Monitoring, activation, and disinhibition: Effects of white noise masking on spoken thought.

1970 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip S. Holzman ◽  
Clyde Rousey
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Noise Masking

Effect of Consonant-Vowel Ratio Modification on Amplitude Envelope Cues for Consonant Recognition

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 415-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Freyman ◽  
G. Patrick Nerbonne ◽  
Heather A. Cote
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Intensity Ratio ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Amplitude Envelope ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Spectral Cues ◽  
Consonant Recognition ◽  
Nonlinear Amplification ◽  
Speech Envelope

This investigation examined the degree to which modification of the consonant-vowel (C-V) intensity ratio affected consonant recognition under conditions in which listeners were forced to rely more heavily on waveform envelope cues than on spectral cues. The stimuli were 22 vowel-consonant-vowel utterances, which had been mixed at six different signal-to-noise ratios with white noise that had been modulated by the speech waveform envelope. The resulting waveforms preserved the gross speech envelope shape, but spectral cues were limited by the white-noise masking. In a second stimulus set, the consonant portion of each utterance was amplified by 10 dB. Sixteen subjects with normal hearing listened to the unmodified stimuli, and 16 listened to the amplified-consonant stimuli. Recognition performance was reduced in the amplified-consonant condition for some consonants, presumably because waveform envelope cues had been distorted. However, for other consonants, especially the voiced stops, consonant amplification improved recognition. Patterns of errors were altered for several consonant groups, including some that showed only small changes in recognition scores. The results indicate that when spectral cues are compromised, nonlinear amplification can alter waveform envelope cues for consonant recognition.

Effect of Contralateral White Noise Masking on the Mismatch Negativity

1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirkku K. Salo ◽  
A. Heikki Lang ◽  
Altti J. Salmivalli
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Mismatch Negativity ◽  
Noise Masking

Repetition enhances hearing detection thresholds in a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina)

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 926-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Turnbull ◽  
J. M. Terhune
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Phoca Vitulina ◽  
Harbour Seal ◽  
Detection Thresholds ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Phoca Groenlandica ◽  
Hearing Thresholds ◽  
Lower Detection ◽  
Pinniped Species

Pure-tone hearing thresholds of a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) were measured in air and underwater using behavioural psychophysical techniques. A 50-ms sinusoidal pulse was presented in both white-noise masked and unmasked situations at pulse repetition rates of 1, 2, 4, and 10/s. Test frequencies were 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 kHz in air and 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, and 16.0 kHz underwater. Relative to 1 pulse/s, mean threshold shifts were −1, −3, and −5 dB at 2, 4, and 10 pulses/s, respectively. The threshold shifts from 1 to 10 pulses/s were significant (F = 12.457, df = 2,36, p < 0.001) and there was no difference in the threshold shifts between the masked and unmasked situations (F = 2.585; df = 1,50; p > 0.10). Broadband masking caused by meteorological or industrial sources will closely resemble the white-noise situation. At high calling rates, the numerous overlapping calls of some species (e.g., harp seal, Phoca groenlandica) present virtually continous "background noise" which also resembles the broadband white-noise masking situation. An implication of lower detection thresholds is that if a seal regularly repeats short vocalizations, the communication range of that call could be increased significantly (80% at 10 pulses/s). This could have important implications during the breeding season should storms or shipping noises occur or when some pinniped species become increasingly vocal and the background noise of conspecifics increases.

Articulation and Stress/Juncture Production Under Oral Anesthetization and Masking

1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia A. Gammon ◽  
Philip J. Smith ◽  
Raymond G. Daniloff ◽  
Chin W. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Control ◽  
Oral Cavity ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Local Anesthesia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Combined Stress ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
High Degree

Eight subjects, half of them naive and the other half aware of the purpose of the experiment, spoke 30 pairs of sentences involving the production of intricate stress/juncture patterns along with a passage containing all major consonant phonemes in English in various intraword positions. All subjects spoke all materials under: (1) normal conditions, (2) 110 dB re: 0.0002 ubar white noise masking, (3) extensive local anesthesia of the oral cavity, and (4) masking and anesthesia combined. Stress and juncture patterns were correctly produced despite all feedback disruption, and there was no difference between naive and aware subjects. Noise masking produced a decline in speech quality and a disruption of normal rhythm, both of which were even more seriously affected by anesthesia and anesthesia plus masking. There were no significant vowel misarticulations under any condition, but there was nearly a 20% rate of consonant misartiqulation under anesthesia and anesthesia and noise. Mis-articulation was most severe for fricatives and affricates in the labial and alveolar regions, presumably because these productions demand a high degree of precision of articulate shape and location and hence, intact feedback. Results are discussed in terms of feedback-control mechanisms for speech production.

