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Chen B, Zhang X, Chen J, Shi Y, Zou X, Liu P, Li Y, Galvin JJ, Fu QJ. Tonal language experience facilitates the use of spatial cues for segregating competing speech in bimodal cochlear implant listeners. JASA EXPRESS LETTERS 2024; 4:034401. [PMID: 38426890 PMCID: PMC10926108 DOI: 10.1121/10.0025058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
English-speaking bimodal and bilateral cochlear implant (CI) users can segregate competing speech using talker sex cues but not spatial cues. While tonal language experience allows for greater utilization of talker sex cues for listeners with normal hearing, tonal language benefits remain unclear for CI users. The present study assessed the ability of Mandarin-speaking bilateral and bimodal CI users to recognize target sentences amidst speech maskers that varied in terms of spatial cues and/or talker sex cues, relative to the target. Different from English-speaking CI users, Mandarin-speaking CI users exhibited greater utilization of spatial cues, particularly in bimodal listening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Biao Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xinyi Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jingyuan Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ying Shi
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Xinyue Zou
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Ping Liu
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Yongxin Li
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - John J Galvin
- House Institute Foundation, Los Angeles, California 90057, USA
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, , , , , , , , ,
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Zhang H, Ma W, Ding H, Zhang Y. Sustainable Benefits of High Variability Phonetic Training in Mandarin-speaking Kindergarteners With Cochlear Implants: Evidence From Categorical Perception of Lexical Tones. Ear Hear 2023; 44:990-1006. [PMID: 36806578 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Although pitch reception poses a great challenge for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs), formal auditory training (e.g., high variability phonetic training [HVPT]) has been shown to provide direct benefits in pitch-related perceptual performances such as lexical tone recognition for CI users. As lexical tones in spoken language are expressed with a multitude of distinct spectral, temporal, and intensity cues, it is important to determine the sources of training benefits for CI users. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a rigorous fine-scale evaluation with the categorical perception (CP) paradigm to control the acoustic parameters and test the efficacy and sustainability of HVPT for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients. The main hypothesis was that HVPT-induced perceptual learning would greatly enhance CI users' ability to extract the primary pitch contours from spoken words for lexical tone identification and discrimination. Furthermore, individual differences in immediate and long-term gains from training would likely be attributable to baseline performance and duration of CI use. DESIGN Twenty-eight prelingually deaf Mandarin-speaking kindergarteners with CIs were tested. Half of them received five sessions of HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. The other half served as control who did not receive the formal training. Two classical CP tasks on a tonal continuum from Mandarin tone 1 (high-flat in pitch) to tone 2 (mid-rising in pitch) with fixed acoustic features of duration and intensity were administered before (pretest), immediately after (posttest), and 10 weeks posttraining termination (follow-up test). Participants were instructed to either label a speech stimulus along the continuum (i.e., identification task) or determine whether a pair of stimuli separated by zero or two steps from the continuum was the same or different (i.e., discrimination task). Identification function measures (i.e., boundary position and boundary width) and discrimination function scores (i.e., between-category score, within-category score, and peakedness score) were assessed for each child participant across the three test sessions. RESULTS Linear mixed-effects (LME) models showed significant training-induced enhancement in lexical tone categorization with significantly narrower boundary width and better between-category discrimination in the immediate posttest over pretest for the trainees. Furthermore, training-induced gains were reliably retained in the follow-up test 10 weeks after training. By contrast, no significant changes were found in the control group across sessions. Regression analysis confirmed that baseline performance (i.e., boundary width in the pretest session) and duration of CI use were significant predictors for the magnitude of training-induced benefits. CONCLUSIONS The stringent CP tests with synthesized stimuli that excluded acoustic cues other than the pitch contour and were never used in training showed strong evidence for the efficacy of HVPT in yielding immediate and sustained improvement in lexical tone categorization for Mandarin-speaking children with CIs. The training results and individual differences have remarkable implications for developing personalized computer-based short-term HVPT protocols that may have sustainable long-term benefits for aural rehabilitation in this clinical population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Zhang
- Center for Clinical Neurolinguistics, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Wen Ma
- Center for Clinical Neurolinguistics, School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Xu M, Shao J, Liu B, Wang L, Ding H, Zhang Y. Aging-Related Decline in Phonated and Whispered Speech Perception Not Compensated For by Increased Duration and Intensity: Evidence From Mandarin-Speaking Adult Listeners. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2023; 66:735-749. [PMID: 36749845 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-22-00158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aimed to examine how aging and modifications of critical acoustic parameters may affect the perception of whispered speech as a degraded signal. METHOD Forty Mandarin-speaking adults were included in the study. Part 1 of the study compared the perception of Mandarin lexical tones, vowels, and syllables in older and younger adults in whispered versus phonated speech conditions. Parts 2 and 3 further examined how modification of duration and intensity cues contributed to the perceptual outcomes. RESULTS Perception of whispered tones was compromised in older and younger adults. Older adults identified lexical tones less accurately than their younger counterparts, particularly for phonated T2 and T3 and whispered T3. Aging also negatively affected the vowel identification of /i, u/ in the whispered condition. Syllable-level accuracy was largely dependent on the accuracy of lexical tones and vowels. Furthermore, reduced duration led to the decreased accuracy of phonated T3 and whispered T2 and T3 but increased accuracy of phonated T4. Reduced intensity lowered the recognition accuracy for phonated vowels /i, ɤ, o, y/ in older adults and /i, u/ in younger adults, and it also lowered the accuracy of whispered vowels /a, ɤ/ in older adults. Contrary to our expectation, increased duration and intensity did not improve older adults' speech perception in either phonated or whispered conditions. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that aging adversely affected speech perception in both phonated and whispered conditions with more challenges in identifying whispered speech for older adults. While older adults' diminished performance may be potentially due to problems with processing the degraded temporal and spectral information of the target speech sounds, it cannot be simply compensated for by increasing the duration and intensity of the target sounds beyond the audible level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Xu
- Institute of Corpus Studies and Applications, Shanghai International Studies University, China
| | - Jing Shao
- Department of English Language and Literature, Hong Kong Baptist University, China
| | - Boquan Liu
- School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Lan Wang
- Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences & Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
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Wang X, Mo Y, Kong F, Guo W, Zhou H, Zheng N, Schnupp JWH, Zheng Y, Meng Q. Cochlear-implant Mandarin tone recognition with a disyllabic word corpus. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1026116. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1026116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite pitch being considered the primary cue for discriminating lexical tones, there are secondary cues such as loudness contour and duration, which may allow some cochlear implant (CI) tone discrimination even with severely degraded pitch cues. To isolate pitch cues from other cues, we developed a new disyllabic word stimulus set (Di) whose primary (pitch) and secondary (loudness) cue varied independently. This Di set consists of 270 disyllabic words, each having a distinct meaning depending on the perceived tone. Thus, listeners who hear the primary pitch cue clearly may hear a different meaning from listeners who struggle with the pitch cue and must rely on the secondary loudness contour. A lexical tone recognition experiment was conducted, which compared Di with a monosyllabic set of natural recordings. Seventeen CI users and eight normal-hearing (NH) listeners took part in the experiment. Results showed that CI users had poorer pitch cues encoding and their tone recognition performance was significantly influenced by the “missing” or “confusing” secondary cues with the Di corpus. The pitch-contour-based tone recognition is still far from satisfactory for CI users compared to NH listeners, even if some appear to integrate multiple cues to achieve high scores. This disyllabic corpus could be used to examine the performance of pitch recognition of CI users and the effectiveness of pitch cue enhancement based Mandarin tone enhancement strategies. The Di corpus is freely available online: https://github.com/BetterCI/DiTone.
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Differential weighting of temporal envelope cues from the low-frequency region for Mandarin sentence recognition in noise. BMC Neurosci 2022; 23:35. [PMID: 35698039 PMCID: PMC9190152 DOI: 10.1186/s12868-022-00721-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Temporal envelope cues are conveyed by cochlear implants (CIs) to hearing loss patients to restore hearing. Although CIs could enable users to communicate in clear listening environments, noisy environments still pose a problem. To improve speech-processing strategies used in Chinese CIs, we explored the relative contributions made by the temporal envelope in various frequency regions, as relevant to Mandarin sentence recognition in noise. METHODS Original speech material from the Mandarin version of the Hearing in Noise Test (MHINT) was mixed with speech-shaped noise (SSN), sinusoidally amplitude-modulated speech-shaped noise (SAM SSN), and sinusoidally amplitude-modulated (SAM) white noise (4 Hz) at a + 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, respectively. Envelope information of the noise-corrupted speech material was extracted from 30 contiguous bands that were allocated to five frequency regions. The intelligibility of the noise-corrupted speech material (temporal cues from one or two regions were removed) was measured to estimate the relative weights of temporal envelope cues from the five frequency regions. RESULTS In SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.34, 0.19, 0.20, 0.16, and 0.11, respectively; in SAM SSN, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.34, 0.17, 0.24, 0.14, and 0.11, respectively; and in SAM white noise, the mean weights of Regions 1-5 were 0.46, 0.24, 0.22, 0.06, and 0.02, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the temporal envelope in the low-frequency region transmits the greatest amount of information in terms of Mandarin sentence recognition for three types of noise, which differed from the perception strategy employed in clear listening environments.
