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Nip ISB, Arias CR, Corcoran J, Ishihara N, Goble DJ. Proprioceptive Acuity Influences Speech Motor Control in Healthy Adult Talkers. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:4353-4362. [PMID: 37850887 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-23-00149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Somatosensory feedback, including proprioception, is important for speech production. This study evaluates proprioceptive acuity of the tongue using a position-matching task and determining if proprioceptive acuity impacts speech motor control in healthy adult talkers. METHOD Twenty-five young adults with no history of speech, language, or hearing disorders had their tongue movements recorded with an electromagnetic articulograph while completing a position-matching task. Participants were also asked to repeat two sentences that differed in the somatosensory feedback obtained. One sentence provided both tactile and proprioceptive feedback, whereas the other primarily provided proprioceptive feedback. RESULTS Participants ranged in proprioceptive acuity as measured by the position-matching task. Talkers with smaller position-matching errors and, therefore, higher proprioceptive acuity had smaller movements and slower speeds for both sentences. Talkers with lower proprioceptive acuity had reduced speech movement stability for the sentence that primarily provides proprioceptive feedback. CONCLUSION Proprioceptive acuity of the tongue can be evaluated using a position-matching task, and acuity is associated with more efficient speech movements and greater speech movement stability, particularly when producing utterances that provide less tactile feedback. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.24293740.
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Cao B, Ravi S, Sebkhi N, Bhavsar A, Inan OT, Xu W, Wang J. MagTrack: A Wearable Tongue Motion Tracking System for Silent Speech Interfaces. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:3206-3221. [PMID: 37146629 PMCID: PMC10555459 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Current electromagnetic tongue tracking devices are not amenable for daily use and thus not suitable for silent speech interface and other applications. We have recently developed MagTrack, a novel wearable electromagnetic articulograph tongue tracking device. This study aimed to validate MagTrack for potential silent speech interface applications. METHOD We conducted two experiments: (a) classification of eight isolated vowels in consonant-vowel-consonant form and (b) continuous silent speech recognition. In these experiments, we used data from healthy adult speakers collected with MagTrack. The performance of vowel classification was measured by accuracies. The continuous silent speech recognition was measured by phoneme error rates. The performance was then compared with results using data collected with commercial electromagnetic articulograph in a prior study. RESULTS The isolated vowel classification using MagTrack achieved an average accuracy of 89.74% when leveraging all MagTrack signals (x, y, z coordinates; orientation; and magnetic signals), which outperformed the accuracy using commercial electromagnetic articulograph data (only y, z coordinates) in our previous study. The continuous speech recognition from two subjects using MagTrack achieved phoneme error rates of 73.92% and 66.73%, respectively. The commercial electromagnetic articulograph achieved 64.53% from the same subject (66.73% using MagTrack data). CONCLUSIONS MagTrack showed comparable results with the commercial electromagnetic articulograph when using the same localized information. Adding raw magnetic signals would improve the performance of MagTrack. Our preliminary testing demonstrated the potential for silent speech interface as a lightweight wearable device. This work also lays the foundation to support MagTrack's potential for other applications including visual feedback-based speech therapy and second language learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beiming Cao
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin
| | - Shravan Ravi
- Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at Austin
| | - Nordine Sebkhi
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
| | - Arpan Bhavsar
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
| | - Omer T. Inan
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
| | - Wen Xu
- Division of Computer Science, Texas Woman's University, Denton
| | - Jun Wang
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin
- Department of Neurology, The University of Texas at Austin
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Chang YHS. Effects of Production Training With Ultrasound Biofeedback on Production and Perception of Second-Language English Tense-Lax Vowel Contrasts. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:1479-1495. [PMID: 36961959 DOI: 10.1044/2023_jslhr-22-00587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigated the efficacy of ultrasound biofeedback compared to a traditional acoustic input-only method in the second-language (L2) production training of English tense-lax vowel contrasts (/i-ɪ/ and /e-ɛ/). The relationship between the degrees of production and perception learning was also examined to explore a potential L2 production-perception link. METHOD Using a pretest/training/posttest paradigm, two groups of native Mandarin speakers received three sessions of training, one with ultrasound and one with audio only. Perception performance was measured by accuracy in AX discrimination. Production performance was measured in terms of accuracy in repetition production and Euclidean distance between contrasting vowels. RESULTS Both groups showed significant improvements in posttest production and perception tasks. Additionally, the training benefits were retained 6 weeks after training. The two groups, however, did not differ significantly in training gains; nor was there a significant correlation between training-induced changes in perception and production performance. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that ultrasound feedback is similarly effective as the audio-only training in improving the L2 production of English tense-lax contrasts and the benefits transferred to perception. The lack of correlation between production and perception gains suggests that the two modalities need to be separately trained to achieve desired L2 learning outcomes.
