Vowel Fundamental and Formant Frequency Contributions to English and Mandarin Sentence Intelligibility

Purpose The main purpose of this study was to evaluate aging effects on the predominantly subcortical (brainstem) encoding of the second-formant frequency transition, an essential acoustic cue for perceiving place of articulation. Method Synthetic consonant–vowel syllables varying in second-formant onset frequency (i.e., /ba/, /da/, and /ga/ stimuli) were used to elicit speech-evoked auditory brainstem responses (speech-ABRs) in 16 young adults ( M age = 21 years) and 11 older adults ( M age = 59 years). Repeated-measures mixed-model analyses of variance were performed on the latencies and amplitudes of the speech-ABR peaks. Fixed factors were phoneme (repeated measures on three levels: /b/ vs. /d/ vs. /g/) and age (two levels: young vs. older). Results Speech-ABR differences were observed between the two groups (young vs. older adults). Specifically, older listeners showed generalized amplitude reductions for onset and major peaks. Significant Phoneme × Group interactions were not observed. Conclusions Results showed aging effects in speech-ABR amplitudes that may reflect diminished subcortical encoding of consonants in older listeners. These aging effects were not phoneme dependent as observed using the statistical methods of this study.

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Stimulus Ratio Effects on Speech Discrimination by Children and Adults

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3403.671 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 671-678 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Joan E. Sussman

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Response Pattern ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Speech Discrimination ◽

Adult Group ◽

Discrimination Accuracy ◽

Formant Frequency ◽

Response Strategies ◽

Place Of Articulation ◽

Adults And Children

This investigation examined the response strategies and discrimination accuracy of adults and children aged 5–10 as the ratio of same to different trials was varied across three conditions of a “change/no-change” discrimination task. The conditions varied as follows: (a) a ratio of one-third same to two-thirds different trials (33% same), (b) an equal ratio of same to different trials (50% same), and (c) a ratio of two-thirds same to one-third different trials (67% same). Stimuli were synthetic consonant-vowel syllables that changed along a place of articulation dimension by formant frequency transition. Results showed that all subjects changed their response strategies depending on the ratio of same-to-different trials. The most lax response pattern was observed for the 50% same condition, and the most conservative pattern was observed for the 67% same condition. Adult response patterns were most conservative across condition. Differences in discrimination accuracy as measured by P(C) were found, with the largest difference in the 5- to 6-year-old group and the smallest change in the adult group. These findings suggest that children’s response strategies, like those of adults, can be manipulated by changing the ratio of same-to-different trials. Furthermore, interpretation of sensitivity measures must be referenced to task variables such as the ratio of same-to-different trials.

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Dysarthric Sentence Intelligibility

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jslhr.4106.1282 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 41 (6) ◽

pp. 1282-1293 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Jane Mertz Garcia ◽

Paul A. Dagenais

Keyword(s):

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Presentation Mode ◽

Contextual Influences ◽

Motor Functioning ◽

Video Presentation ◽

Independent Information ◽

Communicative Process ◽

Presentation Formats ◽

Sentence Intelligibility ◽

Audio Video

This study examined changes in the sentence intelligibility scores of speakers with dysarthria in association with different signal-independent factors (contextual influences). This investigation focused on the presence or absence of iconic gestures while speaking sentences with low or high semantic predictiveness. The speakers were 4 individuals with dysarthria, who varied from one another in terms of their level of speech intelligibility impairment, gestural abilities, and overall level of motor functioning. Ninety-six inexperienced listeners (24 assigned to each speaker) orthographically transcribed 16 test sentences presented in an audio + video or audio-only format. The sentences had either low or high semantic predictiveness and were spoken by each speaker with and without the corresponding gestures. The effects of signal-independent factors (presence or absence of iconic gestures, low or high semantic predictiveness, and audio + video or audio-only presentation formats) were analyzed for individual speakers. Not all signal-independent information benefited speakers similarly. Results indicated that use of gestures and high semantic predictiveness improved sentence intelligibility for 2 speakers. The other 2 speakers benefited from high predictive messages. The audio + video presentation mode enhanced listener understanding for all speakers, although there were interactions related to specific speaking situations. Overall, the contributions of relevant signal-independent information were greater for the speakers with more severely impaired intelligibility. The results are discussed in terms of understanding the contribution of signal-independent factors to the communicative process.

