Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Perturbation
- All Subjects: Speech Production
- Creators: Daliri, Ayoub
- Creators: Perez Lustre, Sarahi
Description
During speech, the brain is constantly processing and monitoring speech output through the auditory feedback loop to ensure correct and accurate speech. If the speech signal is experimentally altered/perturbed while speaking, the brain compensates for the perturbations by changing speech output in the opposite direction of the perturbations. In this study, we designed an experiment that examined the compensatory responses in response to unexpected vowel perturbations during speech. We applied two types of perturbations. In one condition, the vowel /ɛ/ was perturbed toward the vowel /æ/ by simultaneously shifting both the first formant (F1) and the second formant (F2) at 3 different levels (.5=small, 1=medium, and 1.5=large shifts). In another condition, the vowel /ɛ/ was perturbed by shifting F1 at 3 different levels (small, medium, and large shifts). Our results showed that there was a significant perturbation-type effect, with participants compensating more in response to perturbation that shifted /ɛ/ toward /æ/. In addition, we found that there was a significant level effect, with the compensatory responses to level .5 being significantly smaller than the compensatory responses to levels 1 and 1.5, regardless of the perturbation pathway. We also found that responses to shift level 1 and shift level 1.5 did not differ. Overall, our results highlighted the importance of the auditory feedback loop during speech production and how the brain is more sensitive to auditory errors that change a vowel category (e.g., /ɛ/ to /æ/).
ContributorsFitzgerald, Lacee (Author) / Daliri, Ayoub (Thesis director) / Corianne, Rogalsky (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Previous studies have found that the detection of near-threshold stimuli is decreased immediately before movement and throughout movement production. This has been suggested to occur through the use of the internal forward model processing an efferent copy of the motor command and creating a prediction that is used to cancel out the resulting sensory feedback. Currently, there are no published accounts of the perception of tactile signals for motor tasks and contexts related to the lips during both speech planning and production. In this study, we measured the responsiveness of the somatosensory system during speech planning using light electrical stimulation below the lower lip by comparing perception during mixed speaking and silent reading conditions. Participants were asked to judge whether a constant near-threshold electrical stimulation (subject-specific intensity, 85% detected at rest) was present during different time points relative to an initial visual cue. In the speaking condition, participants overtly produced target words shown on a computer monitor. In the reading condition, participants read the same target words silently to themselves without any movement or sound. We found that detection of the stimulus was attenuated during speaking conditions while remaining at a constant level close to the perceptual threshold throughout the silent reading condition. Perceptual modulation was most intense during speech production and showed some attenuation just prior to speech production during the planning period of speech. This demonstrates that there is a significant decrease in the responsiveness of the somatosensory system during speech production as well as milliseconds before speech is even produced which has implications for speech disorders such as stuttering and schizophrenia with pronounced deficits in the somatosensory system.
ContributorsMcguffin, Brianna Jean (Author) / Daliri, Ayoub (Thesis director) / Liss, Julie (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Speech perception and production are bidirectionally related, and they influence each other. The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between speech perception and speech production. It is known that applying auditory perturbations during speech production causes subjects to alter their productions (e.g., change their formant frequencies). In other words, previous studies have examined the effects of altered speech perception on speech production. However, in this study, we examined potential effects of speech production on speech perception. Subjects completed a block of a categorical perception task followed by a block of a speaking or a listening task followed by another block of the categorical perception task. Subjects completed three blocks of the speaking task and three blocks of the listening task. In the three blocks of a given task (speaking or listening) auditory feedback was 1) normal, 2) altered to be less variable, or 3) altered to be more variable. Unlike previous studies, we used subject’s own speech samples to generate speech stimuli for the perception task. For each categorical perception block, we calculated subject’s psychometric function and determined subject’s categorical boundary. The results showed that subjects’ perceptual boundary remained stable in all conditions and all blocks. Overall, our results did not provide evidence for the effects of speech production on speech perception.
