Individual and environment-related acoustic-phonetic strategies for communicating in adverse conditions

In many situations it is necessary to produce speech in ‘adverse conditions’: that is, conditions that make speech communication difficult. Research has demonstrated that speaker strategies, as described by a range of acoustic-phonetic measures, can vary both at the individual level and according to the environment, and are argued to facilitate communication. There has been debate as to the environmental specificity of these adaptations, and their effectiveness in overcoming communication difficulty. Furthermore, the manner and extent to which adaptation strategies differ between individuals is not yet well understood. This thesis presents three studies that explore the acoustic-phonetic adaptations of speakers in noisy and degraded communication conditions and their relationship with intelligibility. Study 1 investigated the effects of temporally fluctuating maskers on global acoustic-phonetic measures associated with speech in noise (Lombard speech). The results replicated findings of increased power in the modulation spectrum in Lombard speech, but showed little evidence of adaptation to masker fluctuations via the temporal envelope. Study 2 collected a larger corpus of semi-spontaneous communicative speech in noise and other degradations perturbing specific acoustic dimensions. Speakers showed different adaptations across the environments that were likely suited to overcome noise (steady and temporally fluctuating), restricted spectral and pitch information by a noise-excited vocoder, and a sensorineural hearing loss simulation. Analyses of inter-speaker variation in both studies 1 and 2 showed behaviour was highly variable and some strategy combinations were identified. Study 3 investigated the intelligibility of strategies ‘tailored’ to specific environments and the relationship between intelligibility and speaker acoustics, finding a benefit of tailored speech adaptations and discussing the potential roles of speaker flexibility, adaptation level, and intrinsic intelligibility. The overall results are discussed in relation to models of communication in adverse conditions and a model accounting for individual variability in these conditions is proposed

IberSPEECH 2020: XI Jornadas en Tecnología del Habla and VII Iberian SLTech

IberSPEECH2020 is a two-day event, bringing together the best researchers and practitioners in speech and language technologies in Iberian languages to promote interaction and discussion. The organizing committee has planned a wide variety of scientific and social activities, including technical paper presentations, keynote lectures, presentation of projects, laboratories activities, recent PhD thesis, discussion panels, a round table, and awards to the best thesis and papers. The program of IberSPEECH2020 includes a total of 32 contributions that will be presented distributed among 5 oral sessions, a PhD session, and a projects session. To ensure the quality of all the contributions, each submitted paper was reviewed by three members of the scientific review committee. All the papers in the conference will be accessible through the International Speech Communication Association (ISCA) Online Archive. Paper selection was based on the scores and comments provided by the scientific review committee, which includes 73 researchers from different institutions (mainly from Spain and Portugal, but also from France, Germany, Brazil, Iran, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ucrania, Slovenia). Furthermore, it is confirmed to publish an extension of selected papers as a special issue of the Journal of Applied Sciences, “IberSPEECH 2020: Speech and Language Technologies for Iberian Languages”, published by MDPI with fully open access. In addition to regular paper sessions, the IberSPEECH2020 scientific program features the following activities: the ALBAYZIN evaluation challenge session.Red Española de Tecnologías del Habla. Universidad de Valladoli

Articulatory characteristics of sibilant production in young people with Down's syndrome

Speech production in children with Down’s syndrome (DS) has been found to be variable and inconsistent. Errors are concentrated in consonants that are typically late developing, such as fricatives. It has been suggested that inconsistency in speech production in DS is a result of a motor speech deficit but there is little detailed articulatory evidence to support this claim. This study (with data from MRC grant ‘Assessment and Treatment of Impaired Speech Motor Control in Children with Down's syndrome’ (G0401388)) provides a detailed phonetic analysis of the voiceless sibilants /s/ and /ʃ/, in a group of young people with DS, by means of auditory and articulatory analysis. The aim of the study is to assess fine motor ability and articulation variability at word level production in a group of speakers with well-established difficulties in speech articulation. The study analysed data from 25 children with DS, 10 typically developing children and 8 adult speakers, recorded using EPG. Perceptual measures were compared with quantitative analyses of EPG data, along with visual analysis of articulation patterns based on a new set of articulation taxonomies. The data is presented by group and in the form of 5 case studies. The case studies provide a means to analyse the relationship between articulation and auditory information in detail and to compare these with supplementary motor control measures. The results show presence of atypical articulation patterns for speakers with DS for both perceptually acceptable tokens, and those in error. Higher levels of within-speaker articulation variability are presented in comparison to the TD control group. Further findings suggest presence of articulation patterns in the TD speakers previously unidentified in EPG studies. Similar to previous studies, the results find that speakers with DS are a highly variable group and that speakers display a combination of typical and atypical speech patterns, influenced by speech motor control difficulties.sub_shsunpub2190_ethesesunpu

L’apport de la voix chantée pour l’intégration phonético-phonologique d’une langue étrangère : application auprès d’italophones apprenants de FLE

