Breathing patterns during spontaneous speech

Breathing and Speech Adaptation: Do Speakers Adapt Toward a Confederate Talking Under Physical Effort?

PURPOSE

This study investigated whether speakers adapt their breathing and speech (fundamental frequency [fo]) to a prerecorded confederate who is sitting or moving under different levels of physical effort and who is either speaking or not. Following Paccalin and Jeannerod (2000), we would expect breathing rate to change in the direction of the confederate's, even if the participant is physically inactive. This might in turn affect their speech acoustics.

METHOD

We recorded the speech and respiration of 22 native German speakers. They produced solo and synchronous read speech in interaction with a confederate who appeared on a prerecorded video. There were three within-subject experimental conditions: the confederate (a) sitting, (b) biking with light effort, or (c) biking with heavier effort.

RESULTS

During speech, the confederate's inhalation amplitude and fo increased with physical effort, as expected. Her breath cycle duration changed differently, probably because of read speech constraints. Overall, the only adaptation the participants showed was higher fo with increase in the confederate's physical effort during synchronous, but not solo, speech. Additionally, they produced shallower inhalations when observing the confederate biking in silence, as compared to the condition without movement. Crucially, the participants' acoustic and breathing data showed large interindividual variability.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that, in this paradigm, convergence only took place on fo during synchronous speech and that this phonetic adaptation happened independently from any speech breathing adaptation. It also suggests that participants may adapt their quiet breathing while watching a person performing physical exercise but that the mechanism is more complex than that explained previously.

Volitional inspiration is mediated by two independent output channels in the primary motor cortex

The diaphragm is a multifunctional muscle that mediates both autonomic and volitional inspiration. It is critically involved in vocalization, postural stability, and expulsive core-trunk functions, such as coughing, hiccups, and vomiting. In macaque monkeys, we used retrograde transneuronal transport of rabies virus injected into the left hemidiaphragm to identify cortical neurons that have multisynaptic connections with phrenic motoneurons. Our research demonstrates that representation of the diaphragm in the primary motor cortex (M1) is split into two spatially separate and independent sites. No cortico-cortical connections are known to exist between these two sites. One site is located dorsal to the arm representation within the central sulcus and the second site is lateral to the arm. The dual representation of the diaphragm warrants a revision to the somatotopic map of M1. The dorsal diaphragm representation overlaps with trunk and axial musculature. It is ideally situated to coordinate with these muscles during volitional inspiration and in producing intra-abdominal pressure gradients. The lateral site overlaps the origin of M1 projections to a laryngeal muscle, the cricothyroid. This observation suggests that the coordinated control of laryngeal muscles and the diaphragm during vocalization may be achieved, in part, by co-localization of their representations in M1. The neural organization of the two diaphragm sites underlies a new perspective for interpreting functional imaging studies of respiration and/or vocalization. Furthermore, our results provide novel evidence supporting the concept that overlapping output channels within M1 are a prerequisite for the formation of muscle synergies underlying fine motor control.

Predictive coordination of breathing during intra-personal speaking and listening

It has long been known that human breathing is altered during listening and speaking compared to rest: during speaking, inhalation depth is adjusted to the air volume required for the upcoming utterance. During listening, inhalation is temporally aligned to inhalation of the speaker. While evidence for the former is relatively strong, it is virtually absent for the latter. We address both phenomena using recordings of speech envelope and respiration in 30 participants during 14 min of speaking and listening to one's own speech. First, we show that inhalation depth is positively correlated with the total power of the speech envelope in the following utterance. Second, we provide evidence that inhalation during listening to one's own speech is significantly more likely at time points of inhalation during speaking. These findings are compatible with models that postulate alignment of internal forward models of interlocutors with the aim to facilitate communication.

Effects of verbal tasks with varying difficulty on real-time respiratory airflow during speech generation in healthy young adults

Objective

Respiratory function is linked to sensory, affective, and cognitive processes and it is affected by environmental constraints such as cognitive demands. It is suggested that specific cognitive processes, such as working memory or executive functioning, may impact breathing. In turn, various lines of research have suggested a link between peak expiratory airflow (PEF) and cognitive function. However, there is scarce experimental support to the above assertions, especially regarding spoken language. Therefore, the present investigation aims to evaluate whether breathing varies as a function of performing verbal naming tasks with different difficulty levels.

Methods

Thirty healthy young adults, (age M = 25.37 years), participated in the study. Participants were required to perform aloud five verbal tasks ranged in order of difficulty: Reading single words, reading a text passage, object naming, semantic and phonemic fluency. A pneumotachograph mask was employed to acquire simultaneously the verbal responses, and three airflow parameters: Duration, peak, and volume at both stages of the respiratory cycle (i.e., inspiration/expiration). Data were analyzed with one-way repeated measures MANOVA.

Results

No significant differences were found between reading single words and object naming. In comparison, distinctive airflow requirements were found for reading a text passage, which were proportionally related to number of pronounced words. Though, the main finding of the study concerns the data on verbal fluency tasks, which not only entailed higher inhaled airflow resources but also a significant PEF.

Conclusion

Our data demonstrated that the most difficult tasks, namely semantic and phonemic verbal fluencies, relying on semantic search, executive function, and fast lexical retrieval of words were those requiring important amount of inhaled airflow and displaying a high peak expiratory airflow. The present findings demonstrated for the first time a direct association between complex verbal tasks and PEF. Inconclusive data related to object naming and reading single words are discussed in light of the methodological challenges inherent to the assessment of speech breathing and cognition in this line of investigation.

Preparing to sing: respiratory patterns underlying motor readiness for song

Evidence for motor preparation and planning comes from neural activity preceding neural commands to activate the effectors; such preparatory activity is observed in pallial areas controlling learned motor behaviors. Vocal learning in songbirds is an example of a learned, sequential motor behavior that is a respiratory motor act and where there is evidence for neuromuscular planning. Respiration is the foundation of vocalization, elucidating the neural control of song motor planning requires studying respiratory antecedents of song initiation. Despite the importance of respiration in song production, few studies have investigated respiratory antecedents of impending vocalizations. Therefore, we investigated respiratory patterns in male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and Bengalese finches (Lonchura striata domestica) prior to, during, and following song bouts. In both species, compared with quiet respiration, song respiratory patterns were generated with higher amplitude, faster tempo, and ∼70% of the respiratory cycle is in the expiratory phase. In female-directed and isolation song, both species show a change in the respiratory tempo and the proportion of time spent inhaling prior to song. Following song, only zebra finches show systematic changes in respiratory patterns; they spend a greater proportion of the respiratory cycle in the expiratory phase for 1 s after song, which is likely due to hyperventilation during song. Accelerated respiratory rhythms before song may reflect the motor preparation for the upcoming song production; species differences in preparatory motor activity could be related to the degree to which motor planning is required; finally, song termination may be dictated by respiratory demands.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Motor planning for vocal production in birdsong manifests as an adaptation of respiratory characteristics prior to song. The songbird's respiratory system anticipates the upcoming song production by accelerating the respiratory tempo and increasing the proportion of time spent inhaling.

