Query: speech rate comprehension

title: Cochlear Implantation in Chronic Otitis Media: Investigation of Long term Speech Comprehension and Rate of Complications.
abstract: To analyze the long term speech comprehension and rate of complications of cochlear implantation in chronic otitis media.  Retrospective data analysis.  Tertiary referral center with a large cochlear implant program.  Speech perception scores in quiet and background noise and rate of complications.  Forty ears from a total of 38 patients with a mean age of 63.28 2.16 years at the time of implantation were included.  Patients with a history of multiple ear surgeries, with no alternative option for hearing restoration than a cochlear implant, were implanted with satisfactory results in regard to speech comprehension. Preoperative bone conduction PTA4 correlated to postoperative speech comprehension scores in background noise. The rate of complications was low, but higher than in cases of cochlear implantation in normal middle ears.  Cochlear implantation in chronic otitis media can be a satisfactory and safe procedure, if the surgery technique and aftercare is appropriate to the altered anatomy.

title: The Effect of Speech Rate on Listening Comprehension of EFL Learners
abstract: This work presents interesting result of a research on listening comprehension of EFL learners where there is too much concern on how to decide on speech rate. Speech rate is given a key role as the most important factor effecting listening comprehension and also causing a great deal of anxiety for EFL learners. There are two types of speech rate studied here, slow speech rate VOA special English) and natural speech rate ranging from movies, cartoons, news radio, speeches, to soap operas.

title: Effect of Contextual Speech Rate on Speech Comprehension

title: A Comparative Analysis on Speech Rate and Comprehension of Chinese Language

title: Speech Rate Adjustments in Conversations With an Amazon Alexa Socialbot
abstract: This paper investigates users' speech rate adjustments during conversations with an Amazon Alexa socialbot in response to situational (in lab vs. at home) and communicative (ASR comprehension errors) factors. We collected user interaction studies and measured speech rate at each turn in the conversation and in baseline productions (collected prior to the interaction) Overall, we find that users slow their speech rate when talking to the bot, relative to their pre interaction productions, consistent with hyperarticulation. Speakers use an even slower speech rate in the in lab setting (relative to at home) We also see evidence for turn level entrainment: the user follows the directionality of Alexa's changes in rate in the immediately preceding turn. Yet, we do not see differences in hyperarticulation or entrainment in response to ASR errors, or on the basis of user ratings of the interaction. Overall, this work has implications for human computer interaction and theories of linguistic adaptation and entrainment.

title: Neural encoding of spectro temporal cues at slow and near speech rate in cochlear implant users
abstract: The ability to process rapid modulations in the spectro temporal structure of sounds is critical for speech comprehension. For users of cochlear implants (CIs) spectral cues in speech are conveyed by differential stimulation of electrode contacts along the cochlea, and temporal cues in terms of the amplitude of stimulating electrical pulses, which track the amplitude modulated (AM'ed) envelope of speech sounds. Whilst survival of inner ear neurons and spread of electrical current are known factors that limit the representation of speech information in CI listeners, limitations in the neural representation of dynamic spectro temporal cues common to speech are also likely to play a role. We assessed the ability of CI listeners to process spectro temporal cues varying at rates typically present in human speech. Employing an auditory change complex (ACC) paradigm, and a slow (0.5Hz) alternating rate between stimulating electrodes, or different AM frequencies, to evoke a transient cortical ACC, we demonstrate that CI listeners like normal hearing listeners are sensitive to transitions in the spectral and temporal domain. However, CI listeners showed impaired cortical responses when either spectral or temporal cues were alternated at faster, speech like (6 7Hz) rates. Specifically, auditory change following responses reliably obtained in normal hearing listeners were small or absent in CI users, indicating that cortical adaptation to alternating cues at speech like rates is stronger under electrical stimulation. In CI listeners, temporal processing was also influenced by the polarity behaviourally and rate of presentation of electrical pulses both neurally and behaviorally. Limitations in the ability to process dynamic spectro temporal cues will likely impact speech comprehension in CI users.

