bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perception of non-native quantity contrasts by Cantonese and Japanese speakers
Authors: Lee Albert , Shinohara Yasuaki , Mut Tsz Ching
Published: November 2021

This paper reports on the findings of a pilot study which investigated Cantonese and Japanese speakers’ ability to perceive non-native quantity contrasts. Our goal was to examine whether L1 phonology affects the perception of non-native sound contrasts at a discrete, categorical level or a gradient, “featural” level. We recruited native Cantonese and Japanese speakers for a series of AXB discrimination and identification tasks. Cantonese has partial quantity contrasts (i.e., where duration is not the primary acoustic cue) in a few vowel pairs, whereas Japanese has systematic two-way quantity contrasts in both vowels and consonants. The synthesized stimuli were Japanese (non-native for Cantonese speakers) and Estonian (non-native for both groups) nonce words contrasting in vowel and consonant quantity. For Estonian, quantity is a three-way distinction (short, long, overlong). The results showed that while Japanese speakers outperformed their Cantonese counterparts in discrimination, their identification accuracy for overlong Estonian vowels was anomalously low. These findings are discussed with reference to the “feature hypothesis” in L2 phonological acquisition.
Exploring the role of personality traits in second language speech perception
Authors: Hutchinson Amy , Rodriguez Sophia , Dmitrieva Olga
Published: November 2021

It is well established that some individual factors (i.e., age, amount of input, motivation, etc.) play a considerable role in second language (L2) speech perceptual learning (Akahane-Yamada, 1995; Flege et al., 1997; Flege & Liu, 2001; inter alia). However, other factors, like personality type, have received less attention. This study therefore investigates the role of personality in L2 speech perception by examining how factors assessed in the Big 5 Inventory (Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, and Openness; John et al., 1991) and the Autism Spectrum Quotient (social skill, attention-switching, attention to detail, communication, and imagination; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) affect French nasal vowel identification by intermediate/advanced American learners of French (n = 32). Preliminary results (n = 25) analyzed with a mixed effects binomial logistic regression revealed that learners with higher scores in Extroversion and Neuroticism were significantly more likely to select the correct nasal vowel. The analysis also demonstrated that L2 learners who were more careful, attentive, and diligent (represented by high scores in Conscientiousness and/or Attention to Detail) were significantly less target-like in their perception. In addition to presenting results from the full data set, this presentation will also discuss implications for L2 learning and L2 speech perception more broadly.
Working memory, selective attention, and input variability differentially contribute to non-native phonetic learning
Authors: Zhang Xiaojuan , Cheng Bing , Zhang Yang
Published: November 2021

Our recent training study demonstrated that acoustic variability, independent of talker variability, promotes nonnative phonetic learning with an enhanced audiovisual adaptive protocol of high variability phonetic training (HVPT). In this follow-up study, we further investigated how cognitive factors may contribute to the learning process. Forty native Chinese adults were randomly assigned to a multiple-talker (MT) group and a single-talker (ST) group to learn the English /i/-/I/ contrast. Pre- and two-post-tests (one week after training and three months after training) employed the natural word identification task. Participants were also tested on working memory and selective attention prior to training. Consistent with previous results, MT and ST training produced similar improvements in the immediate post-test. While significant retention was observed only in the ST group after three months, retention was also found in some participants in the MT group. More importantly, in the MT group, working memory capacity predicted the immediate improvements, while selective attention predicted the amount of retained training effects. No such associations were found in the ST group. These results added new evidence for the differential roles of working memory and selective attention in speech learning. Learners with greater working memory abilities and attentional resources are more likely to benefit from increased acoustic variability in HVPT.
The impact of masker language and talker intelligibility on early bilinguals listeners' speech perception
Authors: Pena Jailyn M. , Levi Susannah V.
Published: November 2021

Most real-life speech perception occurs in noisy environments. Previous research shows that listeners are better at understanding target speech that is masked by competing speech (babble masker) in a different (mismatched) language compared to when the target speech and babble are in the same (matched) language, a phenomenon referred to as “release from masking.” Here, we investigated release from masking for monolingual English and early Korean-English bilingual listeners. We also investigated whether talker intelligibility mediates release from masking. Listeners completed a sentence recognition task with both matched and mismatched babble. Critically, the early bilinguals heard English and Korean target speech. Results indicate that early bilinguals did not differ significantly from monolinguals when listening to English. Interestingly, when listening to Korean, early bilinguals also received a release from masking, despite the babble being their dominant language (English). Overall, these results indicate that earlybilinguals may be able to tolerate similar levels of adverse listening conditions as monolinguals in their dominant language. Furthermore, they are able to benefit from a target-babble linguistic mismatch in both their dominant and nondominant languages. Finally, across both languages, low-intelligibility talkers conditioned larger release from masking effects than high-intelligibility talkers, something previous research has not accounted for.
Investigating the effect of second language learning on the acquisition of a third language rhythm pattern
Authors: Diantoro Carissa A. , Redford Melissa A. , Kallay Jeffrey
Published: November 2021

