Characteristics of Polysyllabic Word Repetitions in Individuals with Fluent and Nonfluent Aphasia

Speech sound errors associated with aphasia have been attributed to disintegration of both phonologic and motoric processes in different subtypes of aphasia (Pierce, 2001). In nonfluent aphasia (NA), which often co-occurs with apraxia of speech (AOS), motor programming and motor planning difficulties are the typically proposed error generating mechanisms. In contrast, phonemic paraphasia observed in fluent aphasia (FA) is typically thought to be related to inability to retrieve and maintain sequences of phonemes for production. Distortion errors, indicative of motor programming deficiency, predominate in AOS; but also have been reported to a lesser extent in FA, in studies involving word or sentence repetition (McNeil, Robin & Schmidt, 2009; Odell, McNeil, Rosenbek & Hunter 1991; Odell, Bonkowski, & Mello,1995). Associated features of dysfluency and dysprosody have also been reported in AOS (Kent & Rosenbek, 1983). In contrast, undistorted phonemic level errors also occur in both FA and NA subtypes (Blumstien, 1973; Pierce, 2001). This study examines the occurrence of phonemic errors as well as phonetic distortion, dysfluency and dysprosody in speech produced by individuals diagnosed with NA with AOS versus FA with phonemic paraphasia, in comparison with the speech of non-aphasic control speakers. This information is important (1) in order to advance our understanding of AOS, which usually occurs, clinically, in the presence of NA; (2) to further elucidate the role of distortion in FA, wherein speech errors are often described clinically as being fluently produced with little effort or distortion (Seddoh, Robin, Hageman, Moon, & Folkins, 1996); and (3) to help toward differentiating phonological/representational impairments from motorically based aspects of apraxic speech, which may not be mutually exclusive (Ziegler, Aichert & Staiger, 2012)

Acoustic Correlates and Adult Perceptions of Distress in Infant Speech-Like Vocalizations and Cries

Prior research has not evaluated acoustic features contributing to perception of human infant vocal distress or lack thereof on a continuum. The present research evaluates perception of infant vocalizations along a continuum ranging from the most prototypical intensely distressful cry sounds (“wails”) to the most prototypical of infant sounds that typically express no distress (non-distress “vocants”). Wails are deemed little if at all related to speech while vocants are taken to be clear precursors to speech. We selected prototypical exemplars of utterances representing the whole continuum from 0 and 1 month-olds. In this initial study of the continuum, our goals are to determine (1) listener agreement on level of vocal distress across the continuum, (2) acoustic parameters predicting ratings of distress, (3) the extent to which individual listeners maintain or change their acoustic criteria for distress judgments across the study, (4) the extent to which different listeners use similar or different acoustic criteria to make judgments, and (5) the role of short-term experience among the listeners in judgments of infant vocalization distress. Results indicated that (1) both inter-rater and intra-rater listener agreement on degree of vocal distress was high, (2) the best predictors of vocal distress were number of vibratory regimes within utterances, utterance duration, spectral ratio (spectral concentration) in vibratory regimes within utterances, and mean pitch, (3) individual listeners significantly modified their acoustic criteria for distress judgments across the 10 trial blocks, (4) different listeners, while showing overall similarities in ratings of the 42 stimuli, also showed significant differences in acoustic criteria used in assigning the ratings of vocal distress, and (5) listeners who were both experienced and inexperienced in infant vocalizations coding showed high agreement in rating level of distress, but differed in the extent to which they relied on the different acoustic cues in making the ratings. The study provides clearer characterization of vocal distress expression in infants based on acoustic parameters and a new perspective on active adult perception of infant vocalizations. The results also highlight the importance of vibratory regime segmentation and analysis in acoustically based research on infant vocalizations and their perception

A Nonlinear Dynamic Model of Social Interaction

This article presents a dynamic model of dyadic social interaction. It is shown that a set of simple deterministic arithmetic operations representing basic assumptions about social-involvement behavior can lead to a variety of complex outcomes, including asymptotically stable behavior, self-sustaining periodic behavior, and chaotic behavior. These outcomes illustrate the emergence of macroscopic interaction-level properties from microscopic individual-level rules. © 1991, Sage. All rights reserved

Neonatal imitation: theory, experimental design, and significance for the field of social cognition

