scholarly journals Altered auditory feedback induces coupled changes in formant frequencies during speech production

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ding-lan Tang ◽  
Daniel R. Lametti ◽  
Kate E. Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Speech Acoustics ◽  
Articulatory Movements ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Speech Feedback ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
Speech Motor

AbstractSpeaking is one of the most complicated motor behaviours, involving a large number of articulatory muscles which can move independently to command precise changes in speech acoustics. Here, we used real-time manipulations of speech feedback to test whether the acoustics of speech production (e.g. the formants) reflect independently controlled articulatory movements or combinations of movements. During repetitive productions of “head, bed, dead”, either the first (F1) or the second formant (F2) of vowels was shifted and fed back to participants. We then examined whether changes in production in response to these alterations occurred for only the perturbed formant or both formants. In Experiment 1, our results showed that participants who received increased F1 feedback significantly decreased their F1 productions in compensation, but also significantly increased the frequency of their F2 productions. The combined F1-F2 change moved the utterances closer to a known pattern of speech production (i.e. the vowel category “hid, bid, did”). In Experiment 2, we further showed that a downshift in frequency of F2 feedback also induced significant compensatory changes in both the perturbed (F2) and the unperturbed formant (F1) that were in opposite directions. Taken together, the results demonstrate that a shift in auditory feedback of a single formant drives combined changes in related formants. The results suggest that, although formants can be controlled independently, the speech motor system may favour a strategy in which changes in formant production are coupled to maintain speech production within specific regions of the vowel space corresponding to existing speech-sound categories.New & NoteworthyFindings from previous studies examining responses to altered auditory feedback are inconsistent with respect to the changes speakers make to their production. Speakers can compensate by specifically altering their production to offset the acoustic error in feedback. Alternatively, they may compensate by changing their speech production more globally to produce a speech sound closer to an existing category in their repertoire. Our study shows support for the latter strategy.

scholarly journals Consistency influences altered auditory feedback processing

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 2371-2379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias K Franken ◽  
Daniel J Acheson ◽  
James M McQueen ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
Frank Eisner
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Feedback Processing ◽  
Motor Commands ◽  
Consistent Condition ◽  
Consistency Effect ◽  
Speech Motor

Previous research on the effect of perturbed auditory feedback in speech production has focused on two types of responses. In the short term, speakers generate compensatory motor commands in response to unexpected perturbations. In the longer term, speakers adapt feedforward motor programmes in response to feedback perturbations, to avoid future errors. The current study investigated the relation between these two types of responses to altered auditory feedback. Specifically, it was hypothesised that consistency in previous feedback perturbations would influence whether speakers adapt their feedforward motor programmes. In an altered auditory feedback paradigm, formant perturbations were applied either across all trials (the consistent condition) or only to some trials, whereas the others remained unperturbed (the inconsistent condition). The results showed that speakers’ responses were affected by feedback consistency, with stronger speech changes in the consistent condition compared with the inconsistent condition. Current models of speech-motor control can explain this consistency effect. However, the data also suggest that compensation and adaptation are distinct processes, which are not in line with all current models.

Compensation to Altered Auditory Feedback in Children With Developmental Language Disorder and Typical Development

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Caitlin Coughler ◽  
Emily Michaela Hamel ◽  
Janis Oram Cardy ◽  
Lisa M. D. Archibald ◽  
David W. Purcell
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Developmental Language Disorder ◽  
Shift Condition ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Processing Component ◽  
Speech Motor

Purpose Developmental language disorder (DLD), an unexplained problem using and understanding spoken language, has been hypothesized to have an underlying auditory processing component. Auditory feedback plays a key role in speech motor control. The current study examined whether auditory feedback is used to regulate speech production in a similar way by children with DLD and their typically developing (TD) peers. Method Participants aged 6–11 years completed tasks measuring hearing, language, first formant (F1) discrimination thresholds, partial vowel space, and responses to altered auditory feedback with F1 perturbation. Results Children with DLD tended to compensate more than TD children for the positive F1 manipulation and compensated less than TD children in the negative shift condition. Conclusion Our findings suggest that children with DLD make atypical use of auditory feedback.

scholarly journals Recalibration of auditory perception of speech due to orofacial somatosensory inputs during speech motor adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 2076-2084
Author(s):  
Hiroki Ohashi ◽  
Takayuki Ito
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Auditory Perception ◽  
Somatosensory System ◽  
Motor Adaptation ◽  
Forward Direction ◽  
Speech Motor Control ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Speech Motor

Speech motor control and learning rely on both somatosensory and auditory inputs. Somatosensory inputs associated with speech production can also affect the process of auditory perception of speech, and the somatosensory-auditory interaction may play a fundamental role in auditory perception of speech. In this report, we show that the somatosensory system contributes to perceptual recalibration, separate from its role in motor function. Subjects participated in speech motor adaptation to altered auditory feedback. Auditory perception of speech was assessed in phonemic identification tests before and after speech adaptation. To investigate a role of the somatosensory system in motor adaptation and subsequent perceptual change, we applied orofacial skin stretch in either a backward or forward direction during the auditory feedback alteration as a somatosensory modulation. We found that the somatosensory modulation did not affect the amount of adaptation at the end of training, although it changed the rate of adaptation. However, the perception following speech adaptation was altered depending on the direction of the somatosensory modulation. Somatosensory inflow rather than motor outflow thus drives changes to auditory perception of speech following speech adaptation, suggesting that somatosensory inputs play an important role in tuning of perceptual system. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article reports that the somatosensory system works not equally with the motor system, but predominantly in the calibration of auditory perception of speech by speech production.