Language transfer helps in the acquisition of a second language (L2) when the target L2 shares similarities with the first language (L1). We ask: Does proficiency in an L2 facilitate the acquisition of a structurally similar L3? Or, does training in any L2 help with L3 acquisition? We investigated L2 learners’ ability to reproduce the rhythm of a novel L3, Indonesian, as a function of their exposure to a rhythm-similar language (French) or a rhythm-divergent language (German). Twelve English-speaking students with no college-level language served as control group; six 2nd-year French students served as the rhythm-similar group; and 6 2nd-year German students as the rhythm-divergent group. All produced French, German, and Indonesian sentences in a repetition task with native speaker prompts. Listeners then rated the similarity between their sentences and that of a native speaker. Interval-based rhythm metrics were also computed for the sentences. L2 groups were better at their L2 language than the control group based on the ratings and rhythm measures. They were also perceived as producing better L3 sentences than the control group. Overall, the results suggest that language learning may facilitate subsequent language learning; the effect is not limited to language transfer. [Work supported by NIH.]
Prosodic and segmental information effects on perceived accentedness of native and non-native speech
Authors: Foster Kurtis , Baese-Berk Melissa M.
Published: November 2021

Studies on the effects of prosodic information on perception of accent have investigated the ability of listeners to distinguish between accent varieties using prosodic cues in the absence of segmental information. The present study examined how prosodic and segmental information impact perception of accentedness. Specifically, we examined how listeners perceive accentedness of low-pass filtered and unfiltered speech, as low-pass filtered speech isolates prosody while removing segmental information. Native speaker English participants were exposed to speech from 1 of 4 conditions: unfiltered English produced by native English talkers, low-pass filtered English produced by native English talkers, unfiltered English produced by native Mandarin talkers, or low-pass filtered English produced by native Mandarin talkers. Participants rated each sentence with Likert scale responses from 1 (native speaker of English with no non-native accent) to 9 (strong non-native accent). Unfiltered native English speech received the lowest accentedness ratings and unfiltered Mandarin the highest. Low-pass filtered speech from all talkers was rated as intermediate between the two unfiltered conditions regardless of talker. These findings suggest that when making assessments of speaker accentedness, listeners make finer distinctions through the use of segmental information than they do with prosodic information.
Environmental noise
Authors: Reuter Eric
Published: November 2021

This session will introduce participants to the principles of measurement, analysis, and control of environmental noise. Topics will include the selection and operation of sound level meters, statistical descriptors, ordinances and regulations, standards, propagation modeling, and sound barrier applications. No prior experience with environmental noise is assumed.
Exploring sperm whale population demographics in the northern Gulf of Mexico using passive acoustic monitoring
Authors: Briner Renea , Sidorovskaia Natalia , Mathew Naomi
Published: November 2021

Sperm whales are a sexually dimorphic species widely distributed throughout the world’s oceans, with social units of mature females and young thought to inhabit tropical and temperate waters, while individual mature males travel to higher latitudes in small bachelor groups or alone. Seasonal population demographics, particularly sex distributions, and the group structures of sperm whales have not been closely analyzed for the Gulf of Mexico. Utilizing the unique multi-pulse structure of sperm whale echolocation clicks, their total body length can be estimated, and, as a result of their extreme sexual dimorphism, their sex can be determined. Continuous acoustic recordings from June 2018 through June 2020 by the Environmental Acoustic Recording System (EARS) buoys, deployed off the coast of Louisiana, were analyzed using CABLE software [Beslin et al., JASA (2018)]. The results suggest that the sperm whale population is dominated by females in both summer and winter seasons, although mature whales of both sexes were detected in both seasons. Additionally, for each year of study, respectively, the mean size and the total number of whales detected were greater in winter months. Further insights into group structures will be discussed in the presentation. [Research supported by NSF REU (Award No. 1659853) and BOEM.]
Marine mammal phonations of Barkley Canyon: A publicly available annotated data set
Authors: Kanes Jasper
Published: November 2021

Marine mammal phonations were manually annotated in a subset of hydrophone data collected by Ocean Networks Canada from May 2013 to January 2015 to produce a data set that could be used for algorithm development and marine mammal research. Data were collected near Barkley Canyon, a biologically productive submarine canyon approximately 60 km southwest of Vancouver Island that draws aggregations of euphausiids, hake, herring, and larger animals. The data set contains 10 905 annotated phonations from fin whales, blue whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, orcas, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, and other delphinids. All three regional orca ecotypes are represented within the data set. Humpback whale vocalizations were found in nearly ½ of all files analyzed, and fin whales were conclusively identified in approximately ¼ of files though may be present in up to ½ of files. Blue whale phonations were uncommon and only recorded in the fall and early winter. While sperm whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, and Risso’s dolphins were noted in only 3%–7% of files, they visited the site most days. Orcas were rare visitors to the area. This data set will be made publicly available for further use.
Intra-individual variations within humpback whale song sessions: More signs of sonar
Authors: Mercado Eduardo
Published: November 2021