Neonatal imitation has rich implications for neuroscience, developmental psychology, and social cognition, but there is little consensus about this phenomenon. The primary empirical question, whether or not neonatal imitation exists, is not settled. Is it possible to give a balanced evaluation of the theories and methodologies at stake so as to facilitate real progress with respect to the primary empirical question? In this paper, we address this question. We present the operational definition of differential imitation and discuss why it is important to keep it in mind. The operational definition indicates that neonatal imitation may not look like prototypical imitation and sets non-obvious requirements on what can count as evidence for imitation. We also examine the principal explanations for the extant findings and argue that two theories, the arousal hypothesis and the Association by Similarity Theory, which interprets neonatal imitation as differential induction of spontaneous behavior through similarity, offer better explanations than the others. With respect to methodology, we investigate what experimental design can best provide evidence for imitation, focusing on how differential induction may be maximized and detected. Finally, we discuss the significance of neonatal imitation for the field of social cognition. Specifically, we propose links with theories of social interaction and direct social perception. Overall, our goals are to help clarify the complex theoretical issues at stake and suggest fruitful guidelines for empirical research

Instrumental and perceptual evaluations of two related singers

The primary goal of this study was to characterize a performer\u27s singing and speaking voice. One woman was not admitted to a premier choral group, but her sister, who was comparable in physical characteristics and background, was admitted and provided a valuable control subject. The perceptual judgment of a vocal coach who conducted the group\u27s auditions was decisive in discriminating these 2 singers. The singer not admitted to the group described a history of voice pathology, lacked a functional head register, and spoke with a voice characterized by hoarseness. Multiple listener judgments and acoustic and aerodynamic evaluations of both singers provided a more systematic basis for determining: 1) the phonatory basis for this judgment; 2) whether similar judgments would be made by groups of vocal coaches and speech-language pathologists; and 3) whether the type of tasks (e.g., sung vs. spoken) would influence these judgments. Statistically significant differences were observed between the ratings of vocal health provided by two different groups of listeners. Significant interactions were also observed as a function of the types of voice samples heard by these listeners. Instrumental analyses provided evidence that, in comparison to her sister, the rejected singer had a compromised vocal range, glottal insufficiencies as assessed aerodynamically and electroglottographically, and impaired acoustic quality, especially in her speaking voice

Prosodic cycles and interpersonal synchrony in American English and Swedish

The paper addresses the question of rhythmic structuring of conversational interaction. Conversational speech requires active co-operation and co-ordination of the behavior of two or more speakers. Previous research indicates that one of the mechanisms used by speakers to regulate conversational interaction, is close monitoring and adaptation to rhythmic patterns. When this does not function properly, interaction may be adversely affected or even break down. There are reasons to believe that these mechanisms are used universally across languages, but there are also likely to be patterns that are language-specific. The research project, of which the present paper forms a first published report, is an attempt at separating the universal and language-specific aspects of the regulating rhythmic patterns. Although this research is primarily meant to clarify the mechanisms of conversational interaction from a linguistic/phonetic point of view, its applicability to speech technology is evident. Growing interest in dialogue systems for applications to man-machine communication demands more detailed data on all aspects of natural human conversation. 1

American and Swedish children’s acquisition of vowel duration: Effects of vowel identity and final stop voicing

Vowel durations typically vary according to both intrinsic (segment-specific) and extrinsic (contextual) specifications. It can be argued that such variations are due to both predisposition and cognitive learning. The present report utilizes acoustic phonetic measurements from Swedish and American children aged 24 and 30 months to investigate the hypothesis that default behaviors may precede language-specific learning effects. The predicted pattern is the presence of final consonant voicing effects in both languages as a default, and subsequent learning of intrinsic effects most notably in the Swedish children. The data, from 443 monosyllabic tokens containing high-front vowels and final stop consonants, are analyzed in statistical frameworks at group and individual levels. The results confirm that Swedish children show an early tendency to vary vowel durations according to final consonant voicing, followed only six months later by a stage at which the intrinsic influence of vowel identity grows relatively more robust. Measures of vowel formant structure from selected 30-month-old children also revealed a tendency for children of this age to focus on particular acoustic contrasts. In conclusion, the results indicate that early acquisition of vowel specifications involves an interaction between language-specific features and articulatory predispositions associated with phonetic context. © 2002 Acoustical Society of America

Conversational prosodic interactivity when one partner has aphasia

The purpose of this study is to document prosodic interactivity, and its preservation in a woman with non-fluent aphasia. Fundamental frequency and sound pressure level records are examined for sinusoidal models. In-phase and antiphase partner relationships in these models may represent synchrony. These measurements demonstrate that prosodic management of conversational rhythms is robust even when expressive language is disturbed