Effects of semantic context and feedback on perceptual learning of speech processed through an acoustic simulation of a cochlear implant.

Differences in perceptual strategies for lexical segmentation of moderate hypokinetic dysarthric speech, apparently related to the conditions of the familiarization procedure, have been previously reported [Borrie et al., Language and Cognitive Processes (2012)]. The current follow-up investigation examined whether this difference was also observed when familiarization stimuli highlighted syllabic strength contrast cues. Forty listeners completed an identical transcription task following familiarization with dysarthric phrases presented under either passive or explicit learning conditions. Lexical boundary error patterns revealed that syllabic strength cues were exploited in both familiarization conditions. Comparisons with data previously reported afford further insight into perceptual learning of dysarthric speech.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

A follow-up investigation into the mechanisms that underlie improved recognition of dysarthric speech

Borrie

McAuliffe

Liss

et al. 2012

“…To the extent that they can be generalized, the current results and future studies on this topic may give direction for the design of training protocols where listeners attempt to improve their speech recognition for words and sentences through feedback that includes some form of priming in short-term (e.g., Davis et al, 2005;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2008;Loebach et al, 2010;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2011) and longer-term training protocols (e.g., Burk and Humes, 2007;Kuchinsky et al, 2014). Also, priming in the form of textual captions has been used in computerized aural rehabilitation programs designed mostly for home use (e.g., LACE, Henderson Sabes, 2004, 2006, and "The Listening Room," produced by Advanced Bionics).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, if the listener is given a preview of the message content beforehand, either auditorily or through a written caption, the same vocoded auditory signal is not only clearly recognized as speech, but listeners are often impressed that the message is quite intelligible. This perceptual priming or cueing effect has been called "pop out" (Davis et al, 2005;Loebach et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal effects in priming of masked and degraded speech

Freyman

Morse-Fortier

Griffin

2015

When listeners know the content of the message they are about to hear, the clarity of distorted or partially masked speech increases dramatically. The current experiments investigated this priming phenomenon quantitatively using a same-different task where a typed caption and auditory message either matched exactly or differed by one key word. Four conditions were tested with groups of normal-hearing listeners: (a) natural speech presented in two-talker babble in a non-spatial configuration, (b) same as (a) but with the masker time reversed, (c) same as (a) but with target-masker spatial separation, and (d) vocoded sentences presented in speech-spectrum noise. The primary manipulation was the timing of the caption relative to the auditory message, which varied in 20 steps with a resolution of 200 ms. Across all four conditions, optimal performance was achieved when the initiation of the text preceded the acoustic speech signal by at least 400 ms, driven mostly by a low number of "different" responses to Same stimuli. Performance was slightly poorer with simultaneous delivery and much poorer when the auditory signal preceded the caption. Because priming may be used to facilitate perceptual learning, identifying optimal temporal conditions for priming could help determine the best conditions for auditory training.

“…Adaptation to noise-or tone-vocoded speech has received considerable interest, not least because this type of processing has features in common with the processing typically applied in cochlear implant systems (Davis et al, 2005;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2008;Hervais-Adelman et al, 2011;Loebach et al, 2010). Spectral resolution is limited to a small number of broad frequency bands, temporal fine structure is eliminated, but amplitude envelopes within each frequency band are preserved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to spectrally-rotated speech

Green¹,

Rosen²,

Faulkner³

et al. 2013

Much recent interest surrounds listeners' abilities to adapt to various transformations that distort speech. An extreme example is spectral rotation, in which the spectrum of low-pass filtered speech is inverted around a center frequency (2 kHz here). Spectral shape and its dynamics are completely altered, rendering speech virtually unintelligible initially. However, intonation, rhythm, and contrasts in periodicity and aperiodicity are largely unaffected. Four normal hearing adults underwent 6 h of training with spectrally-rotated speech using Continuous Discourse Tracking. They and an untrained control group completed pre- and post-training speech perception tests, for which talkers differed from the training talker. Significantly improved recognition of spectrally-rotated sentences was observed for trained, but not untrained, participants. However, there were no significant improvements in the identification of medial vowels in /bVd/ syllables or intervocalic consonants. Additional tests were performed with speech materials manipulated so as to isolate the contribution of various speech features. These showed that preserving intonational contrasts did not contribute to the comprehension of spectrally-rotated speech after training, and suggested that improvements involved adaptation to altered spectral shape and dynamics, rather than just learning to focus on speech features relatively unaffected by the transformation.