Analyses of consecutive songs produced by singing humpback whales recorded off the coast of Hawaii revealed that singers constantly vary the acoustic qualities of their songs across “repetitions." Unlike the progressive changes in song structure that singing humpback whales make across years, intra-individual acoustic variations within song sessions appear to be largely stochastic. Four sequentially produced song components (themes) were each found to vary in unique ways. The most extensively used theme was highly variable in overall duration within and across song sessions, but varied relatively little in frequency content. In contrast, the remaining themes varied greatly in frequency content, but showed less variation in duration. Analyses of variations in the amount of time singers spent producing different themes suggest that the mechanisms that determine when singers transition between themes may be comparable to those that control how long terrestrial animals fixate while scanning visual scenes. The dynamic changes that individual singers make to songs within song sessions are counterproductive if songs serve mainly to provide conspecifics with indications of a singer’s fitness. Instead, within-session changes to acoustic features of songs may serve to enhance a singer’s capacity to echoically detect, localize, and track conspecifics from long distances.
Understanding Gulf of Mexico soundscapes
Authors: Mathew Naomi , Sidorovskaia Natalia
Published: November 2021

The contributors, defining baseline soundscapes in the Gulf of Mexico, are analyzed exploring the subtle changes in ambient noise due to the pandemic impact on the maritime and energy industry. The acoustic data were collected by five Environmental Acoustic Recording System buoys in the Mississippi Valley/Canyon region between May 2018 and June 2020, as a part of the long-term observational efforts. In April 2020, the 63-Hz and 125-Hz decidecade band levels were among the lowest in two years. On the contrary, noise levels in the 250-Hz and 500-Hz bands stayed high, probably indicating the presence of the fleet, transporting essential goods, and fishing industry. Marine mammal’s acoustic presence exhibits strong seasonal patterns (with the maximum band levels during the winter months) and was not impacted by the COVID-19 closures. To interpret the trends, shipping traffic density, vessel category metadata, marine mammal detections, and weather data are correlated with noise dynamics. April 2020, the first COVID-19 closure month, provided a rare opportunity to measure baseline levels in bands usually dominated by the energy industry activities. These levels are important for future monitoring efforts and understanding overall GoM noise environment on the Wenz curve scale. [Research funded by BOEM via HDR.]
Membrane effects from ultrasound interactions with microbubbles—From drug delivery to mechanotransduction
Authors: Ibsen Stuart
Published: November 2021

Ultrasound is an ideal modality to interact noninvasively with tissues deep within the body because of its significant penetration depth. However, noninvasive low intensity ultrasound on its own has difficulty creating mechanical forces necessary for localized activation of cells through mechanotransduction or rupture of non-echogenic drug delivery vehicles. Lipid-coated microbubbles are particles that provide a high-level of impedance contrast with the surrounding tissue and undergo significant size oscillations when exposed to ultrasound. This imparts mechanical forces on nearby lipid membranes which can be used for a variety of applications. Here, I will discuss the mechanical forces that are created by ultrasound/microbubble interactions that can be used to transduce mechanical forces across intact membranes for cellular activation, and to rupture membranes of drug delivery vehicles. I will also discuss the interaction of lipid debris left over from by microbubble destruction with cell membranes. The cell activation and vehicle release show promise for clinical applications including neuromodulation and cancer chemotherapy delivery.
Fluorocarbon-assisted nanoparticle-decorated microbubble design
Authors: Krafft Marie Pierre
Published: November 2021

In addition to the use in cardiovascular diagnostic procedures, microbubbles (MBs) have potential in diagnosis of tumours, vascular and blood flow abnormalities, as well as for targeted, ultrasound-triggered drug delivery and as intravascular mechanical devices. All commercial soft, phospholipid-shelled MBs contain a fluorocarbon (FC) gas. Both experimental data and theoretical models confirm that the cohesion pressure in phospholipid monolayers is decreased by FCs, supporting a strong shell film fluidizing effect. The co-surfactant activity of FC gases towards MB shell components or therapeutic cargos, including polymers, proteins, fluorinated drugs, biomarkers and tracers, will be discussed. A new approach allowed immobilization of fluorinated tracers in phospholipid-shelled MBs. Perfluorohexane allowed preparation of stable spherical hydrophobin HFBII-coated MBs, while only inadequate mixtures of aggregates and elongated MBs are obtained under air. Nanodiamonds, iron oxide and cerium oxide nanoparticles can be driven to the air/water interface when exposed to a FC vapor. This new phenomenon enables production of stable nanoparticle-shelled MBs without need for a surfactant. Such microbubbles have potential as multimodal contrast agents (MRI, optical, photoacoustics, PET/ultrasound), as image-guided delivery systems for ultrasound-mediated cancer treatment, and for cell labelling and imaging. (1) M. P. Krafft and J. G. Riess, Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. 294, 102407 (2021).
Comparison of attenuation compensation methods in the estimation of the backscatter coefficient of breast cancer
Authors: Castañeda-Martinez Laura , Whitson Hayley , Jafarpisheh Noushin , Castillo-Lopez Jorge , Galvan-Espinosa Hector , Aguilar-Cortazar Lesvia , Perez-Badillo Patricia , Villaseñor-Navarro Yolanda , Hall Timothy J. , Rivaz Hassan , Rosado-Mendez I.
Published: November 2021