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Chen W, van de Weijer J, Qian Q, Zhu S, Wang M. Tone and vowel disruptions in Mandarin aphasia and apraxia of speech. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2022:1-24. [PMID: 35656744 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2022.2081611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2021] [Revised: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we investigated the lexical tones and vowels produced by ten speakers diagnosed with aphasia and coexisting apraxia of speech (A-AOS) and ten healthy participants, to compare their tone and vowel disruptions. We first judged the productions of both A-AOS and healthy participants and classified them into three categories, i.e. those by healthy speakers and rated as correct, those by A-AOS participants and rated as correct, and those by A-AOS participants and rated as incorrect. We then compared the perceptual results for the three groups based on their respective acoustic correlates to reveal the relations among different accuracy groups. Results showed that the numbers of tone and vowel disruptions by A-AOS speakers occurred on a comparable scale. In perception, approximately equal numbers of tones and vowels produced by A-AOS participants were identified as correct; however, acoustic parameters showed that, unlike vowels, the patients' tones categorised as correct by native Mandarin listeners differed considerably from those of the healthy speakers, suggesting that for Mandarin A-AOS patients, tones were in fact more disrupted than vowels in acoustic terms. Native Mandarin listeners seemed to be more tolerant of less well-targeted tones than less-well targeted vowels. The clinical implication is that tonal and segmental practice should be incorporated for Mandarin A-AOS patients to enhance their overall motor speech control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenjun Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
| | | | - Qian Qian
- Speech and Language Therapy Department, Shanghai YangZhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shuangshuang Zhu
- Speech and Language Therapy Department, Shanghai YangZhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
| | - Manna Wang
- Speech and Language Therapy Department, Shanghai YangZhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
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Sugiyama Y. Identification of Minimal Pairs of Japanese Pitch Accent in Noise-Vocoded Speech. Front Psychol 2022; 13:887761. [PMID: 35712147 PMCID: PMC9197461 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.887761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The perception of lexical pitch accent in Japanese was assessed using noise-excited vocoder speech, which contained no fundamental frequency (fo) or its harmonics. While prosodic information such as in lexical stress in English and lexical tone in Mandarin Chinese is known to be encoded in multiple acoustic dimensions, such multidimensionality is less understood for lexical pitch accent in Japanese. In the present study, listeners were tested under four different conditions to investigate the contribution of non-fo properties to the perception of Japanese pitch accent: noise-vocoded speech stimuli consisting of 10 3-ERBN-wide bands and 15 2-ERBN-wide bands created from a male and female speaker. Results found listeners were able to identify minimal pairs of final-accented and unaccented words at a rate better than chance in all conditions, indicating the presence of secondary cues to Japanese pitch accent. Subsequent analyses were conducted to investigate if the listeners' ability to distinguish minimal pairs was correlated with duration, intensity or formant information. The results found no strong or consistent correlation, suggesting the possibility that listeners used different cues depending on the information available in the stimuli. Furthermore, the comparison of the current results with equivalent studies in English and Mandarin Chinese suggest that, although lexical prosodic information exists in multiple acoustic dimensions in Japanese, the primary cue is more salient than in other languages.
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Guo X. Acoustic Correlates of English Lexical Stress Produced by Chinese Dialect Speakers Compared to Native English Speakers. Front Psychol 2022; 13:796252. [PMID: 35350733 PMCID: PMC8958030 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.796252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
English second language learners often experience difficulties in producing native-like English lexical stress. It is unknown which acoustic correlates, such as fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and intensity, are the most problematic for Chinese dialect speakers. The present study investigated the prosodic transfer effects of first language (L1) regional dialects on the production of English stress contrasts. Native English speakers (N = 20) and Chinese learners (N = 60) with different dialect backgrounds (Beijing, Changsha, and Guangzhou dialects) produced the same stimulus including both trochaic and iambic patterns. Results showed that (a) all participants produced the stressed syllable with greater values of F0, duration, and intensity; (b) Native speakers of English employed an exquisite combination of F0, duration, and intensity, while the dialect groups transfer their native prosody into their production of English lexical stress, resulting in the deviation or abnormality of acoustic cues. Results suggest that L1 native dialect background is considered as a potentially influential factor which may transfer in L2 speech encoding and decoding process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xingrong Guo
- College of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China
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Huang W, Wong LLN, Chen F. Just-Noticeable Differences of Fundamental Frequency Change in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Cochlear Implants. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12040443. [PMID: 35447975 PMCID: PMC9031813 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12040443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Fundamental frequency (F0) provides the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but remains poorly represented in cochlear implant (CI) systems. Currently, there is still a lack of understanding of sensitivity to F0 change in CI users who speak tonal languages. In the present study, just-noticeable differences (JNDs) of F0 contour and F0 level changes in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs were measured and compared with those in their age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. Results showed that children with CIs demonstrated significantly larger JND of F0 contour (JND-C) change and F0 level (JND-L) change compared to NH children. Further within-group comparison revealed that the JND-C change was significantly smaller than the JND-L change among children with CIs, whereas the opposite pattern was observed among NH children. No significant correlations were seen between JND-C change/JND-L change and age at implantation /duration of CI use. The contrast between children with CIs and NH children in sensitivity to F0 contour and F0 level change suggests different mechanisms of F0 processing in these two groups as a result of different hearing experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanting Huang
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China;
- Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China;
| | - Lena L. N. Wong
- Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China;
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China;
- Correspondence:
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Zhang H, Wiener S, Holt LL. Adjustment of cue weighting in speech by speakers and listeners: Evidence from amplitude and duration modifications of Mandarin Chinese tone. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 151:992. [PMID: 35232077 PMCID: PMC8846952 DOI: 10.1121/10.0009378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Revised: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Speech contrasts are signaled by multiple acoustic dimensions, but these dimensions are not equally diagnostic. Moreover, the relative diagnosticity, or weight, of acoustic dimensions in speech can shift in different communicative contexts for both speech perception and speech production. However, the literature remains unclear on whether, and if so how, talkers adjust speech to emphasize different acoustic dimensions in the context of changing communicative demands. Here, we examine the interplay of flexible cue weights in speech production and perception across amplitude and duration, secondary non-spectral acoustic dimensions for phonated Mandarin Chinese lexical tone, across natural speech and whispering, which eliminates fundamental frequency contour, the primary acoustic dimension. Phonated and whispered Mandarin productions from native talkers revealed enhancement of both duration and amplitude cues in whispered, compared to phonated speech. When nonspeech amplitude-modulated noises modeled these patterns of enhancement, identification of the noises as Mandarin lexical tone categories was more accurate than identification of noises modeling phonated speech amplitude and duration cues. Thus, speakers exaggerate secondary cues in whispered speech and listeners make use of this information. Yet, enhancement is not symmetric among the four Mandarin lexical tones, indicating possible constraints on the realization of this enhancement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Zhang
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Seth Wiener
- Department of Modern Languages, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA
| | - Lori L Holt
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA
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Reverberation Degrades Pitch Perception but Not Mandarin Tone and Vowel Recognition of Cochlear Implant Users. Ear Hear 2021; 43:1139-1150. [PMID: 34799495 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The primary goal of this study was to investigate the effects of reverberation on Mandarin tone and vowel recognition of cochlear implant (CI) users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. To understand the performance of Mandarin tone recognition, this study also measured participants' pitch perception and the availability of temporal envelope cues in reverberation. DESIGN Fifteen CI users and nine NH listeners, all Mandarin speakers, were asked to recognize Mandarin single-vowels produced in four lexical tones and rank harmonic complex tones in pitch with different reverberation times (RTs) from 0 to 1 second. Virtual acoustic techniques were used to simulate rooms with different degrees of reverberation. Vowel duration and correlation between amplitude envelope and fundamental frequency (F0) contour were analyzed for different tones as a function of the RT. RESULTS Vowel durations of different tones significantly increased with longer RTs. Amplitude-F0 correlation remained similar for the falling Tone 4 but greatly decreased for the other tones in reverberation. NH listeners had robust pitch-ranking, tone recognition, and vowel recognition performance as the RT increased. Reverberation significantly degraded CI users' pitch-ranking thresholds but did not significantly affect the overall scores of tone and vowel recognition with CIs. Detailed analyses of tone confusion matrices showed that CI users reduced the flat Tone-1 responses but increased the falling Tone-4 responses in reverberation, possibly due to the falling amplitude envelope of late reflections after the original vowel segment. CI users' tone recognition scores were not correlated with their pitch-ranking thresholds. CONCLUSIONS NH listeners can reliably recognize Mandarin tones in reverberation using salient pitch cues from spectral and temporal fine structures. However, CI users have poorer pitch perception using F0-related amplitude modulations that are reduced in reverberation. Reverberation distorts speech amplitude envelopes, which affect the distribution of tone responses but not the accuracy of tone recognition with CIs. Recognition of vowels with stationary formant trajectories is not affected by reverberation for both NH listeners and CI users, regardless of the available spectral resolution. Future studies should test how the relatively stable vowel and tone recognition may contribute to sentence recognition in reverberation of Mandarin-speaking CI users.
