Comparaison de mesures perceptives et automatiques de l'intelligibilité : application à de la parole simulant la presbyacousie

International audienceCet article présente une étude comparative entre mesures perceptives et mesures automatiques de l'intelligibilité de la parole sur de la parole dégradée par une simulation de la presbyacousie. L'objectif est de répondre à la question : peut-on se rapprocher d'une mesure perceptive humaine en utilisant un système de reconnaissance automatique de la parole ? Pour ce faire, un corpus de parole dégradée a été spécifiquement constitué puis utilisé pour des tests perceptifs et enfin soumis à un traitement automatique. De fortes corrélations entre les performances humaines et les scores de reconnaissance automatique sont observées

Automatic speech recognition predicts speech intelligibility and comprehension for listeners with simulated age-related hearing loss

Purpose: To assess speech processing for listeners with simulated age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and to investigate whether the observed performance can be replicated using an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a system that will assist audiologists/hearing-aid dispensers in the fine-tuning of hearing aids. Method: Sixty young normal-hearing participants listened to speech materials mimicking the perceptual consequences of ARHL at different levels of severity. Two intelligibility tests (repetition of words and sentences) and one comprehension test (responding to oral commands by moving virtual objects) were administered. Several language models were developed and used by the ASR system in order to fit human performances. Results: Strong significant positive correlations were observed between human and ASR scores, with coefficients up to .99. However, the spectral smearing used to simulate losses in frequency selectivity caused larger declines in ASR performance than in human performance. Conclusion: Both intelligibility and comprehension scores for listeners with simulated ARHL are highly correlated with the performances of an ASR-based system. In the future, it needs to be determined if the ASR system is similarly successful in predicting speech processing in noise and by older people with ARHL

Intravascular Food Reward

Consumption of calorie-containing sugars elicits appetitive behavioral responses and dopamine release in the ventral striatum, even in the absence of sweet-taste transduction machinery. However, it is unclear if such reward-related postingestive effects reflect preabsorptive or postabsorptive events. In support of the importance of postabsorptive glucose detection, we found that, in rat behavioral tests, high concentration glucose solutions administered in the jugular vein were sufficient to condition a side-bias. Additionally, a lower concentration glucose solution conditioned robust behavioral responses when administered in the hepatic-portal, but not the jugular vein. Furthermore, enteric administration of glucose at a concentration that is sufficient to elicit behavioral conditioning resulted in a glycemic profile similar to that observed after administration of the low concentration glucose solution in the hepatic-portal, but not jugular vein. Finally using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry we found that, in accordance with behavioral findings, a low concentration glucose solution caused an increase in spontaneous dopamine release events in the nucleus accumbens shell when administered in the hepatic-portal, but not the jugular vein. These findings demonstrate that the postabsorptive effects of glucose are sufficient for the postingestive behavioral and dopaminergic reward-related responses that result from sugar consumption. Furthermore, glycemia levels in the hepatic-portal venous system contribute more significantly for this effect than systemic glycemia, arguing for the participation of an intra-abdominal visceral sensor for glucose

Catégorisation de distorsions vocaliques produites par un apprenant hispanophone adulte en français L2