Goal: This study compares two strategies to compensate for attenuation in the estimation of the backscatter coefficient σ of breast cancer Methods: Attenuation compensation was performed using local attenuation estimates from a constrained Spectral-Log-Difference (CSLD) method, and average estimates from a dynamic programming (DP)-based regularized method. First, bias and linearity of σ estimates from both strategies were evaluated in a Gammex 410SCG phantom with inclusions with known σ imaged at 8 MHz on a Verasonics Vantage 128 scanner. Then, the strategies were compared in terms of the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between adipose tissue and invasive ductal carcinoma. σ estimates were obtained from 10 patients with biopsy-confirmed IDCs imaged invivo with a 12L4 transducer on a Siemens Acuson S2000 as part of an IRB-approved protocol at the National Institute of Cancerology in Mexico City. DP σ estimates provided smaller bias and better linearity compared to estimates of CSLD. In the in vivo study, DP σ estimates produced negative IDC-vs-adipose CNR that was significantly different from zero (p = 0.002) and agreed with the hypoechoic appearance of IDC. [Work supported by CONACYT Ciencia de Frontera 1311307, ASA international student support, and UNAM PAPIIT IA102320. We thank Siemens Mexico for scanner loan.]
Acoustic patterning of endothelial cells in vivo to produce microvascular networks
Authors: Dalecki Diane , Comeau Eric S. , Vander Horst Melinda A. , Raeman Carol H. , Hocking Denise C.
Published: November 2021

Previous work from our lab developed an ultrasound standing wave field (USWF) technology to noninvasively pattern endothelial cells within collagen hydrogels to fabricate vascularized engineered tissue constructs. Here, we translate this technology towards acoustic patterning and microvascular network formation in vivo. To enable acoustic patterning in vivo, we developed a two-transducer ultrasound system with intersecting beams to produce an USWF at the intersection of the crossed beams. Acoustic radiation forces associated with the USWF patterned cells into planar bands located at nodal planes. Distance between planar bands was controlled through design of acoustic frequency and angle between ultrasound beams. To demonstrate acoustic patterning in vivo, solutions of collagen and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were injected subcutaneously into flanks of mice and then exposed to an USWF. High-frequency ultrasound imaging was employed to visualize initial acoustic patterning in tissues. Ten days after USWF-mediated cell patterning, tissues were excised, and vessels derived from USWF-patterned cells were identified using an antibody specific to human von Willebrand factor (hVWF). Microvessels expressing hVWF were present in USWF-exposed tissues and not in sham-exposed controls. Furthermore, blood vessels expressing hVWF contained red blood cells, indicating anastomosis of ultrasound-fabricated microvessels with host vasculature and tissue perfusion.
Use of LIIC and HIIC metrics to evaluate the efficacy of ceiling isolators
Authors: Raley Michael
Published: November 2021

The LIIC and HIIC dual-rating method has been developed to better evaluate the impact noise isolation of floor-ceiling assemblies. LoVerde et al. have argued that impact noise is characterized by two distinct frequency domains that can vary independently based on changes to an assembly. The LIIC rating addresses low-frequency impact noise and is calculated using the impact sound pressure levels in the 50, 63, and 80Hz 1/3-octave bands. The HIIC rating addresses high-frequency impact noise and is calculated using the impact sound pressure levels in the 400 to 3150 Hz 1/3-octave bands, inclusive. This presentation looks at the ability of the dual-rating method to compare the efficacy of a range of ceiling isolators from generic resilient channel to spring isolators using a set of laboratory tests conducted at the same laboratory on the same base floor/ceiling assembly. The results show that the dual-rating method can provide useful information for design decisions even when the test data is from a lab with a receiving room volume that is less-than-ideal for measurements at the low frequencies required for the LIIC metric.
Microstreaming induced by two interacting acoustic bubbles
Authors: Inserra Claude , Regnault Gabriel , Mauger Cyril , Doinikov Alexander , Blanc-Benon Philippe
Published: November 2021

Microbubbles submitted to a sufficiently strong ultrasound field can show nonspherical oscillations called surface modes. These oscillations induce a slow mean flow named microstreaming in the vicinity of the bubble interface. We present experimental and theoretical investigations of the microstreaming induced by a bubble pair as an elementary modelling of a dense bubble cloud. Two bubbles are trapped in a dual-frequency acoustic chamber that allows studying their interface dynamics. The secondary radiation force they experience and make them attract under increasing acoustic forcing is quantified through the relative location of the bubble within the acoustic field. Each bubble can exhibit several nonspherical modes that are either axisymmetric or not. The typical flow signatures induced by these nonspherical modes are identified. When the bubble shape oscillations are axisymmetric, the extension of microstreaming pattern does not allow fluid interaction in the region between the two bubbles. In case of asymmetric oscillations, large-scale microstreaming is obtained. These experimental findings are discussed by means of a theoretical modelling of the fluid flow induced by two nonspherically-oscillating microbubbles.
A numerical model for acoustophoretic separation based on elastic moduli differences of cells/microparticles
Authors: Karaman Alara , Açıkgöz Hande Nur , Çetin Barbaros , Özer Mehmet Bülent
Published: November 2021

