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Borrie SA, Hepworth TJ, Wynn CJ, Hustad KC, Barrett TS, Lansford KL. Perceptual Learning of Dysarthria in Adolescence. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:3791-3803. [PMID: 37616225 PMCID: PMC10713018 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Revised: 05/28/2023] [Accepted: 06/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE As evidenced by perceptual learning studies involving adult listeners and speakers with dysarthria, adaptation to dysarthric speech is driven by signal predictability (speaker property) and a flexible speech perception system (listener property). Here, we extend adaptation investigations to adolescent populations and examine whether adult and adolescent listeners can learn to better understand an adolescent speaker with dysarthria. METHOD Classified by developmental stage, adult (n = 42) and adolescent (n = 40) listeners completed a three-phase perceptual learning protocol (pretest, familiarization, and posttest). During pretest and posttest, all listeners transcribed speech produced by a 13-year-old adolescent with spastic dysarthria associated with cerebral palsy. During familiarization, half of the adult and adolescent listeners engaged in structured familiarization (audio and lexical feedback) with the speech of the adolescent speaker with dysarthria; and the other half, with the speech of a neurotypical adolescent speaker (control). RESULTS Intelligibility scores increased from pretest to posttest for all listeners. However, listeners who received dysarthria familiarization achieved greater intelligibility improvements than those who received control familiarization. Furthermore, there was a significant effect of developmental stage, where the adults achieved greater intelligibility improvements relative to the adolescents. CONCLUSIONS This study provides the first tranche of evidence that adolescent dysarthric speech is learnable-a finding that holds even for adolescent listeners whose speech perception systems are not yet fully developed. Given the formative role that social interactions play during adolescence, these findings of improved intelligibility afford important clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Taylor J. Hepworth
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Camille J. Wynn
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, University of Houston
| | - Katherine C. Hustad
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| | | | - Kaitlin L. Lansford
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee
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Yoho SE, Barrett TS, Borrie SA. The Influence of Sensorineural Hearing Loss on the Relationship Between the Perception of Speech in Noise and Dysarthric Speech. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:4025-4036. [PMID: 37652059 PMCID: PMC10713019 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The ability to understand speech under adverse listening conditions is highly variable across listeners. Despite this, studies have found that listeners with normal hearing display consistency in their ability to perceive speech across different types of degraded speech, suggesting that, for at least these listeners, global skills may be involved in navigating the ambiguity in speech signals. However, there are substantial differences in the perceptual challenges faced by listeners with normal and impaired hearing. This study examines whether listeners with sensorineural hearing loss demonstrate the same type of consistency as normal-hearing listeners when processing neurotypical (i.e., control) speech that has been degraded by external noise and speech that is neurologically degraded such as dysarthria. METHOD Listeners with normal hearing (n = 31) and listeners with sensorineural hearing loss (n = 36) completed an intelligibility task with neurotypical speech in noise and with dysarthric speech in quiet. RESULTS Findings were consistent with previous work demonstrating a relationship between the ability to perceive neurotypical speech in noise and dysarthric speech for listeners with normal hearing, albeit at a higher intelligibility level than previously observed. This relationship was also observed for listeners with hearing loss, although listeners with more severe hearing losses performed better with dysarthric speech than with neurotypical speech in noise. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated a high level of consistency in intelligibility performance for listeners across two different types of degraded speech, even when those listeners were further challenged by the presence of sensorineural hearing loss. Clinical implications for both listeners with hearing loss and their communication partners with dysarthria are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E. Yoho
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus
| | | | - Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
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Wolfrum V, Lehner K, Heim S, Ziegler W. Clinical Assessment of Communication-Related Speech Parameters in Dysarthria: The Impact of Perceptual Adaptation. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023:1-21. [PMID: 37486782 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/26/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE In current clinical practice, intelligibility of dysarthric speech is commonly assessed by speech-language therapists (SLTs), in most cases by the therapist caring for the patient being diagnosed. Since SLTs are familiar with dysarthria in general and with the speech of the individual patient to be assessed in particular, they have an adaptation advantage in understanding the patient's utterances. We examined whether and how listeners' assessments of communication-related speech parameters vary as a function of their familiarity with dysarthria in general and with the diagnosed patients in particular. METHOD Intelligibility, speech naturalness, and perceived listener effort were assessed in 20 persons with dysarthria (PWD). Patients' speech samples were judged by the individual treating therapists, five dysarthria experts who were unfamiliar with the patients, and crowdsourced naïve