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Ayala SA, Eads A, Kabakoff H, Swartz MT, Shiller DM, Hill J, Hitchcock ER, Preston JL, McAllister T. Auditory and Somatosensory Development for Speech in Later Childhood. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:1252-1273. [PMID: 36930986 PMCID: PMC10187971 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-22-00496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study collected measures of auditory-perceptual and oral somatosensory acuity in typically developing children and adolescents aged 9-15 years. We aimed to establish reference data that can be used as a point of comparison for individuals with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD), especially for RSSD affecting American English rhotics. We examined concurrent validity between tasks and hypothesized that performance on at least some tasks would show a significant association with age, reflecting ongoing refinement of sensory function in later childhood. We also tested for an inverse relationship between performance on auditory and somatosensory tasks, which would support the hypothesis of a trade-off between sensory domains. METHOD Ninety-eight children completed three auditory-perceptual tasks (identification and discrimination of stimuli from a "rake"-"wake" continuum and category goodness judgment for naturally produced words containing rhotics) and three oral somatosensory tasks (bite block with auditory masking, oral stereognosis, and articulatory awareness, which involved explicit judgments of relative tongue position for different speech sounds). Pairwise associations were examined between tasks within each domain and between task performance and age. Composite measures of auditory-perceptual and somatosensory functions were used to investigate the possibility of a sensory trade-off. RESULTS Statistically significant associations were observed between the identification and discrimination tasks and the bite block and articulatory awareness tasks. In addition, significant associations with age were found for the category goodness and bite block tasks. There was no statistically significant evidence of a trade-off between auditory-perceptual and somatosensory domains. CONCLUSIONS This study provided a multidimensional characterization of speech-related sensory function in older children/adolescents. Complete materials to administer all experimental tasks have been shared, along with measures of central tendency and dispersion for scores in two subgroups of age. Ultimately, we hope to apply this information to make customized treatment recommendations for children with RSSD based on sensory profiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha A. Ayala
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, NY
| | - Amanda Eads
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, NY
| | - Heather Kabakoff
- Department of Neurology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, NY
| | - Michelle T. Swartz
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
| | - Douglas M. Shiller
- École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Faculté de medicine, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Jennifer Hill
- Center for Practice and Research at the Intersection of Information, Society, and Methodology, New York University, NY
| | - Elaine R. Hitchcock
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Montclair State University, NJ
| | | | - Tara McAllister
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, NY
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Hitchcock ER, Ochs LC, Swartz MT, Leece MC, Preston JL, McAllister T. Tutorial: Using Visual-Acoustic Biofeedback for Speech Sound Training. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2023; 32:18-36. [PMID: 36623212 PMCID: PMC10023147 DOI: 10.1044/2022_ajslp-22-00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This tutorial summarizes current practices using visual-acoustic biofeedback (VAB) treatment to improve speech outcomes for individuals with speech sound difficulties. Clinical strategies will focus on residual distortions of /ɹ/. METHOD Summary evidence related to the characteristics of VAB and the populations that may benefit from this treatment are reviewed. Guidelines are provided for clinicians on how to use VAB with clients to identify and modify their productions to match an acoustic representation. The clinical application of a linear predictive coding spectrum is emphasized. RESULTS Successful use of VAB requires several key factors including clinician and client comprehension of the acoustic representation, appropriate acoustic target and template selection, as well as appropriate selection of articulatory strategies, practice schedules, and feedback models to scaffold acquisition of new speech sounds. CONCLUSION Integrating a VAB component in clinical practice offers additional intervention options for individuals with speech sound difficulties and often facilitates improved speech sound acquisition and generalization outcomes. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21817722.