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Kim S, Chou HH, Luo X. Mandarin tone recognition training with cochlear implant simulation: Amplitude envelope enhancement and cue weighting. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:1218. [PMID: 34470277 DOI: 10.1121/10.0005878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
With limited fundamental frequency (F0) cues, cochlear implant (CI) users recognize Mandarin tones using amplitude envelope. This study investigated whether tone recognition training with amplitude envelope enhancement may improve tone recognition and cue weighting with CIs. Three groups of CI-simulation listeners received training using vowels with amplitude envelope modified to resemble F0 contour (enhanced-amplitude-envelope training), training using natural vowels (natural-amplitude-envelope training), and exposure to natural vowels without training, respectively. Tone recognition with natural and enhanced amplitude envelope cues and cue weighting of amplitude envelope and F0 contour were measured in pre-, post-, and retention-tests. It was found that with similar pre-test performance, both training groups had better tone recognition than the no-training group after training. Only enhanced-amplitude-envelope training increased the benefits of amplitude envelope enhancement in the post- and retention-tests than in the pre-test. Neither training paradigm increased the cue weighting of amplitude envelope and F0 contour more than stimulus exposure. Listeners attending more to amplitude envelope in the pre-test tended to have better tone recognition with enhanced amplitude envelope cues before training and improve more in tone recognition after enhanced-amplitude-envelope training. The results suggest that auditory training and speech enhancement may bring maximum benefits to CI users when combined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seeon Kim
- Program of Speech and Hearing Science, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
| | - Hsiao-Hsiuan Chou
- Program of Speech and Hearing Science, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
| | - Xin Luo
- Program of Speech and Hearing Science, College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
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Wong P, Lam KY. Characteristics of Effective Auditory Training: Implications From Two Training Programs That Successfully Trained Nonnative Cantonese Tone Identification in Monolingual Mandarin and Bilingual Mandarin-Taiwanese Tone Speakers. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:2490-2512. [PMID: 34128698 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Auditory training is important in pedagogical and clinical settings. In search of a more effective perceptual program for training new suprasegmental categories, this study examined the effect of two auditory programs that incorporated five elements that have previously been identified to be effective for training nonnative segmental and suprasegmental speech sounds on the identification of a complex foreign lexical tone system (Cantonese) that contrasts both pitch shapes and pitch heights. To investigate the training outcomes in learners with different tonal systems, monolingual Mandarin-speaking learners who have a smaller native tonal system that contrasts pitch shapes only and bilingual Mandarin-Taiwanese-speaking learners who have a larger native tonal system that contrasts both pitch shapes and pitch heights were recruited for training. Method Thirty Mandarin-speaking monolinguals and 33 Mandarin-Taiwanese-speaking bilinguals in Taiwan were randomly assigned to two training programs, one with different tones and the other with the same tone preceding the target words in the same training block, and received six 90-min training sessions within 2 weeks. They took a Cantonese Tone Identification Test before training and after each training session. Twenty Cantonese native speakers in Hong Kong served as the reference group and took the same Cantonese Tone Identification Test. Results The two training programs were equally effective. Before training, the monolinguals performed poorer than the bilinguals. After training, the monolinguals and bilinguals in both training programs identified the six Cantonese tones in new words, new utterances, and novel speakers with comparable results, and their overall accuracy did not differ from that of the Cantonese native speakers. Conclusions Though learners with a larger and more complex native tonal system have initial advantage in learning nonnative tones, the intensive high-variability full-set training programs that provide explicit phonetic instruction and contrastive feedback of nonnative tones effectively promote nonnative tone acquisition in learners of different tone languages. The findings revealed factors affecting nonnative tone acquisition in tone speakers. The design of the two programs can be adopted in future programs for effective auditory training of segmental and suprasegmental speech sounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
| | - Ka Yu Lam
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
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Zhang H, Ding H, Zhang Y. High-Variability Phonetic Training Benefits Lexical Tone Perception: An Investigation on Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Cochlear Implant Users. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:2070-2084. [PMID: 34057849 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Lexical tone perception is known to be persistently difficult for individuals with cochlear implants (CIs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-variability phonetic training (HVPT) in improving Mandarin tone perception for native-speaking children with CIs. Method A total of 28 Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI recipients participated in the study. Half of the children with CIs received a five-session HVPT within a period of 3 weeks. Identification and discrimination of lexical tones produced by familiar talkers (used during training) and novel talkers (not used during training) were measured before, immediately after, and 10 weeks after training termination. The other half untrained children served as control for the identical pre- and posttests. Results Lexical tone perception significantly improved in both trained identification task and untrained discrimination task for the trainees. There was also a significant effect in transfer of learning to perceiving tones produced by novel talkers. Moreover, training-induced gains were retained for up to 10 weeks after training. By comparison, no significant pre-post changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion The results provide the first systematical assessment for the efficacy of the HVPT protocol for Mandarin-speaking pediatric CI users with congenital hearing loss, which supports the clinical utility of intensive short-term HVPT in these children's rehabilitative regimens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Zhang
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Hongwei Ding
- Speech-Language-Hearing Center, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
| | - Yang Zhang
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis
- Center for Neurobehavioral Development, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Minneapolis
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15
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Longer Cochlear Implant Experience Leads to Better Production of Mandarin Tones for Early Implanted Children. Ear Hear 2021; 42:1405-1411. [PMID: 33974784 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000001036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Children with cochlear implants (CIs) face challenges in acquiring tones, since CIs do not transmit pitch information effectively. It has been suggested that longer CI experience provides additional benefits for children implanted early, enabling them to achieve language abilities similar to that of normal-hearing (NH) children (Colletti 2009). Mandarin is a tonal language with four lexical tones and a neutral tone (T0), characterized by distinct pitch and durational patterns. It has been suggested that early implantation (i.e., before 2 years) greatly benefits the acquisition of Mandarin tones by children with CIs (Tang et al. 2019c). In this study, we extend those findings to investigate the effect of CI experience on the acquisition of Mandarin tones for children implanted early. We asked the extent to which they were able to produce distinct pitch and durational patterns of both lexical tones and T0 as a function of CI experience, and the extent to which their tonal productions were acoustically like that of NH children. DESIGN Forty-four NH 3-year olds and 28 children implanted with CIs between 1 and 2 years, aged 3 to 7, were recruited. The children with CIs were grouped according to the length of CI experience: 3 to 6 years, 2 to 3 years, and 1 to 2 years. Lexical tone and T0 productions were elicited using a picture-naming task. Tonal productions from the children with CIs were acoustically analyzed and compared with those from the NH children. RESULTS Children with 3 to 6 years of CI experience were able to produce distinct pitch and durational patterns for both lexical tones and T0, with NH-like acoustic realizations. Children with 2 to 3 years of CI experience were also able to produce the expected tonal patterns, although their productions were not yet NH-like. Those with only 1 to 2 years of CI experience, however, were not yet able to produce the distinct acoustic patterns for either lexical tones or T0. CONCLUSIONS These results provide acoustic evidence demonstrating that, when Mandarin-speaking children are implanted before the age of 2, only those with 3 to 6 years of experience were able to produce NH-like tones, including both lexical tone and T0. Children with shorter CI experience (less than 3 years) were unable to produce distinct acoustic patterns for the different tones. This suggests that at least 3 years of CI experience is still needed for early implanted children to acquire tonal distinctions similar to those of NH 3-year olds.
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Ou SC, Guo ZC. The differential effects of vowel and onset consonant lengthening on speech segmentation: Evidence from Taiwanese Southern Min. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:1866. [PMID: 33765826 DOI: 10.1121/10.0003751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
A review of previous speech segmentation research suggests the prediction that listeners of Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM), a lexical tone language, would exploit vowel lengthening and syllable-onset consonant lengthening to locate word ends and beginnings, respectively. Yet, correlations between segment duration and tone identity in tone languages along with some TSM-specific phonological phenomena may work against such use. Two artificial language learning experiments examined TSM listeners' use of the lengthening cues. The listeners heard the words of an artificial language (e.g., /ba.nu.me/) repeated continuously and identified them in a subsequent two-alternative forced-choice test. Experiment I revealed that their segmentation benefits from and only from word-initial onset lengthening or word-final vowel lengthening, supporting the prediction. Experiment II further demonstrated that these two cues in combination synergistically support segmentation at least when compared to word-initial onset lengthening alone, consistent with previous findings regarding complementary cues. These results furnish additional evidence that vowel and onset consonant lengthening affect segmentation in different ways, possibly reflecting a functional division between vowels and consonants that is supported by some prosody-computing mechanism. Additionally, vowel lengthening seems to affect segmentation to a greater extent than onset consonant lengthening. Possible explanations for this and further issues are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Chen Ou
- Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan
| | - Zhe-Chen Guo
- Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
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17
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Chen B, Shi Y, Zhang L, Sun Z, Li Y, Gopen Q, Fu QJ. Masking Effects in the Perception of Multiple Simultaneous Talkers in Normal-Hearing and Cochlear Implant Listeners. Trends Hear 2020; 24:2331216520916106. [PMID: 32324486 PMCID: PMC7180303 DOI: 10.1177/2331216520916106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
For normal-hearing (NH) listeners, monaural factors, such as voice pitch
cues, may play an important role in the segregation of speech signals
in multitalker environments. However, cochlear implant (CI) users
experience difficulties in segregating speech signals in multitalker
environments in part due to the coarse spectral resolution. The
present study examined how the vocal characteristics of the target and
masking talkers influence listeners’ ability to extract information
from a target phrase in a multitalker environment. Speech recognition
thresholds (SRTs) were measured with one, two, or four masker talkers
for different combinations of target-masker vocal characteristics in
10 adult Mandarin-speaking NH listeners and 12 adult Mandarin-speaking
CI users. The results showed that CI users performed significantly
poorer than NH listeners in the presence of competing talkers. As the
number of masker talkers increased, the mean SRTs significantly
worsened from –22.0 dB to –5.2 dB for NH listeners but significantly
improved from 5.9 dB to 2.8 dB for CI users. The results suggest that
the flattened peaks and valleys with increased numbers of competing
talkers may reduce NH listeners’ ability to use dips in the spectral
and temporal envelopes that allow for “glimpses” of the target speech.
