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Xu M, Shao J, Liu B, Wang L, Ding H, Zhang Y. Aging-Related Decline in Phonated and Whispered Speech Perception Not Compensated For by Increased Duration and Intensity: Evidence From Mandarin-Speaking Adult Listeners. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:735-749. [PMID: 36749845 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-22-00158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aimed to examine how aging and modifications of critical acoustic parameters may affect the perception of whispered speech as a degraded signal. METHOD Forty Mandarin-speaking adults were included in the study. Part 1 of the study compared the perception of Mandarin lexical tones, vowels, and syllables in older and younger adults in whispered versus phonated speech conditions. Parts 2 and 3 further examined how modification of duration and intensity cues contributed to the perceptual outcomes. RESULTS Perception of whispered tones was compromised in older and younger adults. Older adults identified lexical tones less accurately than their younger counterparts, particularly for phonated T2 and T3 and whispered T3. Aging also negatively affected the vowel identification of /i, u/ in the whispered condition. Syllable-level accuracy was largely dependent on the accuracy of lexical tones and vowels. Furthermore, reduced duration led to the decreased accuracy of phonated T3 and whispered T2 and T3 but increased accuracy of phonated T4. Reduced intensity lowered the recognition accuracy for phonated vowels /i, ɤ, o, y/ in older adults and /i, u/ in younger adults, and it also lowered the accuracy of whispered vowels /a, ɤ/ in older adults. Contrary to our expectation, increased duration and intensity did not improve older adults' speech perception in either phonated or whispered conditions. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that aging adversely affected speech perception in both phonated and whispered conditions with more challenges in identifying whispered speech for older adults. While older adults' diminished performance may be potentially due to problems with processing the degraded temporal and spectral information of the target speech sounds, it cannot be simply compensated for by increasing the duration and intensity of the target sounds beyond the audible level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Xu
- Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications, Shanghai International Studies University, China
| | - Jing Shao
- Department of English Language and Literature, Hong Kong Baptist University, China
| | - Boquan Liu
- School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Lan Wang
- Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences & Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
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Sun J, Zhang Z, Sun B, Liu H, Wei C, Liu Y. The effect of aging on context use and reliance on context in speech: A behavioral experiment with Repeat–Recall Test. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:924193. [PMID: 35936762 PMCID: PMC9354826 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.924193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
PurposeTo elucidate how aging would affect the extent of semantic context use and the reliance on semantic context measured with the Repeat–Recall Test (RRT).MethodsA younger adult group (YA) aged between 18 and 25 and an older adult group (OA) aged between 50 and 65 were recruited. Participants from both the groups performed RRT: sentence repeat and delayed recall tasks, and subjective listening effort and noise tolerable time, under two noise types and seven signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Performance–Intensity curves were fitted. The performance in SRT50 and SRT75 was predicted.ResultsFor the repeat task, the OA group used more semantic context and relied more on semantic context than the YA group. For the recall task, OA used less semantic context but relied more on context than the YA group. Age did not affect the subjective listening effort but significantly affected noise tolerable time. Participants in both age groups could use more context in SRT75 than SRT50 on four tasks of RRT. Under the same SRT, however, the YA group could use more context in repeat and recall tasks than the OA group.ConclusionAge affected the use and reliance of semantic context. Even though the OA group used more context in speech recognition, they failed in speech information maintenance (recall) even with the help of semantic context. The OA group relied more on context while performing repeat and recall tasks. The amount of context used was also influenced by SRT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiayu Sun
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhikai Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Baoxuan Sun
- Widex Hearing Aid (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China
| | - Haotian Liu
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Chaogang Wei
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Yuhe Liu
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Yuhe Liu,
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Li Y, Xing H, Zhang L, Shu H, Zhang Y. How Visual Word Decoding and Context-Driven Auditory Semantic Integration Contribute to Reading Comprehension: A Test of Additive vs. Multiplicative Models. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11070830. [PMID: 34201695 PMCID: PMC8301993 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11070830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Revised: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of reading comprehension emphasize decoding and listening comprehension as two essential components. The current study aimed to investigate how Chinese character decoding and context-driven auditory semantic integration contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese middle school students. Seventy-five middle school students were tested. Context-driven auditory semantic integration was assessed with speech-in-noise tests in which the fundamental frequency (F0) contours of spoken sentences were either kept natural or acoustically flattened, with the latter requiring a higher degree of contextual information. Statistical modeling with hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the contributions of Chinese character decoding and context-driven auditory semantic integration to reading comprehension. Performance in Chinese character decoding and auditory semantic integration scores with the flattened (but not natural) F0 sentences significantly predicted reading comprehension. Furthermore, the contributions of these two factors to reading comprehension were better fitted with an additive model instead of a multiplicative model. These findings indicate that reading comprehension in middle schoolers is associated with not only character decoding but also the listening ability to make better use of the sentential context for semantic integration in a severely degraded speech-in-noise condition. The results add to our better understanding of the multi-faceted reading comprehension in children. Future research could further address the age-dependent development and maturation of reading skills by examining and controlling other important cognitive variables, and apply neuroimaging techniques such as functional magmatic resonance imaging and electrophysiology to reveal the neural substrates and neural oscillatory patterns for the contribution of auditory semantic integration and the observed additive model to reading comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Li
- Division of Science and Technology, BNU-HKBU United International College, Zhuhai 519087, China;
| | - Hongbing Xing
- Institute on Education Policy and Evaluation of International Students, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China;
| | - Linjun Zhang
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources and College of Advanced Chinese Training, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China
- Correspondence: (L.Z.); (Y.Z.)
