408 research outputs found

    Data-driven Speech Intelligibility Enhancement and Prediction for Hearing Aids

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    Hearing impairment is a widespread problem around the world. It is estimated that one in six people are living with some degree of hearing loss. Moderate and severe hearing impairment has been recognised as one of the major causes of disability, which is associated with declines in the quality of life, mental illness and dementia. However, investigation shows that only 10-20\% of older people with significant hearing impairment wear hearing aids. One of the main factors causing the low uptake is that current devices struggle to help hearing aid users understand speech in noisy environments. For the purpose of compensating for the elevated hearing thresholds and dysfunction of source separation processing caused by the impaired auditory system, amplification and denoising have been the major focuses of current hearing aid studies to improve the intelligibility of speech in noise. Also, it is important to derive a metric that can fairly predict speech intelligibility for the better development of hearing aid techniques. This thesis aims to enhance the speech intelligibility of hearing impaired listeners. Motivated by the success of data-driven approaches in many speech processing applications, this work proposes the differentiable hearing aid speech processing (DHASP) framework to optimise both the amplification and denoising modules within a hearing aid processor. This is accomplished by setting an intelligibility-based optimisation objective and taking advantage of large-scale speech databases to train the hearing aid processor to maximise the intelligibility for the listeners. The first set of experiments is conducted on both clean and noisy speech databases, and the results from objective evaluation suggest that the amplification fittings optimised within the DHASP framework can outperform a widely used and well-recognised fitting. The second set of experiments is conducted on a large-scale database with simulated domestic noisy scenes. The results from both objective and subjective evaluations show that the DHASP-optimised hearing aid processor incorporating a deep neural network-based denoising module can achieve competitive performance in terms of intelligibility enhancement. A precise intelligibility predictor can provide reliable evaluation results to save the cost of expensive and time-consuming subjective evaluation. Inspired by the findings that automatic speech recognition (ASR) models show similar recognition results as humans in some experiments, this work exploits ASR models for intelligibility prediction. An intrusive approach using ASR hidden representations and a non-intrusive approach using ASR uncertainty are proposed and explained in the third and fourth experimental chapters. Experiments are conducted on two databases, one with monaural speech in speech-spectrum-shaped noise with normal hearing listeners, and the other one with processed binaural speech in domestic noise with hearing impaired listeners. Results suggest that both the intrusive and non-intrusive approaches can achieve top performances and outperform a number of widely used intelligibility prediction approaches. In conclusion, this thesis covers both the enhancement and prediction of speech intelligibility for hearing aids. The proposed hearing aid processor optimised within the proposed DHASP framework can significantly improve the intelligibility of speech in noise for hearing impaired listeners. Also, it is shown that the proposed ASR-based intelligibility prediction approaches can achieve state-of-the-art performances against a number of widely used intelligibility predictors

    Vocal emotions on the brain: the role of acoustic parameters and musicality

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    The human voice is a powerful transmitter of emotions. This dissertation addresses three main gaps in the field of vocal emotion perception. The first is the quantification of the relative contribution of fundamental frequency (F0) and timbre cues to the perception of different emotions and their associated electrophysiological correlates. Using parameter-specific voice morphing, the results show that both F0 and timbre carry unique information that allow emotional inferences, although F0 seems to be relatively more important overall. The electrophysiological data revealed F0- and timbre-specific modulations in several ERP components, such as the P200 and the N400. Second, it was explored how musicality affects the processing of emotional voice cues, by providing a review on the literature linking musicality to emotion perception and subsequently showing that musicians have a benefit in vocal emotion perception compared to non-musicians. The present data offer original insight into the special role of pitch cues: musicians outperformed non-musicians when emotions were expressed by the pitch contour only, but not when they were expressed by vocal timbre. Although the electrophysiological patterns were less conclusive, they imply that musicality may modulate brain responses to vocal emotions. Third, this work provides a critical reflection on parameter-specific voice morphing and its suitability to study the processing of vocal emotions. Distortions in voice naturalness resulting from extreme acoustic manipulations were identified as one of the major threats to the ecological validity of the stimulus material produced with this technique. However, the results suggested that while voice morphing does affect the perceived naturalness of stimuli, behavioral measures of emotion perception were found to be remarkably robust against these distortions. Thus, the present data advocate parameter-specific voice morphing as a valid tool for vocal emotional research

    Conference Proceedings of the Euroregio / BNAM 2022 Joint Acoustic Conference

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    Communication with diminutives to young children vs. pets in German, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian, and English