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PENGUCAPAN MAKHRAJ DARI UNIT BUNYI TERKECIL HURUF HIJAIYAH BERDASARKAN FREKUENSI DASAR DAN FREKUENSI FORMANT UNTUK MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN MEMBACA ALQURAN

ALQALAM ◽

10.32678/alqalam.v32i2.552 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 284

Author(s):

Muhammad Subali ◽

Miftah Andriansyah ◽

Christanto Sinambela

Keyword(s):

College Student ◽

Fundamental Frequency ◽

Autocorrelation Function ◽

Adult Male ◽

Formant Frequency ◽

Formant Frequencies ◽

Male Speaker ◽

Similarities And Differences

This article aims to look at the similarities and differences in the fundamental frequency and formant frequencies using the autocorrelation function and LPCfunction in GUI MATLAB 2012b on sound hijaiyah letters for adult male speaker beginner and expert based on makhraj pronunciation and both of speaker will be analysis on matching distance of the sound use DTW method on cepstrum. Subject for speech beginner makhraj pronunciation are taken from college student of Universitas Gunadarma and SITC aged 22 years old Data of the speech beginner makhraj pronunciation is recorded using MATLAB algorithm on GUI Subject for speech expert makhraj pronunciation are taken from previous research. They are 20-30 years old from the time of taking data. The sound will be extracted to get the value of the fundamental frequency and formant frequency. After getting both frequencies, it will be obtained analysis of the similarities and differences in the fundamental frequency and formant frequencies of speech beginner and expert and it will shows matching distance of both speech. The result is all of speech beginner and expert based on makhraj pronunciation have different values of fundamental frequency and formant frequency. Then the results of the analysis matching distance using method DTW showed that obtained in the range of 28.9746 to 136.4 between speech beginner and expert based on makhraj pronunciation. Keywords: fundamental frequency, formant frequency, hijaiyah letters, makhraj

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Characteristics of Formant Frequency in Children with Intellectual Disabilities

The Korean Society of Medicine & Therapy Science ◽

10.31321/kmts.2019.11.2.39 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 39-44

Author(s):

Jung-Im Lee ◽

Seung-Deok Heo

Keyword(s):

Intellectual Disabilities ◽

Formant Frequency

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Vowel development in young Mandarin-English bilingual children

Phonetica ◽

10.1515/phon-2021-2006 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Jing Yang

Keyword(s):

Bilingual Children ◽

Vowel Duration ◽

Formant Frequency ◽

High Group ◽

English Bilingual ◽

English Vowels ◽

Vowel Systems ◽

Phonetic Features ◽

Cross Language ◽

L1 And L2

Abstract This study examined the development of vowel categories in young Mandarin -English bilingual children. The participants included 35 children aged between 3 and 4 years old (15 Mandarin-English bilinguals, six English monolinguals, and 14 Mandarin monolinguals). The bilingual children were divided into two groups: one group had a shorter duration (<1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-low group) and one group had a longer duration (>1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-high group). The participants were recorded producing one list of Mandarin words containing the vowels /a, i, u, y, ɤ/ and/or one list of English words containing the vowels /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, u, ʊ, o, ɑ, ʌ/. Formant frequency values were extracted at five equidistant time locations (the 20–35–50–65–80% point) over the course of vowel duration. Cross-language and within-language comparisons were conducted on the midpoint formant values and formant trajectories. The results showed that children in the Bi-low group produced their English vowels into clusters and showed positional deviations from the monolingual targets. However, they maintained the phonetic features of their native vowel sounds well and mainly used an assimilatory process to organize the vowel systems. Children in the Bi-high group separated their English vowels well. They used both assimilatory and dissimilatory processes to construct and refine the two vowel systems. These bilingual children approximated monolingual English children to a better extent than the children in the Bi-low group. However, when compared to the monolingual peers, they demonstrated observable deviations in both L1 and L2.

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