| | - Hua Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Correspondence: (L.Z.); (Y.Z.)
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Zhang L, Li Y, Zhou H, Zhang Y, Shu H. Sentence Context Differentially Modulates Contributions of Fundamental Frequency Contours to Word Recognition in Chinese-Speaking Children With and Without Dyslexia. Front Psychol 2020; 11:598658. [PMID: 33343469 PMCID: PMC7744682 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.598658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous work has shown that children with dyslexia are impaired in speech recognition in adverse listening conditions. Our study further examined how semantic context and fundamental frequency (F0) contours contribute to word recognition against interfering speech in dyslexic and non-dyslexic children. Thirty-two children with dyslexia and 35 chronological-age-matched control children were tested on the recognition of words in normal sentences versus wordlist sentences with natural versus flat F0 contours against single-talker interference. The dyslexic children had overall poorer recognition performance than non-dyslexic children. Furthermore, semantic context differentially modulated the effect of F0 contours on the recognition performances of the two groups. Specifically, compared with flat F0 contours, natural F0 contours increased the recognition accuracy of dyslexic children less than non-dyslexic children in the wordlist condition. By contrast, natural F0 contours increased the recognition accuracy of both groups to a similar extent in the sentence condition. These results indicate that access to semantic context improves the effect of natural F0 contours on word recognition in adverse listening conditions by dyslexic children who are more impaired in the use of natural F0 contours during isolated and unrelated word recognition. Our findings have practical implications for communication with dyslexic children when listening conditions are unfavorable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linjun Zhang
- Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources and College of Advanced Chinese Training, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Li
- Department of Applied Psychology, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, Zhuhai, China
| | - Hong Zhou
- International Cultural Exchange School, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States.,Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States
| | - Hua Shu
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Niu Y, Chen F, Chen J. The effect of F0 contour on the intelligibility of Mandarin Chinese for hearing-impaired listeners. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 146:EL85. [PMID: 31472565 DOI: 10.1121/1.5119264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Dynamic F0 contour plays an important role in recognizing speech. The present work examined the effect of F0 contour on speech intelligibility for hearing-impaired listeners for Mandarin Chinese in quiet, in steady noise, and in two-talker competing speech. The intelligibility of two types of natural speech was measured: single-Tone speech with relatively flat F0 contours and multi-Tone speech with time-varying F0 contours. The speech rate and mean F0 of speech materials were carefully controlled to avoid effects other than F0 contour on the speech intelligibility. Results showed that intelligibility was significantly higher for speech with a flat F0 contour than that with a dynamic F0 contour at a low signal-to-masker ratio in both speech-spectrum noise and two-talker masker.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yadong Niu
- Department of Machine Intelligence, Speech and Hearing Research Center, and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Xueyuan Road 1088#, Xili, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, , ,
| | - Jing Chen
- Department of Machine Intelligence, Speech and Hearing Research Center, and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, China
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Zhang L, Wang J, Hong T, Li Y, Zhang Y, Shu H. Mandarin-Speaking, Kindergarten-Aged Children With Cochlear Implants Benefit From Natural F 0 Patterns in the Use of Semantic Context During Speech Recognition. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:2146-2152. [PMID: 30073305 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-h-17-0327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 05/02/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which semantic context and F0 contours affect speech recognition by Mandarin-speaking, kindergarten-aged children with cochlear implants (CIs). METHOD The experimental design manipulated two factors, that is, semantic context, by comparing the intelligibility of normal sentence versus word list, and F0 contours, by comparing the intelligibility of utterances with natural versus flat F0 patterns. Twenty-two children with CIs completed a speech recognition test. RESULTS Children with CIs could use both semantic context and F0 contours to assist speech recognition. Furthermore, natural F0 patterns provided extra benefit when semantic context was present than when it was absent. CONCLUSION Dynamic F0 contours play an important role in speech recognition by Mandarin-speaking children with CIs despite the well-known limitation of CI devices in extracting F0 information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linjun Zhang
- College of Allied Health Sciences, Beijing Language and Culture University, China
| | - Jiuju Wang
- Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorder & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing, China
| | - Tian Hong
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Yu Li
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
| | - Hua Shu
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, China