Voice, Speech, and Clinical Aspects During Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

Pregnancy involves anatomical, physiological, and metabolic changes in a woman's body. However, the effects of these changes on the voice remains unclear, particularly regarding the clinical characteristics.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to evaluate changes in vocal and speech acoustic measures and the relationship between them and clinical aspects in women during pregnancy.

METHOD

A prospective, longitudinal study was carried out with 41 low risk, adult, pregnant women, followed for prenatal care. Demographic and anthropometric data as well as lifestyle habits and health conditions were collected. Voice recordings of sustained vowels, and automatic and spontaneous speech were held over each trimester and analyzed by PRAAT®to evaluate acoustic, aerodynamic, and articulatory measures.

RESULTS

There were no changes in fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmony to noise ratio during pregnancy. Maximum phonation time (MPT), pause rate, and pause duration reduced at the end of pregnancy. MPT was lower in sedentary pregnant women. The fundamental frequency peak rate was higher in eutrophic participants and lower in the third trimester in women with BMI ≥25 kg/m2. Pause rate was higher in pregnant women with BMI ≥25 kg/m2. There was no relationship between sleep quality, reflux, and vocal symptoms and acoustic and aerodynamic measures.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences were shown in MPT and temporal pause measurements during pregnancy. Acoustic measurements did not change. There was a relationship between acoustic and aerodynamic measures and clinical variables (BMI, physical activity, and body mass gain).

Vocalization associated respiration patterns: thermography-based monitoring and detection of preparation for calling

Vocal emission requires coordination with the respiratory system. Monitoring the increase in laryngeal pressure, which is needed for vocal production, allows detection of transitions from quiet respiration to vocalization-supporting respiration. Characterization of these transitions could be used to identify preparation for vocal emission and to examine the probability of it manifesting into an actual vocal production event. Specifically, overlaying the subject's respiration with conspecific calls can highlight events of call initiation and suppression, as a means of signalling coordination and avoiding jamming. Here, we present a thermal imaging-based methodology for synchronized respiration and vocalization monitoring of free-ranging meerkats. The sensitivity of this methodology is sufficient for detecting transient changes in the subject's respiration associated with the exertion of vocal production. The differences in respiration are apparent not only during the vocal output, but also prior to it, marking the potential time frame of the respiratory preparation for calling. A correlation between conspecific calls with elongation of the focal subject's respiration cycles could be related to fluctuations in attention levels or in the motivation to reply. This framework can be used for examining the capability for enhanced respiration control in animals during modulated and complex vocal sequences, detecting ‘failed’ vocalization attempts and investigating the role of respiration cues in the regulation of vocal interactions.

Summary: A thermography-based methodology for estimating breathing traces in free-ranging meerkats detects changes in respiration associated with the preparation and with the production of vocal signals by combining respiration monitoring with audio recordings.

Reciprocal Influence of Mobility and Speech-Language: Advancing Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy Cotreatment and Collaboration for Adults With Neurological Conditions

Mobility and speech-language impairments and limitations in adults with neurological conditions manifest not in isolated anatomical components but instead in the individual-environment system and are task-dependent. Optimization of function thus requires interprofessional care to promote participation in meaningful life areas within appropriate task and environmental contexts. Cotreatment guidelines (ie, the concurrent intervention of disciplines) were established by the physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language and hearing professional organizations nearly 2 decades ago to facilitate seamless interprofessional care. Despite this, cotreatment between physical therapy and speech therapy remains limited. The purpose of this Perspective article is to encourage physical therapists and speech-language pathologists to increase interprofessional collaboration through cotreatment in the management of adults with neurological conditions. Evidence from pediatrics and basic motor control literature points toward reciprocal interactions between speech-language and mobility. We provide recommendations for clinical practice with an emphasis on the gains each discipline can provide the other. This Perspective is rooted in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health model and ecological theory.

IMPACT

The goals of speech therapy and physical therapy are complementary and mutually supportive. Enhanced cotreatment, and collaboration more generally, between physical therapists and speech-language pathologists in the management of adults with neurological conditions can augment task-relevant conditions to improve function.

Active Ingredients of Voice Therapy for Muscle Tension Voice Disorders: A Retrospective Data Audit

Background: Although voice therapy is the first line treatment for muscle-tension voice disorders (MTVD), no clinical research has investigated the role of specific active ingredients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of active ingredients in the treatment of MTVD. A retrospective review of a clinical voice database was conducted on 68 MTVD patients who were treated using the optimal phonation task (OPT) and sob voice quality (SVQ), as well as two different processes: task variation and negative practice (NP). Mixed-model analysis was performed on auditory–perceptual and acoustic data from voice recordings at baseline and after each technique. Active ingredients were evaluated using effect sizes. Significant overall treatment effects were observed for the treatment program. Effect sizes ranged from 0.34 (post-NP) to 0.387 (post-SVQ) for overall severity ratings. Effect sizes ranged from 0.237 (post-SVQ) to 0.445 (post-NP) for a smoothed cepstral peak prominence measure. The treatment effects did not depend upon the MTVD type (primary or secondary), treating clinicians, nor the number of sessions and days between sessions. Implementation of individual techniques that promote improved voice quality and processes that support learning resulted in improved habitual voice quality. Both voice techniques and processes can be considered as active ingredients in voice therapy.

Speech breathing: variable but individual over time and according to limb movements

Breathing is variable but also highly individual. Since the 1980s, evidence of a ventilatory personality has been observed in different physiological studies. This original term refers to within-speaker consistency in breathing characteristics across days or even years. Speech breathing is a specific way to control ventilation while supporting speech planning and phonation constraints. It is highly variable between speakers but also for the same speaker, depending on utterance properties, bodily actions, and the context of an interaction. Can we yet still observe consistency over time in speakers' breathing profiles despite these variations? We addressed this question by analyzing the breathing profiles of 25 native speakers of German performing a narrative task on 2 days under different limb movement conditions. The individuality of breathing profiles over conditions and days was assessed by adopting methods used in physiological studies that investigated a ventilatory personality. Our results suggest that speaker-specific breathing profiles in a narrative task are maintained over days and that they stay consistent despite light physical activity. These results are discussed with a focus on better understanding what speech breathing individuality is, how it can be assessed, and the types of research perspectives that this concept opens up.

