2007 — 2010 |
Fowler, Carol (co-PI) [⬀] Magnuson, James [⬀] Viswanathan, Navin |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Compensation For Coarticulation: Implications For the Basis and Architecture of Speech Perception @ University of Connecticut
Language users typically have the impression that understanding speech in their native tongue is instantaneous and effortless. This apparent ease belies a vastly complex chain of processes that must be engaged in order to derive meaning from the acoustic patterns of speech. Unlike computer speech recognition systems, human listeners adapt quickly to tremendous acoustic variability in the speech signal. This extremes of this variability can result, for instance, from unusual acoustic environments, new voices or accents, very fast speaking rates, and many other factors. Speech is one of the most difficult perceptual challenges that humans face, so research on its underlying mechanisms will not only further our understanding of human language, but may also help to unlock some of the deepest mysteries about the human mind. This basic knowledge may also serve to improve current speech technologies, and current methods of remediation for impairments in speech comprehension and production.
With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Magnuson is studying a speech perception phenomenon called "compensation for coarticulation" with the goal of refining current theories of speech perception. Compensation for coarticulation is a phenomenon whereby the perception of a sound is affected by the qualities of preceding or following sounds. Traditional explanations of this phenomenon appeal to active mechanisms of perceptual adjustment based on physical properties of the vocal tract and speech articulators. However, there are now three distinct explanations that account for overlapping subsets of results, each of which follows from a different theory of speech perception. Dr. Magnuson and his research team will use acoustic analyses and speech experiments with human speakers and listeners in order to distinguish between these differing explanations of compensation for coarticulation. The results of this project promise to advance our general understanding of the perceptual mechanisms that underlie speech and potentially many sensory experiences.
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1 |
2011 |
Viswanathan, Navin |
R15Activity Code Description: Supports small-scale research projects at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation’s research scientists but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. The goals of the program are to (1) support meritorious research, (2) expose students to research, and (3) strengthen the research environment of the institution. Awards provide limited Direct Costs, plus applicable F&A costs, for periods not to exceed 36 months. This activity code uses multi-year funding authority; however, OER approval is NOT needed prior to an IC using this activity code. |
Compensation For Coarticulation: Implications For the Basis and Architecture of S @ Suny College At New Paltz
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): How do listeners accommodate signal variability in connected speech in order to achieve perceptual constancy? What do listeners perceive when they perceive speech (the acoustic signal or the vocal tract gestures that produce the acoustic signal)? These fundamental questions about speech perception continue to be unresolved despite extensive investigation (Lotto &Kluender, 1998;Fowler, 2006). The proposed project lies at the intersection of these questions and investigates compensation for coarticulation - the phenomenon that listeners'perception of a phonetic segment is altered by the characteristics of surrounding segments. In this proposal, we focus on the question of what information listeners use to compensate for coarticulation. Understanding this specific issue would contribute directly to answering the aforementioned fundamental questions and provide clarity to the exiting debate. In order to achieve this aim, we adopt a balanced theoretical approach by assembling a team of investigators that have investigated this phenomenon from different theoretical perspectives. Through this collaboration, we attempt to investigate compensation for coarticulation by combining novel manipulations (e.g., using signal transformed non-native speech contexts, filtered speech) and extending established techniques (e.g., using audiovisual speech, sinewave speech). This approach is not only valuable in understanding how speech perception works but will also aid in efforts to develop robust automatic speech recognition systems as well as inform interventions for patients who have trouble producing intact coarticulated speech (e.g., acquired apraxia of speech in adults, developmental apraxia of speech in children, [e.g., Southwood, 1997;Whiteside et al., 2010]). Furthermore, this program could provide empirical guidance as to the objects of speech that could inform language deficit interventions that make theory-based assumptions that it is best to focus on the auditory-sensory level (e.g. Earobics, Cognitive concepts Inc, 1998) or the perceptual-gestural level (e.g., Lindamood &Lindamood, 2000). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed project investigates how listeners deal with the effects of coarticulation and is directly relevant to inform interventions for patients with developmental apraxia of speech (in children) and acquired apraxia of speech (in adults) in which these individuals'ability to produce intact connected speech is disrupted (e.g., Whiteside et al., 2010). In addition to the clinical application this research will directly inform our efforts to develop automatic speech recognition systems.
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0.904 |
2014 — 2017 |
Viswanathan, Navin |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Making Words Disappear or Appear: a Neurocognitive and Behavioral Investigation of Effects of Speech Rate On Spoken Word Recognition @ Suny College At New Paltz
Understanding how humans comprehend speech is an unsolved and challenging problem, in part because factors such as different speakers, dialects, and speaking rates introduce a great deal of temporal and spectral variability into the speech signal. The focus of this research is on the influence of temporal context on perception of segments, syllables, and words. Results of the research may offer insights into treatment of disorders that involve disruption of speech rate (e.g., dysarthria, stuttering, Parkinson's disease, and aphasia), inform approaches to improve speech technology applications (e.g., enhanced automatic speech recognition, more natural sounding computer-generated speech), and lead to new discoveries related to brain mechanisms involved in understanding spoken language. The investigators will also involve students in the research, including those from a primarily undergraduate institution collaborating on the project.
The investigators will test different accounts of temporal phenomena in the perception of speech. They propose two interacting cognitive mechanisms controlling phenomena at lexical and phonetic levels, each driven by a different neural timing mechanism. The hypothesis is that effects of lexical rate primarily stem from top-down, speech-specific temporal expectancies, while phonetic rate effects originate in bottom-up, transient rhythmic expectations that are not specific to speech. This hypothesis will be assessed using psychoacoustic studies, non-invasive measures of brain activity, and theoretical modeling in order to identify the processing characteristics revealed by neural representations of temporal properties of speech.
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0.952 |
2021 — 2024 |
Viswanathan, Navin |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Enhancing Speech Science Training Through Collaboration: Investigating Perception of a Variable Speech Signal @ Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). In recent years, automated speech recognition systems have become much more accurate and widely used. However, these systems still cannot handle speech variability as well as human listeners can. Furthermore, speech technology tends to work less effectively for underrepresented groups. This project will address these problems by investigating how human listeners understand variable speech, and by increasing the capacity and involvement of underrepresented groups in the field of speech science. The research will make prominent contributions to scientific knowledge of how human speech perception works. These contributions will be directly relevant to improving automatic speech recognition systems, which are becoming ubiquitous in technology, healthcare, and education. The project will also significantly strengthen research capacity in speech science at North Carolina A&T State University, which is the Nation’s largest Historically Black University, and will support increased training and involvement of students from underrepresented groups at both NC A&T and at Penn State University, the collaborating institution. The research and training outcomes of the project will help to make speech science and technology both more effective and more equitable.
A critical yet unsolved question in speech science is how human listeners achieve robust speech perception despite a highly variable speech signal. Theories of speech perception disagree on basic assumptions: for example, some theories suggest that speech perception depends mainly on recognizing acoustic patterns, while other theories suggest that listeners perceive the vocal tract movements that cause the speech sounds. This project will test and improve these competing theories by investigating the phenomenon of compensation for coarticulation (CfC), which is the finding that listeners’ perception of speech segments is affected by the properties of surrounding speech. Several experiments will be used to examine how CfC works in conditions of speech variability (e.g., talker variability, rate variability, and competing speech), and how CfC is affected by learning. In addition, the project will build capacity at NC A&T along three dimensions by (a) providing research training for students in speech science, (b) fostering collaborations between researchers at A&T and Penn State, and (c) enhancing opportunities for faculty development.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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0.936 |