contextualising our findings within the literature, arguing that the verbal acoustic signal is not “speech itself” per se, but rather one part of an integrated percept that includes speech-related respiration, which could be more fully explored in speech perception studies.

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Predict Young Learner Online Learning Engagement

ABSTRACT The recent surge of online language learning services in the past decade has benefitted second language learners. However, there is a lack of understanding of whether learners, especially young learners, are engaged in online learning, and how educators can enhance the engagement of the online learning experience. This study examines an artificial intelligence (AI)- powered automated system that uses voice and facial recognition to track both teacher and learner speech, facial expressions, and interactions in real-time in a one-to-one 25-minute online English class. Each learner completed a learner engagement survey within 72 hours of the online class. Results demonstrated that young learners were highly engaged during this one-to-one online learning setting (mean = 4.5, out of 5). Learners’ frontal face exposure (indicating their attentiveness during class) and English proficiency levels are significant and positive predictors of learner engagement. Teachers’ total length of speech and instructional time tended toward significance in predicting learner engagement. Educational implications are discussed.

Subjective perception of time in space flights and analogs

A number of studies have shown that under certain conditions, perception of time tends to change. In isolation experiments, under monotony, time seems to slow down. In space flight, especially under stress of first days of flight, time seems to run too fast, and it is difficult for the cosmonauts to keep up with the schedule. Earth has to make special scheduling for the cosmonauts, taking into account the difficulties linked to microgravity and stress. Since 2015 we've been studying communication using content analysis of crew's communication with MCC that is happening through open channels. We were studying individual coping strategies in cosmonauts and found manifestations of individual communicative styles in cosmonauts' speech that are similar to classical communicative patterns described by Virginia Satir (“computer”, “placater”, “blamer”). In this study, we wanted to make more attention to category of Time in cosmonauts' speech. We took data for 14 Russian cosmonauts to compare use of Time category and communication styles we found earlier. In conditions of lack of time (chronodeficiency) we found the smallest use and spread of Time category in “computer” style cosmonauts. We found that lack of time manifests itself in different manners in cosmonauts with different communication styles. Possibly, the frequency of Time category statements in cosmonauts' speech makes it possible to identify the periods that seem to be psychologically difficult for cosmonauts with different communication styles.

Association between timing of speech and language therapy initiation and outcomes among post-extubation dysphagia patients: a multicenter retrospective cohort study

BackgroundPost-extubation dysphagia (PED) is recognized as a common complication in the intensive care unit (ICU). Speech and language therapy (SLT) can potentially help improve PED; however, the impact of the timing of SLT initiation on persistent PED has not been well investigated. This study aimed to examine the timing of SLT initiation and its effect on patient outcomes after extubation in the ICU.MethodsWe conducted this multicenter, retrospective, cohort study, collecting data from eight ICUs in Japan. Patients aged ≥ 20 years with orotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation for longer than 48 h, and those who received SLT due to PED, defined as patients with modified water swallowing test scores of 3 or lower, were included. The primary outcome was dysphagia at hospital discharge, defined as functional oral intake scale score < 5 or death after extubation. Secondary outcomes included dysphagia or death at the seventh, 14th, or 28th day after extubation, aspiration pneumonia, and in-hospital mortality. Associations between the timing of SLT initiation and outcomes were determined using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsA total of 272 patients were included. Of them, 82 (30.1%) patients exhibited dysphagia or death at hospital discharge, and their time spans from extubation to SLT initiation were 1.0 days. The primary outcome revealed that every day of delay in SLT initiation post-extubation was associated with dysphagia or death at hospital discharge (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02–1.18). Similarly, secondary outcomes showed associations between this per day delay in SLT initiation and dysphagia or death at the seventh day (AOR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.05–1.55), 14th day (AOR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.13–1.58), or 28th day (AOR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.07–1.36) after extubation and occurrence of aspiration pneumonia (AOR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02–1.17), while per day delay in post-extubation SLT initiation did not affect in-hospital mortality (AOR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.97–1.12).ConclusionsDelayed initiation of SLT in PED patients was associated with persistent dysphagia or death. Early initiation of SLT may prevent this complication post-extubation. A randomized controlled study is needed to validate these results.

Pushing the envelope: Evaluating speech rhythm with different envelope extraction techniques.

The amplitude of the speech signal varies over time, and the speech envelope is an attempt to characterise this variation in the form of an acoustic feature. Although tacitly assumed, the similarity between the speech envelope-derived time series and that of phonetic objects (e.g., vowels) remains empirically unestablished. The current paper, therefore, evaluates several speech envelope extraction techniques, such as the Hilbert transform, by comparing different acoustic landmarks (e.g., peaks in the speech envelope) with manual phonetic annotation in a naturalistic and diverse dataset. Joint speech tasks are also introduced to determine which acoustic landmarks are most closely coordinated when voices are aligned. Finally, the acoustic landmarks are evaluated as predictors for the temporal characterisation of speaking style using classification tasks. The landmark that performed most closely to annotated vowel onsets was peaks in the first derivative of a human audition-informed envelope, consistent with converging evidence from neural and behavioural data. However, differences also emerged based on language and speaking style. Overall, the results show that both the choice of speech envelope extraction technique and the form of speech under study affect how sensitive an engineered feature is at capturing aspects of speech rhythm, such as the timing of vowels.

Speech timing cues reveal deceptive speech in social deduction board games.

The faculty of language allows humans to state falsehoods in their choice of words. However, while what is said might easily uphold a lie, how it is said may reveal deception. Hence, some features of the voice that are difficult for liars to control may keep speech mostly, if not always, honest. Previous research has identified that speech timing and voice pitch cues can predict the truthfulness of speech, but this evidence has come primarily from laboratory experiments, which sacrifice ecological validity for experimental control. We obtained ecologically valid recordings of deceptive speech while observing natural utterances from players of a popular social deduction board game, in which players are assigned roles that either induce honest or dishonest interactions. When speakers chose to lie, they were prone to longer and more frequent pauses in their speech. This finding is in line with theoretical predictions that lying is more cognitively demanding. However, lying was not reliably associated with vocal pitch. This contradicts predictions that increased physiological arousal from lying might increase muscular tension in the larynx, but is consistent with human specialisations that grant Homo sapiens sapiens an unusual degree of control over the voice relative to other primates. The present study demonstrates the utility of social deduction board games as a means of making naturalistic observations of human behaviour from semi-structured social interactions.