listeners. Adaptation effects were analyzed using (a) linear mixed models of overall scoring levels, (b) regression models of severity dependence, (c) network analyses of between-listener and between-parameter relationships, and (d) measures of intra- and interobserver consistency. RESULTS Significant advantages of dysarthria experts over laypeople were found in all parameters. An overall advantage of the treating therapists over nonfamiliar experts was only seen in listening effort. Severity-dependent adaptation effects occurred in all parameters. The therapists' responses were heterogeneous and inconsistent with those of the unfamiliar experts and the naïve listeners. CONCLUSIONS The way SLTs evaluate communication-relevant speech parameters of the PWD whom they care for is influenced not only by adaptation benefits but also by therapeutic biases. This finding weakens the validity of assessments of communication-relevant speech parameters by the treating therapists themselves and encourages the development and use of alternative methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera Wolfrum
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
| | - Katharina Lehner
- Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, Institute for Phonetics and Speech Processing, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
| | - Stefan Heim
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
- Research Center Jülich, Institute of Neurosciences and Medicine (INM-1), Germany
- JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany
| | - Wolfram Ziegler
- Clinical Neuropsychology Research Group, Institute for Phonetics and Speech Processing, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany
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Borrie SA, Yoho SE, Healy EW, Barrett TS. The Application of Time-Frequency Masking To Improve Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech in Background Noise. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:1853-1866. [PMID: 36944186 PMCID: PMC10457087 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Background noise reduces speech intelligibility. Time-frequency (T-F) masking is an established signal processing technique that improves intelligibility of neurotypical speech in background noise. Here, we investigated a novel application of T-F masking, assessing its potential to improve intelligibility of neurologically degraded speech in background noise. METHOD Listener participants (N = 422) completed an intelligibility task either in the laboratory or online, listening to and transcribing audio recordings of neurotypical (control) and neurologically degraded (dysarthria) speech under three different processing types: speech in quiet (quiet), speech mixed with cafeteria noise (noise), and speech mixed with cafeteria noise and then subsequently processed by an ideal quantized mask (IQM) to remove the noise. RESULTS We observed significant reductions in intelligibility of dysarthric speech, even at highly favorable signal-to-noise ratios (+11 to +23 dB) that did not impact neurotypical speech. We also observed significant intelligibility improvements from speech in noise to IQM-processed speech for both control and dysarthric speech across a wide range of noise levels. Furthermore, the overall benefit of IQM processing for dysarthric speech was comparable with that of the control speech in background noise, as was the intelligibility data collected in the laboratory versus online. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates proof of concept, validating the application of T-F masks to a neurologically degraded speech signal. Given that intelligibility challenges greatly impact communication, and thus the lives of people with dysarthria and their communication partners, the development of clinical tools to enhance intelligibility in this clinical population is critical.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Sarah E. Yoho
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus
| | - Eric W. Healy
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus
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McAllister T, Nightingale C, Moya-Galé G, Kawamura A, Ramig LO. Crowdsourced Perceptual Ratings of Voice Quality in People With Parkinson's Disease Before and After Intensive Voice and Articulation Therapies: Secondary Outcome of a Randomized Controlled Trial. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:1541-1562. [PMID: 37059078 PMCID: PMC10457080 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Limited research has examined the suitability of crowdsourced ratings to measure treatment effects in speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD), particularly for constructs such as voice quality. This study obtained measures of reliability and validity for crowdsourced listeners' ratings of voice quality in speech samples from a published study. We also investigated whether aggregated listener ratings would replicate the original study's findings of treatment effects based on the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) measure. METHOD This study reports a secondary outcome measure of a randomized controlled trial with speakers with dysarthria associated with PD, including two active comparators (Lee Silverman Voice Treatment [LSVT LOUD] and LSVT ARTIC), an inactive comparator (untreated PD), and a healthy control group. Speech samples from three time points (pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up) were presented in random order for rating as "typical" or "atypical" with respect to voice quality. Untrained listeners were recruited through the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform until each sample had at least 25 ratings. RESULTS Intrarater reliability for tokens presented repeatedly was substantial (Cohen's κ = .65-.70), and interrater agreement significantly exceeded chance level. There was a significant correlation of moderate magnitude between the AVQI and the proportion of listeners classifying a given sample as "typical." Consistent with the original study, we found a significant interaction between group and time point, with the LSVT LOUD group alone showing significantly higher perceptually rated voice quality at posttreatment and follow-up relative to the pretreatment time point. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that crowdsourcing can be a valid means to evaluate clinical speech samples, even for less familiar constructs such as voice quality. The findings also replicate the results of the study by Moya-Galé et al. (2022) and support their functional relevance by demonstrating that the effects of treatment measured acoustically in that study are perceptually apparent to everyday listeners.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Lorraine Olson Ramig
