Speech and Hearing Science Final

Hearing, perception, application, history, special forms of speech, diversity, vocal signals, group videos

how does helium change speech

• it goes three times faster than in air

what do we produce sound with since there are no speech organs

• the articulators

source filter theory parts

• source = larynx (makes fundamental and harmonics)

• filter = vocal tract

what type of harmonics are the best

• those that are near formant frequencies resonate and have high amplitudes

  • Those far away from the formant frequencies will be attenuated

speech recorded at the mouth shows both…

• sourc enad filter characteristics

what framework helps us understand non-typical forms of speech production and other forms of sound production

• source filter theory

what is snoring

• non-speech sound

• when the muscles in the throat relax too much

• you are attmepting to breathe through a small opening

• the soft palate vibrates

what is whistling

• non-speech sound

• carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small opening through the lips

  • the tube created functions as a resonant chamber

• has clearly dark bars on spectrogram

  • sound energy is concentrated on a particular frequency

hearing vs speech

• hearing

  • from the ear to the brain

  • receiving and recognizing the acoustic signal

• speech

  • from the brain to the mouth

    • creation of an acoustic signal

sensation

• when you just experience language without interpreting it

perception

• when you bring linguistic knowledge to sensation

outer ear general role

• catching the sound

middle ear general role

• mechanical transmission

inner ear general role

• convserion to neuroelectrical stimuli

parts of the outer ear

• outer ear canal

• pinna

• external auditory meatus

pinna

• outer ear

• external cartilagnious flap

• protects our hole

external auditory meatus

• canal to tympanic membrane

• outer ear

sounds how many times of the wavelength will be reflected

• 3

do low or high frequency sounds reach the ear canal more easily

• low frequencies

  • because these have longer/larger wavelengths so it will easily bend around an obstacle

when someone is speaking to you from behind what types of sounds are reflected and which enter the ear canal (high or low)

• low will enter the ear canal and high will be reflected

if someone is standing in front of you what frequencies will reach the ear canal

• all frequencies reach the ear canal equally well

acoustic shadow/sound shadow

• area where sound waves fail to propagate

  • due to obstructions

doppler effect

• the change in frequency of a wave for an observer relative to its source

  • depends on the speed of the source and the position of the observer

• when the sound source is approaching you are getting the high frequency and pitch and when it moves away you are getting the low one

why do we stand away from the platform

• because of bernouli effect

the outer ear canal is like a tube

• resonantes certain frequencies

• like our tube in the vocal tract

kids have higher resonance frequencies because the value of L is less

which part of the ear is fluid filled

• inner

middle ear ossicles sit between…

• the tympanic membrane and the oval window

the oval window and the round window sit where in the middle ear

• in the medial wall of the middle ear

what happens when the oval window is pushed inwards by the stirrup

• the round window bulges out

air conduction

• the middle ear route for sounds to the inner ear

bone conduction

• the route to the inner ear via the skull

components of inner ear

• vestibular system

• cochlea

vestibular system

• sense of motion and position

• plays a role in balance

• semicircular canals

• vestibule

cochlea

• sense of hearing

• basilar membrane

• organ of corti

• tectorial membrane

describe cochlea

• behind the oval and round window

• has 2 membranes

• 3 winding corridors

what is the fluid in the cochlea

• perilymph

  • on the outside

• and then in third corridor is endolymph

  • in middle corridor

tip of the cochlea

• apex

where is the base of the cochlea

• where the shell is the broadest

where is the basilar membrane of the cochlea

• the place where it is the smallest

tip of the cochlea

• at the end of the winding part of the cochlea

• the broadest and less rigid

  • so doesn’t vibrate at high frequencies

orggan of corti

• the collection of cells that can convert vibrations into neural activity

• frequency filter

what is the organ of corti covered by

• the tectonal membrane

which parts of the organ of corti convert low frequencies into nerve fiber firings

• the apical region

which parts of the organ of corti convert high frequencies into nerve fiber firings