However, the flattened temporal envelope of the resultant masker
signals may be less disruptive to the amplitude contour of the target
speech, which is important for Mandarin-speaking CI users’ lexical
tone recognition. The amount of masking release was further estimated
by comparing SRTs between the same-sex maskers and the different-sex
maskers. There was a large amount of masking release in NH adults
(12 dB) and a small but significant amount of masking release in CI
adults (2 dB). These results suggest that adult CI users may
significantly benefit from voice pitch differences between target and
masker speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Biao Chen
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China
| | - Ying Shi
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China
| | - Lifang Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China
| | - Zhiming Sun
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China
| | - Yongxin Li
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China
| | - Quinton Gopen
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California
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18
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Huang W, Wong LLN, Chen F, Liu H, Liang W. Effects of Fundamental Frequency Contours on Sentence Recognition in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:3855-3864. [PMID: 33022190 DOI: 10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary acoustic cue for lexical tone perception in tonal languages but is processed in a limited way in cochlear implant (CI) systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of F0 contours in sentence recognition in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and find out whether it is similar to/different from that in age-matched normal-hearing (NH) peers. Method Age-appropriate sentences, with F0 contours manipulated to be either natural or flattened, were randomly presented to preschool children with CIs and their age-matched peers with NH under three test conditions: in quiet, in white noise, and with competing sentences at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results The neutralization of F0 contours resulted in a significant reduction in sentence recognition. While this was seen only in noise conditions among NH children, it was observed throughout all test conditions among children with CIs. Moreover, the F0 contour-induced accuracy reduction ratios (i.e., the reduction in sentence recognition resulting from the neutralization of F0 contours compared to the normal F0 condition) were significantly greater in children with CIs than in NH children in all test conditions. Conclusions F0 contours play a major role in sentence recognition in both quiet and noise among pediatric implantees, and the contribution of the F0 contour is even more salient than that in age-matched NH children. These results also suggest that there may be differences between children with CIs and NH children in how F0 contours are processed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanting Huang
- Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, China
| | - Lena L N Wong
- Unit of Human Communication, Development, and Information Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, China
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Haihong Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Pediatric Diseases of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, China
| | - Wei Liang
- China Rehabilitation Research Center for Hearing and Speech Impairment, Beijing, China
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19
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Jasmin K, Sun H, Tierney AT. Effects of language experience on domain-general perceptual strategies. Cognition 2020; 206:104481. [PMID: 33075568 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Revised: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Speech and music are highly redundant communication systems, with multiple acoustic cues signaling the existence of perceptual categories. This redundancy makes these systems robust to the influence of noise, but necessitates the development of perceptual strategies: listeners need to decide how much importance to place on each source of information. Prior empirical work and modeling has suggested that cue weights primarily reflect within-task statistical learning, as listeners assess the reliability with which different acoustic dimensions signal a category and modify their weights accordingly. Here we present evidence that perceptual experience can lead to changes in cue weighting that extend across tasks and across domains, suggesting that perceptual strategies reflect both global biases and local (i.e. task-specific) learning. In two experiments, native speakers of Mandarin (N = 45)-where pitch is a crucial cue to word identity-placed more importance on pitch and less importance on other dimensions compared to native speakers of non-tonal languages English (N = 45) and Spanish (N = 27), during the perception of both English speech and musical beats. In a third experiment, we further show that Mandarin speakers are better able to attend to pitch and ignore irrelevant variation in other dimensions in speech compared to English and Spanish speakers, and even struggle to ignore pitch when asked to attend to other dimensions. Thus, an individual's idiosyncratic auditory perceptual strategy reflects a complex mixture of congenital predispositions, task-specific learning, and biases instilled by extensive experience in making use of important dimensions in their native language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle Jasmin
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.
| | - Hui Sun
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
| | - Adam T Tierney
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK
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20
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Factors Affecting Bimodal Benefit in Pediatric Mandarin-Speaking Chinese Cochlear Implant Users. Ear Hear 2020; 40:1316-1327. [PMID: 30882534 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES While fundamental frequency (F0) cues are important to both lexical tone perception and multitalker segregation, F0 cues are poorly perceived by cochlear implant (CI) users. Adding low-frequency acoustic hearing via a hearing aid in the contralateral ear may improve CI users' F0 perception. For English-speaking CI users, contralateral acoustic hearing has been shown to improve perception of target speech in noise and in competing talkers. For tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese, F0 information is lexically meaningful. Given competing F0 information from multiple talkers and lexical tones, contralateral acoustic hearing may be especially beneficial for Mandarin-speaking CI users' perception of competing speech. DESIGN Bimodal benefit (CI+hearing aid - CI-only) was evaluated in 11 pediatric Mandarin-speaking Chinese CI users. In experiment 1, speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) were adaptively measured using a modified coordinated response measure test; subjects were required to correctly identify 2 keywords from among 10 choices in each category. SRTs were measured with CI-only or bimodal listening in the presence of steady state noise (SSN) or competing speech with the same (M+M) or different voice gender (M+F). Unaided thresholds in the non-CI ear and demographic factors were compared with speech performance. In experiment 2, SRTs were adaptively measured in SSN for recognition of 5 keywords, a more difficult listening task than the 2-keyword recognition task in experiment 1. RESULTS In experiment 1, SRTs were significantly lower for SSN than for competing speech in both the CI-only and bimodal listening conditions. There was no significant difference between CI-only and bimodal listening for SSN and M+F (p > 0.05); SRTs were significantly lower for CI-only than for bimodal listening for M+M (p < 0.05), suggesting bimodal interference. Subjects were able to make use of voice gender differences for bimodal listening (p < 0.05) but not for CI-only listening (p > 0.05). Unaided thresholds in the non-CI ear were positively correlated with bimodal SRTs for M+M (p < 0.006) but not for SSN or M+F. No significant correlations were observed between any demographic variables and SRTs (p > 0.05 in all cases). In experiment 2, SRTs were significantly lower with two than with five keywords (p < 0.05). A significant bimodal benefit was observed only for the 5-keyword condition (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS With the CI alone, subjects experienced greater interference with competing speech than with SSN and were unable to use voice gender difference to segregate talkers. For the coordinated response measure task, subjects experienced no bimodal benefit and even bimodal interference when competing talkers were the same voice gender. A bimodal benefit in SSN was observed for the five-keyword condition but not for the two-keyword condition, suggesting that bimodal listening may be more beneficial as the difficulty of the listening task increased. The present data suggest that bimodal benefit may depend on the type of masker and/or the difficulty of the listening task.
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21
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Zhou Q, Bi J, Song H, Gu X, Liu B. Mandarin lexical tone recognition in bimodal cochlear implant users. Int J Audiol 2020; 59:548-555. [PMID: 32302240 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2020.1719437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Objective: To assess the recognition of lexical tones in Mandarin-speaking bimodal cochlear implant (CI) subjects.Design: Lexical tone recognition in quiet and noise (SNR= +5 dB) was measured with electric stimulation (CI alone) or bimodal stimulation (CI + hearing aid (HA)). The recognition and confusion rates of the four tones (T1, T2, T3 and T4) were analysed. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between hearing levels in the contralateral ear and bimodal benefits.Study sample: Twenty native Mandarin-speaking bimodal CI users, with ages ranging from 16-49 years.Results: Relative to the CI alone, mean tone recognition with the CI + HA improved significantly from 84.1-92.1% correct in quiet (+8 points) and from 57.9-73.1% correct in noise (+15.2 points). Tone confusions between T2 and T3 were the most prominent in all test conditions, and T4 tended to be labelled as T3 in noise. There was no significant correlation between the bimodal benefits for tone recognition and the unaided or HA-aided pure-tone thresholds at 0.25 kHz.Conclusion: Listeners with CI + HA exhibited significantly better tone recognition than with CI alone. The bimodal advantage for tone recognition was greater in noise than in quiet, perhaps due to a ceiling effect in quiet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Zhou
- Beijing Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Jintao Bi
- Beijing Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Haoheng Song
- Beijing Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Gu
- Beijing Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
| | - Bo Liu
- Beijing Tongren Hospital, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
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22
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Tupper P, Leung K, Wang Y, Jongman A, Sereno JA. Characterizing the distinctive acoustic cues of Mandarin tones. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:2570. [PMID: 32359306 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
This study aims to characterize distinctive acoustic features of Mandarin tones based on a corpus of 1025 monosyllabic words produced by 21 native Mandarin speakers. For each tone, 22 acoustic cues were extracted. Besides standard F0, duration, and intensity measures, further cues were determined by fitting two mathematical functions to the pitch contours. The first function is a parabola, which gives three parameters: a mean F0, an F0 slope, and an F0 second derivative. The second is a broken-line function, which models the contour as a continuous curve consisting of two lines with a single breakpoint. Cohen's d, sparse Principal Component Analysis, and other statistical measures are used to identify which of the cues, and which combinations of the cues, are important for distinguishing each tone from each other among all the speakers. Although the specific cues that best characterize the tone contours depend on the particular tone and the statistical measure used, this paper shows that the three cues obtained by fitting a parabola to the tone contour are broadly effective. This research suggests using these three cues as a canonical choice for defining tone characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Tupper
- Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Colombia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Keith Leung
- Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Colombia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Yue Wang
- Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Colombia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Allard Jongman
- Department of Linguistics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
| | - Joan A Sereno
- Department of Linguistics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA
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23