- University of Colorado Boulder
- National Center for Voice and Speech, Denver, CO
- Columbia University, New York, NY
- LSVT Global, Inc., Tucson, AZ
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Lansford KL, Barrett TS, Borrie SA. Cognitive Predictors of Perception and Adaptation to Dysarthric Speech in Young Adult Listeners. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:30-47. [PMID: 36480697 PMCID: PMC10023189 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-22-00391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Although recruitment of cognitive-linguistic resources to support dysarthric speech perception and adaptation is presumed by theoretical accounts of effortful listening and supported by cross-disciplinary empirical findings, prospective relationships have received limited attention in the disordered speech literature. This study aimed to examine the predictive relationships between cognitive-linguistic parameters and intelligibility outcomes associated with familiarization with dysarthric speech in young adult listeners. METHOD A cohort of 156 listener participants between the ages of 18 and 50 years completed a three-phase perceptual training protocol (pretest, training, and posttest) with one of three speakers with dysarthria. Additionally, listeners completed the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery to obtain measures of the following cognitive-linguistic constructs: working memory, inhibitory control of attention, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and vocabulary knowledge. RESULTS Elastic net regression models revealed that select cognitive-linguistic measures and their two-way interactions predicted both initial intelligibility and intelligibility improvement of dysarthric speech. While some consistency across models was shown, unique constellations of select cognitive factors and their interactions predicted initial intelligibility and intelligibility improvement of the three different speakers with dysarthria. CONCLUSIONS Current findings extend empirical support for theoretical models of speech perception in adverse listening conditions to dysarthric speech signals. Although predictive relationships were complex, vocabulary knowledge, working memory, and cognitive flexibility often emerged as important variables across the models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlin L. Lansford
- School of Communication Science & Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee
| | | | - Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
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Baese-Berk MM, Levi SV, Van Engen KJ. Intelligibility as a measure of speech perception: Current approaches, challenges, and recommendations. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 153:68. [PMID: 36732227 DOI: 10.1121/10.0016806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Intelligibility measures, which assess the number of words or phonemes a listener correctly transcribes or repeats, are commonly used metrics for speech perception research. While these measures have many benefits for researchers, they also come with a number of limitations. By pointing out the strengths and limitations of this approach, including how it fails to capture aspects of perception such as listening effort, this article argues that the role of intelligibility measures must be reconsidered in fields such as linguistics, communication disorders, and psychology. Recommendations for future work in this area are presented.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Susannah V Levi
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, New York 10012, USA
| | - Kristin J Van Engen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
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Nayak S, Coleman PL, Ladányi E, Nitin R, Gustavson DE, Fisher SE, Magne CL, Gordon RL. The Musical Abilities, Pleiotropy, Language, and Environment (MAPLE) Framework for Understanding Musicality-Language Links Across the Lifespan. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:615-664. [PMID: 36742012 PMCID: PMC9893227 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Using individual differences approaches, a growing body of literature finds positive associations between musicality and language-related abilities, complementing prior findings of links between musical training and language skills. Despite these associations, musicality has been often overlooked in mainstream models of individual differences in language acquisition and development. To better understand the biological basis of these individual differences, we propose the Musical Abilities, Pleiotropy, Language, and Environment (MAPLE) framework. This novel integrative framework posits that musical and language-related abilities likely share some common genetic architecture (i.e., genetic pleiotropy) in addition to some degree of overlapping neural endophenotypes, and genetic influences on musically and linguistically enriched environments. Drawing upon recent advances in genomic methodologies for unraveling pleiotropy, we outline testable predictions for future research on language development and how its underlying neurobiological substrates may be supported by genetic pleiotropy with musicality. In support of the MAPLE framework, we review and discuss findings from over seventy behavioral and neural studies, highlighting that musicality is robustly associated with individual differences in a range of speech-language skills required for communication and development. These include speech perception-in-noise, prosodic perception, morphosyntactic skills, phonological skills, reading skills, and aspects of second/foreign language learning. Overall, the current work provides a clear agenda and framework for studying musicality-language links using individual differences approaches, with an emphasis on leveraging advances in the genomics of complex musicality and language traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srishti Nayak
