scholarly journals Speech Sound Discrimination by Mongolian Gerbils

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Juechter ◽  
Rainer Beutelmann ◽  
Georg M. Klump
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
Meriones Unguiculatus ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Mongolian Gerbils ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Perceptual Maps ◽  
Sound Discrimination

The present study establishes the Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) as a model for investigating the perception of human speech sounds. We report data on the discrimination of logatomes (CVCs - consonant-vowel-consonant combinations with outer consonants /b/, /d/, /s/ and /t/ and central vowels /a/, /aː/, /ɛ/, /eː/, /ɪ/, /iː/, /ɔ/, /oː/, /ʊ/ and /uː/, VCVs - vowel-consonant-vowel combinations with outer vowels /a/, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ and central consonants /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /k/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /s/, /t/ and /v/) by young gerbils. Four young gerbils were trained to perform an oddball target detection paradigm in which they were required to discriminate a deviant CVC or VCV in a sequence of CVC or VCV standards, respectively. The experiments were performed with an ICRA-1 noise masker with speech-like spectral properties, and logatomes of multiple speakers were presented at various signal-to-noise ratios. Response latencies were measured to generate perceptual maps employing multidimensional scaling, which visualize the gerbils' internal representations of the sounds. The dimensions of the perceptual maps were correlated to multiple phonetic features of the speech sounds for evaluating which features of vowels and consonants are most important for the discrimination. The perceptual representation of vowels and consonants in gerbils was similar to that of humans, although gerbils needed higher signal-to-noise ratios for the discrimination of speech sounds than humans. The gerbils' discrimination of vowels depended on differences in the frequencies of the first and second formant determined by tongue height and position. Consonants were discriminated based on differences in combinations of their articulatory features. The similarities in the perception of logatomes by gerbils and humans renders the gerbil a suitable model for human speech sound discrimination.

Relationship between Two Nontraditional Procedures for Assessing Speech-Sound Discrimination

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 499-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas G. Bountress ◽  
Joseph C. Sever ◽  
Joyce T. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Special Educators ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Reading Specialists ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Aged Population ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Tests of speech-sound discrimination are used by special educators, reading specialists and speech-language pathologists in assessing children's ability to differentiate between speech sounds occurring in standard English. Such tests are important in determining if speech-sound articulation errors are caused by difficulty in making such differentiations. However, during the past 10 years, these tests have been criticized on the basis of their reliability and validity. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of two alternative methods of assessing speech-sound discrimination with a school-aged population to determine if they elicited responses in a similar manner.

Another Dimension for Assessment of Speech-Sound Discrimination: Latency of Response

1975 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur H. Schwartz ◽  
Ronald Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Paired Comparison ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Additional Parameter ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Sound Discrimination ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship of speech-sound-discrimination skills and speed of responding was investigated by presenting monosyllabic nouns in three different listening conditions to a total of 72 nursery, kindergarten, and first-grade children divided into three equal-sized groups. Speed of responding was related to the age of subjects, accuracy of responding, and context of presentation of stimulus items. There was a consistent decrease in latency of responding as age increased. Error responses had greater response latencies than correct responses. Response latencies for different contexts of presentation of stimulus items were longest for the paired-comparison context and shortest for the carrier-phrase context. Speed of responding could be considered as an additional parameter when evaluating speech-sound-discrimination skills.

Variables Influencing Performance on Speech-Sound Discrimination Tests

1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur H. Schwartz ◽  
Ronald Goldman
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Paired Comparison ◽  
Stimulus Item ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Item Presentation ◽  
Phonetic Cues ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Stimulus items were presented in three different contexts and under two different listening conditions to a total of 72 nursery, kindergarten, and first-grade children divided into equally sized groups on the basis of age. Results indicated that both the context of stimulus item presentation and the presence of background noise affected accuracy of performance. Children in all three groups consistently made more errors in the context using limited grammatical and phonetic cues. Noise disrupted performance in all contexts, but the greatest disruption occurred in the paired-comparison context. It appeared that contexts employing grammatical cues were more resistant to disruption from background noise. The results of this investigation also indicated that the performance of young children may have been affected by factors other than their ability to discriminate speech sounds.