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Wang J, Wydell TN, Zhang L, Quan W, Tian J, Liu J, Dong W. The underlying mechanism of deficits of speech comprehension and hallucinations in Chinese patients with schizophrenia. J Psychiatr Res 2018; 97:16-21. [PMID: 29161608 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.10.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2017] [Revised: 10/20/2017] [Accepted: 10/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Sentence context and fundamental frequency (F0) contours are important factors to speech perception and comprehension. In Chinese-Mandarin, lexical tones can be distinguished by the F0 contours. Previous studies found healthy people could use the cue of context to recover the phonological representations of lexical tones from the altered tonal patterns to comprehend the sentences in quiet condition, but can not in noise environment. Lots of research showed that patients with schizophrenia have deficits of speech perception and comprehension. However, it is unclear how context and F0 contours influence speech perception and comprehension in patients with schizophrenia. This study detected the contribution of context and lexical tone to sentence comprehension in four types of sentences by manipulating the context and F0 contours in 32 patients with schizophrenia and 33 healthy controls. The results showed that (1) in patients with schizophrenia, the interaction between context and F0 contour was not significant, which was significant in healthy controls; (2) the scores of sentences with two types of sentences with flattened F0 contours were negatively correlated with hallucination trait scores; (3) the patients with schizophrenia showed significantly lower scores on the intelligibility of sentences in all conditions, which were negatively correlated with PANSS-P. The patients with schizophrenia couldn't use the cue of context to recover the phonological representations of lexical tones from the altered tonal patterns when they comprehend the sentences, inner noise may be the underlying mechanism for the deficits of speech perception and comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiuju Wang
- Peking University Sixth Hospital (Institute of Mental Health), Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Taeko N Wydell
- Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK
| | - Linjun Zhang
- College of Chinese Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Wenxiang Quan
- Peking University Sixth Hospital (Institute of Mental Health), Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Ju Tian
- Peking University Sixth Hospital (Institute of Mental Health), Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Jin Liu
- Peking University Sixth Hospital (Institute of Mental Health), Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing 100191, China
| | - Wentian Dong
- Peking University Sixth Hospital (Institute of Mental Health), Beijing 100191, China; National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Ministry of Health (Peking University), Beijing 100191, China.
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Zhou H, Li Y, Liang M, Guan CQ, Zhang L, Shu H, Zhang Y. Mandarin-Speaking Children's Speech Recognition: Developmental Changes in the Influences of Semantic Context and F0 Contours. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1090. [PMID: 28701990 PMCID: PMC5487482 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2017] [Accepted: 06/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The goal of this developmental speech perception study was to assess whether and how age group modulated the influences of high-level semantic context and low-level fundamental frequency (F0) contours on the recognition of Mandarin speech by elementary and middle-school-aged children in quiet and interference backgrounds. The results revealed different patterns for semantic and F0 information. One the one hand, age group modulated significantly the use of F0 contours, indicating that elementary school children relied more on natural F0 contours than middle school children during Mandarin speech recognition. On the other hand, there was no significant modulation effect of age group on semantic context, indicating that children of both age groups used semantic context to assist speech recognition to a similar extent. Furthermore, the significant modulation effect of age group on the interaction between F0 contours and semantic context revealed that younger children could not make better use of semantic context in recognizing speech with flat F0 contours compared with natural F0 contours, while older children could benefit from semantic context even when natural F0 contours were altered, thus confirming the important role of F0 contours in Mandarin speech recognition by elementary school children. The developmental changes in the effects of high-level semantic and low-level F0 information on speech recognition might reflect the differences in auditory and cognitive resources associated with processing of the two types of information in speech perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Zhou
- International Cultural Exchange School, Shanghai University of Finance and EconomicsShanghai, China
| | - Yu Li
- Department of Cognitive Science and ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, SydneyNSW, Australia
| | - Meng Liang
- College of Allied Health Sciences, Beijing Language and Culture UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Connie Qun Guan
- School of Foreign Studies, University of Science and Technology BeijingBeijing, China
| | - Linjun Zhang
- College of Allied Health Sciences, Beijing Language and Culture UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Hua Shu
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, MinneapolisMN, United States
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