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA
| | - Peyton L. Coleman
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Enikő Ladányi
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Linguistics, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Rachana Nitin
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Daniel E. Gustavson
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Simon E. Fisher
- Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Cyrille L. Magne
- Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
- PhD Program in Literacy Studies, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, USA
| | - Reyna L. Gordon
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
- Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA
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Francis AL. Adding noise is a confounded nuisance. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 152:1375. [PMID: 36182286 DOI: 10.1121/10.0013874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
A wide variety of research and clinical assessments involve presenting speech stimuli in the presence of some kind of noise. Here, I selectively review two theoretical perspectives and discuss ways in which these perspectives may help researchers understand the consequences for listeners of adding noise to a speech signal. I argue that adding noise changes more about the listening task than merely making the signal more difficult to perceive. To fully understand the effects of an added noise on speech perception, we must consider not just how much the noise affects task difficulty, but also how it affects all of the systems involved in understanding speech: increasing message uncertainty, modifying attentional demand, altering affective response, and changing motivation to perform the task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander L Francis
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, 715 Clinic Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
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Heffner CC, Myers EB, Gracco VL. Impaired perceptual phonetic plasticity in Parkinson's disease. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 152:511. [PMID: 35931533 PMCID: PMC9299957 DOI: 10.1121/10.0012884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition primarily associated with its motor consequences. Although much of the focus within the speech domain has focused on PD's consequences for production, people with PD have been shown to differ in the perception of emotional prosody, loudness, and speech rate from age-matched controls. The current study targeted the effect of PD on perceptual phonetic plasticity, defined as the ability to learn and adjust to novel phonetic input, both in second language and native language contexts. People with PD were compared to age-matched controls (and, for three of the studies, a younger control population) in tasks of explicit non-native speech learning and adaptation to variation in native speech (compressed rate, accent, and the use of timing information within a sentence to parse ambiguities). The participants with PD showed significantly worse performance on the task of compressed rate and used the duration of an ambiguous fricative to segment speech to a lesser degree than age-matched controls, indicating impaired speech perceptual abilities. Exploratory comparisons also showed people with PD who were on medication performed significantly worse than their peers off medication on those two tasks and the task of explicit non-native learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher C Heffner
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
| | - Emily B Myers
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA
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Shechter Shvartzman L, Lavie L, Banai K. Speech Perception in Older Adults: An Interplay of Hearing, Cognition, and Learning? Front Psychol 2022; 13:816864. [PMID: 35250748 PMCID: PMC8891456 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.816864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Older adults with age-related hearing loss exhibit substantial individual differences in speech perception in adverse listening conditions. We propose that the ability to rapidly adapt to changes in the auditory environment (i.e., perceptual learning) is among the processes contributing to these individual differences, in addition to the cognitive and sensory processes that were explored in the past. Seventy older adults with age-related hearing loss participated in this study. We assessed the relative contribution of hearing acuity, cognitive factors (working memory, vocabulary, and selective attention), rapid perceptual learning of time-compressed speech, and hearing aid use to the perception of speech presented at a natural fast rate (fast speech), speech embedded in babble noise (speech in noise), and competing speech (dichotic listening). Speech perception was modeled as a function of the other variables. For fast speech, age [odds ratio (OR) = 0.79], hearing acuity (OR = 0.62), pre-learning (baseline) perception of time-compressed speech (OR = 1.47), and rapid perceptual learning (OR = 1.36) were all significant predictors. For speech in noise, only hearing and pre-learning perception of time-compressed speech were significant predictors (OR = 0.51 and OR = 1.53, respectively). Consistent with previous findings, the severity of hearing loss and auditory processing (as captured by pre-learning perception of time-compressed speech) was strong contributors to individual differences in fast speech and speech in noise perception. Furthermore, older adults with good rapid perceptual learning can use this capacity to partially offset the effects of age and hearing loss on the perception of speech presented at fast conversational rates. Our results highlight the potential contribution of dynamic processes to speech perception.