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Wong P, Cheng MW. On the Relationship Between General Auditory Sensitivity and Speech Perception: An Examination of Pitch and Lexical Tone Perception in 4- to 6-Year-Old Children. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2020; 63:487-498. [PMID: 32073343 DOI: 10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Theoretical models and substantial research have proposed that general auditory sensitivity is a developmental foundation for speech perception and language acquisition. Nonetheless, controversies exist about the effectiveness of general auditory training in improving speech and language skills. This research investigated the relationships among general auditory sensitivity, phonemic speech perception, and word-level speech perception via the examination of pitch and lexical tone perception in children. Method Forty-eight typically developing 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children were tested on the discrimination of the pitch patterns of lexical tones in synthetic stimuli, discrimination of naturally produced lexical tones, and identification of lexical tone in familiar words. Results The findings revealed that accurate lexical tone discrimination and identification did not necessarily entail the accurate discrimination of nonlinguistic stimuli that followed the pitch levels and pitch shapes of lexical tones. Although pitch discrimination and tone discrimination abilities were strongly correlated, accuracy in pitch discrimination was lower than that in tone discrimination, and nonspeech pitch discrimination ability did not precede linguistic tone discrimination in the developmental trajectory. Conclusions Contradicting the theoretical models, the findings of this study suggest that general auditory sensitivity and speech perception may not be causally or hierarchically related. The finding that accuracy in pitch discrimination is lower than that in tone discrimination suggests that comparable nonlinguistic auditory perceptual ability may not be necessary for accurate speech perception and language learning. The results cast doubt on the use of nonlinguistic auditory perceptual training to improve children's speech, language, and literacy abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Faculty of Education, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
| | - Man Wai Cheng
- Faculty of Education, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
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24
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Cabrera L, Liu HM, Granjon L, Kao C, Tsao FM. Discrimination and identification of lexical tones and consonants in Mandarin-speaking children using cochlear implants. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 146:2291. [PMID: 31671989 DOI: 10.1121/1.5126941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Mandarin-speaking adults using cochlear implants (CI) experience more difficulties in perceiving lexical tones than consonants. This problem may result from the fact that CIs provide relatively sufficient temporal envelope information for consonant perception in quiet environments, but do not convey the fine spectro-temporal information considered to be necessary for accurate pitch perception. Another possibility is that Mandarin speakers with post-lingual hearing loss have developed language-specific use of these acoustic cues, impeding lexical tone processing under CI conditions. To investigate this latter hypothesis, syllable discrimination and word identification abilities for Mandarin consonants (place and manner) and lexical-tone contrasts (tones 1 vs 3 and 1 vs 2) were measured in 15 Mandarin-speaking children using CIs and age-matched children with normal hearing (NH). In the discrimination task, only children using CIs exhibited significantly lower scores for consonant place contrasts compared to other contrasts, including lexical tones. In the word identification task, children using CIs showed lower performance for all contrasts compared to children with NH, but they both showed specific difficulties with tone 1 vs 2 contrasts. This study suggests that Mandarin-speaking children using CIs are able to discriminate and identify lexical tones and, perhaps more surprisingly, have more difficulties when discriminating consonants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurianne Cabrera
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Université Paris Descartes, 45 rue des saints-pères, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Huei-Mei Liu
- Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Section 1, Heping E. Road, Taipei City 106, Taiwan
| | - Lionel Granjon
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Université Paris Descartes, 45 rue des saints-pères, 75006, Paris, France
| | - Chieh Kao
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Number 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Feng-Ming Tsao
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Number 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
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25
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Nie K, Hannaford S, Director HM, Nishigaki MA, Drennan WR, Rubinstein JT. Mandarin tone recognition in English speakers with normal hearing and with cochlear implants. Int J Audiol 2019; 58:913-922. [DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2019.1632498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kaibao Nie
- University of Washington-Seattle, Seattle, WA, USA
- University of Washington-Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA
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26
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Peng F, McKay CM, Mao D, Hou W, Innes-Brown H. Auditory Brainstem Representation of the Voice Pitch Contours in the Resolved and Unresolved Components of Mandarin Tones. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:820. [PMID: 30505262 PMCID: PMC6250765 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 10/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Accurate perception of voice pitch plays a vital role in speech understanding, especially for tonal languages such as Mandarin. Lexical tones are primarily distinguished by the fundamental frequency (F0) contour of the acoustic waveform. It has been shown that the auditory system could extract the F0 from the resolved and unresolved harmonics, and the tone identification performance of resolved harmonics was better than unresolved harmonics. To evaluate the neural response to the resolved and unresolved components of Mandarin tones in quiet and in speech-shaped noise, we recorded the frequency-following response. In this study, four types of stimuli were used: speech with either only-resolved harmonics or only-unresolved harmonics, both in quiet and in speech-shaped noise. Frequency-following responses (FFRs) were recorded to alternating-polarity stimuli and were added or subtracted to enhance the neural response to the envelope (FFRENV) or fine structure (FFRTFS), respectively. The neural representation of the F0 strength reflected by the FFRENV was evaluated by the peak autocorrelation value in the temporal domain and the peak phase-locking value (PLV) at F0 in the spectral domain. Both evaluation methods showed that the FFRENV F0 strength in quiet was significantly stronger than in noise for speech including unresolved harmonics, but not for speech including resolved harmonics. The neural representation of the temporal fine structure reflected by the FFRTFS was assessed by the PLV at the harmonic near to F1 (4th of F0). The PLV at harmonic near to F1 (4th of F0) of FFRTFS to resolved harmonics was significantly larger than to unresolved harmonics. Spearman's correlation showed that the FFRENV F0 strength to unresolved harmonics was correlated with tone identification performance in noise (0 dB SNR). These results showed that the FFRENV F0 strength to speech sounds with resolved harmonics was not affected by noise. In contrast, the response to speech sounds with unresolved harmonics, which were significantly smaller in noise compared to quiet. Our results suggest that coding resolved harmonics was more important than coding envelope for tone identification performance in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Peng
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China.,The Bionics Institute of Australia, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
| | - Colette M McKay
- The Bionics Institute of Australia, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Darren Mao
- The Bionics Institute of Australia, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Wensheng Hou
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Chongqing University, Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China.,Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.,Chongqing Engineering Research Center of Medical Electronics Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hamish Innes-Brown
- The Bionics Institute of Australia, East Melbourne, VIC, Australia.,Medical Bionics Department, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Wong P, Cheng ST, Chen F. Cantonese Tone Identification in Three Temporal Cues in Quiet, Speech-Shaped Noise and Two-Talker Babble. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1604. [PMID: 30356874 PMCID: PMC6190861 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 08/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose: Cochlear implant processors deliver mostly temporal envelope information and limited fundamental frequency (F0) information to the users, which make pitch and lexical tone perception challenging for cochlear implantees. Different factors have been found to affect Mandarin tone perception in temporal cues but the most effective temporal cues for lexical tone identification across different backgrounds remained unclear because no study has comprehensively examined the effects and interactions of these factors, particularly, in languages that use both pitch heights and pitch shapes to differentiate lexical meanings. The present study compared identification of Cantonese tones in naturally produced stimuli, and in three temporal cues, namely the amplitude contour cue (TE50), the periodicity cue (TE500), and the temporal fine structure cue (TFS), in three different numbers of frequency bands (B04, B08, B16) in quiet and two types of noise (two male talker-babble and speech-shaped noise). Method: Naturally produced Cantonese tones and synthetic tones that combined different acoustic cues and different number of frequency bands were presented to 18 young native Cantonese speakers for tone identification in quiet and noise. Results: Among the three temporal cues, TFS was the most effective for Cantonese tone identification in quiet and noise, except for T4 (LF) identification. Its effect was even stronger when the tones were presented in 4 or 8 bands rather than 16 bands. Neither TE500 nor TE50 was effective for Cantonese tone identification in quiet or noise. In noise, most tones in TE500 and TE50 were misheard as T4 (LF), demonstrating errors in both tone shapes and tone heights. Types of noise had limited effect on tone identification. Conclusions: Findings on Mandarin tone perception in temporal cues may not be applicable to other tone languages with more complex tonal systems. TFS presented in four bands was the most effective temporal cue for Cantonese tone identification in quiet and noise. Temporal envelope cues were not effective for tone, tone shape or tone height identification in Cantonese. These findings have implications for future design of cochlear implants for tone speakers who use pitch heights or a combination of pitch heights and pitch shapes to differentiate meanings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Sheung Ting Cheng
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
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Wong P, Ng KWS. Testing the Hyperarticulation and Prosodic Hypotheses of Child-Directed Speech: Insights From the Perceptual and Acoustic Characteristics of Child-Directed Cantonese Tones. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:1907-1925. [PMID: 30073296 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-s-17-0375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The function of child-directed speech has been debated for decades. This study examined the perceptual and acoustic characteristics of child- and adult-directed Cantonese tones to test the hyperarticulation and prosodic hypotheses that have been proposed to account for the acoustic modifications in child-directed speech. METHOD Sixty-two mother-child dyads participated in the study. The mothers verbally labeled 30 pictures in monosyllabic isolated words and in the final position of a carrier sentence to the experimenter and their 1- to 5-year-old children. The 8,634 adult- and child-directed productions were low-pass filtered to eliminate lexical information and presented to 5 judges for tone identification. Acoustic analysis was performed on the productions. RESULTS Acoustically, child-directed tones were produced with an elevated pitch, and the pitch level decreased as the child's age increased. Acoustic contrasts between phonetically similar and more confusing tones were not enhanced in child-directed speech, and unexpectedly, child-directed tones were identified with a lower accuracy than adult-directed tones. The perceptual errors of child-directed tones mirrored the errors found in identifying tones excised from sentence-final position, which had a pitch-lowering effect on the tones. The lower perceptual accuracy, the lack of enhanced acoustic contrasts in confusing tone pairs, and the similarities in the error patterns in identifying tones in child-directed speech and tones in utterance-final position suggest that the acoustic modifications in child-directed tones are prosodic effects serving pragmatic purposes. CONCLUSION The findings reject the hyperarticulation hypothesis and support the prosodic hypothesis of child-directed speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Faculty of Education, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
| | - Kelly Wing Sum Ng
- Faculty of Education, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
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Han Y, Goudbeek M, Mos M, Swerts M. Effects of Modality and Speaking Style on Mandarin Tone Identification by Non-Native Listeners. PHONETICA 2018; 76:263-286. [PMID: 30086551 DOI: 10.1159/000489174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2017] [Accepted: 04/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Although the way tones are acquired by second or foreign language learners has attracted some scholarly attention, detailed knowledge of the factors that promote efficient learning is lacking. In this article, we look at the effect of visual cues (comparing audio-only with audio-visual presentations) and speaking style (comparing a natural speaking style with a teaching speaking style) on the perception of Mandarin tones by non-native listeners, looking both at the relative strength of these two factors and their possible interactions. Both the accuracy and reaction time of the listeners were measured in a task of tone identification. Results showed that participants in the audio-visual condition distinguished tones more accurately than participants in the audio-only condition. Interestingly, this varied as a function of speaking style, but only for stimuli from specific speakers. Additionally, some tones (notably tone 3) were recognized more quickly and accurately than others.