• the basal region

when a speech sound enters the cochlea, its harmonics and formants will be processed in different sections and will be delievered to different regions on the temporal lobes of the cortex

auditory nerve

• cochlear and vestibular branches pass through internal auditory meatus

where do most fibers decussate

• in the brainstem

  • pass through midbrain

  • most fibers go on to aduitory cortex in temporal lobes

disorder of hearing

• deaf

• don’t have normal auditory input

disorder of perception

• hearing is normal but sounds aren’t interpreted appropriately

lower frequency cues

• vowel formants

higher frequency cues

• noise bursts

do consonants always have a smaller/larger amplitude than vowels

• smaller amplitude than vowels

• so it goes up and down when there are vowels there

• vowels have low frequencies and consonants have higher

amplitude cues

• segmentation: number of words/sylllables

• manner of articulation: vowel/nasal/plosive/fricative

fast temporal cues

• periodicity due to voicing

speech recognition thereshold

• the decibel level a word list must have for a listener to understand and repeat 50% of it

spondaic words

• 2 stressed syllables

how is the speech recogonition thereshold for spondaic words

• better because of the redundancy

lombard effect

• the sound pressure level of spontaneous speech grows when noise is introduced

what is the main hindrance in noisy settings

• the distortation effect

signal-to-noise ratio

• signal is what you are trying to hear

• noise is all the things in the background

• signal level - noise level

what is negative signal-to-noise ratio

• background noise is louder than the speech

• can’t really hear it

what does positive signal-to-noise ratio meaning

• signal is louder than the noise

  • this is better because that means your friend is speaking louder

visemes

• visible sounds

  • more visemes is better

viseme-to-phoneme

• the ratio to which the words produced have visemes present

  • if there is a viseme in each word this ratio is 1

doppler effect and wavelength

• wavelength in front is shorter so that means there is a higher pitch/frequency

which part of the ear (middle, outer, inner) is the cochlea

• the inner ear

what helps discriminate where the sound is

• the flaps/pinna

small ear canal

• frequencies that are reinforced are higher than you would if longer ear canal

• longer ear canal is lower frequencies

sound from ear drum gets pumped against, gets transmitted to oval window, which then transmits to the inner ear

which is bigger ear drum or oval window

• ear drum

when pressure is put on eardrum from the sound it puts the pressure on the oval window which is much smaller and that means the tone is more concentrated in the oval window, and more spread out at the ear drum

when you speak you hear a mixture of

• air and bone conduction

you hear yourself with a higher or lower frequency

• higher

cochlea (lecture)

• transmission from mechanical to electrical

what do you rub against to give a stimuli to the brain

• tectorial membrane

most important corridor of cochlea is the

middle one

tonotopic organization

• how different parts of the cohlea vibrate at different frequencies

• apex is is wider

• shorter region bottom of cochlea vibrate the fastest

organ of corti

• collection of hair cells

at 50 db the sound is really clear

is speech perception active or passive

• an active process

  • as soon as th eacoustic info reaches the cortex, the brain actively starts to try to interpret it to make sense of the info

habituation technique

• if the same stimulus is repeatedly used the response wears off

  • if a new stimulus is given it will revive it

• if a baby doesn’t move when they hear a new word then you know they haven’t learned

categorical perception

• the ability to discriminate only as well as one can identiy

• tendency to assign what you percieve to an existing language category

• a change in some variable along a continum is percieved but NOT as gradual but as instances of discrete categories

• you will know when a word has changed and you can’t live with the fact that it can be both like the cup into a bowl slide

the processing mode to which the listener is tuned may affect perception

auditory mode

• listeners hear non-speech info and processess it in an auditory way

  • just processesing it without using phonetic info, which is inaccessible

phonetic mode

• listener hears speech info and processes it phonetically

  • acoustic/auditory info is inacessible

if you are a phonetic listener

• you can’t hear the sine-wave to start with

if you are an auditory listener to become a phonetic listener

• they have to read the sentence and after that there is no goign back to being an auditory listener

quantal theory

• certain relative large change in articulatory position cause little change in the acoustic position cause little change in the acoustic signal, whereas other relatively small changes in articulator placement cause large changes in the acoustic signal

• why a tiny change suddenly flips a sound

what formant does l and r use & describe it for each

• the third one

• low for r

• high for l

what is a way to show that speech is an active process

• phonemic restoration

voiceless consonants have a longer or shorter VOT

• longer

  • takes more time to get it started

localization

• the attempts to identify regions in the brain that are responsible for specific parts of psychological functions

• brain isn’t just one thing

• there are differnt parts doing different things

lateralization

• the process during which one side of the brain becomes dominant in performing specific (parts of) function

• 2 parts of brain that work as a team

types of aphasia

• broca’s and wernicke’s

broca’s aphasia

• motor programming problems but comprehension can be intact

• speaking and using language is different

• class…..today……….

wernicke’s aphasia

• trouble with linguistically decoding auditory info

• speak nonsense

dichotic listening

• when different messages are displayed to left and right ear

• technique used to see how laterlizaed you are to language

which ear is better at decoding things

• the right because it is connected to the left hemisphere and that is the one with connections with like your frontal lobe and things like that

any speech perception theory has to account for:

• variability

• categorization of stream of co-articulated speech sounds