Specialists in didactics aim to create an efficient method, whose teaching / learning content and tools improve phonetic skills in foreign languages. As for the educational content, research studies have proved that sounds and phonemes of a foreign language are processed according to the structure of the phonetic and phonological space of the native language. Other works point out that it is particularly relevant to compare linguistic systems in order to predict future difficulties and abilities language learners will be confronted with. As for transmission tools, studies have shown the beneficial effects of interdisciplinarity and the pertinent role music plays on cognitive and learning development. Our research objective falls within this scientific context. Our purpose has been two-fold. First, we tried to identify which parameter, related to the production of the singing voice whilst separate from the speaking voice, may facilitate the perception of non-native vowels. Secondly, we aimed at comparing the effects on the ability to produce non-native vowels of two corrective phonetic methods, one of which used the “singing voice” tool. Through the results of these studies, we tried to understand how Italian as a native language interacts with the perception and the production of French as a target language. Our studies have shown that vowel pitch and duration do not impact the discrimination of /y/ and /ø/, and that the consonant sharpness plays a role on the discrimination of /y/ in a CV type syllable. We found a positive effect of the method, which uses singing-voice as a tool, on the production of the sound spectrum of French closed vowels, but not on the evolution of the sounds and phonemes into the acoustic space. Our results support the theory that phonetic teaching and learning is relevant in language classes and suggest that singing-voice may be a useful tool to ease the perception and the production of non-native vowels.L’objectif du didacticien est d’élaborer une méthode performante dont le contenu et les outils d’enseignement-apprentissage améliorent les compétences phonétiques en langue étrangère. Concernant le contenu pédagogique, les travaux ont montré que les sons et les phonèmes d’une langue inconnue sont traités selon l’organisation de l’espace phonétique et phonologique de la langue maternelle. Les recherches mettent en avant l’intérêt de confronter les systèmes linguistiques afin de prédire les difficultés et les facilités auxquelles seront exposés les apprenants de langue. S’agissant des outils de transmission, les études montrent les effets bénéfiques de l’interdisciplinarité et le rôle pertinent de la musique sur le développement cognitif et des apprentissages. Notre objectif de recherche s’inscrit dans ce contexte scientifique. Notre intérêt est double. D’abord, nous avons tenté d’identifier quel paramètre, inhérent à l’émission en voix chantée et la différenciant de la voix parlée, pouvait faciliter la perception de voyelles non-natives. Ensuite, nous avons souhaité comparer les effets sur la compétence de production de voyelles non-natives de deux méthodes de corrections phonétique, l’une des deux exploitant l’outil « voix chantée ». À travers les résultats de ces études, nous avons essayé de saisir le rôle de l’italien langue maternelle sur la perception et la production du français langue cible. Nos travaux n’ont pas mis en évidence d’effet des modalités fréquence fondamentale et allongement de la durée vocalique sur la discrimination perceptive des voyelles non natives /y/ et /ø/, mais ils suggèrent un rôle du contexte prévocalique sur la perception de la voyelle non-native /y/ en contraste /u/. Nous avons trouvé un effet favorable de la méthode de correction phonétique incluant la pratique chantée sur la production du spectre sonore des voyelles fermées du français, mais pas sur l’évolution des catégories phonologiques à l’intérieur de l’espace acoustique vocalique. Les résultats de ces études soutiennent la théorie que l’enseignement-apprentissage de la phonétique a sa place en classe de langue, et suggèrent que la voix chantée serait, sous certaines conditions, un outil pertinent pour faciliter la perception et la production de voyelles non-natives.L’obiettivo dell’esperto di didattica è di elaborare un metodo efficace, il cui contenuto e gli strumenti d’insegnamento-apprendimento migliorino le competenze fonetiche in lingua straniera. Riguardo al contenuto pedagogico, le nostre ricerche hanno dimostrato che i suoni e i fonemi di una lingua sconosciuta sono trattati secondo l’organizzazione dello spazio fonetico e fonologico della lingua materna. Queste ricerche evidenziano l’utilità di confrontare sistemi linguistici differenti al fine di predire le difficoltà e le agevolazioni a cui sono esposti gli studenti di lingua straniera come lingua seconda (L2). Per quanto concerne gli strumenti d’insegnamento e apprendimento, le nostre ricerche dimostrano gli effetti benefici dell’interdisciplinarità ma anche del ruolo pertinente della musica sullo sviluppo cognitivo e sul piano degli studenti. Il nostro interesse di ricerca è doppio. In primo luogo, abbiamo tentato d’identificare quale parametro, inerente alla produzione in voce cantata e che la distingue della produzione del parlato, potesse agevolare la percezione di vocali assenti dalla lingua materna. In seguito, abbiamo voluto confrontare gli effetti di due metodi di correzione fonetica, uno dei quali sfrutta lo strumento “voce cantata”, sulla competenza di produzione delle vocali del francese /y ø/ non presenti nel sistema vocalico dei locutori di italiano madrelingua. I risultati di questi studi contribuiscono ad individuare l’impatto dell’italiano madrelingua sulla produzione e sulla percezione del francese lingua d’apprendimento. I nostri lavori non hanno evvidenziato un effetto delle modalità pitch e durata d’emissione della vocale /y/ e della vocale /ø/ sulla loro discriminazione, ma suggeriscono un ruolo del contesto pre-vocalico sulla percezione della vocale /y/ in contrasto /u/. Abbiamo scoperto un effetto favorevole del metodo di correzione fonetica includendo la voce cantata sulla produzione dello spettro sonoro delle vocali chiuse del francese, ma non sull’evoluzione delle categorie fonologiche all’interno dello spazio acustico. I risultati di questi studi sostengono la teoria secondo la quale l’insegnamento-apprendimento fonetico ha pienamente ragione di essere in classe di lingua, e suggeriscono che la voce cantata sarebbe, sottommessa ad alcune condizioni, uno strumento che facilita la percezione e la produzione di vocali assenti dalla madrelingua