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Borrie SA, Wynn CJ, Berisha V, Barrett TS. From Speech Acoustics to Communicative Participation in Dysarthria: Toward a Causal Framework. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:405-418. [PMID: 34958608 PMCID: PMC9132139 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE We proposed and tested a causal instantiation of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, linking acoustics, intelligibility, and communicative participation in the context of dysarthria. METHOD Speech samples and communicative participation scores were collected from individuals with dysarthria (n = 32). Speech was analyzed for two acoustic metrics (i.e., articulatory precision and speech rate), and an objective measure of intelligibility was generated from listener transcripts. Mediation analysis was used to evaluate pathways of effect between acoustics, intelligibility, and communicative participation. RESULTS We observed a strong relationship between articulatory precision and intelligibility and a moderate relationship between intelligibility and communicative participation. Collectively, data supported a significant relationship between articulatory precision and communicative participation, which was almost entirely mediated through intelligibility. These relationships were not significant when speech rate was specified as the acoustic variable of interest. CONCLUSION The statistical corroboration of our causal instantiation of the ICF framework with articulatory acoustics affords important support toward the development of a comprehensive causal framework to understand and, ultimately, address restricted communicative participation in dysarthria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Camille J. Wynn
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Visar Berisha
- School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix
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14
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Heffner CC, Myers EB. Individual Differences in Phonetic Plasticity Across Native and Nonnative Contexts. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:3720-3733. [PMID: 34525309 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Individuals vary in their ability to learn the sound categories of nonnative languages (nonnative phonetic learning) and to adapt to systematic differences, such as accent or talker differences, in the sounds of their native language (native phonetic learning). Difficulties with both native and nonnative learning are well attested in people with speech and language disorders relative to healthy controls, but substantial variability in these skills is also present in the typical population. This study examines whether this individual variability can be organized around a common ability that we label "phonetic plasticity." Method A group of healthy young adult participants (N = 80), who attested they had no history of speech, language, neurological, or hearing deficits, completed two tasks of nonnative phonetic category learning, two tasks of learning to cope with variation in their native language, and seven tasks of other cognitive functions, distributed across two sessions. Performance on these 11 tasks was compared, and exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the extent to which performance on each task was related to the others. Results Performance on both tasks of native learning and an explicit task of nonnative learning patterned together, suggesting that native and nonnative phonetic learning tasks rely on a shared underlying capacity, which is termed "phonetic plasticity." Phonetic plasticity was also associated with vocabulary, comprehension of words in background noise, and, more weakly, working memory. Conclusions Nonnative sound learning and native language speech perception may rely on shared phonetic plasticity. The results suggest that good learners of native language phonetic variation are also good learners of nonnative phonetic contrasts. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16606778.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher C Heffner
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
- Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences, University at Buffalo, NY
- Center for Cognitive Science, University at Buffalo, NY
| | - Emily B Myers
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
- Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs
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15
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Borrie SA, Lansford KL. A Perceptual Learning Approach for Dysarthria Remediation: An Updated Review. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:3060-3073. [PMID: 34289312 PMCID: PMC8740677 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Early studies of perceptual learning of dysarthric speech, those summarized in Borrie, McAuliffe, and Liss (2012), yielded preliminary evidence that listeners could learn to better understand the speech of a person with dysarthria, revealing a potentially promising avenue for future intelligibility interventions. Since then, a programmatic body of research grounded in models of perceptual processing has unfolded. The current review provides an updated account of the state of the evidence in this area and offers direction for moving this work toward clinical implementation. Method The studies that have investigated perceptual learning of dysarthric speech (N = 24) are summarized and synthesized first according to the proposed learning source and then by highlighting the parameters that appear to mediate learning, culminating with additional learning outcomes. Results The recent literature has established strong empirical evidence of intelligibility improvements following familiarization with dysarthric speech and a theoretical account of the mechanisms that facilitate improved processing of the neurologically degraded acoustic signal. Conclusions There are no existing intelligibility interventions for individuals with dysarthria who cannot behaviorally modify their speech. However, there is now robust support for the development of an approach that shifts the weight of behavioral change from speaker to listener, exploiting perceptual learning to ease the intelligibility burden of dysarthria. To move this work from bench to bedside, recommendations for translational studies that establish best practices and candidacy for listener-targeted dysarthria remediation, perceptual training, are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie A. Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Kaitlin L. Lansford