Vocal Acoustics and Aerodynamics During Scripted Reading Compared to Spontaneous Speech

BACKGROUND

Examination of vocal acoustics and phonatory aerodynamics during connected speech provide a more ecologically valid approach to voice assessment than single phoneme measures. The purpose of the current investigation was to determine if differences exist in vocal acoustics and aerodynamics between reading and spontaneous speech tasks in patients with common voice disorders.

METHODS

The Emory University Institutional Review Board approved this retrospective study. The voice records of 100 patients (74 females and 26 males) diagnosed with benign voice disorders and referred for voice evaluation at the Emory Voice Center between November 2018 and March 2019 were analyzed. These consisted of reading a scripted passage (the Rainbow Passage) and spontaneous speech (describing how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). Data collected included gender, voice diagnosis, mean fundamental frequency (F₀), mean airflow during voicing, and mean inspiratory airflow (MIA).

RESULTS

Univariate analysis assessed normality of the data. Variables with normal distribution utilized paired t test. Non-normal data were log transformed. Mean F₀ was not significant for complete case analysis (P = 0.053) but gender based stratified analysis, for females (mean difference = 4.68 Hz; 95% CI = 0.359, 9.0012; P = 0.03). Gender-related statistical differences were also found in MIA in women (P = 0.0001), and P = 0.0003 for MIA in men. The direction and range of change between scripted reading and the spontaneous speech tasks in all metrics varied widely. No consistent patterns were noted in gender, age and diagnosis across the parameters studied. However, clinically salient findings in the range of MIA were noted in a small subgroup of participants.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that multiple testing stimuli for phonatory aerodynamic and acoustic outcomes measurement may be appropriate for use depending on the need and vocal challenges of the individual patient. Clinically, both structured reading and spontaneous speech provide valuable insight into the vocal capabilities of the patient.

The Complexity and Phylogenetic Continuity of Laughter and Smiles in Hominids

Laughter and smiles are often, but not always, associated with positive affect. These expressions of humans help to promote social relationships as well as the development of cognitive and socio-emotional skills and they may have a positive impact on health and well-being, hereby covering a selection of fitness-relevant benefits. Both laughter and smiles of positive affect also occur early in human development and across cultures, suggesting deep roots in human biology. The present work provides an evolutionary reconstruction of the evolution of human laughter and smiles of positive affect in form and function, based on the principle of maximum parsimony. According to the Complexity and Continuity Hypothesis, human laughter and smiles of positive affect must have evolved within the context of play from ancestral species. Furthermore, ancestral ape laughter and their open-mouth faces must already have been complex in form and function and changed over time via categorically different phylogenetic pathways to become characteristic, effective, and pervasive behaviors of everyday social interactions in humans.

Computational simulations of respiratory-laryngeal interactions and their effects on lung volume termination during phonation: Considerations for hyperfunctional voice disorders

Glottal resistance plays an important role in airflow conservation, especially in the context of high vocal demands. However, it remains unclear if laryngeal strategies most effective in controlling airflow during phonation are consistent with clinical manifestations of vocal hyperfunction. This study used a previously validated three-dimensional computational model of the vocal folds coupled with a respiratory model to investigate which laryngeal strategies were the best predictors of lung volume termination (LVT) and how these strategies' effects were modulated by respiratory parameters. Results indicated that the initial glottal angle and vertical thickness of the vocal folds were the best predictors of LVT regardless of subglottal pressure, lung volume initiation, and breath group duration. The effect of vertical thickness on LVT increased with the subglottal pressure-highlighting the importance of monitoring loudness during voice therapy to avoid laryngeal compensation-and decreased with increasing vocal fold stiffness. A positive initial glottal angle required an increase in vertical thickness to complete a target utterance, especially when the respiratory system was taxed. Overall, findings support the hypothesis that laryngeal strategies consistent with hyperfunctional voice disorders are effective in increasing LVT, and that conservation of airflow and respiratory effort may represent underlying mechanisms in those disorders.

Breathing in Conversation

This work revisits the problem of breathing cues used for management of speaking turns in multiparty casual conversation. We propose a new categorization of turn-taking events which combines the criterion of speaker change with whether the original speaker inhales before producing the next talkspurt. We demonstrate that the latter criterion could be potentially used as a good proxy for pragmatic completeness of the previous utterance (and, by extension, of the interruptive character of the incoming speech). We also present evidence that breath holds are used in reaction to incoming talk rather than as a turn-holding cue. In addition to analysing dimensions which are routinely omitted in studies of interactional functions of breathing (exhalations, presence of overlapping speech, breath holds), the present study also looks at patterns of breath holds in silent breathing and shows that breath holds are sometimes produced toward the beginning (and toward the top) of silent exhalations, potentially indicating an abandoned intention to take the turn. We claim that the breathing signal can thus be successfully used for uncovering hidden turn-taking events, which are otherwise obscured by silence-based representations of interaction.

Isolated and Combined Respiratory Training for Muscle Tension Dysphonia: Preliminary Findings

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of altering speech breathing patterns and dysphonia severity through training increased levels of lung volume use during speech. It was hypothesized that respiratory-based training would increase lung volume levels during speech as well as improve acoustic voice measures, and that the addition of laryngeal-based treatment would further improve voice acoustics by treatment completion.

METHOD

A multiple baseline, single subject design was replicated over six participants with primary muscle tension dysphonia as a preliminary investigation of novel respiratory treatment methods. Following four baseline probes (1-4), two phases of treatment were implemented over 6 weeks. Respiratory lung volume-based training (RLVT) and subsequent performance was probed at sessions 5 to 7 and laryngeal-based training was added to the RLVT and probed at sessions 8 to 10. Visual biofeedback was used during RLVT to assist the motor learning process. Respiratory outcome measures of lung volume initiation, termination and excursion were objectively measured using respiratory plethysmography (InductoTrace), and cepstral and spectral-based acoustic measures were also determined at each time point.

RESULTS

All participants showed improvement in one or more respiratory measures as well as reduced acoustic dysphonia severity following phase 1 of RLVT alone. Two participants achieved further marked improvement in acoustic voice measures after laryngeal-based training was added in phase 2 of treatment, but this was generally also accompanied by further improvement or stabilization of respiratory measures.

CONCLUSION

Results from this preliminary study support the feasibility of RLVT for improving speech breathing behavior, and suggest that RLVT alone can improve objectively measured dysphonia severity.