ContributorsDaugherty, Allison (Author) / Daliri, Ayoub (Thesis director) / Rogalsky, Corianne (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The brain continuously monitors speech output to detect potential errors between its sensory prediction and its sensory production (Daliri et al., 2020). When the brain encounters an error, it generates a corrective motor response, usually in the opposite direction, to reduce the effect of the error. Previous studies have shown that the type of auditory error received may impact a participant’s corrective response. In this study, we examined whether participants respond differently to categorical or non-categorical errors. We applied two types of perturbation in real-time by shifting the first formant (F1) and second formant (F2) at three different magnitudes. The vowel /ɛ/ was shifted toward the vowel /æ/ in the categorical perturbation condition. In the non-categorical perturbation condition, the vowel /ɛ/ was shifted to a sound outside of the vowel quadrilateral (increasing both F1 and F2). Our results showed that participants responded to the categorical perturbation while they did not respond to the non-categorical perturbation. Additionally, we found that in the categorical perturbation condition, as the magnitude of the perturbation increased, the magnitude of the response increased. Overall, our results suggest that the brain may respond differently to categorical and non-categorical errors, and the brain is highly attuned to errors in speech.
ContributorsCincera, Kirsten Michelle (Author) / Daliri, Ayoub (Thesis director) / Azuma, Tamiko (Committee member) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Cochlear implant (CI) successfully restores hearing sensation to profoundly deaf patients, but its
performance is limited by poor spectral resolution. Acoustic CI simulation has been widely used
in normal-hearing (NH) listeners to study the effect of spectral resolution on speech perception,
while avoiding patient-related confounds. It is unclear how speech production may change with
the degree of spectral degradation of auditory feedback as experience by CI users. In this study,
a real-time sinewave CI simulation was developed to provide NH subjects with auditory
feedback of different spectral resolution (1, 2, 4, and 8 channels). NH subjects were asked to
produce and identify vowels, as well as recognize sentences while listening to the real-time CI
simulation. The results showed that sentence recognition scores with the real-time CI simulation
improved with more channels, similar to those with the traditional off-line CI simulation.
Perception of a vowel continuum “HEAD”- “HAD” was near chance with 1, 2, and 4 channels,
and greatly improved with 8 channels and full spectrum. The spectral resolution of auditory
feedback did not significantly affect any acoustic feature of vowel production (e.g., vowel space
area, mean amplitude, mean and variability of fundamental and formant frequencies). There
was no correlation between vowel production and perception. The lack of effect of auditory
feedback spectral resolution on vowel production was likely due to the limited exposure of NH
subjects to CI simulation and the limited frequency ranges covered by the sinewave carriers of
CI simulation. Future studies should investigate the effects of various CI processing parameters
on speech production using a noise-band CI simulation.
performance is limited by poor spectral resolution. Acoustic CI simulation has been widely used
in normal-hearing (NH) listeners to study the effect of spectral resolution on speech perception,
while avoiding patient-related confounds. It is unclear how speech production may change with
the degree of spectral degradation of auditory feedback as experience by CI users. In this study,
a real-time sinewave CI simulation was developed to provide NH subjects with auditory
feedback of different spectral resolution (1, 2, 4, and 8 channels). NH subjects were asked to
produce and identify vowels, as well as recognize sentences while listening to the real-time CI
simulation. The results showed that sentence recognition scores with the real-time CI simulation
improved with more channels, similar to those with the traditional off-line CI simulation.
Perception of a vowel continuum “HEAD”- “HAD” was near chance with 1, 2, and 4 channels,
and greatly improved with 8 channels and full spectrum. The spectral resolution of auditory
feedback did not significantly affect any acoustic feature of vowel production (e.g., vowel space
area, mean amplitude, mean and variability of fundamental and formant frequencies). There
was no correlation between vowel production and perception. The lack of effect of auditory
feedback spectral resolution on vowel production was likely due to the limited exposure of NH
subjects to CI simulation and the limited frequency ranges covered by the sinewave carriers of
CI simulation. Future studies should investigate the effects of various CI processing parameters
on speech production using a noise-band CI simulation.
ContributorsPerez Lustre, Sarahi (Author) / Luo, Xin (Thesis director) / Daliri, Ayoub (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05