- Department of Communication Science and Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee
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16
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Fletcher A, McAuliffe M. Comparing Lexical Cues in Listener Processing of Dysarthria and Speech in Noise. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2021; 30:1572-1579. [PMID: 33630661 DOI: 10.1044/2020_ajslp-20-00137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose The frequency of a word and its number of phonologically similar neighbors can dramatically affect how likely it is to be accurately identified in adverse listening conditions. This study compares how these two cues affect listeners' processing of speech in noise and dysarthric speech. Method Seven speakers with moderate hypokinetic dysarthria and eight healthy control speakers were recorded producing the same set of phrases. Statements from control speakers were mixed with noise at a level selected to match the intelligibility range of the speakers with dysarthria. A binomial mixed-effects model quantified the effects of word frequency and phonological density on word identification. Results The model revealed significant effects of word frequency (b = 0.37, SE = 0.12, p = .002) and phonological neighborhood density (b = 0.40, SE = 0.12, p = .001). There was no effect of speaking condition (i.e., dysarthric speech vs. speech in noise). However, a significant interaction was observed between speaking condition and word frequency (b = 0.26, SE = 0.04, p < .001). Conclusions The model's interactions indicated that listeners were more strongly influenced by the effects of word frequency when decoding moderate hypokinetic dysarthria as compared to speech in noise. Differences in listener reliance on lexical cues may have important implications for the selection of communication-based treatment strategies for speakers with dysarthria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annalise Fletcher
- Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of North Texas, Denton
| | - Megan McAuliffe
- School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
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17
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Francis AL, Bent T, Schumaker J, Love J, Silbert N. Listener characteristics differentially affect self-reported and physiological measures of effort associated with two challenging listening conditions. Atten Percept Psychophys 2021; 83:1818-1841. [PMID: 33438149 PMCID: PMC8084824 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02195-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Listeners vary in their ability to understand speech in adverse conditions. Differences in both cognitive and linguistic capacities play a role, but increasing evidence suggests that such factors may contribute differentially depending on the listening challenge. Here, we used multilevel modeling to evaluate contributions of individual differences in age, hearing thresholds, vocabulary, selective attention, working memory capacity, personality traits, and noise sensitivity to variability in measures of comprehension and listening effort in two listening conditions. A total of 35 participants completed a battery of cognitive and linguistic tests as well as a spoken story comprehension task using (1) native-accented English speech masked by speech-shaped noise and (2) nonnative accented English speech without masking. Masker levels were adjusted individually to ensure each participant would show (close to) equivalent word recognition performance across the two conditions. Dependent measures included comprehension tests results, self-rated effort, and electrodermal, cardiovascular, and facial electromyographic measures associated with listening effort. Results showed varied patterns of responsivity across different dependent measures as well as across listening conditions. In particular, results suggested that working memory capacity may play a greater role in the comprehension of nonnative accented speech than noise-masked speech, while hearing acuity and personality may have a stronger influence on physiological responses affected by demands of understanding speech in noise. Furthermore, electrodermal measures may be more strongly affected by affective response to noise-related interference while cardiovascular responses may be more strongly affected by demands on working memory and lexical access.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander L Francis
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, Lyles-Porter Hall, 715 Clinic Dr., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
| | - Tessa Bent
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Jennifer Schumaker
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, Lyles-Porter Hall, 715 Clinic Dr., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Jordan Love
- Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, Lyles-Porter Hall, 715 Clinic Dr., West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA
