Changes in Sensory Evoked Responses Coincide with Rapid Improvement in Speech Identification Performance

Perceptual learning is sometimes characterized by rapid improvements in performance within the first hour of training (fast perceptual learning), which may be accompanied by changes in sensory and/or response pathways. Here, we report rapid physiological changes in the human auditory system that coincide with learning during a 1-hour test session in which participants learned to identify two consonant vowel syllables that differed in voice onset time. Within each block of trials, listeners were also presented with a broadband noise control stimulus to determine whether changes in auditory evoked potentials were specific to the trained speech cue. The ability to identify the speech sounds improved from the first to the fourth block of trials and remained relatively constant thereafter. This behavioral improvement coincided with a decrease in N1 and P2 amplitude, and these learning-related changes differed from those observed for the noise stimulus. These training-induced changes in sensory evoked responses were followed by an increased negative peak (between 275 and 330 msec) over fronto-central sites and by an increase in sustained activity over the parietal regions. Although the former was also observed for the noise stimulus, the latter was specific to the speech sounds. The results are consistent with a top–down nonspecific attention effect on neural activity during learning as well as a more learning-specific modulation, which is coincident with behavioral improvements in speech identification.

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Stop consonant productions of Korean–English bilingual children

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728911000083 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 275-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

SUE ANN S. LEE ◽

GREGORY K. IVERSON

Keyword(s):

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Stop Consonant ◽

Developmental Period ◽

English Speakers ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Stop Consonants ◽

Speech Sounds ◽

English Bilingual

The purpose of this study was to conduct an acoustic examination of the obstruent stops produced by Korean–English bilingual children in connection with the question of whether bilinguals establish distinct categories of speech sounds across languages. Stop productions were obtained from ninety children in two age ranges, five and ten years: thirty Korean–English bilinguals, thirty monolingual Koreans and thirty monolingual English speakers. Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) lag at word-initial stop and fundamental frequency (f0) in the following vowel (hereafter vowel-onset f0) were measured. The bilingual children showed different patterns of VOT in comparison to both English and Korean monolinguals, with longer VOT in their production of Korean stop consonants and shorter VOT for English. Moreover, the ten-year-old bilinguals distinguished all stop categories using both VOT and vowel-onset f0,whereas the five-year-olds tended to make stop distinctions based on VOT but not vowel-onset f0. The results of this study suggest that bilingual children at around five years of age do not yet have fully separate stop systems, and that the systems continue to evolve during the developmental period.

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Noise-Induced Change of Cortical Temporal Processing in Cochlear Implant Users

Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology ◽

10.21053/ceo.2019.01081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 241-248 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ji-Hye Han ◽

Jihyun Lee ◽

Hyo-Jeong Lee

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Temporal Processing ◽

Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Onset Time ◽

Noise Signal ◽

Noise Masking ◽

Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials

Objectives. Cochlear implant (CI) users typically report impaired ability to understand speech in noise. Speech understanding in CI users decreases with noise due to reduced temporal processing ability, and speech perceptual errors involve stop consonants distinguished by voice onset time (VOT). The current study examined the effects of noise on various speech perception tests while at the same time used cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) to quantify the change of neural processing of speech sounds caused by noise. We hypothesized that the noise effects on VOT processing can be reflected in N1/P2 measures, the neural changes relate to behavioral speech perception performances.Methods. Ten adult CI users and 15 normal-hearing (NH) people participated in this study. CAEPs were recorded from 64 scalp electrodes in both quiet and noise (signal-to-noise ratio +5 dB) and in passive and active (requiring consonant discrimination) listening. Speech stimulus was synthesized consonant-vowels with VOTs of 0 and 50 ms. N1-P2 amplitudes and latencies were analyzed as a function of listening condition. For the active condition, the P3b also was analyzed. Behavioral measures included a variety of speech perception tasks.Results. For good performing CI users, performance in most speech test was lower in the presence of noise masking. N1 and P2 latencies became prolonged with noise masking. The P3b amplitudes were smaller in CI groups compared to NH. The degree of P2 latency change (0 vs. 50 ms VOT) was correlated with consonant perception in noise.Conclusion. The effects of noise masking on temporal processing can be reflected in cortical responses in CI users. N1/P2 latencies were more sensitive to noise masking than amplitude measures. Additionally, P2 responses appear to have a better relationship to speech perception in CI users compared to N1.