International audienceLa perception des distorsions phonétiques en langue maternelle (L1) constitue un thème de recherche peu exploité ou seulement dans le domaine des pathologies (cf. par exemple Blumstein et al. 1980 ; Blumstein 1990). Pourtant, un bon exemple de ce type de parole nous est offert si l’on considère les productions d’un apprenant en cours d’acquisition d’une L2. Sur les plans phonétique et prosodique, une distorsion des catégories phonémiques et des patrons accentuels de la L2 au profit de catégories natives de la L1 ou de catégories intermédiaires créées lors du stade constitutif de l’interlangue (Selinker, 1972) est fréquemment observée. À ce stade de l’apprentissage, les distorsions phonétiques ainsi produites peuvent ne pas être reconnues comme catégories natives par les usagers de la langue cible lors d’interactions verbales. La difficulté à identifier ce type de production peut alors entraver la communication à différents degrés.Le stade de l’interlangue est généralement caractérisé par le développement de systèmes intermédiaires successifs et dynamiques permettant d’approcher au mieux la langue cible (cf. Gaonac’h, 1991 ; Vogel, 1995). La manifestation de propriétés et de règles communes, non seulement à la L1 mais aussi à la langue cible, a également été décrite (Corder, 1975 ; Besse & Porquier, 1984). Aussi, le stade de l’interlangue comme phase d’adaptation à un système linguistique nous est apparu comme un cadre d’analyse pertinent pour mieux comprendre les processus cognitifs impliqués dans le traitement des unités phonologiques d’une langue. Partant des résultats de recherche dans le domaine de l’acquisition des catégories phonologiques en L1 et L2, nous considérons en effet que l’étude de la catégorisation de distorsions acoustico-phonétiques devrait permettre d’affiner les connaissances sur les processus d’identification de catégories phonémiques.La présente étude concerne la catégorisation de distorsions de la voyelle orale antérieure arrondie /y/ produites en françaisL2 par un apprenant hispanophone de niveauA2. À travers une tâche de catégorisation libre, nous observons comment des natifs francophones perçoivent plusieurs formes de distorsion de cette voyelle produite dans un même contexte phrastique « C’est bucolique ». Notre étude a pour objectif de tester deux hypothèses : 1/ la distorsion est perçue en fonction de catégories natives et dans ce cas, des phénomènes d’assimilation (cf. Best, 1995) des distorsions phonétiques à des catégories phonologiques de L1 devraient se produire en fonction de caractéristiques communes ; 2/ la distorsion est très éloignée de la cible vocalique à atteindre ; dans ce cas, les distorsions sont traitées comme des réalisations phonétiques particulières n’entrant dans aucune catégorie phonologique native

Approche dynamique de la perception de la parole (catégorisation de la substance et de la variabilité phonétique en langue maternelle par les francophones et en langue étrangère pour les hispanophones )

TOULOUSE2-BUC Mirail (315552102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Surdité phonologique et catégorisation. Perception des voyelles françaises par les hispanophones

International audienceSurdité phonologique et catégorisation Perception des voyelles françaises par les hispanophones Mots-clés : perception ; catégorisation ; surdité phonologique ; psycholinguistique ; système verbo-tonal

Perception native des voyelles catalanes produites par des locutrices multilingues

International audienceNative perception of Catalan vowels uttered by female multilingual speakers. This study deals with Catalan vowels produced by adolescent multilingual speakers of Catalan- Spanish who have either Catalan, Romanian or Maghrebi Arabic as their native language. We gave 21 native Catalan speakers a free sorting task based on the vowels produced in this multilingual context. This was to test the Automatic Selective Perception model (Strange, 2011), which says that, depending on the variability of the stimuli in the task, listeners will treat the stimuli either in a phonetic mode or in a phonological mode. The results obtained indicate that dual treatment was given to the stimuli: mid vowels were treated in a phonetic mode, while point vowels were treated in a phonological mode. The assimilation of vowels from one category into another provides information on the quality of non-native utterances and bears witness to the influence of speakers’ L1.RESUME Cette étude porte sur les voyelles catalanes produites par des adolescentes multilingues en Catalan-Castillan ayant pour langue maternelle soit le Catalan, soit le Roumain, soit l'Arabe du Maghreb. Nous proposons à vingt-et-un auditeurs catalanophones natifs un Test de Catégorisation Libre des voyelles produites dans ce contexte multilingue. Ce faisant, nous testons le modèle Automatic Selective Perception (ASP-Strange, 2011) qui stipule qu'en fonction de la variabilité des stimuli et de la tâche proposée, les auditeurs réalisent un traitement des stimuli selon un mode phonétique ou phonologique. Les résultats indiquent que le traitement des stimuli est double : les voyelles moyennes sont traitées selon un mode phonétique, tandis que les voyelles extrêmes sont traitées selon un mode phonologique. L'assimilation de voyelles d'une catégorie vocalique à une autre informe sur la qualité des réalisations non natives et témoigne de l'influence de la L1. ABSTRACT Native perception of Catalan vowels uttered by female multilingual speakers. This study deals with Catalan vowels produced by adolescent multilingual speakers of Catalan-Spanish who have either Catalan, Romanian or Maghrebi Arabic as their native language. We gave 21 native Catalan speakers a free sorting task based on the vowels produced in this multilingual context. This was to test the Automatic Selective Perception model (Strange, 2011), which says that, depending on the variability of the stimuli in the task, listeners will treat the stimuli either in a phonetic mode or in a phonological mode. The results obtained indicate that dual treatment was given to the stimuli: mid vowels were treated in a phonetic mode, while point vowels were treated in a phonological mode. The assimilation of vowels from one category into another provides information on the quality of non-native utterances and bears witness to the influence of speakers' L1. MOTS-CLES : Perception, Catalan, catégorisation, contraste non natif, multilinguisme