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Wong P. Mothers do not enhance tonal contrasts in child-directed speech: Perceptual and acoustic evidence from child-directed Mandarin lexical tones. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2018; 143:3169. [PMID: 29857721 DOI: 10.1121/1.5037092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Prosodically, child-directed speech typically has a higher pitch and more varied pitch contours. Studies that have examined acoustic differences between child-directed and adult-directed vowels and consonants have reported mixed results and proposed two hypotheses explaining the function of the acoustic modifications in child-directed speech. The hyperarticulation hypothesis suggests that mothers enhance the phonemic contrasts in child-directed speech to facilitate speech and language acquisition in children. The pragmatic hypothesis claims that the acoustic differences between child-directed and adult-directed speech result from mothers' expression of affective emotions towards young children. In tone languages, pitch is used at the syllable level to make lexical contrasts and at the utterance level to serve pragmatic functions. This study compared the perceptual clarity and acoustic characteristics of adult-directed and child-directed Mandarin tones to test the two hypotheses. 1648 child-directed and adult-directed tones produced by 20 mothers in monosyllabic and disyllabic words were low-pass filtered to eliminate segmental information and presented to five judges for tone identification. Child-directed tones were identified with poorer accuracy than adult-directed tones. Acoustic analysis revealed that child-directed tones, regardless of tone type, were produced with higher pitch and more positive slopes than adult-directed tones. The findings did not support the hyperarticulation hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Room 757, Meng Wah Complex, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
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31
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Wong P, Chan HY. Acoustic characteristics of highly distinguishable Cantonese entering and non-entering tones. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2018; 143:765. [PMID: 29495691 DOI: 10.1121/1.5021251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Cantonese has one of the most complex tone systems. Few studies have thoroughly examined or compared the acoustic properties of the full set of Cantonese tones, particularly the entering tones, compromising deeper understanding of Cantonese tone difficulties in various clinical populations. This study (1) describes a theory-driven method for acoustic analysis of tones that successfully normalized the intrinsic pitch of male and female speakers, (2) provides detailed acoustic data on distinctly enunciated Cantonese tones, (3) examines the acoustic similarities and differences between the entering and non-entering tones, and (4) compares the acoustic properties of three easily confused tone pairs. Seventeen male and female native speakers produced 1802 Cantonese tones that were correctly identified by five judges in filtered stimuli. Counter to the established notion that the entering tones are shorter versions of the three level tones, the results revealed that the entering tones have falling contours, suggesting that the entering and non-entering tones should be examined separately in research and clinical settings. The detailed description of the acoustic properties of the nine tones and the acoustic contrasts of the entering and non-entering tones and the three easily confused tone pairs provides references for future Cantonese tone studies with different populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
| | - Hoi-Yin Chan
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
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32
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Cognitive basis of individual differences in speech perception, production and representations: The role of domain general attentional switching. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 79:945-963. [PMID: 28144832 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-017-1283-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated whether individual differences in cognitive functions, attentional abilities in particular, were associated with individual differences in the quality of phonological representations, resulting in variability in speech perception and production. To do so, we took advantage of a tone merging phenomenon in Cantonese, and identified three groups of typically developed speakers who could differentiate the two rising tones (high and low rising) in both perception and production [+Per+Pro], only in perception [+Per-Pro], or in neither modalities [-Per-Pro]. Perception and production were reflected, respectively, by discrimination sensitivity d' and acoustic measures of pitch offset and rise time differences. Components of event-related potential (ERP)-the mismatch negativity (MMN) and the ERPs to amplitude rise time-were taken to reflect the representations of the acoustic cues of tones. Components of attention and working memory in the auditory and visual modalities were assessed with published test batteries. The results show that individual differences in both perception and production are linked to how listeners encode and represent the acoustic cues (pitch contour and rise time) as reflected by ERPs. The present study has advanced our knowledge from previous work by integrating measures of perception, production, attention, and those reflecting quality of representation, to offer a comprehensive account for the underlying cognitive factors of individual differences in speech processing. Particularly, it is proposed that domain-general attentional switching affects the quality of perceptual representations of the acoustic cues, giving rise to individual differences in perception and production.
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Cai T, McPherson B, Li C, Yang F. Tone perception in Mandarin-speaking school age children with otitis media with effusion. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0183394. [PMID: 28829840 PMCID: PMC5568745 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The present study explored tone perception ability in school age Mandarin-speaking children with otitis media with effusion (OME) in noisy listening environments. The study investigated the interaction effects of noise, tone type, age, and hearing status on monaural tone perception, and assessed the application of a hierarchical clustering algorithm for profiling hearing impairment in children with OME. METHODS Forty-one children with normal hearing and normal middle ear status and 84 children with OME with or without hearing loss participated in this study. The children with OME were further divided into two subgroups based on their severity and pattern of hearing loss using a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Monaural tone recognition was measured using a picture-identification test format incorporating six sets of monosyllabic words conveying four lexical tones under speech spectrum noise, with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions ranging from -9 to -21 dB. RESULTS Linear correlation indicated tone recognition thresholds of children with OME were significantly correlated with age and pure tone hearing thresholds at every frequency tested. Children with hearing thresholds less affected by OME performed similarly to their peers with normal hearing. Tone recognition thresholds of children with auditory status more affected by OME were significantly inferior to those of children with normal hearing or with minor hearing loss. Younger children demonstrated poorer tone recognition performance than older children with OME. A mixed design repeated-measure ANCOVA showed significant main effects of listening condition, hearing status, and tone type on tone recognition. Contrast comparisons revealed that tone recognition scores were significantly better under -12 dB SNR than under -15 dB SNR conditions and tone recognition scores were significantly worse under -18 dB SNR than those obtained under -15 dB SNR conditions. Tone 1 was the easiest tone to identify and Tone 3 was the most difficult tone to identify for all participants, when considering -12, -15, and -18 dB SNR as within-subject variables. The interaction effect between hearing status and tone type indicated that children with greater levels of OME-related hearing loss had more impaired tone perception of Tone 1 and Tone 2 compared to their peers with lesser levels of OME-related hearing loss. However, tone perception of Tone 3 and Tone 4 remained similar among all three groups. Tone 2 and Tone 3 were the most perceptually difficult tones for children with or without OME-related hearing loss in all listening conditions. CONCLUSIONS The hierarchical clustering algorithm demonstrated usefulness in risk stratification for tone perception deficiency in children with OME-related hearing loss. There was marked impairment in tone perception in noise for children with greater levels of OME-related hearing loss. Monaural lexical tone perception in younger children was more vulnerable to noise and OME-related hearing loss than that in older children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Cai
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Bradley McPherson
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Caiwei Li
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, China
| | - Feng Yang
- Department of Speech Therapy, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, China
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Wong P, Strange W. Phonetic complexity affects children's Mandarin tone production accuracy in disyllabic words: A perceptual study. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0182337. [PMID: 28806417 PMCID: PMC5555563 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
This is the first study to examine the effect of phonetic contexts on children's lexical tone production. Mandarin tones in disyllabic words produced by forty-four 2- to 6-year-old children and twelve mothers were low-pass filtered to eliminate lexical information. Native Mandarin-speaking adults categorized the tones based on the pitch information in the filtered stimuli. All mothers' tones were categorized with ceiling accuracy. Counter to the findings in most previous studies on children's tone acquisition and the prevailing assumption in models of speech development that children acquire suprasegmental features much earlier than segmental features, this study found that children as old as six years of age have not mastered the production of Mandarin tones. Children's tones were judged with significantly lower accuracy than mothers' productions. Tone accuracy improved, while cross subject variability in tone accuracy decreased, with age. Children's tone accuracy was affected by the articulatory complexity of phonetic contexts. Children made more errors in tone combinations with more complex fundamental frequency (F0) contours than tone sequences with simpler F0 changes. When producing disyllabic tone sequences with complex F0 contours, children tended to shift the F0 contour of the first tone to reduce the F0 change, resulting in more tone errors in the first syllable than in the second syllable and showing substantially more anticipatory coarticulation than adults. The results provide further evidence that acquisition of lexical tones is a protracted process in children. Tones produced accurately by children in one phonetic context may not be produced correctly in another phonetic context. Children demonstrate more anticipatory coarticulation in their disyllabic productions than adults, which may be attributed to children's immature speech motor control in tone production, and is presumably a by-product of their inability to accomplish complex F0 changes within the syllable time-frame.
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Affiliation(s)
- Puisan Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
| | - Winifred Strange
- Ph.D. Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, New York, New York, United States of America
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Liu YW, Tao DD, Jiang Y, GalvinIII JJ, Fu QJ, Yuan YS, Chen B. Effect of spatial separation and noise type on sentence recognition by Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users. Acta Otolaryngol 2017; 137:829-836. [PMID: 28296522 DOI: 10.1080/00016489.2017.1292050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of spatial separation and noise type on sentence recognition by unilateral Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant (CI) users and normal-hearing (NH) listeners. METHOD Twenty-two unilateral Mandarin-speaking CI users and six NH listeners participated in this study. Speech reception thresholds were measured for three noise types (steady state noise, speech babble, and music). Sentences from the Mandarin Speech Perception test were presented directly in front of the listener (0°). Noise was presented from one of the five speaker locations: -90°, -45°, 0°, +45°, and +90°. RESULTS Overall, CI performance was significantly poorer than NH performance for all spatial separation and noise type conditions. NH listeners performed best with music and poorest with steady noise. CI users performed best with steady noise, and poorest with babble. Performance was significantly affected by noise location and noise type. There was no significant difference in head shadow effects among the different noise types for CI users. CONCLUSIONS Performance was much poorer in CI than in NH listeners for all noise types and spatial separations. Noise type differently affected unilateral CI users and NH listeners. The limited spectral resolution in CI users did not appear to affect head shadow.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang-Wenyi Liu
- Department of Otology and Skull Base Surgery, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine, Ministry of Health, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Duo-Duo Tao
- Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China
| | - Ye Jiang
- Department of Otology and Skull Base Surgery, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine, Ministry of Health, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - John J. GalvinIII
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Ya-sheng Yuan
- Department of Otology and Skull Base Surgery, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine, Ministry of Health, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Bing Chen
- Department of Otology and Skull Base Surgery, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Hearing Medicine, Ministry of Health, Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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Zhu S, Wong LLN, Wang B, Chen F. Assessing the Importance of Lexical Tone Contour to Sentence Perception in Mandarin-Speaking Children With Normal Hearing. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2017; 60:2116-2123. [PMID: 28672378 DOI: 10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-16-0272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Accepted: 03/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of lexical tone contour and age on sentence perception in quiet and in noise conditions in Mandarin-speaking children ages 7 to 11 years with normal hearing. METHOD Test materials were synthesized Mandarin sentences, each word with a manipulated lexical contour, that is, normal contour, flat contour, or a tone contour randomly selected from the four Mandarin lexical tone contours. A convenience sample of 75 Mandarin-speaking participants with normal hearing, ages 7, 9, and 11 years (25 participants in each age group), was selected. Participants were asked to repeat the synthesized speech in quiet and in speech spectrum-shaped noise at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. RESULTS In quiet, sentence recognition by the 11-year-old children was similar to that of adults, and misrepresented lexical tone contours did not have a detrimental effect. However, the performance of children ages 9 and 7 years was significantly poorer. The performance of all three age groups, especially the younger children, declined significantly in noise. CONCLUSIONS The present research suggests that lexical tone contour plays an important role in Mandarin sentence recognition, and misrepresented tone contours result in greater difficulty in sentence recognition in younger children. These results imply that maturation and/or language use experience play a role in the processing of tone contours for Mandarin speech understanding, particularly in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shufeng Zhu
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, ChinaDepartment of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Lena L N Wong
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam
| | - Bin Wang
- Department of Electronic Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Fei Chen
- Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
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Cantonese Tone Perception for Children Who Use a Hearing Aid and a Cochlear Implant in Opposite Ears. Ear Hear 2017; 38:e359-e368. [PMID: 28678079 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The ability to recognize tones is vital for speech perception in tonal languages. Cantonese has six tones, which are differentiated almost exclusively by pitch cues (tones 1 to 6). The differences in pitch contours among the tones are subtle, making Cantonese a challenging language for cochlear implant users. The addition of a hearing aid has been shown to improve speech perception in nontonal languages and in Mandarin Chinese. This study (1) investigates the Cantonese tone perception ability of children who use a cochlear implant and a hearing aid in opposite ears; (2) evaluates the effect of varying pitch height and pitch contour cues on Cantonese tone perception for these children; and (3) compares the Cantonese tone perception ability for using a hearing aid and a cochlear implant together versus an implant alone. DESIGN Eight native Cantonese speaking children using a cochlear implant and a hearing aid in opposite ears were assessed for tone perception and word identification. The tone perception test involved discriminating and ranking tone pairs from natural and artificially manipulated Cantonese tones with various pitch heights and/or pitch contours. The word identification test involved identifying Cantonese words in a four-alternative forced-choice task. All tests were performed in two device conditions: (1) cochlear implant and hearing aid together and (2) implant alone. RESULTS Seven of the 8 subjects performed significantly above chance in both tests using the cochlear implant alone. Results showed that both pitch height and/or pitch direction were important perceptual cues for implant users. Perception for some tones was improved by increasing the pitch height differences between the tones. The ability to discriminate and rank the tone 2/tone 5 contrast and the tone 4/tone 6 contrast was poor, as the tones in these contrasts are similar in pitch contours and onset frequencies. No significant improvement was observed after artificially increasing the pitch offset differences between the tones in the tone 2/tone 5 and the tone 4/tone 6 contrasts. Tone perception results were significantly better with the addition of the hearing aid in the nonimplanted ear compared with using the implant alone; however, word identification results were not significantly different between using the implant alone and using both the hearing aid and the implant together. None of the subjects performed worse in tone perception or in word identification when the hearing aid was added. CONCLUSIONS Reduced ability to perceive pitch contour cues, even when artificially exaggerated, may explain some of the difficulties in Cantonese word recognition for implant users. The addition of a contralateral hearing aid could be beneficial for Cantonese tone perception for some individuals with a unilateral implant. The results encouraged Cantonese speakers to trial a hearing aid in the nonimplanted ear when using a cochlear implant.