Acoustophoresis is known to be a promising technique in cell and particle separation. A more comprehensive study that includes the elastic model of the human cell is needed for more realistic simulations of acoustophoretic cell manipulation and separation. Here, we implemented a finite-element based approach that consists of the simple elastic modeling of a human cell to calculate the acoustic radiation force acting on the cells. Using this numerical model, new separation modes based on the difference in elastic properties of particles and cells are found and simulated. The proposed numerical simulation does not utilize the widely used Gor’kov’s analytical acoustophoretic force formulation since the proposed new separation mode is observed at frequencies where acoustic wavelengths are comparable to cell dimensions. Unlike most studies in the literature, the proposed numerical model accounts for acoustic and hydrodynamic particle-particle interactions for the simulation of the cell trajectories. We believe this proposed simulation method and the proposed mode of acoustophoretic separation will be beneficial for separating similar-sized cells/particles with different elastic moduli using acoustophoresis.
Testing the plausibility of harmonic templates based on temporal fine-structure
Authors: LI Yi-Hsuan , Joris Philip X.
Published: November 2021

The existence of harmonic templates in the central nervous system is a basic tenet of place models of pitch. Shamma & Klein (2000) propose that coincidences in temporal fine-structure across auditory nerve fibers in response to broadband stimuli suffice to set up harmonic templates for all fundamental frequencies in the phase-locking range. However, their computational model uses cochlear filters with unphysiologically steep slopes, calling into question the plausibility of the proposed scheme. We obtained responses from chinchilla auditory nerve fibers and “high-sync” neurons to pure tones, low-pass noise, and broadband noise, including “warped” noise (Heinz, 2006; Cedolin & Delgutte, 2010). Coincidences were computed using shuffled auto- or crosscorrelograms. We find that the maximum number of coincidences in response to tones of different frequencies, simulating the output of fibers with infinite sharp filters, indeed shows the template structure modeled by Shamma and Klein. This was not the case for responses to low-pass or broadband noise. However, if coincidences were only counted at zero delay, higher numbers of coincidences were indeed found for harmonically-related characteristic frequencies, even in response to noise. We conclude that steep-sloped cochlear filtering is not a necessary condition to obtain harmonic templates based on fine-structure.
Encoding of fundamental frequency and fine structure of speech sounds: A comparison between adults and newborns
Authors: Arenillas-Alcón Sonia , Ribas-Prats Teresa , Escera Carles , Gómez-Roig M. Dolores , Costa-Faidella Jordi
Published: November 2021

Encoding changes of voice pitch and formant structure plays an important role in speech comprehension since birth. Thus, proper functional assessment in perinatal hospital settings is of essence, but time constraints render the evaluation unfeasible. Here we present a novel two-vowel, rising-pitch-ending stimulus (/oa/; 250 ms) to analyze pitch tracking and low-frequency formant encoding accuracy simultaneously in approximately 30s, extracting measurements from the Frequency-Following Response (FFR) auditory evoked potential recorded with clinical hardware developed for audiology assessments. Thirty-four healthy newborns (mean gestational age = 40 week) and 18 normal-hearing adults were tested. Results showed significant differences across groups in neural lag and F0 spectral amplitude, but not in F0 signal-to-noise ratio, stimulus-to-response correlation or pitch measures, indicating that newborns and adults are able to track F0 changes accurately. FFR’s fine-structure analyses revealed that adults encode formant structure of vowels significantly better than newborns, with largest differences at high-frequency ranges. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility to assess speech envelope and fine-structure encoding within clinical evaluation times in a hospital setting. Our results indicate that voice pitch encoding is adult-like at birth, while formant representation is maturing at birth, suggesting the possibility to use this new stimulus as a measure of auditory system development in newborns.
Acoustic bandwidth effects on envelope following responses to simulated bimodal hearing
Authors: Xu Can , Cheng Fan-Yin , Medina Sarah , Smith Spencer
Published: November 2021

Bimodal hearing, which combines a cochlear implant (CI) with a contralateral hearing aid, provides significant speech recognition benefits in quiet and noise. These benefits have also been observed in normal-hearing listeners using vocoder-based CI simulation combined with low-pass filtered speech, even with acoustic bandwidths as narrow as 125–250 Hz. However, it is challenging to measure the optimal acoustic amplification with difficult-to-test populations, such as young children and adults with disabilities. The frequency following response (FFR) offers a potential solution to this problem, as it objectively quantifies subcortical phase-locking to speech features. Recently, FFR fundamental frequency amplitude in the non-implanted ear was found to be well-correlated with bimodal benefit in CI patients. The present study aimed to parametrically examine acoustic bandwidth effects (125, 250, 500, and 750 Hz) on speech evoked FFRs using simulated bimodal stimuli. We hypothesized that FFRenv amplitudes would increase as bandwidth increases up to 750 Hz and the minimal acoustic bandwidth needed to derive FFR bimodal benefit is less than 250 Hz.
Sentence recognition in individuals with history of multiple concussions while listening to accented speech in noise
Authors: Buntrock Madison
Published: November 2021