The Relation of Speech-Sound Discrimination to Developing Speech

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
Michael Beaken
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
Auditory Discrimination ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Articulation and discrimination of speech-sounds are closely related in children's developing phonology. As in most other areas of language, recognition of a meaningful contrast is acknowledged to precede its active use (Ervin-Tripp, 1966: 59; Friedlander, 1969). It is becoming clear that the process of developing auditory discrimination follows the same general path as developing articulation in speech, though parallels between the two processes are not exact.

scholarly journals Repeated Parental Singing During Kangaroo Care Improved Neural Processing of Speech Sound Changes in Preterm Infants at Term Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaisamari Kostilainen ◽  
Eino Partanen ◽  
Kaija Mikkola ◽  
Valtteri Wikström ◽  
Satu Pakarinen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Preterm Infants ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Emotional Speech ◽  
Kangaroo Care ◽  
Sound Changes ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Preterm birth carries a risk for adverse neurodevelopment. Cognitive dysfunctions, such as language disorders may manifest as atypical sound discrimination already in early infancy. As infant-directed singing has been shown to enhance language acquisition in infants, we examined whether parental singing during skin-to-skin care (kangaroo care) improves speech sound discrimination in preterm infants. Forty-five preterm infants born between 26 and 33 gestational weeks (GW) and their parents participated in this cluster-randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials ID IRB00003181SK). In both groups, parents conducted kangaroo care during 33–40 GW. In the singing intervention group (n = 24), a certified music therapist guided parents to sing or hum during daily kangaroo care. In the control group (n = 21), parents conducted standard kangaroo care and were not instructed to use their voices. Parents in both groups reported the duration of daily intervention. Auditory event-related potentials were recorded with electroencephalogram at term age using a multi-feature paradigm consisting of phonetic and emotional speech sound changes and a one-deviant oddball paradigm with pure tones. In the multi-feature paradigm, prominent mismatch responses (MMR) were elicited to the emotional sounds and many of the phonetic deviants in the singing intervention group and in the control group to some of the emotional and phonetic deviants. A group difference was found as the MMRs were larger in the singing intervention group, mainly due to larger MMRs being elicited to the emotional sounds, especially in females. The overall duration of the singing intervention (range 15–63 days) was positively associated with the MMR amplitudes for both phonetic and emotional stimuli in both sexes, unlike the daily singing time (range 8–120 min/day). In the oddball paradigm, MMRs for the non-speech sounds were elicited in both groups and no group differences nor connections between the singing time and the response amplitudes were found. These results imply that repeated parental singing during kangaroo care improved auditory discrimination of phonetic and emotional speech sounds in preterm infants at term age. Regular singing routines can be recommended for parents to promote the development of the auditory system and auditory processing of speech sounds in preterm infants.

scholarly journals Tempo of Spectrum Change as a Cue in Speech-Sound Discrimination by Infants

1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hillenbrand ◽  
Fred D. Minifie ◽  
Thomas J. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Head Turn ◽  
Transition Duration ◽  
Formant Transition ◽  
Background Stimulus ◽  
Discrimination Procedure ◽  
Spectrum Change ◽  
Modification Technique ◽  
Sound Discrimination

Six- to seven-month-old infants were tested on their ability to discriminate among three speech sounds which differed on the basis of formant-transition duration, a major cue to distinctions among stop, semivowel and diphthong classes. The three speech sounds, [bε], [wε], and [uε] were produced in two different ways. The stimuli for one experiment were two-formant synthetic tokens which differed in formant-transition duration. The stimuli for a second experiment were produced with a computer-modification technique which artificially shortened or lengthened the formant-transition portion of a naturally produced [wɛ], resulting in tokens of [bɛ] and [uɛ]. The discrimination procedure involved visual reinforcement of a head-turn response following a change from a repeating background stimulus to a contrasting stimulus. Infants in both experiments discriminated [bɛ] from both [wɛ] and [uɛ]; evidence for [wε]-[uɛ] discrimination was obtained for the “computer modified” tokens only. These findings are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms underlying speech perception in infancy.

