Accentuation, information value and word duration: Effects on speech production, naturalness and sentence processing

2012 ◽  
pp. 225-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wieke Eefting ◽  
Sieb G. Nooteboom
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Word Duration

scholarly journals Brain changes underlying progression of speech motor programming impairment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramon Landin-Romero ◽  
Cheng T Liang ◽  
Penelope A Monroe ◽  
Yuichi Higashiyama ◽  
Cristian E Leyton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Motor Programming ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Primary Progressive ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Variability Index ◽  
Speech Motor

Abstract Aquired apraxia of speech is a disorder that impairs speech production, despite intact peripheral neuromotor function. Its pathomechanism remains to be established. Neurodegenerative lesion models provide an unequalled opportunity to explore the neural correlates of apraxia of speech, which is present in a subset of patients diagnosed with non-semantic variants of primary progressive aphasia. The normalised pairwise variability index, an acoustic measure of speech motor programming, has shown high sensitivity and specificity for apraxia of speech in cross-sectional studies. Here, we aimed to examine the strength of the pairwise variability index and overall word duration (i.e. articulation rate) as markers of progressive motor programming deficits in primary progressive aphasia with apraxia of speech. Seventy-nine individuals diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia (39 with non-fluent variant, 40 with logopenic variant) and 40 matched healthy controls participated. Patients were followed-up annually (range 1–6 years, median number of visits = 2). All participants completed a speech assessment task and a high-resolution MRI. Our analyses investigated trajectories of speech production (e.g. pairwise variablity index and word duration) and associations with cortical atrophy in the patients. At first presentation, word duration differentiated the nonfluent and logopenic cases statistically, but the range of scores overlapped substantially across groups. Longitudinally, we observed progressive deterioration in pairwise variability index and word duration specific to the non-fluent group only. The pairwise variability index showed particularly strong associations with progressive atrophy in speech motor programming brain regions. Of novelty, our results uncovered a key role of the right frontal gyrus in underpinning speech motor programming changes in non-fluent cases, highlighting the importance of right brain regions in responding to progressive neurological changes in the speech motor network. Taken together, our findings validate the use of a new metric, the pairwise variability index, as a robust marker of apraxia of speech in contrast to more generic measures of speaking rate. Sensitive/specific neuroimaging biomarkers of the emergence and progression of speech impairments will be useful to inform theories of the pathomechanisms underpinning impaired speech motor control. Our findings justify developing more sensitive measures of rhythmic temporal control of speech that may enable confident detection of emerging speech disturbances and more sensitive tracking of intervention-related changes for pharmacological, neuromodulatory, and behavioural interventions. A more reliable detection of speech disturbances has relevance for patient care, with predominance of progressive apraxia of speech a high-risk factor for later diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy or corticobasal degeneration.

The sequential cueing effect in children's speech production

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN MUNSON ◽  
MOLLY E. BABEL
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Specific Behavior ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Target Words

This article investigated the development of phonological encoding in speech production by examining the production of reiterant two-word sequences varying in phonological similarity. Two groups of typically developing children and a group of college-aged adults participated. Both groups of children produced target words with longer durations when they were preceded by words sharing initial consonant–vowel (CV) sequences than when preceded by phonologically unrelated words or words sharing vowel–consonant (VC) sequences. For adults, the duration of target words was shorter when they were preceded by words sharing final VC sequences than in the other conditions. The developmental decrease in the influence of CV-related prime words on target-word duration may be related to changes in the level of activation of lexical items during speech production. Developmental changes in the influence of VC-related prime words are less clear, but may be due to age-group specific behavior in the production of identical sequences of words.

Effects of semantic predictability on children's preservation of a phonemic voice contrast

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAN CHARLES-LUCE ◽  
KELLY M. DRESSLER ◽  
ELVIRA RAGONESE
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
American English ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Interactive Activation ◽  
And Task

We investigated the effects of semantic predictability on children's preservation of the /t/-/d/ phonemic voice contrast in American English. In Experiment 1, a total of 36 seven-, nine-, and twelve-year-olds produced minimal pairs differing in intervocalic /t/ and /d/ in semantically biasing and semantically neutral passages. The seven-year-olds preserved the phonemic contrast in both passage types. However, for the nine- and twelve-year-olds, total word duration and preceding vowel duration preserved the /t/-/d/ contrast, but this interacted with semantic predictability. The contrast was preserved in the biasing and not in the neutral passages. The production results from the older children replicated previous findings from adults, demonstrating that semantic predictability influences speech production at both a lexical and a segmental level. In Experiment 2, listeners identified the tokens produced in Experiment 1. The identification results suggested that differences produced by speakers may not necessarily have a functional role for listeners. An interactive activation framework is proposed to account for the semantic effects on older children's and adults' production. For the youngest children, however, we suggest that pragmatic compensation and task demands interact with the effects of interactive activation.

