Changes in breathing while listening to read speech: the effect of reader and speech mode

International audienceThe current paper extends previous work on breathing during speech perception and provides supplementary material regarding the hypothesis that adaptation of breathing during perception "could be a basis for understanding and imitating actions performed by other people" (Paccalin and Jeannerod, 2000). The experiments were designed to test how the differences in reader breathing due to speaker-specific characteristics, or differences induced by changes in loudness level or speech rate influence the listener breathing. Two readers (a male and a female) were pre-recorded while reading short texts with normal and then loud speech (both readers) or slow speech (female only). These recordings were then played back to 48 female listeners. The movements of the rib cage and abdomen were analyzed for both the readers and the listeners. Breathing profiles were characterized by the movement expansion due to inhalation and the duration of the breathing cycle. We found that both loudness and speech rate affected each reader's breathing in different ways. Listener breathing was different when listening to the male or the female reader and to the different speech modes. However, differences in listener breathing were not systematically in the same direction as reader differences. The breathing of listeners was strongly sensitive to the order of presentation of speech mode and displayed some adaptation in the time course of the experiment in some conditions. In contrast to specific alignments of breathing previously observed in face-to-face dialog, no clear evidence for a listener-reader alignment in breathing was found in this purely auditory speech perception task. The results and methods are relevant to the question of the involvement of physiological adaptations in speech perception and to the basic mechanisms of listener-speaker coupling

The interplay of linguistic structure and breathing in German spontaneous speech

International audienceThis paper investigates the relation between the linguistic structure of the breath group and breathing kinematics in spontaneous speech. 26 female speakers of German were recorded by means of an Inductance Plethysmograph. The breath group was defined as the interval of speech produced on a single exhalation. For each group several linguistic parameters (number and type of clauses, number of syllables, hesitations) were measured and the associated inhalation was characterized. The average duration of the breath group was ~3.5 s. Most of the breath groups consisted of 1-3 clauses; ~53% started with a matrix clause; ~24% with an embedded clause and ~23% with an incomplete clause (continuation, repetition, hesitation). The inhalation depth and duration varied as a function of the first clause type and with respect to the breath group length, showing some interplay between speech-planning and breathing control. Vocalized hesitations were speaker-specific and came with deeper inhalation. These results are informative for a better understanding of the interplay of speech-planning and breathing control in spontaneous speech. The findings are also relevant for applications in speech therapies and technologies

Auditory-Visual Perception of VCVs Produced by People with Down Syndrome: Preliminary Results

International audienceDown Syndrome (DS) is a genetic disease involving a number of anatomical, physiological and cognitive impairments. More particularly it affects speech production abilities. This results in reduced intelligibility which has however only been evaluated auditorily. Yet, many studies have demonstrated that adding vision to audition helps perception of speech produced by people without impairments especially when it is degraded as is the case in noise. The present study aims at examining whether the visual information improves intelligibility of people with DS. 24 participants without DS were presented with VCV sequences (vowel-consonant-vowel) produced by four adults (2 with DS and 2 without DS). These stimuli were presented in noise in three modalities: auditory, auditory-visual and visual. The results confirm a reduced auditory intelligibility of speakers with DS. They also show that, for the speakers involved in this study, visual intelligibility is equivalent to that of speakers without DS and compensates for the auditory intelligibility loss. An analysis of the perceptual errors shows that most of them involve confusions between consonants. These results put forward the crucial role of multimodality in the improvement of the intelligibility of people with DS

Adaptation of respiratory patterns in collaborative reading

International audienceSpeech and variation of respiratory chest circumferences of eight French dyads were monitored while reading texts with increasing constraints on mutual synchrony. In line with previous research, we find that speakers mutually adapt their respiratory patterns. However a significant alignment is observed only when speakers need to perform together, i.e. when reading in alternation or synchronously. From quiet breathing to listening, to speech reading, we didn't find the gradual asymmetric shaping of respiratory cycles generally assumed in literature (e.g. from symmetric inhalation and exhalation phases towards short inhalation and long exhalation). In contrast, the control of breathing seems to switch abruptly between two systems: vital vs. speech production. We also find that the syllabic and the respiratory cycles are strongly phased at speech onsets. This phenomenon is in agreement with the quantal nature of speech rhythm beyond the utterance, previously observed via pause durations

Is breathing sensitive to the communication partner?