A Framework of Motoric Complexity: An Investigation in Children With Typical and Impaired Speech Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
pp. 3326-3348
Author(s):  
Julie Case ◽  
Maria I. Grigos
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Speech Sound Disorders ◽  
Childhood Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Motor Variability ◽  
Kinematic Data ◽  
Sound Sequence ◽  
Impaired Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

Introduction The current work presents a framework of motoric complexity where stimuli differ according to movement elements across a sound sequence (i.e., consonant transitions and vowel direction). This framework was then examined in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), other speech sound disorders (SSDs), and typical development (TD). Method Twenty-four children (CAS, n = 8; SSD, n = 8; TD, n = 8), 5–6 years of age, participated in this study. The children produced words that varied in motoric complexity while transcription, acoustic, and kinematic data were collected. Multidimensional analyses were conducted to examine speech production accuracy, speech motor variability, and temporal control. Results Analyses revealed poorer accuracy, longer movement duration, and greater speech motor variability in children with CAS than TD (across all measures) and other SSDs (accuracy and variability). All children demonstrated greater speech motor variability and longer duration as movement demands increased within the framework of motoric complexity. Diagnostic grouping did not mediate performance on this task. Conclusions Results of this study are believed to reveal gradations of complexity with increasing movement demands, thereby supporting the proposed framework of motoric complexity. This work also supports the importance of considering motoric properties of sound sequences when evaluating speech production skills and designing experimental and treatment stimuli.

Prosodic Influences on Speech Production in Children With Specific Language Impairment and Speech Deficits

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1499-1517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Goffman
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Motor Systems ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Production Factors ◽  
Articulatory Movements ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Speech Motor

It is often hypothesized that young children's difficulties with producing weak-strong (iambic) prosodic forms arise from perceptual or linguistically based production factors. A third possible contributor to errors in the iambic form may be biological constraints, or biases, of the motor system. In the present study, 7 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and speech deficits were matched to same age peers. Multiple levels of analysis, including kinematic (modulation and stability of movement), acoustic, and transcription, were applied to children's productions of iambic (weak-strong) and trochaic (strong-weak) prosodic forms. Findings suggest that a motor bias toward producing unmodulated rhythmic articulatory movements, similar to that observed in canonical babbling, contribute to children's acquisition of metrical forms. Children with SLI and speech deficits show less mature segmental and speech motor systems, as well as decreased modulation of movement in later developing iambic forms. Further, components of prosodic and segmental acquisition develop independently and at different rates.

scholarly journals Nonhomogeneous transfer reveals specificity in speech motor learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (6) ◽  
pp. 1711-1717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amélie Rochet-Capellan ◽  
Lara Richer ◽  
David J. Ostry
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Transfer Of Learning ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
Speech Output ◽  
Speech Learning ◽  
Speech Motor ◽  
Adaptation Phase

Does motor learning generalize to new situations that are not experienced during training, or is motor learning essentially specific to the training situation? In the present experiments, we use speech production as a model to investigate generalization in motor learning. We tested for generalization from training to transfer utterances by varying the acoustical similarity between these two sets of utterances. During the training phase of the experiment, subjects received auditory feedback that was altered in real time as they repeated a single consonant-vowel-consonant utterance. Different groups of subjects were trained with different consonant-vowel-consonant utterances, which differed from a subsequent transfer utterance in terms of the initial consonant or vowel. During the adaptation phase of the experiment, we observed that subjects in all groups progressively changed their speech output to compensate for the perturbation (altered auditory feedback). After learning, we tested for generalization by having all subjects produce the same single transfer utterance while receiving unaltered auditory feedback. We observed limited transfer of learning, which depended on the acoustical similarity between the training and the transfer utterances. The gradients of generalization observed here are comparable to those observed in limb movement. The present findings are consistent with the conclusion that speech learning remains specific to individual instances of learning.

scholarly journals Understanding rumination as a form of inner speech: probing the role of motor processes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ladislas Nalborczyk
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
Condensed Form ◽  
Verbal Process ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Overt Speech ◽  
Speech Motor

Rumination is known to be a predominantly verbal process and has been proposed to be considered as such as a dysfunctional form of inner speech (i.e., the silent production of words in one’s mind). On the other hand, research on the psychophysiology of inner speech revealed that the neural processes involved in overt and covert speech tend to be very similar. This is coherent with the idea that some forms of inner speech could be considered as a kind of simulation of overt speech, in the same way as imagined actions can be considered as the result of a simulation of the corresponding overt action (e.g., walking and imagined walking). In other words, the motor simulation hypothesis suggests that the speech motor system should be involved as well during inner speech production. The corollary hypothesis might be drawn, according to which the production of inner speech (and rumination) should be disrupted by a disruption of the speech motor system. We conducted a series of five studies aiming to probe the role of the speech motor system in rumination. Overall, our results highlight that although verbal rumination may be considered as a form of inner speech, it might not specifically involve the speech motor system. More precisely, we argue that rumination might be considered as a particularly strongly condensed form of inner speech that does not systematically involve fully specified articulatory features. We discuss these findings in relation to the habit-goal framework of depressive rumination and we discuss the implications of these findings for theories of inner speech production.

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