A Novel Stuttering Disfluency Classification System Based on Respiratory Biosignals

Stuttering is the principal fluency disorder that affects 1% of the world population. Growing with this disorder can impact the quality of life of the adults who stutter (AWS). To manage this condition, it is necessary to measure and assess the stuttering severity before, during and after any therapeutic process. The respiratory biosignal activity could be an option for automatic stuttering assessment, however, there is not enough evidence of its use for this purposes. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop a stuttering disfluency classification system based on respiratory biosignals. Sixty-eight participants (training: AWS=27, AWNS=33; test: AWS=9) were asked to perform a reading task while their respiratory patterns and pulse were recorded through a standardized system. Segmentation, feature extraction and Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP) was implemented to differentiate block and non-block states based on the respiratory biosignal activity. 82.6% of classification accuracy was obtained after training and testing the neural network. This work presents an accurate system to classify block and non-block states of speech from AWS during reading tasks. It is a promising system for future applications such as screening of stuttering, monitoring and biofeedback interventions.

Physiological measures of mother-infant interactional synchrony

Mother-infant interactional synchrony has been hypothesized to be crucial for the development of many key neurodevelopmental behaviors in infants, including speech and language. Assessing synchrony is challenging because many interactive behaviors may be subtlety, if at all, observable in overt behaviors. Physiological measures, therefore, may provide valuable physiological/biological markers of mother-infant synchrony. We have developed a multilevel measurement platform to assess physiological synchrony, attention, and vocal congruency during dynamic face-to-face mother-infant interactions. The present investigation was designed to provide preliminary data on its application in a group of 10 mother-infant dyads (20 subjects) ranging in age from 7 to 8.5 months at the time of the experimentation. Respiratory kinematics, heart rate, and vocalization were recorded simultaneously from mothers and infants during nonstructured, face-to-face interactions. Novel statistical methods were used to identify reliable moments of synchrony from cross-correlated, mother-infant respiration and to tag infant attention from heart rate deceleration. Results revealed that attention, vocal contingency, and respiratory synchrony are temporally clustered within the dyad interaction. This temporal alignment is consistent with the notion that biological synchrony provides a supportive platform for infant attention and mother-infant contingent vocalization.

Voice therapy for Parkinson's disease via smartphone videoconference in Malaysia: A preliminary study

INTRODUCTION

Intensive voice therapy is one of the best evidence-based treatments to improve speech and voice difficulties to individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, accessibility to intensive voice therapy is highly challenging in Malaysia due to the lack of voice specialised speech-language therapists. This study examined the feasibility of using smartphone videoconference to deliver intensive voice therapy to individuals with PD in Malaysia.

METHODS

Intensive voice therapy was delivered to 11 adults with PD using a smartphone videoconference method via WhatsApp Messenger freeware. The therapy consisted of 12 sessions over four weeks and focused on increasing vocal loudness. Outcomes were assessed using objective, perceptual and quality-of-life measures pre and post treatment. Participant satisfaction with the telerehabilitation method was obtained via the Smartphone-Based Therapy Satisfaction Questionnaire.

RESULTS

Significant gains were reported for sound pressure level in sustained vowels and monologue. Perceptual ratings showed significant improvements in overall mean severity and loudness after treatment. Mean scores of speech intelligibility and Voice Handicap Index-10 were significantly better post treatment. Overall, participants were highly satisfied with the smartphone videoconference method.

DISCUSSION

Present results suggest that the smartphone videoconference method is feasible to deliver intensive voice therapy to individuals with PD to gain better speech and voice functions. Future studies need to address the standardisation of the system protocol to optimise this novel service delivery method in Malaysia.

Leveraging audiovisual speech perception to measure anticipatory coarticulation

A noninvasive method for accurately measuring anticipatory coarticulation at experimentally defined temporal locations is introduced. The method leverages work in audiovisual (AV) speech perception to provide a synthetic and robust measure that can be used to inform psycholinguistic theory. In this validation study, speakers were audio-video recorded while producing simple subject-verb-object sentences with contrasting object noun rhymes. Coarticulatory resistance of target noun onsets was manipulated as was metrical context for the determiner that modified the noun. Individual sentences were then gated from the verb to sentence end at segmental landmarks. These stimuli were presented to perceivers who were tasked with guessing the sentence-final rhyme. An audio-only condition was included to estimate the contribution of visual information to perceivers' performance. Findings were that perceivers accurately identified rhymes earlier in the AV condition than in the audio-only condition (i.e., at determiner onset vs determiner vowel). Effects of coarticulatory resistance and metrical context were similar across conditions and consistent with previous work on coarticulation. These findings were further validated with acoustic measurement of the determiner vowel and a cumulative video-based measure of perioral movement. Overall, gated AV speech perception can be used to test specific hypotheses regarding coarticulatory scope and strength in running speech.

rConverse: Moment by Moment Conversation Detection Using a Mobile Respiration Sensor

Monitoring of in-person conversations has largely been done using acoustic sensors. In this paper, we propose a new method to detect moment-by-moment conversation episodes by analyzing breathing patterns captured by a mobile respiration sensor. Since breathing is affected by physical and cognitive activities, we develop a comprehensive method for cleaning, screening, and analyzing noisy respiration data captured in the field environment at individual breath cycle level. Using training data collected from a speech dynamics lab study with 12 participants, we show that our algorithm can identify each respiration cycle with 96.34% accuracy even in presence of walking. We present a Conditional Random Field, Context-Free Grammar (CRF-CFG) based conversation model, called rConverse, to classify respiration cycles into speech or non-speech, and subsequently infer conversation episodes. Our model achieves 82.7% accuracy for speech/non-speech classification and it identifies conversation episodes with 95.9% accuracy on lab data using a leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. Finally, the system is validated against audio ground-truth in a field study with 32 participants. rConverse identifies conversation episodes with 71.7% accuracy on 254 hours of field data. For comparison, the accuracy from a high-quality audio-recorder on the same data is 71.9%.

Breathing pattern recordings using respiratory inductive plethysmography, before and after a physiotherapy breathing retraining program for asthma: A case report

Breathing retraining (BR) improves symptoms, psychological well-being and quality of life in adults with asthma; but there remains uncertainty as to mechanism of effect. One of the intuitively logical theories is that BR works through altering breathing pattern. There is currently no evidence, however, that BR does result in measurable changes in breathing pattern. In this case report we describe the effects of physiotherapy BR on a 57-year-old female with a 10-year history of asthma. Data were collected before and after a physiotherapy BR program comprising three sessions over 18 weeks: breathing pattern (respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP); physiology (end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO₂), heart rate, oxygen saturations, spirometric lung function); questionnaires (Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score, Nijmegen Questionnaire); and medication usage. After BR, the patient's symptoms improved. Her physiology was largely unchanged, although her FEV₁ increased by 0.12L, peak flow by 21L/min. The patient reported using less Salbutamol, yet her asthma control improved (ACQ down 1.5). Her Nijmegen score dropped from positive to negative for hyperventilation (from 39 to 7). Her anxiety-depression levels both reduced into 'normal' ranges. The patient's expiratory time increased, with longer respiratory cycles and slower respiratory rate. No changes were seen in relative contributions of ribcage and abdomen. Controlled trials are now needed to determine the generalizability of these findings.