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    This contribution is dedicated to Steven Gillis with whom we have collaborated since the nineties within the “Crosslinguistic Project on Pre- and Protomorphology in Language Acquisition” on both child speech (CS) and child-directed speech (CDS) and also about the development of diminutives (DIMs). We investigate parallels in the use of DIMs and of hypocoristics (HYPs) between CDS and pet-directed speech (PDS), whereas CS is only marginally dealt with. When relevant, also adult-directed speech (ADS), written or oral (especially from electronic corpora, wherever available) will be compared. The presuppositions of this investigation will be stated at the beginning of the Introduction (§ 1). This involves several innovations (beyond descriptions of new data), when compared with existing literature, relevant to theoretical and typological problem areas. We will show that also in DIMs and HYPs used in CDS and PDS semantics only plays a partial or even marginal role when using more DIMs to communicate with young children and young and/or small pets, because it is more relevant that both younger and smaller pets are emotionally closer to us, which is again a pragmatic factor. In regard to language typology, we will apply our concepts of morphological richness and productivity, as argued for and supported in our previous publications, to CDS and PDS and show that richer and more productive patterns of DIM formation of a language also have a typological impact on more frequent and more productive use both in CDS and PDS. We will also apply our concepts of grading morphosemantic transparency/opacity, as argued for and supported in our previous publications, and we start to show, as al- ready shown for CS, that also in CDS towards young children (and similarly in PDS) more morphosemantically transparent DIMs are used than in ADS. This is also connected to their predominantly pragmatic meanings in CDS and PDS (obviously not exclusively pragmatic as in early CS). The languages and authors were selected according to who among the participants in the Crosslinguistic Project on Pre- and Protomorphology in Language Acquisition had CDS and PDS available, plus Elisa Mattiello who has collected English and Italian PDS data.Dit artikel gaat over het gebruik van verkleinwoorden en koosnamen (hypocoristics) in twee taalregisters: taal gericht tot kinderen (child-directed speech, CDS) en taal gericht tot huisdieren (pet-directed speech, PDS). De semantiek van verkleinwoorden blijkt een minder grote rol te spelen dan de pragmatiek: de emotionele nabijheid van kinderen en huisdieren. De studie, waarin vijf talen worden vergeleken, verkent ook de typolo- gie: de morfologische rijkdom van verkleinwoorden in een taal beïnvloedt de produc- tie.Daarnaast speelt de semantische transparantie van verkleinwoorden crosslinguïs- tisch een rol. In CDS en PDS worden meer transparante verkleinwoorden gebruikt

    Fusion, 2022

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    https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/smhs_fusion/1014/thumbnail.jp

    Influences de l'environnement linguistique prénatal sur l'émergence des réseaux langagiers à la naissance