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Ping L, Wang N, Tang G, Lu T, Yin L, Tu W, Fu QJ. Implementation and preliminary evaluation of ‘C-tone’: A novel algorithm to improve lexical tone recognition in Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant users. Cochlear Implants Int 2017. [PMID: 28629258 DOI: 10.1080/14670100.2017.1339492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Ningyuan Wang
- Zhejiang Nurotron Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Guofang Tang
- Zhejiang Nurotron Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Thomas Lu
- Nurotron Biotechnology, Inc., Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Li Yin
- Zhejiang Nurotron Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Wenhe Tu
- Zhejiang Nurotron Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Zhejiang, PR China
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, 2100 West Third Street, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
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Sugiyama Y. Perception of Japanese Pitch Accent without F0. PHONETICA 2017; 74:107-123. [PMID: 28384645 DOI: 10.1159/000453069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 10/30/2016] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Phonological contrasts are typically encoded with multiple acoustic correlates to ensure efficient communication. Studies have shown that such phonetic redundancy is found not only in segmental contrasts, but also in suprasegmental contrasts such as tone. In Japanese, fundamental frequency (F0) is the primary cue for pitch accent. However, little is known about its secondary cues. In the present study, a perception experiment was conducted to examine whether any secondary cues exist for Japanese accent. First, minimal pairs of final-accented and unaccented words were identified using a database, resulting in 14 pairs of words. These words were then produced by a native Tokyo Japanese speaker, and presented to participants in both unedited and edited forms. Edited speech stimuli were created by replacing F0 in the natural speech stimuli with white noise. While word identification by Tokyo Japanese speakers had higher accuracy for natural speech than for edited speech, the accuracy exceeded the chance level for edited speech, suggesting the existence of secondary cues for Japanese accent. Acoustic analysis of the stimuli revealed that relative mean amplitude and relative maximum amplitude were greater for final-accented words than for unaccented words.
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The Relative Weight of Temporal Envelope Cues in Different Frequency Regions for Mandarin Sentence Recognition. Neural Plast 2017; 2017:7416727. [PMID: 28203463 PMCID: PMC5288535 DOI: 10.1155/2017/7416727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Acoustic temporal envelope (E) cues containing speech information are distributed across the frequency spectrum. To investigate the relative weight of E cues in different frequency regions for Mandarin sentence recognition, E information was extracted from 30 contiguous bands across the range of 80–7,562 Hz using Hilbert decomposition and then allocated to five frequency regions. Recognition scores were obtained with acoustic E cues from 1 or 2 random regions from 40 normal-hearing listeners. While the recognition scores ranged from 8.2% to 16.3% when E information from only one region was available, the scores ranged from 57.9% to 87.7% when E information from two frequency regions was presented, suggesting a synergistic effect among the temporal E cues in different frequency regions. Next, the relative contributions of the E information from the five frequency regions to sentence perception were computed using a least-squares approach. The results demonstrated that, for Mandarin Chinese, a tonal language, the temporal E cues of Frequency Region 1 (80–502 Hz) and Region 3 (1,022–1,913 Hz) contributed more to the intelligence of sentence recognition than other regions, particularly the region of 80–502 Hz, which contained fundamental frequency (F0) information.
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The Importance of Acoustic Temporal Fine Structure Cues in Different Spectral Regions for Mandarin Sentence Recognition. Ear Hear 2016; 37:e52-6. [PMID: 26317161 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0000000000000216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To study the relative contribution of acoustic temporal fine structure (TFS) cues in low-, mid-, and high-frequency regions to Mandarin sentence recognition. DESIGN Twenty-one subjects with normal hearing were involved in a study of Mandarin sentence recognition using acoustic TFS. The acoustic TFS information was extracted from 10 3-equivalent rectangular bandwidth-wide bands within the range 80 to 8858 Hz using the Hilbert transform and was assigned to low-, mid-, and high-frequency regions. Percent-correct recognition scores were obtained with acoustic TFS information presented using one, two, or three frequency regions. The relative weights of the three frequency regions were calculated using the least-squares approach. RESULTS Results indicated that the mean percent-correct scores for sentence recognition using acoustic TFS were nearly perfect for stimuli with all three frequency regions together. Recognition was approximately 50 to 60% correct with only the low- or mid-frequency region but decreased to approximately 5% correct with only the high-frequency region of acoustic TFS. The mean weights of the low-, mid-, and high-frequency regions were 0.39, 0.48, and 0.13, respectively, and the difference between each pair of frequency regions was statistically significant. CONCLUSION The acoustic TFS cues in low- and mid-frequency regions convey greater information for Mandarin sentence recognition, whereas those in the high-frequency region have little effect.
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Looi V, Teo ER, Loo J. Pitch and lexical tone perception of bilingual English-Mandarin-speaking cochlear implant recipients, hearing aid users, and normally hearing listeners. Cochlear Implants Int 2016; 16 Suppl 3:S91-S104. [PMID: 26561892 DOI: 10.1179/1467010015z.000000000263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The purpose of this current study was to investigate whether pitch, lexical tone, and/or speech-in-noise perception were significantly correlated for Singaporean teenagers or adults who spoke both Mandarin and English. METHODS Thirty-three normal hearing or near-normal hearing listeners who did not use a hearing device (NNH group), eight postlingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) recipients (CI group), and three postlingually deafened bilateral hearing aid (HA) users (HA group) were recruited. All participants were bilingual Mandarin-English-speaking Singaporean residents. Participants were assessed on tests of pitch-ranking, lexical tone perception, and speech-in-noise. RESULTS The NNH group scored significantly better than the CI group for all tests and subtests. There were no significant differences for the pitch test between the HA group and either the CI or NNH group. However, HA users scored significantly better than the CI group, and more aligned with the NNH group's scores for both the lexical tone and Mandarin speech-in-noise test. There were highly significant moderate positive correlations between all three tests. Discussion Overall, the performance of the CI users in this study indicates that CI recipients still struggle on pitch-related auditory perception tasks. Additionally, although the test scores from the HA users were better than the CI recipients, they were not as good as the NNH listeners. The significant moderate correlations between all three tests indicate that there is at least some degree of overlap in the skills required to accurately perceive these stimuli. CONCLUSION The overall results suggest that CI users, and to a lesser extent HA users, still struggle with complex auditory perceptual tasks, particularly when it requires the perception of pitch. However, it may be possible that training one of these skills (e.g. musical pitch) may then generalize to other tasks (e.g. lexical tone and/or speech-in-noise). This is important for counseling, as well as for planning effective rehabilitation programs.