Rats concatenate 22 kHz and 50 kHz calls into a single utterance

Traditionally, the ultrasonic vocal repertoire of rats is differentiated into 22 kHz and 50 kHz calls, two categories that contain multiple different call types. Although both categories have different functions, they are sometimes produced in the same behavioral context. Here, we investigated the peripheral mechanisms that generate sequences of calls from both categories. Male rats, either sexually experienced or naïve, were exposed to an estrous female. The majority of sexually naïve male rats produced 22 kHz and 50 kHz calls on their first encounter with a female. We recorded subglottal pressure and electromyographic activity of laryngeal muscles and found that male rats sometimes concatenate long 22 kHz calls and 50 kHz trill calls into an utterance produced during a single breath. The qualitatively different laryngeal motor patterns for both call types were produced serially during the same breathing cycle. The finding demonstrates flexibility in the laryngeal-respiratory coordination during ultrasonic vocal production, which has not been previously documented physiologically in non-human mammals. Since only naïve males produced the 22 kHz-trills, it is possible that the production is experience dependent.

Respiratory Constraints in Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

In the present paper we address the old question of respiratory planning in speech production. We recast the problem in terms of speakers' communicative goals and propose that speakers try to minimize respiratory effort in line with the H&H theory. We analyze respiratory cycles coinciding with no speech (i.e., silence), short verbal feedback expressions (SFE's) as well as longer vocalizations in terms of parameters of the respiratory cycle and find little evidence for respiratory planning in feedback production. We also investigate timing of speech and SFEs in the exhalation and contrast it with nods. We find that while speech is strongly tied to the exhalation onset, SFEs are distributed much more uniformly throughout the exhalation and are often produced on residual air. Given that nods, which do not have any respiratory constraints, tend to be more frequent toward the end of an exhalation, we propose a mechanism whereby respiratory patterns are determined by the trade-off between speakers' communicative goals and respiratory constraints.

Using Respiration to Predict Who Will Speak Next and When in Multiparty Meetings

Techniques that use nonverbal behaviors to predict turn-changing situations—such as, in multiparty meetings, who the next speaker will be and when the next utterance will occur—have been receiving a lot of attention in recent research. To build a model for predicting these behaviors we conducted a research study to determine whether respiration could be effectively used as a basis for the prediction. Results of analyses of utterance and respiration data collected from participants in multiparty meetings reveal that the speaker takes a breath more quickly and deeply after the end of an utterance in turn-keeping than in turn-changing. They also indicate that the listener who will be the next speaker takes a bigger breath more quickly and deeply in turn-changing than the other listeners. On the basis of these results, we constructed and evaluated models for predicting the next speaker and the time of the next utterance in multiparty meetings. The results of the evaluation suggest that the characteristics of the speaker's inhalation right after an utterance unit—the points in time at which the inhalation starts and ends after the end of the utterance unit and the amplitude, slope, and duration of the inhalation phase—are effective for predicting the next speaker in multiparty meetings. They further suggest that the characteristics of listeners' inhalation—the points in time at which the inhalation starts and ends after the end of the utterance unit and the minimum and maximum inspiration, amplitude, and slope of the inhalation phase—are effective for predicting the next speaker. The start time and end time of the next speaker's inhalation are also useful for predicting the time of the next utterance in turn-changing.

Speaking valves in tracheostomised ICU patients weaning off mechanical ventilation--do they facilitate lung recruitment?

BACKGROUND

Patients who require positive pressure ventilation through a tracheostomy are unable to phonate due to the inflated tracheostomy cuff. Whilst a speaking valve (SV) can be used on a tracheostomy tube, its use in ventilated ICU patients has been inhibited by concerns regarding potential deleterious effects to recovering lungs. The objective of this study was to assess end expiratory lung impedance (EELI) and standard bedside respiratory parameters before, during and after SV use in tracheostomised patients weaning from mechanical ventilation.

METHODS

A prospective observational study was conducted in a cardio-thoracic adult ICU. 20 consecutive tracheostomised patients weaning from mechanical ventilation and using a SV were recruited. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) was used to monitor patients' EELI. Changes in lung impedance and standard bedside respiratory data were analysed pre, during and post SV use.

RESULTS

Use of in-line SVs resulted in significant increase of EELI. This effect grew and was maintained for at least 15 minutes after removal of the SV (p < 0.001). EtCO2 showed a significant drop during SV use (p = 0.01) whilst SpO2 remained unchanged. Respiratory rate (RR (breaths per minute)) decreased whilst the SV was in situ (p <0.001), and heart rate (HR (beats per minute)) was unchanged. All results were similar regardless of the patients' respiratory requirements at time of recruitment.

CONCLUSIONS

In this cohort of critically ill ventilated patients, SVs did not cause derecruitment of the lungs when used in the ventilator weaning period. Deflating the tracheostomy cuff and restoring the airflow via the upper airway with a one-way valve may facilitate lung recruitment during and after SV use, as indicated by increased EELI.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Anna-Liisa Sutt, Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR).

ACTRN

ACTRN12615000589583. 4/6/2015.

Cardiorespiratory interactions: Noncontact assessment using laser Doppler vibrometry

The application of a noncontact physiological recording technique, based on the method of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV), is described. The effectiveness of the LDV method as a physiological recording modality lies in the ability to detect very small movements of the skin, associated with internal mechanophysiological activities. The method is validated for a range of cardiovascular variables, extracted from the contour of the carotid pulse waveform as a function of phase of the respiration cycle. Data were obtained from 32 young healthy participants, while resting and breathing spontaneously. Individual beats were assigned to four segments, corresponding with inspiration and expiration peaks and transitional periods. Measures relating to cardiac and vascular dynamics are shown to agree with the pattern of effects seen in the substantial body of literature based on human and animal experiments, and with selected signals recorded simultaneously with conventional sensors. These effects include changes in heart rate, systolic time intervals, and stroke volume. There was also some evidence for vascular adjustments over the respiration cycle. The effectiveness of custom algorithmic approaches for extracting the key signal features was confirmed. The advantages of the LDV method are discussed in terms of the metrological properties and utility in psychophysiological research. Although used here within a suite of conventional sensors and electrodes, the LDV method can be used on a stand-alone, noncontact basis, with no requirement for skin preparation, and can be used in harsh environments including the MR scanner.