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    Essai doctoral prĂ©sentĂ© Ă  la FacultĂ© des arts et sciences en vue de l’obtention du grade de Doctorat en psychologie, option neuropsychologie clinique (D. Psy.)Au cours du dĂ©veloppement, les rĂ©seaux cĂ©rĂ©braux s’organisent pour traiter plus efficacement et mieux percevoir les stimuli les plus pertinents dans l’environnement. DĂ©jĂ  lors des premiĂšres heures suivant la naissance, les nouveau-nĂ©s montrent un traitement cĂ©rĂ©bral spĂ©cifique pour leur langue maternelle comparativement Ă  des langues Ă©trangĂšres, ce qui se manifeste par une implication plus importante des rĂ©seaux fonctionnels de l’hĂ©misphĂšre gauche. Notre comprĂ©hension des origines de cette organisation fonctionnelle demeure toutefois limitĂ©e, notamment en lien avec l’expĂ©rience linguistique durant la pĂ©riode prĂ©natale. Pour ce faire, nous avons Ă©tudiĂ© l’impact d’une exposition prĂ©natale contrĂŽlĂ©e Ă  une langue Ă©trangĂšre sur le traitement cĂ©rĂ©bral et la spĂ©cialisation hĂ©misphĂ©rique du langage Ă  la naissance. Nous avons utilisĂ© la spectroscopie prĂšs du spectre de l’infrarouge pour estimer la rĂ©ponse cĂ©rĂ©brale de 53 nouveau-nĂ©s Ă  leur langue maternelle (français) ainsi qu’à deux langues Ă©trangĂšres (allemand et hĂ©breu). Deux groupes avaient prĂ©alablement Ă©tĂ© familiarisĂ©s Ă  l’une de ces langues Ă©trangĂšres durant leur dernier mois de gestation, alors qu’un groupe contrĂŽle n’avait eu aucune exposition prĂ©natale Ă  ces stimuli. Nos rĂ©sultats ont rĂ©vĂ©lĂ© une spĂ©cialisation hĂ©misphĂ©rique en rĂ©gion temporo-pariĂ©tale gauche qui sous-tend le traitement de la langue maternelle Ă  la naissance, et ce, indĂ©pendamment de l’expĂ©rience prĂ©natale. Par ailleurs, les patrons de rĂ©ponse cĂ©rĂ©brale aux langues Ă©trangĂšres se distinguaient en fonction la manipulation expĂ©rimentale de l’expĂ©rience linguistique prĂ©natale. En effet, les nouveau-nĂ©s familiarisĂ©s Ă  l’allemand in utero manifestaient notamment une activation plus grande et Ă©galement latĂ©ralisĂ©e dans l’hĂ©misphĂšre gauche en rĂ©ponse Ă  l’allemand, ce qui n’était pas observĂ© ni dans le groupe familiarisĂ© Ă  l’hĂ©breu ni dans le groupe contrĂŽle. Ceci suggĂšre que l’organisation cĂ©rĂ©brale Ă  la naissance montrerait des traces d’apprentissage prĂ©natal. Toutefois, la divergence des rĂ©ponses en fonction de la langue exposĂ©e in utero sous-entend que cet apprentissage prĂ©natal serait modulĂ© par les propriĂ©tĂ©s phonologiques des langues. En somme, cet essai met en lumiĂšre l’implication tant de la familiaritĂ©, dĂ©coulant de l’environnement linguistique in utero, que de caractĂ©ristiques phonologiques des langues dans le dĂ©veloppement des rĂ©seaux langagiers durant la pĂ©riode pĂ©rinatale.Throughout development, our brain networks adapt to environmentally relevant stimuli to enable a more efficient processing and to refine our perceptual abilities. From the first hours after birth, the newborn brain already displays a specialized processing of his/her native language in comparison to unfamiliar languages, revealed by a larger involvement of left hemispheric functional networks. However, our understanding of the origin of this functional brain organization remains limited, especially in regard to the influence of the linguistic experience during the prenatal stage. The current doctoral essay aims to better understand how the prenatal linguistic environment modulates the development of precursor language networks at birth. To do so, we investigated the impact of a controlled prenatal exposure to an unfamiliar language on the newborn brain processing and hemispheric specialization. We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to estimate the brain responses of 53 newborns to their native language (French) and two unfamiliar languages (German and Hebrew). During their last month of gestation, two groups were repeatedly exposed to either one of the unfamiliar languages, while a control group received no prenatal exposure to those stimuli. Our results revealed that all newborns displayed a left hemispheric advantage in the temporo-parietal region for their native language, regardless of their prenatal exposure. Moreover, the experimental manipulation of newborns’ prenatal experience triggered a differentiated response pattern when processing non-native languages. Indeed, German-exposed newborns exhibited a left asymmetry and an increased activation in response to the prenatally familiarized German, which was not observed in either the Hebrew-exposed or control newborns. This suggests that the cerebral organization at birth displays evidence of prenatal experience-dependent learning. However, the different cerebral patterns in regard of which language was exposed in utero indicate that phonological properties of the languages may modulate prenatal learning. In sum, this essay highlights that both familiarity, originating from the prenatal linguistic environment, and phonology shape brain language networks during early perinatal development

    Lapseeas alanud pÀrilike neuromuskulaarsete haiguste molekulaargeneetiliste ja morfoloogiliste uuringutulemuste vÔrdlus

