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Marschik PB, Widmann CAA, Lang S, Kulvicius T, Boterberg S, Nielsen-Saines K, Bölte S, Esposito G, Nordahl-Hansen A, Roeyers H, Wörgötter F, Einspieler C, Poustka L, Zhang D. Emerging Verbal Functions in Early Infancy: Lessons from Observational and Computational Approaches on Typical Development and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. ADVANCES IN NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS 2022; 6:369-388. [PMID: 36540761 PMCID: PMC9762685 DOI: 10.1007/s41252-022-00300-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Research on typically developing (TD) children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes was targeted. Specifically, studies on autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, Rett syndrome, fragile X syndrome, cerebral palsy, Angelman syndrome, tuberous sclerosis complex, Williams-Beuren syndrome, Cri-du-chat syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, and West syndrome were searched. The objectives are to review observational and computational studies on the emergence of (pre-)babbling vocalisations and outline findings on acoustic characteristics of early verbal functions. METHODS A comprehensive review of the literature was performed including observational and computational studies focusing on spontaneous infant vocalisations at the pre-babbling age of TD children, individuals with genetic or neurodevelopmental disorders. RESULTS While there is substantial knowledge about early vocal development in TD infants, the pre-babbling phase in infants with neurodevelopmental and genetic syndromes is scarcely scrutinised. Related approaches, paradigms, and definitions vary substantially and insights into the onset and characteristics of early verbal functions in most above-mentioned disorders are missing. Most studies focused on acoustic low-level descriptors (e.g. fundamental frequency) which bore limited clinical relevance. This calls for computational approaches to analyse features of infant typical and atypical verbal development. CONCLUSIONS Pre-babbling vocalisations as precursor for future speech-language functions may reveal valuable signs for identifying infants at risk for atypical development. Observational studies should be complemented by computational approaches to enable in-depth understanding of the developing speech-language functions. By disentangling features of typical and atypical early verbal development, computational approaches may support clinical screening and evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter B. Marschik
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- iDN - Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Claudius A. A. Widmann
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sigrun Lang
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Tomas Kulvicius
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sofie Boterberg
- Research in Developmental Disorders Lab, Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Karin Nielsen-Saines
- Department of Pediatrics, David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Sven Bölte
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Centre for Psychiatry Research, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Region Stockholm, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm, Sweden
- Curtin Autism Research Group, Curtin School of Allied Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Austria
| | - Gianluca Esposito
- Affiliative Behavior and Physiology Lab, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Anders Nordahl-Hansen
- Department of Education, ICT and Learning, Østfold University College, Halden, Norway
| | - Herbert Roeyers
- Research in Developmental Disorders Lab, Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Florentin Wörgötter
- Third Institute of Physics-Biophysics, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Christa Einspieler
- iDN - Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Luise Poustka
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Dajie Zhang
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Göttingen, Germany and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- iDN - Interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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Pokorny FB, Schmitt M, Egger M, Bartl-Pokorny KD, Zhang D, Schuller BW, Marschik PB. Automatic vocalisation-based detection of fragile X syndrome and Rett syndrome. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13345. [PMID: 35922535 PMCID: PMC9349308 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17203-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and Rett syndrome (RTT) are developmental disorders currently not diagnosed before toddlerhood. Even though speech-language deficits are among the key symptoms of both conditions, little is known about infant vocalisation acoustics for an automatic earlier identification of affected individuals. To bridge this gap, we applied intelligent audio analysis methodology to a compact dataset of 4454 home-recorded vocalisations of 3 individuals with FXS and 3 individuals with RTT aged 6 to 11 months, as well as 6 age- and gender-matched typically developing controls (TD). On the basis of a standardised set of 88 acoustic features, we trained linear kernel support vector machines to evaluate the feasibility of automatic classification of (a) FXS vs TD, (b) RTT vs TD, (c) atypical development (FXS+RTT) vs TD, and (d) FXS vs RTT vs TD. In paradigms (a)–(c), all infants were correctly classified; in paradigm (d), 9 of 12 were so. Spectral/cepstral and energy-related features were most relevant for classification across all paradigms. Despite the small sample size, this study reveals new insights into early vocalisation characteristics in FXS and RTT, and provides technical underpinnings for a future earlier identification of affected individuals, enabling earlier intervention and family counselling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian B Pokorny
- iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. .,Machine Intelligence & Signal Processing group (MISP), Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany. .,EIHW - Chair of Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.