The Need for a Broad-Based Model of Phonological Disorders

1992 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan G. Kamhi
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Phonological Disorders ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Speech Delays ◽  
Explanatory Adequacy ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Assessment Procedures ◽  
Treatment Procedures

My response to Fey’s article (1985; reprinted 1992, this issue) focuses on the confusion caused by the application of simplistic phonological definitions and models to the assessment and treatment of children with speech delays. In addition to having no explanatory adequacy, such definitions/models lead either to assessment and treatment procedures that are similarly focused or to procedures that have no clear logical ties to the models with which they supposedly are linked. Narrowly focused models and definitions also usually include no mention of speech production processes. Bemoaning this state of affairs, I attempt to show why it is important for clinicians to embrace broad-based models of phonological disorders that have some explanatory value. Such models are consistent with assessment procedures that are comprehensive in nature and treatment procedures that focus on linguistic, as well as motoric, aspects of speech.

A Family With Autosomal-Dominant Progressive Sensorineural Hearing Loss

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Halpin ◽  
Barbara Herrmann ◽  
Margaret Whearty
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
The Family ◽  
Patient Will ◽  
Language Pathology

The family described in this article provides an unusual opportunity to relate findings from genetic, histological, electrophysiological, psychophysical, and rehabilitative investigation. Although the total number evaluated is large (49), the known, living affected population is smaller (14), and these are spread from age 20 to age 59. As a result, the findings described above are those of a large-scale case study. Clearly, more data will be available through longitudinal study of the individuals documented in the course of this investigation but, given the slow nature of the progression in this disease, such studies will be undertaken after an interval of several years. The general picture presented to the audiologist who must rehabilitate these cases is that of a progressive cochlear degeneration that affects only thresholds at first, and then rapidly diminishes speech intelligibility. The expected result is that, after normal language development, the patient may accept hearing aids well, encouraged by the support of the family. Performance and satisfaction with the hearing aids is good, until the onset of the speech intelligibility loss, at which time the patient will encounter serious difficulties and may reject hearing aids as unhelpful. As the histological and electrophysiological results indicate, however, the eighth nerve remains viable, especially in the younger affected members, and success with cochlear implantation may be expected. Audiologic counseling efforts are aided by the presence of role models and support from the other affected members of the family. Speech-language pathology services were not considered important by the members of this family since their speech production developed normally and has remained very good. Self-correction of speech was supported by hearing aids and cochlear implants (Case 5’s speech production was documented in Perkell, Lane, Svirsky, & Webster, 1992). These patients received genetic counseling and, due to the high penetrance of the disease, exhibited serious concerns regarding future generations and the hope of a cure.

Effects of Concurrent Manual Task Performance on Connected Speech Acoustics in Individuals With Parkinson Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (7) ◽  
pp. 2099-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Whitfield ◽  
Zoe Kriegel ◽  
Adam M. Fullenkamp ◽  
Daryush D. Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Task Condition ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Speech Acoustics ◽  
Single Task ◽  
Manual Task ◽  
Task Conditions

Purpose Prior investigations suggest that simultaneous performance of more than 1 motor-oriented task may exacerbate speech motor deficits in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD). The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the extent to which performing a low-demand manual task affected the connected speech in individuals with and without PD. Method Individuals with PD and neurologically healthy controls performed speech tasks (reading and extemporaneous speech tasks) and an oscillatory manual task (a counterclockwise circle-drawing task) in isolation (single-task condition) and concurrently (dual-task condition). Results Relative to speech task performance, no changes in speech acoustics were observed for either group when the low-demand motor task was performed with the concurrent reading tasks. Speakers with PD exhibited a significant decrease in pause duration between the single-task (speech only) and dual-task conditions for the extemporaneous speech task, whereas control participants did not exhibit changes in any speech production variable between the single- and dual-task conditions. Conclusions Overall, there were little to no changes in speech production when a low-demand oscillatory motor task was performed with concurrent reading. For the extemporaneous task, however, individuals with PD exhibited significant changes when the speech and manual tasks were performed concurrently, a pattern that was not observed for control speakers. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.8637008

When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Margreet Vogelzang ◽  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Stephanie Rosemann ◽  
Jochem W. Rieger ◽  
Esther Ruigendijk
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Sentence Complexity ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

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