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Benway NR, Hitchcock ER, McAllister T, Feeny GT, Hill J, Preston JL. Comparing Biofeedback Types for Children With Residual /ɹ/ Errors in American English: A Single-Case Randomization Design. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2021; 30:1819-1845. [PMID: 34232693 PMCID: PMC8702873 DOI: 10.1044/2021_ajslp-20-00216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Revised: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2021] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Research comparing different biofeedback types could lead to individualized treatments for those with residual speech errors. This study examines within-treatment response to ultrasound and visual-acoustic biofeedback, as well as generalization to untrained words, for errors affecting the American English rhotic /ɹ/. We investigated whether some children demonstrated greater improvement in /ɹ/ during ultrasound or visual-acoustic biofeedback. Each participant received both biofeedback types. Individual predictors of treatment response (i.e., age, auditory-perceptual skill, oral somatosensory skill, and growth mindset) were also explored. Method Seven children ages 9-16 years with residual rhotic errors participated in 10 treatment visits. Each visit consisted of two conditions: 45 min of ultrasound biofeedback and 45 min of visual-acoustic biofeedback. The order of biofeedback conditions was randomized within a single-case experimental design. Acquisition of /ɹ/ was evaluated through acoustic measurements (normalized F3-F2 difference) of selected nonbiofeedback productions during practice. Generalization of /ɹ/ was evaluated through acoustic measurements and perceptual ratings of pretreatment/posttreatment probes. Results Five participants demonstrated acquisition of practiced words during the combined treatment package. Three participants demonstrated a clinically significant degree of generalization to untreated words on posttreatment probes. Randomization tests indicated one participant demonstrated a significant advantage for visual-acoustic over ultrasound biofeedback. Participants' auditory-perceptual acuity on an /ɹ/-/w/ identification task was identified as a possible correlate of generalization following treatment. Conclusions Most participants did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference in acoustic productions between the ultrasound and visual-acoustic conditions, but one participant showed greater improvement in /ɹ/ during visual-acoustic biofeedback. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14881101.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina R. Benway
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Syracuse University, NY
| | - Elaine R. Hitchcock
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Montclair State University, NJ
| | - Tara McAllister
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, NY
| | | | - Jennifer Hill
- Department of Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities, New York University, NY
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Cheng HS, Buchwald A. Does Voicing Affect Patterns of Transfer in Nonnative Cluster Learning? JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:2103-2120. [PMID: 33909447 PMCID: PMC8740656 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2020] [Revised: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Previous studies have demonstrated that speakers can learn novel speech sequences, although the content and specificity of the learned speech motor representations remain incompletely understood. We investigated these representations by examining transfer of learning in the context of nonnative consonant clusters. Specifically, we investigated whether American English speakers who learn to produce either voiced or voiceless stop-stop clusters (e.g., /gd/ or /kt/) exhibit transfer to the other voicing pattern. Method Each participant (n = 34) was trained on disyllabic nonwords beginning with either voiced (/gd/, /db/, /gb/) or voiceless (/kt/, /kp/, /tp/) onset consonant clusters (e.g., /gdimu/, /ktaksnæm/) in a practice-based speech motor learning paradigm. All participants were tested on both voiced and voiceless clusters at baseline (prior to practice) and in two retention sessions (20 min and 2 days after practice). We compared changes in cluster accuracy and burst-to-burst duration between baseline and each retention session to evaluate learning (performance on the trained clusters) and transfer (performance on the untrained clusters). Results Participants in both training conditions improved with respect to cluster accuracy and burst-to-burst duration for the clusters they practiced on. A bidirectional transfer pattern was found, such that participants also improved the cluster accuracy and burst-to-burst duration for the clusters with the other untrained voicing pattern. Post hoc analyses also revealed that improvement in the production of untrained stop-fricative clusters that originally were added as filler items. Conclusion Our findings suggest the learned speech motor representations may encode the information about the coordination of oral articulators for stop-stop clusters independently from information about the coordination of oral and laryngeal articulators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung-Shao Cheng
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York City
| | - Adam Buchwald
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York City
