Investigation of the effect of articulatory-based second language production learning on speech perception

International audienceThe effect of second language production training on perception has been previously explored, but it remains unclear whether such training by itself influences the perception of speech sounds. In previous work participants heard the correct pronunciation of the target while simultaneously undergoing production training, making it unclear what component of improvement was due to the production training alone. In the current study we have therefore modified our electromagnetic articulometer-based training system, which provides estimates of learner-specific head-corrected tongue positions for a target utterance in real time, to eliminate simultaneous presentation of audio stimuli. Japanese learners of the American English vowel /ae/ performed ABX perceptual testing on this vowel before and after the visually presented articulatory-based pronunciation training. We examined whether or not the production-driven pronunciation improvement also induces a change in the perception of the second language sounds

Accuracy assessment of two electromagnetic articulographs:NDI Wave and NDI Vox

Purpose This study compares two electromagnetic articulographs manufactured by Northern Digital, Inc.: the NDI Wave System (from 2008) and the NDI Vox-EMA System (from 2020). Method Four experiments were completed: (a) comparison of statically positioned sensors, (b) tracking dynamic movements of sensors manipulated using a motor-driven LEGO apparatus, (c) tracking small and large movements of sensors mounted in a rigid bar manipulated by hand, and (d) tracking movements of sensors rotated on a circular disc. We assessed spatial variability for statically positioned sensors, variability in the transduced Euclidean distances between sensor pairs, and missing data rates. For sensors tracking circular movements, we compared the fit between fitted ideal circles and actual trajectories. Results The average sensor pair tracking error (i.e., the standard deviation of the Euclidean distances) was 1.37 mm for the WAVE and 0.12 mm for the VOX during automated trials at the fastest speed, and 0.35 mm for the WAVE and 0.14 mm for the VOX during the tracking of large manual movements. The average standard deviation of the fitted circle radii charted by manual circular disc movements was 0.72 mm for the WAVE sensors and 0.14 mm for the VOX sensors. There was no significant difference between the WAVE and the VOX in the number of missing frames. Conclusions In general, the VOX system significantly outperformed the WAVE on measures of both static precision and dynamic accuracy (automated and manual). For both systems, positional precision and spatial variability were influenced by the sensors' position relative to the field generator unit (worse when further away)

Enhancing Speech Articulation Analysis using a Geometric Transformation of the X-ray Microbeam Dataset

Accurate analysis of speech articulation is crucial for speech analysis. However, X-Y coordinates of articulators strongly depend on the anatomy of the speakers and the variability of pellet placements, and existing methods for mapping anatomical landmarks in the X-ray Microbeam Dataset (XRMB) fail to capture the entire anatomy of the vocal tract. In this paper, we propose a new geometric transformation that improves the accuracy of these measurements. Our transformation maps anatomical landmarks' X-Y coordinates along the midsagittal plane onto six relative measures: Lip Aperture (LA), Lip Protusion (LP), Tongue Body Constriction Location (TTCL), Degree (TBCD), Tongue Tip Constriction Location (TTCL) and Degree (TTCD). Our novel contribution is the extension of the palate trace towards the inferred anterior pharyngeal line, which improves measurements of tongue body constriction

Quantitative identification of dialect-specific articulatory settings

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively contrast the articulatory settings of two Dutch dialects. Tongue movement data during speech were collected on site at two high schools (34 speakers) in the Netherlands using a portable electromagnetic articulography device. Comparing the tongue positions during pauses in speech between the two groups revealed a clear difference in the articulatory settings, with significantly more frontal tongue positions for the speakers from Ubbergen in the Southeast of the Netherlands compared to those from Ter Apel in the North of the Netherlands. These results provide quantitative evidence for differences in articulatory settings at the dialect level. (C) 2017 Acoustical Society of America

Back from the future:Nonlinear anticipation in adults and children's speech

Purpose: This study examines the temporal organization of vocalic anticipation in German children from 3 to 7 years of age and adults. The main objective was to test for non-linearprocesses in vocalic anticipation, which may result from the interaction between lingualgestural goalsfor individual vowels, and those for their neighbors over time. Method: The technique of ultrasound imaging was employed to record tongue movement at fivetimepoints throughout short utterances of the form V1#CV2. Vocalic anticipation was examined with Generalized Additive Modeling, an analytical approach allowing forthe estimation of both linear and non-linearinfluences on anticipatoryprocesses. Results: both adults and children exhibit non-linear patterns of vocalic anticipation over time with the degree and extent of vocalic anticipation varying as a function of the individual consonants and vowels assembled. However, noticeable developmental discrepancieswere found with vocalic anticipation being present earlier in children ́sutterances at 3-4-5 years of agein comparison to adults and to some extent 7-year-old children.Conclusions: Anarrowing of speech production organization from large chunks in kindergarten to more contextually-specified organizationsseems to occur fromkindergarten toprimary school toadulthood, although variation in the temporal overlap of lingual gestures for consecutive segments is already present in the youngestcohorts. In adults, non-linear anticipatory patterns over time suggest a strong differentiation between the gestural goals for consecutive segments. In children, this differentiation is not yet mature: vowelsshow greater prominence over time and seem activated more in-phase with those of previous segments relative to adults