Take a breath and take the turn: how breathing meets turns in spontaneous dialogue

Physiological rhythms are sensitive to social interactions and could contribute to defining social rhythms. Nevertheless, our knowledge of the implications of breathing in conversational turn exchanges remains limited. In this paper, we addressed the idea that breathing may contribute to timing and coordination between dialogue partners. The relationships between turns and breathing were analysed in unconstrained face-to-face conversations involving female speakers. No overall relationship between breathing and turn-taking rates was observed, as breathing rate was specific to the subjects' activity in dialogue (listening versus taking the turn versus holding the turn). A general inter-personal coordination of breathing over the whole conversation was not evident. However, specific coordinative patterns were observed in shorter time-windows when participants engaged in taking turns. The type of turn-taking had an effect on the respective coordination in breathing. Most of the smooth and interrupted turns were taken just after an inhalation, with specific profiles of alignment to partner breathing. Unsuccessful attempts to take the turn were initiated late in the exhalation phase and with no clear inter-personal coordination. Finally, breathing profiles at turn-taking were different than those at turn-holding. The results support the idea that breathing is actively involved in turn-taking and turn-holding.

Phonatory aerodynamics in connected speech

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS

1) Present phonatory aerodynamic data for healthy controls (HCs) in connected speech; 2) contrast these findings between HCs and patients with nontreated unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP); 3) present pre- and post-vocal fold augmentation outcomes for patients with UVFP; 4) contrast data from patients with post-operative laryngeal augmentation to HCs.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective, single-blinded.

METHODS

For phase I, 20 HC participants were recruited. For phase II, 20 patients with UVFP were age- and gender-matched to the 20 HC participants used in phase I. For phase III, 20 patients with UVFP represented a pre- and posttreatment cohort. For phase IV, 20 of the HC participants from phase I and 20 of the postoperative UVFP patients from phase III were used for direct comparison. Aerodynamic measures captured from a sample of the Rainbow Passage included: number of breaths, mean phonatory airflow rate, total duration of passage, inspiratory airflow duration, and expiratory airflow duration. The VHI-10 was also obtained pre- and postoperative laryngeal augmentation.

RESULTS

All phonatory aerodynamic measures were significantly increased in patients with preoperative UVFP than the HC group. Patients with laryngeal augmentation took significantly less breaths, had less mean phonatory airflow rate during voicing, and had shorter inspiratory airflow duration than the preoperative UVFP group. None of the postoperative measures returned to HC values. Significant improvement in the Voice Handicap Index-10 scores postlaryngeal augmentation was also found.

CONCLUSIONS

Methodology described in this study improves upon existing aerodynamic voice assessment by capturing characteristics germane to UVFP patient complaints and measuring change before and after laryngeal augmentation in connected speech.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

4.

Cooperative vocal control in marmoset monkeys via vocal feedback

Humans adjust speech amplitude as a function of distance from a listener; we do so in a manner that would compensate for such distance. This ability is presumed to be the product of high-level sociocognitive skills. Nonhuman primates are thought to lack such socially related flexibility in vocal production. Using predictions from a simple arousal-based model whereby vocal feedback from a conspecific modulates the drive to produce a vocalization, we tested whether another primate exhibits this type of cooperative vocal control. We conducted a playback experiment with marmoset monkeys and simulated "far-away" and "nearby" conspecifics using contact calls that differed in sound intensity. We found that marmoset monkeys increased the amplitude of their contact calls and produced such calls with shorter response latencies toward more distant conspecifics. The same was not true in response to changing levels of background noise. To account for how simulated conspecific distance can change both the amplitude and timing of vocal responses, we developed a model that incorporates dynamic interactions between the auditory system and limbic "drive" systems. Overall, our data show that, like humans, marmoset monkeys cooperatively control the acoustics of their vocalizations according to changes in listener distance, increasing the likelihood that a conspecific will hear their call. However, we propose that such cooperative vocal control is a system property that does not necessitate any particularly advanced sociocognitive skill. At least in marmosets, this vocal control can be parsimoniously explained by the regulation of arousal states across two interacting individuals via vocal feedback.

Effects of seat surface inclination on respiration and speech production in children with spastic cerebral palsy

Background

Respiratory and speech problems are commonly observed in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The purpose of this study was to identify if inclination of seat surface could influence respiratory ability and speech production in children with spastic diplegic CP.

Methods

Sixteen children with spastic diplegic CP, ages 6 to 12 years old, participated in this study. The subjects’ respiratory ability (forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and maximum phonation time (MPT)) were measured in three sitting conditions: a seat surface inclined 0°, anterior 15°, and posterior 15°.

Results

FVC was significantly different across three inclinations of seat surface, F(2, 45) = 3.81, P = 0.03. In particular, the subjects’ FVC at a seat surface inclined anterior 15° was significantly greater than at a seat surface inclined posterior 15° (P < 0.05). However, FEV1, PEF, and MPT were not significantly affected by seat surface inclination (P > 0.05).

Conclusions

The results suggest that anterior inclination of seat surface may provide a positive effect on respiratory function in children with spastic diplegic CP.

Breathing for answering: the time course of response planning in conversation

We investigate the timing of pre-answer inbreaths in order to shed light on the time course of response planning and execution in conversational turn-taking. Using acoustic and inductive plethysmography recordings of seven dyadic conversations in Dutch, we show that pre-answer inbreaths in conversation typically begin briefly after the end of questions. We also show that the presence of a pre-answer inbreath usually co-occurs with substantially delayed answers, with a modal latency of 576 vs. 100 ms for answers not preceded by an inbreath. Based on previously reported minimal latencies for internal intercostal activation and the production of speech sounds, we propose that vocal responses, either in the form of a pre-utterance inbreath or of speech proper when an inbreath is not produced, are typically launched in reaction to information present in the last portion of the interlocutor's turn. We also show that short responses are usually made on residual breath, while longer responses are more often preceded by an inbreath. This relation of inbreaths to answer length suggests that by the time an inbreath is launched, typically during the last few hundred milliseconds of the question, the length of the answer is often prepared to some extent. Together, our findings are consistent with a two-stage model of response planning in conversational turn-taking: early planning of content often carried out in overlap with the incoming turn, and late launching of articulation based on the identification of turn-final cues.

Autonomic nervous system activity of preschool-age children who stutter

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential differences in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity to emotional stimuli between preschool-age children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS).

METHODS

Participants were 20 preschool-age CWS (15 male) and 21 preschool-age CWNS (11 male). Participants were exposed to two emotion-inducing video clips (negative and positive) with neutral clips used to establish pre-and post-arousal baselines, and followed by age-appropriate speaking tasks. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)-often used as an index of parasympathetic activity-and skin conductance level (SCL)-often used as an index of sympathetic activity-were measured while participants listened to/watched the audio-video clip presentation and performed a speaking task.