Comparative Bekesy Typing with Broad and Modulated Narrow-Band Noise

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 840-846
Author(s):  
Charles T. Grimes ◽  
Alan S. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Band Width ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Narrow Band Noise ◽  
Band Noise ◽  
Continuous Tone ◽  
Békésy Audiometry

This study explored the effectiveness of modulated narrow-band noise as a masking source for sweep-frequency Bekesy audiometry. Five sophisticated normal-hearing subjects traced Bekesy audiometry thresholds for pulsed and continuous tone with no masking and under three conditions of contralateral masking: (1) white noise, (2) modulated narrow-band noise with a constant band-width of ±150 Hz, and (3) modulated narrow-band noise with a band-width of ±300 Hz. Results indicated that the continuous tone tracing obtained under the second condition separated from the pulsed tracing supportive of a Type II tracing. With the third condition, pulsed-continuous differences were somewhat smaller. Under the first condition, the difference between pulsed and continuous tracings was not apparent. When two unsophisticated subjects were tested with the modified band-width noise, results indicated extreme variation between pulsed and continuous tracings. We concluded that the masking effect of a constant band-width modulated narrow-band noise is about the same as that of white noise for a pulsed tone tracing. However, the use of a modulated narrow-band noise masking source may cause false Type II Bekesy audiograms due to the greater masking effect on a continuous tone threshold.

Audiovisual vowel monitoring and the word superiority effect in children

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 457-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Fort ◽  
Elsa Spinelli ◽  
Christophe Savariaux ◽  
Sonia Kandel
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Lexical Access ◽  
Acoustic Signal ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Word Superiority Effect ◽  
Superiority Effect ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Monitoring Task

The goal of this study was to explore whether viewing the speaker’s articulatory gestures contributes to lexical access in children (ages 5–10) and in adults. We conducted a vowel monitoring task with words and pseudo-words in audio-only (AO) and audiovisual (AV) contexts with white noise masking the acoustic signal. The results indicated that children clearly benefited from visual speech from age 6–7 onwards. However, unlike adults, the word superiority effect was not greater in the AV than the AO condition in children, suggesting that visual speech mostly contributes to phonemic—rather than lexical—processing during childhood, at least until the age of 10.

Laterality Differences in the Auditory Feedback Control of Speech

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Abbs ◽  
Karl U. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Control ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Delayed Auditory Feedback ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Hybrid Computer ◽  
The Right ◽  
Auditory Feedback Control ◽  
Speech Identification

Proceeding from prior experimental evidence that better speech-sound identification most often occurs with right-ear presentation, an experiment was conducted to test for differences in speech production with right-ear and left-ear auditory feedback of one’s own speech. A hybrid-computer system and techniques of experimental programing were employed to control the intervals of aural delay. Presentation of delayed auditory feedback to the right ear during speech, with white noise masking the left ear, resulted in a significantly greater number of articulatory errors than did delayed feedback to the left ear with white noise masking the right ear. With a measure of total speaking time, however, similar differences between ears during delayed hearing were not found. The findings were interpreted as an indication of differences in aural function during auditory feedback control of speech. Such differences are consistent with aural laterality differences reported with speech identification.

Contralateral White Noise Masking Affects Auditory N1 and P2 Waves Differently

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirkku K. Salo ◽  
A. Heikki Lang ◽  
Altti J. Salmivalli ◽  
Reijo K. Johansson ◽  
Maija S. Peltola
Keyword(s):  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Mask Condition ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
The Right ◽  
Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Contralateral Masking ◽  
Hearing System

Abstract In this study, we examined the effect of contralateral masking on cortical auditory evoked potentials N1 (modal-specific slowly adapting component) and P2 at different masking intensities. N1 and P2 potentials were recorded from 15 subjects with normal hearing using 500Hz tone pips (intensity 65dB HL, duration 100ms, ISI 1s) presented to the right ear. Continuous white noise was delivered to the left ear at the intensities of 35, 50, 65, or 75dB effective masking level (EML), as well as a no-mask condition. The electrodes F3, Fz, F4, C3, Cz, C4, and Pz were used. The results show that N1 amplitude was significantly attenuated and, in contrast, P2 amplitude was significantly increased, with contralateral 75dB EML white noise. N1P2 peak to peak amplitude was not affected by masking, nor were the peak latencies. Thus, contralateral masking affects the exogenous cortical evoked N1 and P2 curves differently. We suggest that the effect is mediated by the efferent hearing system. The effect of ≤ 50dB EML contralateral white noise masking is so small that it should not affect clinical recordings.

Decreases in Stuttering Frequency as a Function of Continuous and Contingent Forms of Auditory Masking

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Webster ◽  
Michael F. Dorman
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
Middle Ear ◽  
Noise Control ◽  
Auditory Masking ◽  
Noise Condition ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Continuous Noise ◽  
Noise Onset

This experiment examined the effects of continuous and contingent white noise masking upon the speech of 10 stutterers. The methodology equated the frequency of masking opportunities during (1) noise onset made contingent upon phonation, and (2) noise cessation made contingent upon phonation. A continuous noise condition and a no-noise control condition were also included. All noise conditions produced significantly less stuttering than the no-noise control condition. The three masking conditions yielded approximately the same reductions in the frequency of stuttered responses. Fluency enhancement by the various masking conditions could possibly be explained by reflex functions of the middle ear muscles.

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