Speech planning as an index of speech motor control maturity

International audienceThis paper investigates speech motor control maturity in 4-year-old Canadian French children. Acoustic and ultrasound data recorded from four children, and for comparison, from four adults, are presented and analyzed. Maturity of speech motor control is assessed by measuring two characteristics: token-to-token variability of isolated vowels, as a measure of motor control accuracy, and extra-syllabic anticipatory coarticulation within V1-C-V2 sequences. In line with theories of optimal motor control, anticipatory coarticulation is assumed to be based on the use of internal models of the speech apparatus and its efficiency is considered to reflect the maturity of these representations. In agreement with former studies, token-to-token variability is larger in children than in adults. An anticipation of V2 in V1 was found in all adults but in none of the children studied so far. These results indicate that children's speech motor control is immature from two perspectives: insufficiently accurate motor control patterns for vowel production, and inability to anticipate forthcoming gestures. Both aspects are discussed and interpreted in the context of the immaturity of the internal representations of the speech motor apparatus in 4-year-old children

Speech planning in 4-year-old children versus adults: Acoustic and articulatory analyses

International audienceThis study investigates speech motor control in 4-year-old Canadian French children in comparison with adults. It focuses on measures of token-to-token variability in the production of isolated vowels and on anticipatory extra-syllabic coarticulation within V 1-C-V 2 sequences. Acoustic and ultrasound articulatory data were recorded. Acoustic data from 20 children and 10 adults have been analyzed. Thus far, ultrasound data have been analyzed from a subset of these participants: 6 children and 2 adults. In agreement with former studies, token-to-token variability was greater in children than in adults. Strong anticipation of V 2 in V 1 was found in all adults, but not in children. Most of the children showed no anticipation at all and some of them showed a small amount of anticipation along the antero-posterior dimension only, manifested in the acoustic F2 dimension. These results are interpreted as evidence for the immaturity of children's speech motor control from two perspectives: insufficiently stable motor control patterns for vowel production, and a lack of effectiveness in anticipating forthcoming gestures. In line with theories of optimal motor control, anticipatory coarticulation is assumed to be based on the use of internal models of the speech apparatus and the increasing maturation of these representations as speech develops

Speech motor control in 4-year-old children versus adults: anticipation as an index of speech motor control maturity

International audienceLearning to speak involves control of the oro-­‐facial articulators, as well as the construction of relationships between motor commands and auditory and somatosensory sensations. The main goal of this study is to further investigate the hypothesis that differences in speech production between children and adults can be explained on the basis of speech motor control maturity. With this aim, we have designed a speech production study focused on two indices: token-­‐to-­‐token variability in the production of isolated vowels, and extra-­‐syllabic anticipatory coarticulation within V1-­ C-­‐V2 sequences. Token-­‐to-­‐token variability reflects the maturation of speech motor control in terms of motor patterns for the production of a given target speech sound. In line with theories of optimal motor control, anticipatory coarticulationis assumed to be based on the use of internal models, i.e. sensorimotor representations of speech sounds, and the amplitude of anticipatory coarticulation is presumed to reflect the increasing maturation of these sensorimotor representations as speech develops. Our hypothesis is that the neural representations of the speech motor systemsof four-­‐year-­‐old children are immature, particularly in their inability to account for the appropriate variability compatible with correct perception of the target sound, leading to a lack of effectiveness in anticipating forthcoming gestures

Speaker-independent Speech Inversion for Estimation of Nasalance

The velopharyngeal (VP) valve regulates the opening between the nasal and oral cavities. This valve opens and closes through a coordinated motion of the velum and pharyngeal walls. Nasalance is an objective measure derived from the oral and nasal acoustic signals that correlate with nasality. In this work, we evaluate the degree to which the nasalance measure reflects fine-grained patterns of VP movement by comparison with simultaneously collected direct measures of VP opening using high-speed nasopharyngoscopy (HSN). We show that nasalance is significantly correlated with the HSN signal, and that both match expected patterns of nasality. We then train a temporal convolution-based speech inversion system in a speaker-independent fashion to estimate VP movement for nasality, using nasalance as the ground truth. In further experiments, we also show the importance of incorporating source features (from glottal activity) to improve nasality prediction.Comment: Interspeech 202