| | - Maximilian Schmitt
- EIHW - Chair of Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
| | - Mathias Egger
- iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Katrin D Bartl-Pokorny
- iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.,EIHW - Chair of Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
| | - Dajie Zhang
- iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Björn W Schuller
- EIHW - Chair of Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany.,GLAM - Group on Language, Audio, & Music, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Peter B Marschik
- iDN - interdisciplinary Developmental Neuroscience, Division of Phoniatrics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.,Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Göttingen, Germany.,Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Center for Psychiatry Research, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Zamponi V, Mazzilli R, Mazzilli F, Fantini M. Effect of sex hormones on human voice physiology: from childhood to senescence. Hormones (Athens) 2021; 20:691-696. [PMID: 34046877 PMCID: PMC8594207 DOI: 10.1007/s42000-021-00298-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The aim of the present literature review is to describe the influence of sex hormones on the human voice in physiological conditions. As a secondary sexual organ, the larynx is affected by sex hormones and may change considerably over the lifespan. In the current review, sex hormone-related voice modifications occurring during childhood, puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and senescence are described. The roles of sex hormones (including gonadotropins, testosterone, estrogen, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate) underlying physiological voice changes are discussed, the main differences between males and females are explained and clinical implications are taken into account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Zamponi
- Endocrinology Unit, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
| | - Rossella Mazzilli
- Endocrinology Unit, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Fernando Mazzilli
- Endocrinology Unit, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Fantini
- Head and Neck Oncology Unit, Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO IRCCS, Candiolo, Turin, Italy
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Robb MP, Yavarzadeh F, Schluter PJ, Voit V, Shehata-Dieler W, Wermke K. Laryngeal Constriction Phenomena in Infant Vocalizations. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:49-58. [PMID: 31846593 DOI: 10.1044/2019_jslhr-s-19-0205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Instances of laryngeal constriction have been noted as a feature of infant vocal development. The purpose of this study was to directly evaluate the developmental occurrence of laryngeal constriction phenomena in infant crying, cooing, and babbling vocalizations. Method The cry and noncry vocalizations of 20 healthy term-born infants between the ages of 1 and 7 months were examined for instances of laryngeal constriction. Approximately 20,000 vocalization samples were acoustically evaluated, applying a combined visual (frequency spectra and melody curves) and auditory analysis; the occurrence of instances of different constriction phenomena was analyzed. Results Laryngeal constrictions were found during the production of cry and noncry vocalizations. The developmental pattern of constrictions for both vocalizations was charac-terized by an increase in constrictions followed by a decrease. During the age period of 3-5 months, when cry and noncry vocalizations were co-occurring, laryngeal constrictions were observed in 14%-22% of both types of vocalizations. An equal percentage of constrictions was found for both vocalizations at 5 months of age. Conclusions The findings confirm that the production of laryngeal constriction is a regularly occurring phenomenon in healthy, normally developing infants' spontaneous crying, cooing, and marginal babbling. The occurrence of constriction in both cry and noncry vocalizations suggests that an infant is exploiting physiological constraints of the sound-generating system for articulatory development during vocal exploration. These results lend support to the notion that the laryngeal articulator is the principal articulator that infants 1st start to control as they test and practice their phonetic production skills from birth through the 1st several months of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael P Robb
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
- School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | | | - Philip J Schluter
- School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Verena Voit
- Department of Orthodontics, University of Würzburg, Germany
| | - Wafaa Shehata-Dieler
- Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Head and Neck Surgery, University of Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Kathleen Wermke
- Center for Pre-Speech Development & Developmental Disorders, University of Würzburg, Germany
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Are Cry Studies Replicable? An Analysis of Participants, Procedures, and Methods Adopted and Reported in Studies of Infant Cries. ACOUSTICS 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/acoustics1040052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Infant cry is evolutionarily, psychologically, and clinically significant. Over the last half century, several researchers and clinicians have investigated acoustical properties of infant cry for medical purposes. However, this literature suffers a lack of standardization in conducting and reporting cry-based studies. In this work, methodologies and procedures employed to analyze infant cry are reviewed and best practices for reporting studies are provided. First, available literatures on vocal and audio acoustic analysis are examined to identify critical aspects of participant information, data collection, methods, and data analysis. Then, 180 peer-reviewed research articles have been assessed to certify the presence of critical information. Results show a general lack of critical description. Researchers in the field of infant cry need to develop a consensual standard set of criteria to report experimental studies to ensure the validity of their methods and results.