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    VĂ€itekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioonePĂ€rilike neuromuskulaarsete haiguste (NMH-de) alla kuuluvad seljaaju motoneuronite, nĂ€rvide, nĂ€rv-lihas ĂŒlekande ja lihaste talitluse hĂ€ired, mis on pĂ”hjustatud ĂŒhe geeni veast. Nende haiguste diagnoosimisel on lisaks patsiendi haigusloole ja lĂ€bivaatusele abiks erinevad instrumentaalsed uuringud, sealhulgas lihasbiopsia. Lihaskoe analĂŒĂŒsimiseks kasutatakse mitmeid erinevaid vĂ€rvinguid ja tehnikaid, mis vĂ”imaldavad nĂ€ha lihaskiudude struktuuri, keemilisi ja ensĂŒmaatilisi omadusi ning erinevate valkude olemasolu vĂ”i puudumist. Lihaskoe histoloogilised muutused on ajalooliselt olnud aluseks mitmete pĂ€rilike NMH-de tuvastamisele ja diagnoosimisele ning andnud suuna, milliseid geene uurida. Kuid tĂ€napĂ€eval on vĂ”imalik ĂŒhe analĂŒĂŒsiga (kogu eksoomi sekveneerimine) uurida kĂ”iki geene korraga, mis on nĂ€idanud ka head diagnostilist efektiivsust. Seega on lihasbiopsia roll NMH-de diagnostikas muutumas. KĂ€esolevasse uuringusse kaasati 70 pĂ€riliku NMH vĂ”i mitokondriaalse haiguse kahtlusega patsienti, kellest 44-l kinnitus geneetiline diagnoos. Uuringust selgus, et lihasbiopsia mĂ€ngis diagnostilises protsessis olulist rolli paljudel juhtudel, kusjuures 15 patsiendi lihaskoes esinesid spetsiifilised histoloogilised muutused. Mitmel juhul oli lihasbiopsia vajalik mitokondriaalses DNA-s esinevate muutuste tuvastamiseks. Lisaks andsid lihaskoest tehtud uuringud vÀÀrtuslikku lisainformatsiooni paljudel juhtudel, kus geneetilisel analĂŒĂŒsil leiti varem kirjeldamata geenivariant, tuvastati muutused kandidaatgeenis vĂ”i kus leide polnudki. NĂ€iteks ĂŒhel lihasdĂŒstroofiaga patsiendil avastasime muutused uudses JAG2 geenis, mille haigusseoselisus kinnitus rahvusvahelise koostöö tulemusena. Uurides geenide ja teatud valkude avaldumist selle patsiendi lihaskoes, saime viite, et haiguse teke vĂ”ib olla seotud lihase tĂŒvirakkude talitluse hĂ€irumisega. Samas enamikel peamiselt kesknĂ€rvisĂŒsteemi mĂ”jutava haigusega patsientidel ei andnud lihasbiopsia informatsiooni juurde. Lisaks kirjeldati SPATA5 geeni defekti seost mitokondrite talitluse ja nĂ€rvijĂ€tkete kasvu hĂ€iretega ning ĂŒhte patsienti, kellel oli kahtlus kongenitaalsele mĂŒopaatiale, kuid diagnoositi hoopis PRPS1 geeniga seotud puriinide ainevahetushaigus.Hereditary neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) include spinal motor neuron, nerve, neuromuscular junction, and muscle diseases caused by a single gene defect. In addition to the patient's disease history and examination, the diagnosis of NMDs can be reached using various instrumental investigations, including muscle biopsy. Several different stains and techniques are used to analyze muscle tissue, showing the structure and chemical and enzymatic properties of muscle fibers and the presence or absence of various proteins. Histological changes in muscle tissue have historically been the basis for identifying and diagnosing several hereditary NMDs and have provided guidance on which genes to study. However, nowadays, it is possible to study all genes at once with one analysis (whole exome sequencing), which has also shown good diagnostic efficiency. Thus, the role of muscle biopsy in NMD diagnostics is changing. The present study included 70 patients with a suspected hereditary NMD or mitochondrial disease, of whom 44 received a genetic diagnosis. The study found that muscle biopsy played a vital role in the diagnostic process in many cases, with 15 patients having specific histological changes in the muscle tissue. In several cases, a muscle biopsy was necessary to detect changes in mitochondrial DNA. In addition, studies of muscle tissue provided valuable additional information in many cases with previously undescribed gene variants, changes in a candidate gene, or without genetic findings. For example, in one patient with muscular dystrophy, we discovered changes in the new JAG2 gene and confirmed its disease association owing to international cooperation. Of note, by studying the expression of genes and specific proteins in the muscle tissue of this patient, we got an indication that the development of the disease may be related to the dysfunction of muscle stem cells. However, muscle biopsy did not provide additional information in most patients with a disease affecting the central nervous system. Lastly, the dissertation described the association of SPATA5 gene defect with mitochondrial dysfunction and nerve growth impairment and one patient with a suspected congenital myopathy, eventually diagnosed with PRPS1 gene-related inborn error of purine metabolism.https://www.ester.ee/record=b552434
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