It has been well established that listening to spoken language is a complex process that becomes even more difficult in noise, a common experience in everyday life. Previous research suggests that speech perception may be affected by the type of background noise. There has been less research with the initial aim to evaluate the role of task load and susceptibility to distraction affecting the difficulty of speech processing. Furthermore, recent work suggests a protracted recovery from a concussion. However, there is much needed to research the nature of these persisting deficits, specifically regarding language. Research suggests there are language deficits following a concussion, but the full extent is unknown. We evaluated the differences between a group with a history of concussion and a control group. Using a sit-down transcription task, participants were asked to type what they heard the talker say. The female talker was either speaking in a native accent or a foreign accent. These spoken sentences were either presented in quiet or in a multi-talker babble. We evaluated accuracy and response time. Our hypotheses were twofold, there would be a significant difference in reaction time between groups and interaction between background noise and accent of the talker.
A machine-learning approach to studying categorical versus continuous perception
Authors: Beach Sara D.
Published: November 2021

Robust and efficient speech perception relies on the interpretation of acoustically-variable phoneme realizations. Some neuroimaging evidence supports a categorization account, in which speech-evoked patterns of brain activity are transformed into categorical representations. Other evidence supports a continuous account, in which subphonemic detail is maintained over time. However, it is not well understood if or how these patterns of brain activity undergo a continuous-to-categorical transformation, nor how task demands may modulate this process. My approach involves applying biologically- and psychologically-plausible linear classifiers to neural activity as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Data came from adult participants who heard isolated, randomized tokens from a /ba/-/da/ speech continuum. In the passive task, their attention was directed elsewhere. In the active task, they categorized each token as “ba” or “da.” I find that classifiers successfully decode “ba” versus “da” perception from the MEG data. But do they perform like humans, with excellent sensitivity to between-category differences and poor sensitivity to within-category differences, or do they respect stimulus identity? And do passive versus active task demands affect these patterns of classifier performance? Given the wealth of information in the MEG signal, we can test these hypotheses over time and space, as perception unfolds across the brain.
Ultrasonic inspection of lithium-ion batteries to detect cell safety and prevent thermal runaway
Authors: McGee Tyler M. , Neath Barrett J. , Matthews Samuel B. , Archibald Erik J. , Ezekoye Ofodike A. , Haberman Michael R.
Published: November 2021

Accurately monitoring the safety of lithium-ion batteries to prevent a thermal runaway (TR) event is of utmost importance especially in high-power applications such as electric vehicles. The fire caused by a lithium-ion battery is particularly difficult to extinguish because of its continuous emittance of highly flammable gas and its extremely high temperature. Current battery management systems (BMS) only monitor cell safety by measuring voltage, current, and temperature on the module level. Because the BMS operates on the module-level as opposed to the cell-level, these metrics can fail to predict a TR event, which may begin with individual cell failures. We report on the viability of early detection of cell damage by simultaneously monitoring voltage, current, temperature, mechanical clamping force, and ultrasonic wave transmission through individual battery cells under various electrical, mechanical, and thermal loading conditions. Time- and frequency-domain features of the acoustic signals transmitted along three propagation paths and excitation frequencies between 0.1 and 1 MHz are monitored and correlated with electrical, temperature, and force sensor data under mechanically clamped overcharge and thermal abuse scenarios. Early indicators of damage in the ultrasonic signals are presented and discussed with respect to propagation paths and known damage mechanisms in lithium-ion batteries.
Nondestructive evaluation of adhesively bonded plate-like structures through local wavenumber estimation
Authors: Spytek Jakub , Pieczonka Lukasz J. , Ambrozinski Lukasz
Published: November 2021

Nondestructive testing (NDT) of adhesively bonded plate-like structures using traditional ultrasonic (US) testing modalities can be challenging and time-consuming. Faster inspection can be achieved with the use of full-field techniques based on guided waves. In particular, the local wavenumber estimation (LWE) of Lamb waves has been proven effective for damage detection in various plate-like structures. However, the effectiveness of LWE depends on multiple parameters, such as the excitation frequency, the choice of a Lamb wave mode, or the inspection side, among others. This is especially significant in the case of multilayer plates, where different types of damage result in a nontrivial behavior of Lamb waves. In this work, we present a framework for the evaluation of disbonds in adhesively bonded multilayer plates through local wavenumber estimation. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the proposed methodology allows obtaining clear images of defects and determining their through-thickness locations in multilayer plate-like structures.
Acoustic features of Hadza clicks
Authors: Demolin Didier , Harvey Andrew , Griscom Richard , Ghio Alain
Published: November 2021