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Cabon S, Porée F, Simon A, Rosec O, Pladys P, Carrault G. Video and audio processing in paediatrics: a review. Physiol Meas 2019; 40:02TR02. [PMID: 30669130 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab0096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Video and sound acquisition and processing technologies have seen great improvements in recent decades, with many applications in the biomedical area. The aim of this paper is to review the overall state of the art of advances within these topics in paediatrics and to evaluate their potential application for monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). APPROACH For this purpose, more than 150 papers dealing with video and audio processing were reviewed. For both topics, clinical applications are described according to the considered cohorts-full-term newborns, infants and toddlers or preterm newborns. Then, processing methods are presented, in terms of data acquisition, feature extraction and characterization. MAIN RESULTS The paper first focuses on the exploitation of video recordings; these began to be automatically processed in the 2000s and we show that they have mainly been used to characterize infant motion. Other applications, including respiration and heart rate estimation and facial analysis, are also presented. Audio processing is then reviewed, with a focus on the analysis of crying. The first studies in this field focused on induced-pain cries and the newest ones deal with spontaneous cries; the analyses are mainly based on frequency features. Then, some papers dealing with non-cry signals are also discussed. SIGNIFICANCE Finally, we show that even if recent improvements in digital video and signal processing allow for increased automation of processing, the context of the NICU makes a fully automated analysis of long recordings problematic. A few proposals for overcoming some of the limitations are given.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Cabon
- Univ Rennes, CHU Rennes, INSERM, LTSI - UMR 1099, F-35000 Rennes, France. Voxygen, F-22560 Pleumeur-Bodou, France
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Remacle A, Genel Y, Segers M, de Bodt M. Vocal characteristics of 5-year-old children: proposed normative values based on a French-speaking population †. LOGOP PHONIATR VOCO 2019; 45:30-38. [PMID: 30648500 DOI: 10.1080/14015439.2018.1551928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Purpose: Previous research proposed normative data on gender- and age-specific voice acoustics for adults. Such reference values are lacking for children, particularly under the age of 6. This study was intended (1) to collect reliable normative data for the acoustic parameters of 5-year-old children's voices, and (2) to investigate potential gender-specific differences.Study: Prospective and cross-sectional.Methods: Acoustic analyses were done on the voices of 53 normophonic children (26 girls; 27 boys) aged 5;0-5;11 years, using Praat software. The fundamental frequency, local jitter, local shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) were measured on the sustained vowels [a], [i], and [u]. The highest frequency, lowest frequency, and frequency range were measured using ascending and descending glissandi on the vowel [a].Results: For the three sustained vowels, the mean fundamental frequency ranged from 255 Hz to 277 Hz, mean jitter ranged from 0.394% to 0.591%, mean shimmer ranged from 2.571% to 5.824%, and mean NHR ranged from 0.009 to 0.034. The frequency range was from 190 Hz to 750 Hz, which corresponds to 23.7 semitones. No gender difference was found, except for NHR on the vowel [a].Conclusions: The lack of gender differences - other than for NHR on the vowel [a] - led us to propose mixed norms for 5-year-old boys and girls combined.Implications: These normative data will allow clinicians to compare children's voice assessments to specific references in order to enhance diagnostic accuracy and measure therapy outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angélique Remacle
- Faculty of Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, and Education, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.,Fund for Scientific Research FNRS, Brussels, Belgium.,Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Ysaline Genel
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Magali Segers
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Marc de Bodt
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Antwerp University, Antwerp, Belgium.,Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
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Wermke K, Haschemi AA, Hesse V, Robb MP. Inspiratory Phonation in Baby Voice. J Voice 2018; 32:185-191. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2017.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Gustafson GE, Sanborn SM, Lin HC, Green JA. Newborns' Cries are Unique to Individuals (But Not to Language Environment). INFANCY 2017. [DOI: 10.1111/infa.12192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hung-Chu Lin
- Department of Psychology; University of Louisiana at Lafayette
| | - James A. Green
- Department of Psychological Sciences; University of Connecticut
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