| | - Noah Silbert
- Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
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18
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Failla S, Doyle PC. Intelligibility of stop-plosive and fricative consonants produced by tracheoesophageal speakers in quiet and noise. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:4075. [PMID: 32611144 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Despite functional levels of postlaryngectomy communication, individuals who undergo total laryngectomy and tracheoesophageal (TE) puncture voice restoration continue to experience significant communication difficulties in noisy environments. In order to identify and further characterize TE speakers' intelligibility in noise, the current auditory-perceptual study investigated stop-plosive and fricative intelligibility of TE speech in quiet and in the presence of multi-talker noise. Eighteen listeners evaluated monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words produced by 14 TE speakers using an open-response paradigm. The findings indicate that overall speaker intelligibility was significantly lower in noise. However, further examination of these data revealed a differential effect of noise on intelligibility according to manner and phoneme position. While overall error patterns remained consistent across conditions, the voicing distinction was affected differentially by manner class and articulatory position. The present investigation provides valuable insights into the influence of non-normal and degraded voice signals and differential perceptual patterns when comparing TE speech intelligibility in quiet and noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastiano Failla
- Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33328, USA
| | - Philip C Doyle
- Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA
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19
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Kennedy-Higgins D, Devlin JT, Adank P. Cognitive mechanisms underpinning successful perception of different speech distortions. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:2728. [PMID: 32359293 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Few studies thus far have investigated whether perception of distorted speech is consistent across different types of distortion. This study investigated whether participants show a consistent perceptual profile across three speech distortions: time-compressed, noise-vocoded, and speech in noise. Additionally, this study investigated whether/how individual differences in performance on a battery of audiological and cognitive tasks links to perception. Eighty-eight participants completed a speeded sentence-verification task with increases in accuracy and reductions in response times used to indicate performance. Audiological and cognitive task measures include pure tone audiometry, speech recognition threshold, working memory, vocabulary knowledge, attention switching, and pattern analysis. Despite previous studies suggesting that temporal and spectral/environmental perception require different lexical or phonological mechanisms, this study shows significant positive correlations in accuracy and response time performance across all distortions. Results of a principal component analysis and multiple linear regressions suggest that a component based on vocabulary knowledge and working memory predicted performance in the speech in quiet, time-compressed and speech in noise conditions. These results suggest that listeners employ a similar cognitive strategy to perceive different temporal and spectral/environmental speech distortions and that this mechanism is supported by vocabulary knowledge and working memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Kennedy-Higgins
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph T Devlin
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP, United Kingdom
| | - Patti Adank
- Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield Street, London, WC1N 1PF, United Kingdom
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20
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Ghio A, Giusti L, Blanc E, Pinto S. French adaptation of the "Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment 2" speech intelligibility test. Eur Ann Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Dis 2019; 137:111-116. [PMID: 31732389 DOI: 10.1016/j.anorl.2019.10.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech intelligibility can be defined as "the degree to which a speaker's intended message is recovered by a listener". Loss of intelligibility is one of the most frequent complaints in patients suffering from speech disorder, impairing communication. Measurement of intelligibility is therefore an important parameter in follow-up. We developed a French version of the "Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, 2nd edition" (FDA-2), an intelligibility test recognized internationally in its English version. The present study details the construction of the test and its preliminary validation. MATERIALS AND METHODS We first compiled a set of words and phrases in French, based on the criteria defined in FDA-2. In a second step, we validated the test in healthy subjects in normal and noisy conditions, to check sensitivity to speech signal degradation. RESULTS The test proved valid and sensitive, as scores were significantly lower for noise-degraded stimuli. CONCLUSION This French-language intelligibility test can be used to evaluate speech disorder: for example, in dysarthria, head and neck cancer or after cochlear implantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Ghio
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France.