Hadza (Khoesan) has several clicks in its sound inventory [1,2]. There are 4 types of clicks in the language: bilabial, dental, alveolar and lateral [⊙, |, !, ‖] that can be accompanied, by aspirated, glottal and nasal features [⊙∼, |ʔ, |h, ŋ|, ŋ|ʔ, !ʔ, !h, ŋ!, ŋ!ʔ, ‖, ‖h, ŋ‖h, ŋ‖ʔ]. Our study was made with 9 native speakers (4 women and 5 men) using various instrumental techniques (Acoustic, aerodynamic, EGG and Video). Clicks have two components: an attack and an extinction transient. Bilabial clicks have a noisy release, sometimes whisteled. Aspiration is short for dentals and alveolars, long for laterals. Glottals have a long lag after the burst release. The 4 types of clicks can be produced with the nasal feature. Acoustically, clicks are described with 2 features [grave versus acute] and [abrupt versus noisy] [3]. The [grave] feature has a peak in the FFT spectrum around 1200Hz and the [acute] around 3000 Hz. For some clicks, the cavity posterior to the constriction is excited. Short resonances occur between 1 and 2 kHz following the posterior release, they result from the lowering of the tongue dorsum and from the reduction in the volume of the pharyngeal cavity. [1] K. Miller, Hadza Grammar Notes (Ms Riezlern, 2008). [2] B. Sands, “Phonetics and phonology: Hadza,” in The Khoesan languages, edited by R. Vössen (Routledge, London, 2013). [3] A. Traill, s“The perception of clicks in !xoo,” J. African Lang. Linguist. 15, 161–174 (1994).
Modal coupling of acoustic wave propagation and mechanical wall vibration in the time-varying vocal tract
Authors: Ramsay Gordon
Published: November 2021

Coupling between acoustic wave propagation and mechanical vibration of wall tissue along the vocal tract has long been considered to be an important loss mechanism in speech, affecting the frequencies and bandwidths of the lower formants. However, the detailed mechanism of energy transfer between fluid and structure as the shape of the vocal tract changes over time has not been fully elucidated. To examine this question, a time-domain finite-volume simulation of quasi-one-dimensional fluid flow and mechanical wall vibration was derived from underlying conservation laws. By calculating the eigenvalues and left and right eigenfunctions of the resulting implicit matrix recursion at each point in time, the sound field can be decomposed into modal vibrations describing coupled motion of air and tissue. Standing waves in the fluid within the vocal tract create sound waves that propagate in the wall tissue. Conversely, standing waves in the wall tissue excite waves in the fluid that propagate as sound. The coupling between airborne and mechanical modes of vibration and the transfer of energy between the two systems can easily be understood by examining the time-varying amplitude and phase of the spatial eigenfunctions. Illustrations are provided for simulations of VCV transitions.
Acoustic cues to non-native-directed speech
Authors: Lilley Kevin , Scarborough Rebecca , Zellou Georgia
Published: November 2021

Facing linguistic barriers to communication, talkers spontaneously adjust their speech, facilitating perception by their listener. These adjustments characteristically involve hyperarticulation, such as reduced speech rate, increased vowel dispersion, and increased segmental duration. Listener-based hyperarticulation could result from listener modeling, in which the talker monitors their listener’s comprehension. Hyperarticulation could also result from rich phonological representations, in which listener-based variation is directly represented. This study examined predictions of monitoring and representational accounts of listener-based hyperarticulation using a perception task. Participants completed a forced-choice identification task which tasked them with identifying the background of an interlocutor from recorded speech. That speech was originally produced to imagined and real and to native and non-native interlocutors. If listener-based variation originates with listener modeling, accuracy should be high and similar for each listener background. If that variation originates from rich representations, accuracy should be low, variable, and different across listener backgrounds. The results revealed poor accuracy, even for speech directed toward imagined non-natives, the most hyperarticulate speech. Participants’ choices were influenced most by speech rate, second by vowel dispersion, but not by vowel duration. We discuss the implications of these results for cognitive models of listener-based phonetic variation.
Gender and speech fluency in Mandarin and English news interviews
Authors: Hu Zhihan , Zhang Cong
Published: November 2021

Speech fluency affects the effectiveness of speech communications. Previous research has been mostly looking at the fluency performances in L2 and in atypical population. This paper investigates the fluency pattern in news anchor’s natural interview speech, which represents the upper limit of native language fluency, and examines the effect of gender on fluency. We collected a gender-balanced corpus of audio clips of publicly accessible news programs by six native Mandarin speaking news anchors and six native American English news anchors. The total length of interview used in the analysis was 20 min for each language. This study examined six temporal and non-temporal measurements of fluency: temporal measures included speech rate, mean length of run (MLR), mean length of utterance (MLU), and mean length of pauses (MLP); non-temporal disfluency measures included syllable count and disfluency rate. The results showed that male Mandarin speakers had significantly lower MLR, lower MLU, and higher disfluency rates than female Mandarin speakers; no significant gender difference was found in MLP. The English data did not show any gender difference in any measurement. The results indicated that female Mandarin speakers spoke more fluently than male Mandarin speakers, while male English speakers and female speakers were equally fluent.
Variation in back vowel fronting and diphthongization in Louisiana English
Authors: Shport Irina
Published: November 2021

