rate of speech
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Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Aki Siegel

With the availability of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses, an increasing number of international students have been joining Swedish universities. However, the language use in Swedish EMI courses may display unique features; while many Swedish students have high English language proficiency, code-switching between Swedish and English is reported as a common practice by both lecturers and students, even when international students are present. Moreover, the term “international students” is often used to include students of various statuses and linguistic abilities, and the experiences and perspectives of short-term exchange students towards the language use in Swedish EMI courses are rarely documented. The current study investigates the perspectives of short-term exchange students from Japan enrolled in EMI courses at a university in Sweden. Questionnaire and focus group interview confirmed previous studies regarding the language-use practices in the classrooms. Moreover, the rate of speech, turn-taking, and background knowledge were found to hinder the learning and participation of the exchange students. The findings suggest the need to raise awareness of the language practices in Swedish EMI courses to students, lecturers, and other universities in order to support the learning experience of short-term exchange students.


Author(s):  
Gabrielle Cozart ◽  
Laura Wilson

Purpose: This study assessed how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) believe teachers can best support school-age children who stutter (CWS) in the classroom. Method: An online survey adapted from the Personal Appraisal of Support for Stuttering–Parent was given to 122 SLPs licensed in the State of Oklahoma. The median age of the participants was 43 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 16), and the average number of CWS the participants reported treating was 14 (IQR = 14). The participants rated the helpfulness of supports teachers can use as they interact with CWS (e.g., “Tell the child to slow down”). The participants rated 41 items on a 1–5 Likert scale, with 1 indicating unhelpful and 5 indicating very helpful , followed by a “not sure” category. Results: The three items rated most helpful were for teachers to collaborate with the child's SLP, to be patient when the child talks, and to know how to react when the child stutters. The three items rated least helpful were for teachers to be bothered by the child's stuttering, to laugh at the child because of the child's stuttering, and to use a fast rate of speech. The two items with the greatest response variability were for teachers to tell the child to think about what to say before speaking and to tell the child what to do when stuttering. The variability suggests inconsistency in the SLPs' beliefs about the helpfulness of those actions. Conclusion: Findings from this study contribute to the literature on supporting CWS and the development of educational materials for classroom teachers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 214-219
Author(s):  
Maryam Sadat Mirzaei ◽  
Kourosh Meshgi

This paper focuses on Partial and Synchronized Caption (PSC) as a tool to train L2 listening and introduces new features to facilitate speech-related difficulties. PSC is an intelligent caption that extensively processes the audio and transcript to detect and present difficult words or phrases for L2 learners. With the new features, learners can benefit from repetition and slowdowns of particular audio segments that are automatically labeled difficult. When encountering high speech rates, the system slows down the audio to the standard rate of speech. For disfluencies in speech (e.g. breached boundaries), the system generates the caption and repeats that video segment. In our experiments, intermediate L2 learners of English watched videos with different captions and functionalities, provided feedback on new PSC features, and took a series of tests. Smart repetition and slowdown components received positive learner feedback and led to significant improvement in L2 listening recognition.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Steven Van Kuyk

<p>Throughout the last century, models of human speech communication have been proposed by linguists, psychologists, and engineers. Advancements have been made, but a theory of human speech communication that is both comprehensive and quantitative is yet to emerge. This thesis hypothesises that a branch of mathematics known as information theory holds the answer to a more complete theory. Information theory has made fundamental contributions to wireless communications, computer science, statistical inference, cryptography, thermodynamics, and biology. There is no reason that information theory cannot be applied to human speech communication, but thus far, a relatively small effort has been made to do so.  The goal of this research was to develop a quantitative model of speech communication that is consistent with our knowledge of linguistics and that is accurate enough to predict the intelligibility of speech signals. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the following research questions: 1) how does the acoustic information rate of speech compare to the lexical information rate of speech? 2) How can information theory be used to predict the intelligibility of speech-based communication systems? 3) How well do competing models of speech communication predict intelligibility?  To answer the first research question, novel approaches for estimating the information rate of speech communication are proposed. Unlike existing approaches, the methods proposed in this thesis rely on having a chorus of speech signals where each signal in the chorus contains the same linguistic message, but is spoken by a different talker. The advantage of this approach is that variability inherent in the production of speech can be accounted for. The approach gives an estimate of about 180 b/s. This is three times larger than estimates based on lexical models, but it is an order of magnitude smaller than previous estimates that rely on acoustic signals.  To answer the second research question, a novel instrumental intelligibility metric called speech intelligibility in bits (SIIB) and a variant called SIIBGauss are proposed. SIIB is an estimate of the amount of information shared between a talker and a listener in bits per second. Unlike existing intelligibility metrics that are based on information theory, SIIB accounts for talker variability and statistical dependencies between time-frequency units.   Finally, to answer the third research question, a comprehensive evaluation of intrusive intelligibility metrics is provided. The results show that SIIB and SIIBGauss have state-of-the-art performance, that intelligibility metrics tend to perform poorly on data sets that were not used during their development, and show the advantage of reducing statistical dependencies between input features.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Steven Van Kuyk