| | - L Giusti
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - E Blanc
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France
| | - S Pinto
- Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, LPL, Aix-en-Provence, France
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21
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Yarra C, Nagesh S, Deshmukh OD, Kumar Ghosh P. Noise robust speech rate estimation using signal-to-noise ratio dependent sub-band selection and peak detection strategy. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 146:1615. [PMID: 31590492 DOI: 10.1121/1.5124473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Speech (syllable) rate estimation typically involves computing a feature contour based on sub-band energies having strong local maxima/peaks at syllable nuclei, which are detected with the help of voicing decisions (VDs). While such a two-stage scheme works well in clean conditions, the estimated speech rate becomes less accurate in noisy condition particularly due to erroneous VDs and non-informative sub-bands mainly at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). This work proposes a technique to use VDs in the peak detection strategy in an SNR dependent manner. It also proposes a data-driven sub-band pruning technique to improve syllabic peaks of the feature contour in the presence of noise. Further, this paper generalizes both the peak detection and the sub-band pruning technique for unknown noise and/or unknown SNR conditions. Experiments are performed in clean and 20, 10, and 0 dB SNR conditions separately using Switchboard, TIMIT, and CTIMIT corpora under five additive noises: white, car, high-frequency-channel, cockpit, and babble. Experiments are also carried out in test conditions at unseen SNRs of -5 and 5 dB with four unseen additive noises: factory, sub-way, street, and exhibition. The proposed method outperforms the best of the existing techniques in clean and noisy conditions for three corpora.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiranjeevi Yarra
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, 560012, India
| | - Supriya Nagesh
- Departement of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Om D Deshmukh
- Xerox Research Center India, Bangalore, 560103, India
| | - Prasanta Kumar Ghosh
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, 560012, India
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22
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Are there sex effects for speech intelligibility in American English? Examining the influence of talker, listener, and methodology. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:558-570. [PMID: 30506326 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-018-1635-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Talker and listener sex in speech processing has been largely unknown and under-appreciated to this point, with many studies overlooking the possible influences. In the current study, the effects of both talker and listener sex on speech intelligibility were assessed. Different methodological approaches to measuring intelligibility (percent words correct vs. subjective rating scales) and collecting data (laboratory vs. crowdsourcing) were also evaluated. Findings revealed that, regardless of methodology, the spoken productions of female talkers were overall more intelligible than the spoken productions of male talkers; however, substantial variability across talkers was observed. Findings also revealed that when data were collected in the lab, there was an interaction between talker and listener sex. This interaction between listener and talker sex was not observed when subjective ratings were crowdsourced from listener subjects across the USA via Amazon Mechanical Turk, although overall ratings remained similar. This possibly suggests that subjective intelligibility ratings may be vulnerable to bias, and such biases may be reduced by recruiting a more heterogeneous subject pool. Many studies in speech perception do not account for these talker, listener, and methodology effects. However, the present results suggest that researchers should carefully consider these effects when assessing speech intelligibility in different conditions, and when comparing findings across studies that have used different subject demographics and/or methodologies.
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Coping with adversity: Individual differences in the perception of noisy and accented speech. Atten Percept Psychophys 2018; 80:1559-1570. [DOI: 10.3758/s13414-018-1537-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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24
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Yoho SE, Borrie SA. Combining degradations: The effect of background noise on intelligibility of disordered speech. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2018; 143:281. [PMID: 29390797 PMCID: PMC5775095 DOI: 10.1121/1.5021254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The effect of background noise on intelligibility of disordered speech was assessed. Speech-shaped noise was mixed with neurologically healthy (control) and disordered (dysarthric) speech at a series of signal-to-noise ratios. In addition, bandpass filtered control and dysarthric speech conditions were assessed to determine the effect of noise on both naturally and artificially degraded speech. While significant effects of both the amount of noise and the type of speech were revealed, no interaction between the two factors was observed, in either the broadband or filtered testing conditions. Thus, it appears that there is no multiplicative effect of the presence of background noise on intelligibility of disordered speech relative to control speech. That is, the decrease in intelligibility due to increasing levels of noise is similar for both types of speech, and both types of testing conditions, and the function for dysarthric speech is simply shifted downward due to the inherent source degradations of the speech itself. Last, large-scale online crowdsourcing via Amazon Mechanical Turk was utilized to collect data for the current study. Findings and implications for this data and data collection approach are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Yoho
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84321, USA
| | - Stephanie A Borrie
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84321, USA
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