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Mao Y, Xu L. Lexical tone recognition in noise in normal-hearing children and prelingually deafened children with cochlear implants. Int J Audiol 2016; 56:S23-S30. [PMID: 27564095 PMCID: PMC5326701 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1219073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to investigate Mandarin tone recognition in background noise in children with cochlear implants (CIs), and to examine the potential factors contributing to their performance. DESIGN Tone recognition was tested using a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm in various signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions (i.e. quiet, +12, +6, 0, and -6 dB). Linear correlation analysis was performed to examine possible relationships between the tone-recognition performance of the CI children and the demographic factors. STUDY SAMPLE Sixty-six prelingually deafened children with CIs and 52 normal-hearing (NH) children as controls participated in the study. RESULTS Children with CIs showed an overall poorer tone-recognition performance and were more susceptible to noise than their NH peers. Tone confusions between Mandarin tone 2 and tone 3 were most prominent in both CI and NH children except for in the poorest SNR conditions. Age at implantation was significantly correlated with tone-recognition performance of the CI children in noise. CONCLUSIONS There is a marked deficit in tone recognition in prelingually deafened children with CIs, particularly in noise listening conditions. While factors that contribute to the large individual differences are still elusive, early implantation could be beneficial to tone development in pediatric CI users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yitao Mao
- Department of Radiology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
| | - Li Xu
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
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Meng Q, Zheng N, Li X. Loudness Contour Can Influence Mandarin Tone Recognition: Vocoder Simulation and Cochlear Implants. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2016; 25:641-649. [PMID: 27448366 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2016.2593489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Lexical tone recognition with current cochlear implants (CI) remains unsatisfactory due to significantly degraded pitch-related acoustic cues, which dominate the tone recognition by normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Several secondary cues (e.g., amplitude contour, duration, and spectral envelope) that influence tone recognition in NH listeners and CI users have been studied. This work proposes a loudness contour manipulation algorithm, namely Loudness-Tone (L-Tone), to investigate the effects of loudness contour on Mandarin tone recognition and the effectiveness of using loudness cue to enhance tone recognition for CI users. With L-Tone, the intensity of sound samples is multiplied by gain values determined by instantaneous fundamental frequencies (F0s) and pre-defined gain- F0 mapping functions. Perceptual experiments were conducted with a four-channel noise-band vocoder simulation in NH listeners and with CI users. The results suggested that 1) loudness contour is a useful secondary cue for Mandarin tone recognition, especially when pitch cues are significantly degraded; 2) L-Tone can be used to improve Mandarin tone recognition in both simulated and actual CI-hearing without significant negative effect on vowel and consonant recognition. L-Tone is a promising algorithm for incorporation into real-time CI processing and off-line CI rehabilitation training software.
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Li Y, Wang S, Su Q, Galvin JJ, Fu QJ. Validation of list equivalency for Mandarin speech materials to use with cochlear implant listeners. Int J Audiol 2016; 56:S31-S40. [PMID: 27414242 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1204564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech materials validated with normal-hearing listeners may not be appropriate for clinical assessment of cochlear implant (CI) users. The aim of this study was to validate list equivalency of the Mandarin Speech Perception (MSP) sentences, disyllables, and monosyllables in Mandarin-speaking CI patients. DESIGN Recognition of MSP sentences, disyllables, and monosyllables each were measured for all 10 lists. STUDY SAMPLE 67 adult and 32 pediatric Mandarin-speaking CI users. RESULTS There was no significant difference between adult and pediatric subject groups for all test materials. Significant differences were observed among lists within each test. After removing one or two lists within each test, no significant differences were observed among the remaining lists. While there was equal variance among lists within a given test, the variance was larger for children than for adults, and increased from monosyllables to disyllables to sentences. CONCLUSIONS Some adjustment to test lists previously validated with CI simulations was needed to create perceptually equivalent lists for real CI users, suggesting that test materials should be validated in the targeted population. Differences in mean scores and variance across test materials suggest that CI users may differ in their ability to make use of contextual cues available in sentences and disyllables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongxin Li
- a Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China , Beijing , P. R. China and
| | - Shuncheng Wang
- a Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China , Beijing , P. R. China and
| | - Qiaodang Su
- a Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery , Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Ministry of Education of China , Beijing , P. R. China and
| | - John J Galvin
- b Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine , UCLA , Los Angeles , CA , USA
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- b Department of Head and Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine , UCLA , Los Angeles , CA , USA
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Zhou X, Li H, Galvin JJ, Fu QJ, Yuan W. Effects of insertion depth on spatial speech perception in noise for simulations of cochlear implants and single-sided deafness. Int J Audiol 2016; 56:S41-S48. [PMID: 27367147 DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2016.1197426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study evaluated the effects of insertion depth on spatial speech perception in noise for simulations of cochlear implants (CI) and single-sided deafness (SSD). DESIGN Mandarin speech recognition thresholds were adaptively measured in five listening conditions and four spatial configurations. The original signal was delivered to the left ear. The right ear received either no input, one of three CI simulations in which the insertion depth was varied, or the original signal. Speech and noise were presented at either front, left, or right. STUDY SAMPLE Ten Mandarin-speaking NH listeners with pure-tone thresholds less than 20 dB HL. RESULTS Relative to no input in the right ear, the CI simulations provided significant improvements in head shadow benefit for all insertion depths, as well as better spatial release of masking (SRM) for the deepest simulated insertion. There were no significant improvements in summation or squelch for any of the CI simulations. CONCLUSIONS The benefits of cochlear implantation were largely limited to head shadow, with some benefit for SRM. The greatest benefits were observed for the deepest simulated CI insertion, suggesting that reducing mismatch between acoustic and electric hearing may increase the benefit of cochlear implantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqing Zhou
- a Department of Otolaryngology , Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Gao Tan Yan Street, Shaping Ba District , Chongqing , 400038 , China and
| | - Huajun Li
- a Department of Otolaryngology , Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Gao Tan Yan Street, Shaping Ba District , Chongqing , 400038 , China and
| | - John J Galvin
- b Department of Head and Neck Surgery , David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA 90095 , USA
| | - Qian-Jie Fu
- b Department of Head and Neck Surgery , David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA 90095 , USA
| | - Wei Yuan
- a Department of Otolaryngology , Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University , Gao Tan Yan Street, Shaping Ba District , Chongqing , 400038 , China and
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Ou J, Law SP. Individual differences in processing pitch contour and rise time in adults: A behavioral and electrophysiological study of Cantonese tone merging. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2016; 139:3226. [PMID: 27369146 DOI: 10.1121/1.4954252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
One way to understand the relationship between speech perception and production is to examine cases where the two dissociate. This study investigates the hypothesis that perceptual acuity reflected in event-related potentials (ERPs) to rise time of sound amplitude envelope and pitch contour [reflected in the mismatch negativity (MMN)] may associate with individual differences in production among speakers with otherwise comparable perceptual abilities. To test this hypothesis, advantage was taken of an on-going sound change-tone merging in Cantonese, and compared the ERPs between two groups of typically developed native speakers who could discriminate the high rising and low rising tones with equivalent accuracy but differed in the distinctiveness of their production of these tones. Using a passive oddball paradigm, early positive-going EEG components to rise time and MMN to pitch contour were elicited during perception of the two tones. Significant group differences were found in neural responses to rise time rather than pitch contour. More importantly, individual differences in efficiency of tone discrimination in response latency and magnitude of neural responses to rise time were correlated with acoustic measures of F0 offset and rise time differences in productions of the two rising tones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinghua Ou
- Division of Speech and Hearing Science, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
| | - Sam-Po Law
- Division of Speech and Hearing Science, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
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Singh L, Fu CSL. A New View of Language Development: The Acquisition of Lexical Tone. Child Dev 2016; 87:834-54. [PMID: 27007329 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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The binaural masking-level difference of mandarin tone detection and the binaural intelligibility-level difference of mandarin tone recognition in the presence of speech-spectrum noise. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0120977. [PMID: 25835987 PMCID: PMC4383418 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2014] [Accepted: 02/09/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Binaural hearing involves using information relating to the differences between the signals that arrive at the two ears, and it can make it easier to detect and recognize signals in a noisy environment. This phenomenon of binaural hearing is quantified in laboratory studies as the binaural masking-level difference (BMLD). Mandarin is one of the most commonly used languages, but there are no publication values of BMLD or BILD based on Mandarin tones. Therefore, this study investigated the BMLD and BILD of Mandarin tones. The BMLDs of Mandarin tone detection were measured based on the detection threshold differences for the four tones of the voiced vowels /i/ (i.e., /i1/, /i2/, /i3/, and /i4/) and /u/ (i.e., /u1/, /u2/, /u3/, and /u4/) in the presence of speech-spectrum noise when presented interaurally in phase (S0N0) and interaurally in antiphase (SπN0). The BILDs of Mandarin tone recognition in speech-spectrum noise were determined as the differences in the target-to-masker ratio (TMR) required for 50% correct tone recognitions between the S0N0 and SπN0 conditions. The detection thresholds for the four tones of /i/ and /u/ differed significantly (p<0.001) between the S0N0 and SπN0 conditions. The average detection thresholds of Mandarin tones were all lower in the SπN0 condition than in the S0N0 condition, and the BMLDs ranged from 7.3 to 11.5 dB. The TMR for 50% correct Mandarin tone recognitions differed significantly (p<0.001) between the S0N0 and SπN0 conditions, at –13.4 and –18.0 dB, respectively, with a mean BILD of 4.6 dB. The study showed that the thresholds of Mandarin tone detection and recognition in the presence of speech-spectrum noise are improved when phase inversion is applied to the target speech. The average BILDs of Mandarin tones are smaller than the average BMLDs of Mandarin tones.
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Chou FC, Zebrowski P, Yang SL. Lexical tone and stuttering loci in Mandarin: evidence from preschool children who stutter. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2015; 29:115-130. [PMID: 25268542 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2014.966393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between stuttering loci and lexical tone in Mandarin-speaking preschoolers. Conversational samples from 20 Taiwanese children who stutter (CWS; M = 4:9; range = 3:2-6:4) were analysed for frequency and type of speech disfluency and lexical tone associated with stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs). Results indicated that SLDs were significantly more likely to be produced on Mandarin syllables carrying Tone 3 and Tone 4 syllables compared to syllables carrying either Tone 1 or Tone 2. Post-hoc analyses revealed: (1) no significant differences in the stuttering frequencies between Tone 1 and Tone 2, or between Tone 3 and Tone 4, and (2) a higher incidence of stuttering on syllables carrying Tone 3 and Tone 4 embedded in conflicting (as opposed to compatible) tonal contexts. Results suggest that the higher incidence of stuttering on Mandarin syllables carrying either Tone 3 or 4 may be attributed to the increased level of speech motor demand underlying rapid F0 change both within and across syllables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fang-Chi Chou
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa , Iowa City, IA , USA
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