Hybrid sound classification

International audienceWe posit a classification of sounds useful for studies of sound recognition and identification that accounts for both signal properties (source sound characteristics) and human perception (sound uses). This classification is split into four main branches: (1) systemic (speech and music) sounds, (2) environmental sounds, (3) warning sounds, and (4) animal sounds. We describe the differences between each in terms of criteria related to perception, production and goal. We outline the advantages of our classification, which considers the use of a sound within the context of a communication act, for example, within linguistics; or in harmonics, for musicology. Considering a sound both as a set of acoustic characteristics perceived by a human, and as having particular uses determined by a human, this classification permits a meaningful approach to the study of sound from object-and human-centered perspectives. PACS no. 43.60.+d,43.90.+v, 43.75.C

Mental representations evoked by aircraft noise components

International audienceThis study aims at better understanding aircraft noise annoyance through an analysis of mental representations associated to aircraft noise. From a theoretical point of view, we investigate top-down strategies of sound perception. In particular, we want to identify mental representations that are evoked by the sounds and that drive listeners' sound perception. Thanks to interviewing techniques, we helped participants to explicit what they had in mind when listening to the different sounds, and without asking them about annoyance. We focused on three main aircraft noise signal components: multiple pure tones (MPT), blade passing frequency (BPF) and broadband noise (BN). Two sets of sounds corresponding to two types of large aircraft were eared by 84 participants in an isolated sound booth. Each sound was played once, and for each sound participants were asked to answer a series of questions aimed at collecting verbal descriptions on the played sound. Seven different questions were created to help the participants produce a detailed description of his/her perception of the sounds. A content analysis was performed on the verbal data to explicit the relations between the different terms that are present in the verbal data in order to create semantic categories. This method has proven to be efficient since a large and reach verbal corpus has been collected. The linguistic analysis of this corpus revealed specific mental representations of each aircraft noise component. In particular, both MPT and BPF had negative connotations, with different levels and with specific semantic profiles in contrast with BN. Finally, this study leads to new perspectives in the analysis of aircraft noise annoyance since that annoyance is also function of mental representations that are evoked by aircraft noise, and not only by acoustic parameters

Perceptual relevance of acoustical parameters in aircraft noise

International audienceThis paper focuses on the perception of three main signal components of aircraft sound: multiple pure tones (MPT), blade passing frequency (BPF) and broadband noise. The interaction between these components and their relative impact on noise annoyance still needs to be investigated. The experiment carried out in this study aims at understanding if MPT is a prominent perceptual factor when combined with BPF, and how MPT perceptual prominence changes when MPT and BPF are combined at different gain levels. To address this issue, we used a free sorting task (FST) protocol in which participants have to use their own similarity criteria in order to sort a set of sounds. FST is a simple procedure that allows to reveal the perceptual strategies of participants when they are exposed to a set of complex sounds. Its main advantage is to let the participants free to choose his/her sorting criteria, with very few guidance from the experimenter. From a theoretical point of view, this task is based on perceptual categorization, which is a natural cognitive process used in everyday life. Two sets of 15 sounds corresponding to two types of large aircraft were judged by 57 participants in an isolated sound booth. These data were analyzed using multivariate component analysis (MCA) to identify perceptual factors used by most of the participants to form their categories. Results showed that MPT was always more perceptually salient than BPF, and that BPF and MPT intensity differences were not relevant for the participants