title: The Effect of Speech Rate on Listening Comprehension of EFL learners
abstract: The present research examined the effect of speech rate on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Initially, a sample of 108 sophomore EFL learners majoring in English translation was selected based on systematic random sampling from Abadan Islamic Azad University. Then, based on an ECCE proficiency test, 62 participants were chosen and divided into two homogeneous groups of 31. One group had exposure to natural speech rate and the other to slow speech rate of listening materials. After thirteen academic sessions, the results o the paired t test regarding the pre tests and post tests of the two group means showed that both differences (group one: 2.83 and group two: 1.22) were significant at 0.05 levels (P 0.05) These findings suggest that each speech rate, whether natural or slow, could improve EFL learners listening comprehension; however, natural speech rate could demonstrate greater improvements than slow speech rate in EFL learners' listening comprehension.

title: The Effect of Speech Rate on Listening Comprehension of EFL learners
abstract: The present research examined the effect of speech rate on listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners. Initially, a sample of 108 sophomore EFL learners majoring in English translation was selected based on systematic random sampling from Abadan Islamic Azad University. Then, based on an ECCE proficiency test, 62 participants were chosen and divided into two homogeneous groups of 31. One group had exposure to natural speech rate and the other to slow speech rate of listening materials. After thirteen academic sessions, the results o the paired t test regarding the pre tests and post tests of the two group means showed that both differences (group one: 2.83 and group two: 1.22) were significant at 0.05 levels (P 0.05) These findings suggest that each speech rate, whether natural or slow, could improve EFL learners listening comprehension; however, natural speech rate could demonstrate greater improvements than slow speech rate in EFL learners' listening comprehension.

title: The impact of speech rate reduction techniques on the listening comprehension performance of Egyptian high school students

title: Scale Free Amplitude Modulation of Neuronal Oscillations Tracks Comprehension of Accelerated Speech
abstract: Speech comprehension is preserved up to a threefold acceleration, but deteriorates rapidly at higher speeds. Current models posit that perceptual resilience to accelerated speech is limited by the brain's ability to parse speech into syllabic units using d/th oscillations. Here, we investigated whether the involvement of neuronal oscillations in processing accelerated speech also relates to their scale free amplitude modulation as indexed by the strength of long range temporal correlations (LRTC) We recorded MEG while 24 human subjects (12 females) listened to radio news uttered at different comprehensible rates, at a mostly unintelligible rate and at this same speed interleaved with silence gaps. d, th, and low g oscillations followed the nonlinear variation of comprehension, with LRTC rising only at the highest speed. In contrast, increasing the rate was associated with a monotonic increase in LRTC in high g activity. When intelligibility was restored with the insertion of silence gaps, LRTC in the d, th, and low g oscillations resumed the low levels observed for intelligible speech. Remarkably, the lower the individual subject scaling exponents of d/th oscillations, the greater the comprehension of the fastest speech rate. Moreover, the strength of LRTC of the speech envelope decreased at the maximal rate, suggesting an inverse relationship with the LRTC of brain dynamics when comprehension halts. Our findings show that scale free amplitude modulation of cortical oscillations and speech signals are tightly coupled to speech uptake capacity.  One may read this statement in 20 30 s, but reading it in less than five leaves us clueless. Our minds limit how much information we grasp in an instant. Understanding the neural constraints on our capacity for sensory uptake is a fundamental question in neuroscience. Here, MEG was used to investigate neuronal activity while subjects listened to radio news played faster and faster until becoming unintelligible. We found that speech comprehension is related to the scale free dynamics of d and th bands, whereas this property in high g fluctuations mirrors speech rate. We propose that successful speech processing imposes constraints on the self organization of synchronous cell assemblies and their scale free dynamics adjusts to the temporal properties of spoken language.