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Cheng HS, Niziolek CA, Buchwald A, McAllister T. Examining the Relationship Between Speech Perception, Production Distinctness, and Production Variability. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:660948. [PMID: 34122028 PMCID: PMC8192800 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.660948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Several studies have demonstrated that individuals' ability to perceive a speech sound contrast is related to the production of that contrast in their native language. The theoretical account for this relationship is that speech perception and production have a shared multimodal representation in relevant sensory spaces (e.g., auditory and somatosensory domains). This gives rise to a prediction that individuals with more narrowly defined targets will produce greater separation between contrasting sounds, as well as lower variability in the production of each sound. However, empirical studies that tested this hypothesis, particularly with regard to variability, have reported mixed outcomes. The current study investigates the relationship between perceptual ability and production ability, focusing on the auditory domain. We examined whether individuals' categorical labeling consistency for the American English /ε/-/æ/ contrast, measured using a perceptual identification task, is related to distance between the centroids of vowel categories in acoustic space (i.e., vowel contrast distance) and to two measures of production variability: the overall distribution of repeated tokens for the vowels (i.e., area of the ellipse) and the proportional within-trial decrease in variability as defined as the magnitude of self-correction to the initial acoustic variation of each token (i.e., centering ratio). No significant associations were found between categorical labeling consistency and vowel contrast distance, between categorical labeling consistency and area of the ellipse, or between categorical labeling consistency and centering ratio. These null results suggest that the perception-production relation may not be as robust as suggested by a widely adopted theoretical framing in terms of the size of auditory target regions. However, the present results may also be attributable to choices in implementation (e.g., the use of model talkers instead of continua derived from the participants' own productions) that should be subject to further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hung-Shao Cheng
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York City, NY, United States
| | - Caroline A Niziolek
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Adam Buchwald
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York City, NY, United States
| | - Tara McAllister
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York City, NY, United States
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Does Double Biofeedback Affect Functional Hemispheric Asymmetry and Activity? A Pilot Study. Symmetry (Basel) 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/sym13060937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In the current pilot study, we attempt to find out how double neurofeedback influences functional hemispheric asymmetry and activity. We examined 30 healthy participants (8 males; 22 females, mean age = 29; SD = 8). To measure functional hemispheric asymmetry and activity, we used computer laterometry in the ‘two-source’ lead-lag dichotic paradigm. Double biofeedback included 8 min of EEG oscillation recording with five minutes of basic mode. During the basic mode, the current amplitude of the EEG oscillator gets transformed into feedback sounds while the current amplitude of alpha EEG oscillator is used to modulate the intensity of light signals. Double neurofeedback did not directly influence the asymmetry itself but accelerated individual sound perception characteristics during dichotic listening in the preceding effect paradigm. Further research is needed to investigate the effect of double neurofeedback training on functional brain activity and asymmetry, taking into account participants’ age, gender, and motivation.
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Gritsyk O, Kabakoff H, Li JJ, Ayala S, Shiller DM, McAllister T. Toward an index of oral somatosensory acuity: Comparison of three measures in adults. PERSPECTIVES OF THE ASHA SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS 2021; 6:500-512. [PMID: 34746411 DOI: 10.1044/2021_persp-20-00218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Somatosensory targets and feedback are instrumental in ensuring accurate speech production. Individuals differ in their ability to access and respond to somatosensory information, but there is no established standard for measuring somatosensory acuity. The primary objective of this study was to determine which of three measures of somatosensory acuity had the strongest association with change in production accuracy in a vowel learning task, while controlling for the better-studied covariate of auditory acuity. METHOD Three somatosensory tasks were administered to 20 female college students: an oral stereognosis task, a bite block task with auditory masking, and a novel phonetic awareness task. Individual scores from the tasks were compared to their performance on a speech learning task in which participants were trained to produce novel Mandarin vowels with visual biofeedback. RESULTS Of the three tasks, only bite block adaptation with auditory masking was significantly associated with performance in the speech learning task. Participants with weaker somatosensory acuity tended to demonstrate larger increases in production accuracy over the course of training. CONCLUSIONS The bite block adaptation task measures proprioceptive awareness rather than tactile acuity and assesses somatosensory knowledge implicitly, with limited metalinguistic demands. This small-scale study provides preliminary evidence that these characteristics may be desirable for the assessment of oral somatosensory acuity, at least in the context of vowel learning tasks. Well-normed somatosensory measures could be of clinical utility by informing diagnosis/prognosis and treatment planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olesia Gritsyk
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY
| | - Heather Kabakoff
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY
| | - Joanne Jingwen Li
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY
| | - Samantha Ayala
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY
| | - Douglas M Shiller
- École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, CA
| | - Tara McAllister
- Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, New York, NY
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