RESULTS

CWS, compared to CWNS, displayed lower amplitude RSA at baseline and higher SCL during a speaking task following the positive, compared to the negative, condition. During speaking, only CWS had a significant positive relation between RSA and SCL.

CONCLUSION

Present findings suggest that preschool-age CWS, when compared to their normally fluent peers, have a physiological state that is characterized by a greater vulnerability to emotional reactivity (i.e., lower RSA indexing less parasympathetic tone) and a greater mobilization of resources in support of emotional reactivity (i.e., higher SCL indexing more sympathetic activity) during positive conditions. Thus, while reducing stuttering to a pure physiological process is unwarranted, the present findings suggest that the autonomic nervous system is involved.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The reader will be able to: (a) summarize current empirical evidence on the role of emotion in childhood stuttering; (b) describe physiological indexes of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity; (c) summarize how preschool-age children who stutter differ from preschool-age children who do not stutter in autonomic activity; (d) discuss possible implications of current findings in relation to the development of childhood stuttering.

Accuracy of perceptual and acoustic methods for the detection of inspiratory loci in spontaneous speech

The present study investigates the accuracy of perceptually and acoustically determined inspiratory loci in spontaneous speech for the purpose of identifying breath groups. Sixteen participants were asked to talk about simple topics in daily life at a comfortable speaking rate and loudness while connected to a pneumotach and audio microphone. The locations of inspiratory loci were determined on the basis of the aerodynamic signal, which served as a reference for loci identified perceptually and acoustically. Signal detection theory was used to evaluate the accuracy of the methods. The results showed that the greatest accuracy in pause detection was achieved (1) perceptually, on the basis of agreement between at least two of three judges, and (2) acoustically, using a pause duration threshold of 300 ms. In general, the perceptually based method was more accurate than was the acoustically based method. Inconsistencies among perceptually determined, acoustically determined, and aerodynamically determined inspiratory loci for spontaneous speech should be weighed in selecting a method of breath group determination.

Speech and pause characteristics in multiple sclerosis: a preliminary study of speakers with high and low neuropsychological test performance

This preliminary study investigated how cognitive-linguistic status in multiple sclerosis (MS) is reflected in two speech tasks (i.e. oral reading, narrative) that differ in cognitive-linguistic demand. Twenty individuals with MS were selected to comprise High and Low performance groups based on clinical tests of executive function and information processing speed and efficiency. Ten healthy controls were included for comparison. Speech samples were audio-recorded and measures of global speech timing were obtained. Results indicated predicted differences in global speech timing (i.e. speech rate and pause characteristics) for speech tasks differing in cognitive-linguistic demand, but the magnitude of these task-related differences was similar for all speaker groups. Findings suggest that assumptions concerning the cognitive-linguistic demands of reading aloud as compared to spontaneous speech may need to be re-considered for individuals with cognitive impairment. Qualitative trends suggest that additional studies investigating the association between cognitive-linguistic and speech motor variables in MS are warranted.

The diagnosis and understanding of apraxia of speech: why including neurodegenerative etiologies may be important

PURPOSE

To discuss apraxia of speech (AOS) as it occurs in neurodegenerative disease (progressive AOS [PAOS]) and how its careful study may contribute to general concepts of AOS and help refine its diagnostic criteria.

METHOD

The article summarizes our current understanding of the clinical features and neuroanatomical and pathologic correlates of PAOS and its relationship to primary progressive aphasia (PPA). It addresses similarities and differences between PAOS and stroke-induced AOS that may be relevant to improving our understanding of AOS in general.

CONCLUSIONS

PAOS is clinical disorder that should be distinguished from PPA. Its recognition is important to clinical care provided by speech-language pathologists, but it also has implications for neurologic localization and diagnosis as well as prediction of underlying pathology and histochemistry. The clinical features of PAOS and stroke-induced AOS have not been explicitly compared, but they may not be identical because PAOS does not follow a vascular distribution, the brunt of cortical pathology is in the premotor and supplementary motor area, and its onset (rather than acute) is slowly progressive with potential for adaptation to gradual impairment. Careful description and study of PAOS may be a valuable source of information for refining our understanding of AOS in general.

Chest Wall Kinematics during Speech Breathing in Tracheoesophageal Speakers

Objectives:

The purpose of the present study was to determine how tracheoesophageal (TE) speakers manipulate the chest wall (rib cage and abdomen) to speak and how respiratory compromise (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; COPD) and task variables influence those behaviors.

Methods:

The chest wall movements of 11 male TE speakers (5 with COPD and 6 without COPD) were measured during tidal breathing, spontaneous speech, and reading. Repeated-measures multivariate analyses were used to compare breathing behaviors across speech tasks and by respiratory health. Additional repeated-measures multivariate analyses and 1-way analyses of variance were conducted on temporal, aerodynamic, and linguistic measures.

Results:

There was a significant main effect of task and a significant interaction effect of COPD and task on chest wall movements. Rib cage movements varied by task, whereas abdominal movements were as predicted. There was a significant difference in utterance length by task. There were no main effects of COPD on the chest wall and no significant group differences in utterance length, aerodynamic measures, or intelligibility. The TE speakers were generally accurate in inspiring at appropriate linguistic boundaries.

Conclusions:

The results suggest that there is robust control for speech breathing following laryngectomy, but that there is also increased effort within the chest wall. Implications for future research considerations are discussed.

Respiratory changes during reading in Mandarin-speaking adolescents with prelingual hearing impairment

OBJECTIVE

Most people with severe to profound hearing impairment (SHI) exhibit speech breathing changes, but little is known about the breath group (BG) structure for this population. The purposes of this study were to investigate, compared to speakers with normal hearing, if Mandarin-speaking adolescents with prelingual SHI take inspirations more often at syntactically inappropriate positions and exhibit a difference in the temporal BG characteristics.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Forty participants, 20 speakers with prelingual SHI and 20 normal-hearing controls matched for age, sex and education level were recruited. While wearing a circumferentially vented mask connected to a pneumotachograph, the subjects read three passages. The airflow signal was used to locate inspiratory loci in the speech samples. Temporal parameters of BG structure were derived from the acoustic signal.

RESULTS

The SHI group, compared to the control group, had significantly (1) more inspiratory loci at inappropriate and minor syntactic boundaries; (2) fewer syllables per BG, slower speaking rate, longer inter-BG pauses, and longer noninspiratory pauses, but comparable inspiratory duration, expiration duration, and BG duration.

CONCLUSION

The slower speaking rate within BGs and longer inter-BG pauses mainly account for the respiratory changes in Mandarin-speaking adolescents with prelingual SHI.