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Psychophysical Boundary for Categorization of Voiced–Voiceless Stop Consonants in Native Japanese Speakers

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-17-0131 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 61 (3) ◽

pp. 789-796 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shunsuke Tamura ◽

Kazuhito Ito ◽

Nobuyuki Hirose ◽

Shuji Mori

Keyword(s):

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Stop Consonant ◽

Stop Consonants ◽

Noise Detection ◽

Native Japanese Speakers ◽

Simultaneity Judgment ◽

Japanese Speakers ◽

Voiceless Stop ◽

Speech Identification

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysical boundary used for categorization of voiced–voiceless stop consonants in native Japanese speakers. Method Twelve native Japanese speakers participated in the experiment. The stimuli were synthetic stop consonant–vowel stimuli varying in voice onset time (VOT) with manipulation of the amplitude of the initial noise portion and the first formant (F1) frequency of the periodic portion. There were 3 tasks, namely, speech identification to either /d/ or /t/, detection of the noise portion, and simultaneity judgment of onsets of the noise and periodic portions. Results The VOT boundaries of /d/–/t/ were close to the shortest VOT values that allowed for detection of the noise portion but not to those for perceived nonsimultaneity of the noise and periodic portions. The slopes of noise detection functions along VOT were as sharp as those of voiced–voiceless identification functions. In addition, the effects of manipulating the amplitude of the noise portion and the F1 frequency of the periodic portion on the detection of the noise portion were similar to those on voiced–voiceless identification. Conclusion The psychophysical boundary of perception of the initial noise portion masked by the following periodic portion may be used for voiced–voiceless categorization by Japanese speakers.

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Effects of Manipulating the Amplitude of Consonant Noise Portion on Subcortical Representation of Voice Onset Time and Voicing Perception in Stop Consonants

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2018_jslhr-h-18-0102 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 434-441 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shunsuke Tamura ◽

Kazuhito Ito ◽

Nobuyuki Hirose ◽

Shuji Mori

Keyword(s):

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Stop Consonants ◽

Acoustic Cues ◽

Identification Task ◽

Speech Representation ◽

Voiceless Stop ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Speech Identification

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate whether speech perception would reflect small latency changes in subcortical speech representation. Method Twelve native Japanese listeners participated in the experiment. Those listeners participated in speech identification task and auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurement using /d/–/t/ continuum stimuli varying in voice onset time (VOT) with manipulation of the amplitude of initial noise (consonant) portion, the duration of which corresponded to VOT. Results Increasing the noise portion amplitude lengthened subcortical representation of VOT, which is the latency difference between ABRs synchronizing to the onsets of initial noise and following periodic (vowel) portions (VOT ABR ) and made listeners likely to perceive the stimuli with ambiguous VOT as a voiceless stop /t/. In addition, the amount of VOT ABR lengthening was close to that of the VOT boundary shortening. Conclusion A few milliseconds of difference in subcortical speech representation are important for the perception of speech sounds with ambiguous acoustic cues. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7728695

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Speech perception in individuals with auditory dys-synchrony: effect of lengthening of voice onset time and burst duration of speech segments

The Journal of Laryngology & Otology ◽

10.1017/s0022215113001278 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 127 (7) ◽

pp. 656-665

Author(s):

U A Kumar ◽

M Jayaram

Keyword(s):

Speech Perception ◽

Speech Processing ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Burst Duration ◽

Just Noticeable Difference ◽

Speech Sounds ◽

Transition Duration ◽

Processing Strategies ◽

Synchrony Effect

AbstractObjective:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of lengthening of voice onset time and burst duration of selected speech stimuli on perception by individuals with auditory dys-synchrony. This is the second of a series of articles reporting the effect of signal enhancing strategies on speech perception by such individuals.Methods:Two experiments were conducted: (1) assessment of the ‘just-noticeable difference' for voice onset time and burst duration of speech sounds; and (2) assessment of speech identification scores when speech sounds were modified by lengthening the voice onset time and the burst duration in units of one just-noticeable difference, both in isolation and in combination with each other plus transition duration modification.Results:Lengthening of voice onset time as well as burst duration improved perception of voicing. However, the effect of voice onset time modification was greater than that of burst duration modification. Although combined lengthening of voice onset time, burst duration and transition duration resulted in improved speech perception, the improvement was less than that due to lengthening of transition duration alone.Conclusion:These results suggest that innovative speech processing strategies that enhance temporal cues may benefit individuals with auditory dys-synchrony.

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The representation of voice onset time in the cortical auditory evoked potentials of young children

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2008.09.015 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 119 (12) ◽

pp. 2855-2861 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Katrina Agung King ◽

Julia Campbell ◽

Anu Sharma ◽

Kathryn Martin ◽

Michael Dorman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Evoked Potentials ◽

Auditory Evoked Potentials ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials

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Categorical Perception of Speech Sounds via the Tactile Mode

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.2804.594 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 594-598 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Jane Collins ◽

Richard R. Hurtig

Keyword(s):

Auditory Perception ◽

Tactile Stimulation ◽

Categorical Perception ◽

Voice Onset Time ◽

Onset Time ◽

Tactile Perception ◽

Speech Signals ◽

Speech Sounds

The usefulness of tactile devices as aids to lipreading has been established. However, maximum usefulness in reducing the ambiguity of lipreading cues and/or use of tactile devices as a substitute for audition may be dependent on phonemic recognition via tactile signals alone. In the present study, a categorical perception paradigm was used to evaluate tactile perception of speech sounds in comparison to auditory perception. The results show that speech signals delivered by tactile stimulation can be categorically perceived on a voice-onset time (VOT) continuum. The boundary for the voiced-voiceless distinction falls at longer VOTs for tactile than for auditory perception. It is concluded that the procedure is useful for determining characteristics of tactile perception and for prosthesis evaluation.

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