International audienceThis paper investigates breathing profiles in eleven female speakers (subjects) when talking successively with the same two females (partners). Breathing kinematics of the two inter-locutors was recorded synchronously by means of two Induct-ance Plethysmographs. In order to understand the implication of breathing in dialogue, we analyzed changes in breathing pauses according to the main dialogue events (listening, back-channels, turns start and turns continuation). Breathing and syllable rates were also compared among partners and sub-jects. The duration of inhalations and related pauses was re-duced before a turn continuation in comparison to a turn start. The delay between speech offset in a breathing cycle and the onset of the next inhalation increased when a speaker and a listener swap roles as compared to a speaker who continued the turn. This was observed for both partners and subjects. The partners differed in their breathing and articulation rates but the two rates were not clearly correlated. In agreement with previous works, the current study shows that breathing kine-matics is strongly linked to dialogue events. However, it doesn't show any clear effect of partner on speaker's breath-ing. This last result is discussed relative to methodological as-pects

Perception audio-visuelle de séquences VCV produites par des personnes porteuses de Trisomie 21 : une étude préliminaire

International audienceThe speech of people with Down Syndrome (DS) is systematically altered resulting in an intelligibility loss. This was quantified only auditorily. The visual modality could actually improve intelligibility, as is the case for " ordinary " people. The present study compares the way 24 ordinary participants perceive VCV sequences (vowel-consonant-vowel) produced by four adults (2 with DS and 2 ordinary) and presented in noise in three modalities: auditory, auditory-visual and visual. The results confirm an intelligibility loss in the auditory modality for speakers with DS. However, for the two speakers involved in this study, visual intelligibility is equivalent to that of the ordinary speakers and compensates for the auditory intelligibility loss. These results put forward the importance of integrating multimodality to improve the intelligibility of people with DS.La parole des personnes avec trisomie 21 (T21) présente une altération systématique de l'intelligibilité qui n'a été quantifiée qu'auditivement. Or la modalité visuelle pourrait améliorer l'intelligibilité comme c'est le cas pour les personnes « ordinaires ». Cette étude compare la manière dont 24 participants ordinaires perçoivent des séquences VCV voyelle-consonne-voyelle) produites par quatre adultes (2 avec T21 et 2 ordinaires) et présentées dans le bruit en modalités auditive, visuelle et audiovisuelle. Les résultats confirment la perte d'intelligibilité en modalité auditive dans le cas de locuteurs porteurs de T21. Pour les deux locuteurs impliqués, l'intelligibilité visuelle est néanmoins équivalente à celle des deux locuteurs ordinaires et compensent le déficit d'intelligibilité auditive. Ces résultats suggèrent l'apport de la modalité visuelle vers une meilleure intelligibilité des personnes porteuses de T21

Does Auditory-Motor Learning of Speech Transfer from the CV Syllable to the CVCV Word?

International audienceSpeech is often described as a sequence of units associating linguistic, sensory and motor representations. Is the connection between these representations preferentially maintained at a specific level in terms of a linguistic unit? In the present study, we contrasted the possibility of a link at the level of the syllable (CV) and the word (CVCV). We modified the production of the syllable /be/ in French speakers using an auditory-motor adaptation paradigm that consists of altering the speakers' auditory feedback. After stopping the perturbation, we studied to what extent this modification would transfer to the production of the disyllabic word /bebe/ and compared it to the after-effect on /be/. The results show that changes in /be/ transfer partially to /bebe/. The partial influence of the somatosensory and motor representations associated with the syllable on the production of the disyllabic word suggests that both units may contribute to the specification of the motor goals in speech sequences. In addition, the transfer occurs to a larger extent in the first syllable of /bebe/ than in the second one. It raises new questions about a possible interaction between the transfer of auditory-motor learning and serial control processes

De bé à bébé : le transfert d'apprentissage auditori-moteur pour interroger l'unité de production de la parole

International audienceSpeech is often described as a sequence of units associating linguistic, sensory and motor representations. Are these representations linked at the level of a specific unit, for example, the syllable or the word? In the present study, we contrast these two hypotheses. We modified the production of the syllable “bé” (/be/) in French speakers using an auditory-motor adaptation paradigm that consists in altering the speakers’ auditory feedback. We studied how this modification then transfers to the production of the word “bébé” (/bebe/). The results suggest a link between linguistic and motor representations both at the word and the syllable level. They also show an effect of the position of the syllable in the transfer word, which raises new interrogations about serialcontrol of speech.La parole est souvent décrite comme une mise en séquence d'unités associant des représentations linguistiques, sensorielles et motrices. Le lien entre ces représentations se fait-il de manière privilégiée sur une unité spécifique ? Par exemple, est-ce la syllabe ou le mot ? Dans cette étude, nous voulons contraster ces deux hypothèses. Pour cela, nous avons modifié chez des locuteurs du français la production de la syllabe « bé », selon un paradigme d'adaptation auditori-motrice, consistant à perturber le retour auditif. Nous avons étudié comment cette modification se transfère ensuite à la production du mot « bébé ». Les résultats suggèrent un lien entre représentations linguistiques et motrices à plusieurs niveaux, à la fois celui du mot et de la syllabe. Ils montrent également une influence de la position de la syllabe dans le mot sur le transfert, qui soulève de nouvelles questions sur le contrôle sériel de la parole