Fronting of /u o ʊ/ vowel classes is prominent in Southern American English (SAE). This study was focused on Louisiana, a southern state where not all SAE features have had a strong hold. Dynamic formant trajectories of the target vowels were analyzed because different vowel fronting mechanisms were proposed for SAE and mainstream American English (Koops, 2010), and because formant trajectories of back vowels are rarely examined (Stanley and Renwick, 2020). Thirteen White and five Black college-aged females produced 24 monosyllabic words with vowels of each class as a part of a larger study. In White speakers, mean normalized F2 values at midpoints of /u o ʊ/ were not different from each other or from the central vowel /ʌ/, used as a reference. In Black speakers, /ʊ/'s F2 was similar to /ʌ/, but /u o/'s F2 was lower than in /ʌ/. In all speakers, formant trajectories of /u o/ were back-gliding, while /ʊ/ was center-gliding. Trajectory lengths of /u o/ were longer in White than in Black speakers. These results suggest that /u/ fronting was mainstream-like (nucleus fronting and a backglide) and that /u o/ fronting was more advanced in White than in Black female speakers.
Effect of cumulative distance in motor space on segment-sized slips in 3-word phrases
Authors: Redford Melissa A. , Diantoro Carissa A. , Davis Maya
Published: November 2021

Slips, or speech errors (e.g., “teep a cape” for “keep a tape”), have been described as the disordered arrangement of discrete elements, giving rise to the hypothesis that these arise from misordering during phonological encoding. An alternative hypothesis is that slips are articulatory timing errors, conditioned by the same motor factors that underlie coarticulation. This hypothesis motivates the present study, which used a modified slip procedure to elicit errors from 40 native English-speaking adults. Participants spoke 3-word phrases that were constructed as mini tongue twisters, with alternating word onsets and repeating rhymes. These phrases were designed to condition slips to a greater or less extent according to coarticulatory-adjacent processes (e.g., palatalization). A metric of cumulative distance-traveled in motor space during phrase production was also calculated: the degree of change in vocal tract shapes across the phrase, estimated using data generated within the tubesounds model in ArtiSynth. Phrases designed to more strongly condition slips were expected to cover less cumulative distance in motor space than phrases designed to less strongly condition slips. The distance-traveled metric did not always align with this expectation, but was nonetheless a better predictor of presence/absence of slips than phrase condition in analyses on preliminary data.
Acoustic cues to features for Italian vowels as a function of lexical stress and tonal prominence
Authors: Chan Ian , DeCaprio Alec , Arango Javier , De Nardis Luca , Shattuck-Hufnagel Stefanie , Di Benedetto Maria-Gabriella
Published: November 2021

This study investigated how acoustic cues to features in Italian vowels are affected by lexical stress and tonal prominence. One aspect of an analysis on the LaMIT (Lexical Access Model for Italian) project, this study analyzed the impact of prosodic environment on acoustic cues to features. The LaMIT corpus consists of 100 unique sentences uttered twice by four native Italian speakers [Di Benedetto et al., “Speech recognition of spoken Italian based on detection of landmarks and other acoustic cues to distinctive features,” in 179th ASA Meeting (2020)]. This preliminary experiment focused on vowel /a/. Duration, F0, height, and frontness (measured by F1 and F2 formant frequencies) were estimated for 1098 /a/ instantiations. Every sentence was also annotated for tonal prominence with TOBI (DeCaprio et al., “Using TOBI labels to document patterns of prosodic prominence and their acoustic effects in the LaMIT database,” in 181st ASA Meeting (2021)]. Preliminary results show that lexical stress and tonal prominence of /a/ generally have a measurable impact on the vowel’s acoustic realization. Specifically, F1 values of stressed /a/ are greater than those of unstressed /a/; likewise, F1 values of tonally prominent /a/ (always stressed) are greater than those of their stressed but non-prominent counterparts.
Pitch accents and boundary tones in narrow focus statements in Basque Spanish
Authors: Delgado Fernandez Nerea , González Carolina , Reglero Lara
Published: November 2021

This presentation examines the intonation of non-contrastive narrow focus in 15 Spanish-Basque bilinguals from the Basque Country, Spain. A total of 150 semi-spontaneous statements with sentence-final new-information focus were analyzed in Praat following Spanish ToBi conventions (Aguilar et al., 2009). We report the pitch contour of prenuclear and nuclear accents and the prevalence of intermediate phrase boundaries (ip) before the focal element, none of which have been previously investigated in this Spanish variety. Results show that while the first prenuclear accent is generally delayed regardless of bilingualism (93%), the second one is delayed more often in Basque-dominant speakers. Rising-falling nuclear contours (L + H* L%), reported for broad focus in Basque Spanish (Robles Puente, 2012) and for narrow focus in other Spanish dialects (Aguilar et al., 2009), were most common in Spanish-dominant participants, while Basque-dominant participants tended to show falling contours (L* L%). Pre-focal ip boundaries occurred in 69% of sentences, regardless of bilingualism degree. Ip boundaries were typically rising, mostly involving continuation rises, although high plateaus were also attested. We will connect these novel findings to the intonational characteristics of narrow focus in Bizkaian Basque (Elordieta & Hualde, 2014) and other Peninsular Spanish dialects (Face, 2000; 2008).