Speech-Sound Discrimination Skills as Measured by Reaction Time for Normal and Articulatory Defective Speaking Children

1972 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 595-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick F. Weiner ◽  
Mervyn L. Falk
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Auditory Discrimination ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sound Discrimination ◽  
Normal Speaking ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

Reaction time measures were obtained from 30 normal speaking children and 30 articulatory defective children on a task which required determining similarities or differences between speech sounds presented in nonsense syllables. The results showed that there was no significant difference between these groups in the time needed to make the discriminations. These results are in opposition to the findings of various authors who have concluded that children with articulation deficits also demonstrate some type of auditory discrimination deficit.

scholarly journals Auditory evoked potentials to changes in speech sound duration in anesthetized mice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lipponen ◽  
J.L.O. Kurkela ◽  
Kyläheiko I. ◽  
Hölttä S. ◽  
T. Ruusuvirta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evoked Potentials ◽  
Change Detection ◽  
Mouse Models ◽  
Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Electrophysiological Response ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Auditory Change Detection ◽  
Sound Duration

AbstractElectrophysiological response termed mismatch negativity (MMN) indexes auditory change detection in humans. An analogous response, called the mismatch response (MMR), is also elicited in animals. Mismatch response has been widely utilized in investigations of change detection in human speech sounds in rats and guinea pigs, but not in mice. Since e.g. transgenic mouse models provide important advantages for further studies, we studied processing of speech sounds in anesthetized mice. Auditory evoked potentials were recorded from the dura above the auditory cortex to changes in duration of a human speech sound /a/. In oddball stimulus condition, the MMR was elicited at 53-259 ms latency in response to the changes. The MMR was found to the large (from 200 ms to 110 ms) but not to smaller (from 200 ms to 120-180 ms) changes in duration. The results suggest that mice can represent human speech sounds in order to detect changes in their duration. The findings can be utilized in future investigations applying mouse models for speech perception.

scholarly journals Repetition enhancement to voice identities in the dog brain

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianna Boros ◽  
Anna Gábor ◽  
Dóra Szabó ◽  
Anett Bozsik ◽  
Márta Gácsi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Sound ◽  
Primary Auditory Cortex ◽  
Functional Asymmetry ◽  
Enhancement Effect ◽  
Speech Sounds ◽  
Repetition Effects ◽  
Human Speech ◽  
Suprasegmental Cues ◽  
Fmri Adaptation ◽  
Identity Processing

AbstractIn the human speech signal, cues of speech sounds and voice identities are conflated, but they are processed separately in the human brain. The processing of speech sounds and voice identities is typically performed by non-primary auditory regions in humans and non-human primates. Additionally, these processes exhibit functional asymmetry in humans, indicating the involvement of distinct mechanisms. Behavioural studies indicate analogue side biases in dogs, but neural evidence for this functional dissociation is missing. In two experiments, using an fMRI adaptation paradigm, we presented awake dogs with natural human speech that either varied in segmental (change in speech sound) or suprasegmental (change in voice identity) content. In auditory regions, we found a repetition enhancement effect for voice identity processing in a secondary auditory region – the caudal ectosylvian gyrus. The same region did not show repetition effects for speech sounds, nor did the primary auditory cortex exhibit sensitivity to changes either in the segmental or in the suprasegmental content. Furthermore, we did not find evidence for functional asymmetry neither in the processing of speech sounds or voice identities. Our results in dogs corroborate former human and non-human primate evidence on the role of secondary auditory regions in the processing of suprasegmental cues, suggesting similar neural sensitivity to the identity of the vocalizer across the mammalian order.

scholarly journals Screening of Model Animals for Experimental Infection with Equine Cyathostomes

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-20
Author(s):  
Š. Scháňková ◽  
I. Langrová ◽  
I. Jankovská ◽  
J. Vadlejch ◽  
Z. Čadková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Experimental Infection ◽  
Larval Stage ◽  
Rattus Norvegicus ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Meriones Unguiculatus ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Cavia Porcellus ◽  
Mongolian Gerbils

Abstract Various laboratory animals – mice (Mus musculus) of six strains, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus), rats (Rattus norvegicus), and Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) were experimentally infected with larvae of small strongyles (Cyathostominae), obtained from horse faeces and cultured to the infective larval stage L3. The attempt to transfer cyathostome larvae was aimed at developing a model for the investigation of different aspects of the life cycle and biology of these nematodes in the laboratory. Some animals were immunized (hydrocortisone) for the duration of the study. The laboratory animals were orally infected with 2–10 thousand sheathed or ex-sheathed L3 larvae of mixed cyathostome species. All attempts to inoculate any animal failed; there was no larval development in the experimental rodents and it can be stated that none of the investigated animals may serve as a suitable model host for horse nematodes of the subfamily Cyathostominae.

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