Effect of Parkinson's disease on the production of structured and unstructured speaking tasks: respiratory physiologic and linguistic considerations

PURPOSE

To examine the effects of cognitive-linguistic deficits and respiratory physiologic changes on respiratory support for speech in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) using two speech tasks: reading and extemporaneous speech.

METHOD

Five women with PD, 9 men with PD, and 14 age- and sex-matched control participants read a passage and spoke extemporaneously on a topic of their choice at comfortable loudness. Sound pressure level, syllables per breath group, speech rate, and lung volume parameters were measured. Number of formulation errors, disfluencies, and filled pauses were counted.

RESULTS

Individuals with PD produced shorter utterances compared with control participants. The relationships between utterance length and lung volume initiation and inspiratory duration were weaker for individuals with PD than for control participants, particularly for the extemporaneous speech task. These results suggest less consistent planning for utterance length by individuals with PD in extemporaneous speech. Individuals with PD produced more formulation errors in both tasks and significantly fewer filled pauses in extemporaneous speech.

CONCLUSION

Both respiratory physiologic and cognitive-linguistic issues affected speech production by individuals with PD. Overall, individuals with PD had difficulty planning or coordinating language formulation and respiratory support, particularly during extemporaneous speech.

Accuracy of perceptually based and acoustically based inspiratory loci in reading

Investigations of speech often involve the identification of inspiratory loci in continuous recordings of speech. The present study investigates the accuracy of perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci. While wearing a circumferentially vented mask connected to a pneumotach, 16 participants read two passages. The perceptually determined and acoustically determined inspiratory loci were compared with the actual loci of inspiration, which were determined aerodynamically. The results showed that (1) agreement across all three judges was the most accurate of the approaches considered here for detecting inspiratory loci based on listening; (2) the most accurate pause duration threshold for detecting inspiratory loci was 250 msec; and (3) the perceptually based breath-group determination was more accurate than the acoustically based determination of pause duration. Inconsistencies among perceptually determined, acoustically determined, and aerodynamically determined inspiratory loci are not negligible and, therefore, need to be considered when researchers design experiments on breath groups in speech.

Breath group analysis for reading and spontaneous speech in healthy adults

AIMS

The breath group can serve as a functional unit to define temporal and fundamental frequency (f0) features in continuous speech. These features of the breath group are determined by the physiologic, linguistic, and cognitive demands of communication. Reading and spontaneous speech are two speaking tasks that vary in these demands and are commonly used to evaluate speech performance for research and clinical applications. The purpose of this study is to examine differences between reading and spontaneous speech in the temporal and f0 aspects of their breath groups.

METHODS

Sixteen participants read two passages and answered six questions while wearing a circumferentially vented mask connected to a pneumotach. The aerodynamic signal was used to identify inspiratory locations. The audio signal was used to analyze task differences in breath group structure, including temporal and f0 components.

RESULTS

The main findings were that spontaneous speech task exhibited significantly more grammatically inappropriate breath group locations and longer breath group duration than did the passage reading task.

CONCLUSION

The task differences in the percentage of grammatically inadequate breath group locations and in breath group duration for healthy adult speakers partly explain the differences in cognitive-linguistic load between the passage reading and spontaneous speech.

Speech breathing in speakers who use an electrolarynx

Speakers who use an electrolarynx following a total laryngectomy no longer require pulmonary support for speech. Subsequently, chest wall movements may be affected; however, chest wall movements in these speakers are not well defined. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate speech breathing in speakers who use an electrolarynx during speech and reading tasks. Six speakers who use an electrolarynx underwent an evaluation of chest wall kinematics (e.g., chest wall movements, temporal characteristics of chest wall movement), lung volumes, temporal measures of speech, and the interaction of linguistic influences on ventilation. Results of the present study were compared to previous reports in speakers who use an electrolarynx, as well as to previous reports in typical speakers. There were no significant differences in lung volumes used and the general movement of the chest wall by task; however, there were differences of note in the temporal aspects of chest wall configuration when compared to previous reports in both typical speakers and speakers who use an electrolarynx. These differences were related to timing and posturing of the chest wall. The lack of differences in lung volumes and chest wall movements by task indicates that neither reading nor spontaneous speech exerts a greater influence on speech breathing; however, the temporal and posturing results suggest the possibility of a decoupling of the respiratory system from speech following a total laryngectomy and subsequent alaryngeal speech rehabilitation.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The reader will be able to understand and describe: (1) The primary differences in speech breathing across alaryngeal speech options; (2) how speech breathing specifically differs (i.e., lung volumes and chest wall movements) in speakers who use an electrolarynx; (3) How the coupling of speech and respiration is altered when pulmonary air is no longer used for speech.

Acoustic and laryngographic measures of the laryngeal reflexes of linguistic prominence and vocal effort in German

This study uses acoustic and physiological measures to compare laryngeal reflexes of global changes in vocal effort to the effects of modulating such aspects of linguistic prominence as sentence accent, induced by focus variation, and word stress. Seven speakers were recorded by using a laryngograph. The laryngographic pulses were preprocessed to normalize time and amplitude. The laryngographic pulse shape was quantified using open and skewness quotients and also by applying a functional version of the principal component analysis. Acoustic measures included the acoustic open quotient and spectral balance in the vowel /e/ during the test syllable. The open quotient and the laryngographic pulse shape indicated a significantly shorter open phase for loud speech than for soft speech. Similar results were found for lexical stress, suggesting that lexical stress and loud speech are produced with a similar voice source mechanism. Stressed syllables were distinguished from unstressed syllables by their open phase and pulse shape, even in the absence of sentence accent. Evidence for laryngeal involvement in signaling focus, independent of fundamental frequency changes, was not as consistent across speakers. Acoustic results on various spectral balance measures were generally much less consistent compared to results from laryngographic data.

Hesitation phenomena: a dynamical perspective

The aim of this paper is to test if hesitation phenomena are periodically distributed in spoken language production. Twenty semi-spontaneous descriptions and narratives produced by five healthy male adults were examined in a multiple case study design. Speech was sampled at a 200 ms rate for time series generation. Fourier analysis indicated that all time series were statistically stationary, which means that speech did not become more or less fluent along each sample. Fourier analysis identified periodic cycles of hesitations in all speech samples. Therefore, hesitations were not randomly distributed in speech production; intervals with more occurrences of hesitations regularly alternated with intervals with fewer occurrences. Thus, hesitations behaved as stable phenomena that could be anticipated. The median and the mean lengths of hesitation cycles were about 9 and 13 s, respectively. It is suggested that macroplanning activities (selecting and ordering information) are language processes compatible with this time scale. Three hesitation cycles were usually identified in each sample, suggesting that spoken language processing occurs in parallel within working memory, with the resources being shared by different processes.