<p>Throughout the last century, models of human speech communication have been proposed by linguists, psychologists, and engineers. Advancements have been made, but a theory of human speech communication that is both comprehensive and quantitative is yet to emerge. This thesis hypothesises that a branch of mathematics known as information theory holds the answer to a more complete theory. Information theory has made fundamental contributions to wireless communications, computer science, statistical inference, cryptography, thermodynamics, and biology. There is no reason that information theory cannot be applied to human speech communication, but thus far, a relatively small effort has been made to do so.  The goal of this research was to develop a quantitative model of speech communication that is consistent with our knowledge of linguistics and that is accurate enough to predict the intelligibility of speech signals. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the following research questions: 1) how does the acoustic information rate of speech compare to the lexical information rate of speech? 2) How can information theory be used to predict the intelligibility of speech-based communication systems? 3) How well do competing models of speech communication predict intelligibility?  To answer the first research question, novel approaches for estimating the information rate of speech communication are proposed. Unlike existing approaches, the methods proposed in this thesis rely on having a chorus of speech signals where each signal in the chorus contains the same linguistic message, but is spoken by a different talker. The advantage of this approach is that variability inherent in the production of speech can be accounted for. The approach gives an estimate of about 180 b/s. This is three times larger than estimates based on lexical models, but it is an order of magnitude smaller than previous estimates that rely on acoustic signals.  To answer the second research question, a novel instrumental intelligibility metric called speech intelligibility in bits (SIIB) and a variant called SIIBGauss are proposed. SIIB is an estimate of the amount of information shared between a talker and a listener in bits per second. Unlike existing intelligibility metrics that are based on information theory, SIIB accounts for talker variability and statistical dependencies between time-frequency units.   Finally, to answer the third research question, a comprehensive evaluation of intrusive intelligibility metrics is provided. The results show that SIIB and SIIBGauss have state-of-the-art performance, that intelligibility metrics tend to perform poorly on data sets that were not used during their development, and show the advantage of reducing statistical dependencies between input features.</p>


Author(s):  
Benjamin Gagl ◽  
Klara Gregorova ◽  
Julius Golch ◽  
Stefan Hawelka ◽  
Jona Sassenhagen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Dr.Kala Samayan ◽  
Elanthendral C ◽  
Dr.Anamika Hui

Speech has its unique importance as the primary means by which language is expressed in all human cultures. It is a fluid phenomenon, characterized by rapid changes in articulation and its acoustic product. Vowels can differ in acoustic analysis in various aspects because the speech code varies with language, dialect, age and sex and specific physiological constraints of the speaker. Keeping in view that rate brings changes in speech and vowels being more acoustically approachable, it is assumed that there would be changes in vowel acoustics with change in rate of speech. The present study is aimed at understanding the influence of rate of speech on formant frequency of vowel acoustics in two different languages - Bengali (Indo-Aryan) and Tamil (Dravidian). The subjects for the study were grouped based on languages - Group I consisted of 10 males with native language as Bengali, Group II consisted of 10 males with native language as Tamil in the age range of 18 to 28 years. The results shows that the formant frequency of three similar vowels of /a/, /i/ and /u/ in both languages and non-similar/different vowel of /ɔ/ in Bengali and /Ʌ/ in Tamil indicates significant difference in varying speaking rate. The differences in vowel acoustics in varying speaking rate in Tamil and Bengali showed higher duration to read the passage in normal than fast rate. KEYWORDS: Formant frequency, vowel acoustics, Tamil and Bengali


2021 ◽  
pp. e021053
Author(s):  
Alyona Gennadevna Barova ◽  
Ludmila Vladimirovna Trofimova

Linguistics as the science of language, its social nature and functions, the laws of its functioning, historical development includes many sections that consider various aspects of language - first of all, sounds (phonetics, phonology), words (morphology), sentences (syntax) and values (semantics). One of these sections is phono-stylistics, the task of which is to study the sound aspects of speech, the sound organization of the text, and sound effects in a work of art. The phonetic means of stylistics are the frequency of phonemes, sound repetitions, sound reproduction, and rhyme use. The study of a work of art from the point of view of phonetics plays a special role insofar as the analysis of the use of phonetic means (melody, rhythm, tempo, tone, accent, rate of speech, the use of certain sounds) in a text, sound support, stylistic meaning of the subtext helps to reveal the ideological intention of the author and to comprehend the aesthetic and emotional depth of a work. The purpose of this article is to consider the phono-stylistic, or rather rhythmic-intonational, features of Elias Canetti's short prose; for convenience, we will use the term “miniature”, “story” in this article, recognizing certain conventions within this genre modification.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4596
Author(s):  
Valtteri Hongisto ◽  
Jukka Keränen

ISO 3382-3 is globally used to determine the room acoustic conditions of open-plan offices using in situ measurements. The key outcomes of the standard are three single-number quantities: distraction distance, rD, A-weighted sound pressure level of speech, Lp,A,S,4m, and spatial decay rate of speech, D2,S. Quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S describe the attenuation properties of the office due to room and furniture absorption and geometry. Our purpose is to introduce a new single-number quantity, comfort distance rC, which integrates the quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S. It describes the distance from an omnidirectional loudspeaker where the A-weighted sound pressure level of normal speech falls below 45 dB. The study explains why the comfort criterion level is set to 45 dB, explores the comfort distances in 185 offices reported in previous studies. Based on published data, the rC values lie typically within 3 m (strong attenuation) and 30 m (weak attenuation). Based on this data, a classification scheme was proposed. The new quantity could benefit the revised version of ISO 3382-3.


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