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20. Factors affecting the perception of noise-vocoded speech : stimulus properties and listener variability

Author

McGettigan, Carolyn

Subjects
617.7
Abstract

This thesis presents an investigation of two general factors affecting speech perception in normal-hearing adults. Two sets of experiments are described, in which speakers of English are presented with degraded (noise-vocoded) speech. The first set of studies investigates the importance of linguistic rhythm as a cue for perceptual adaptation to noise-vocoded sentences. Results indicate that the presence of native English rhythmic patterns benefits speech recognition and adaptation, but not when higher-level linguistic information is absent (i.e. when the sentences are in a foreign language). It is proposed that rhythm may help in the perceptual encoding of degraded speech in phonological working memory. Experiments in this strand also present evidence against a critical role for indexical characteristics of the speaker in the adaptation process. The second set of studies concerns the issue of individual differences in speech perception. A psychometric curve-fitting approach is selected as the preferred method of quantifying variability in noise-vocoded sentence recognition. Measures of working memory and verbal IQ are identified as candidate correlates of performance with noise-vocoded sentences. When the listener is exposed to noise-vocoded stimuli from different linguistic categories (consonants and vowels, isolated words, sentences), there is evidence for the interplay of two initial listening 'modes' in response to the degraded speech signal, representing 'top-down' cognitive-linguistic processing and 'bottom-up' acoustic-phonetic analysis. Detailed analysis of segment recognition presents a perceptual role for temporal information across all the linguistic categories, and suggests that performance could be improved through training regimes that direct attention to the most informative acoustic properties of the stimulus. Across several experiments, the results also demonstrate long-term aspects of perceptual learning. In sum, this thesis demonstrates that consideration of both stimulus-based and listener-based factors forms a promising approach to the characterization of speech perception processes in the healthy adult listener.

Published
2008

33. Speech With Pauses Sounds Deceptive to Listeners With and Without Hearing Impairment

Author

Patel, Bindiya, Zhang, Ziyun, McGettigan, Carolyn, Belyk, Michel, Patel, Bindiya, Zhang, Ziyun, McGettigan, Carolyn, and Belyk, Michel

Abstract

Purpose: Communication is as much persuasion as it is the transfer of information. This creates a tension between the interests of the speaker and those of the listener, as dishonest speakers naturally attempt to hide deceptive speech and listeners are faced with the challenge of sorting truths from lies. Listeners with hearing impairment in particular may have differing levels of access to the acoustical cues that give away deceptive speech. A greater tendency toward speech pauses has been hypothesized to result from the cognitive demands of lying convincingly. Higher vocal pitch has also been hypothesized to mark the increased anxiety of a dishonest speaker. Method: Listeners with or without hearing impairments heard short utterances from natural conversations, some of which had been digitally manipulated to contain either increased pausing or raised vocal pitch. Listeners were asked to guess whether each statement was a lie in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Participants were also asked explicitly which cues they believed had influenced their decisions. Results: Statements were more likely to be perceived as a lie when they contained pauses, but not when vocal pitch was raised. This pattern held regardless of hearing ability. In contrast, both groups of listeners self-reported using vocal pitch cues to identify deceptive statements, though at lower rates than pauses. Conclusions: Listeners may have only partial awareness of the cues that influence their impression of dishonesty. Listeners with hearing impairment may place greater weight on acoustical cues according to the differing degrees of access provided by hearing aids.

Published
2023

41. Neural Correlates of Sublexical Processing in Phonological Working Memory

Author

McGettigan, Carolyn, Warren, Jane E., and Eisner, Frank

Abstract

This study investigated links between working memory and speech processing systems. We used delayed pseudoword repetition in fMRI to investigate the neural correlates of sublexical structure in phonological working memory (pWM). We orthogonally varied the number of syllables and consonant clusters in auditory pseudowords and measured the neural responses to these manipulations under conditions of covert rehearsal (Experiment 1). A left-dominant network of temporal and motor cortex showed increased activity for longer items, with motor cortex only showing greater activity concomitant with adding consonant clusters. An individual-differences analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between activity in the angular gyrus and the hippocampus, and accuracy on pseudoword repetition. As models of pWM stipulate that its neural correlates should be activated during both perception and production/rehearsal [Buchsbaum, B. R., & D'Esposito, M. The search for the phonological store: From loop to convolution. "Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20", 762-778, 2008; Jacquemot, C., & Scott, S. K. What is the relationship between phonological short-term memory and speech processing? "Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10", 480-486, 2006; Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), "The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory" (Vol. 8, pp. 47-89). New York: Academic Press, 1974], we further assessed the effects of the two factors in a separate passive listening experiment (Experiment 2). In this experiment, the effect of the number of syllables was concentrated in posterior-medial regions of the supratemporal plane bilaterally, although there was no evidence of a significant response to added clusters. Taken together, the results identify the planum temporale as a key region in pWM; within this region, representations are likely to take the form of auditory or audiomotor "templates" or "chunks" at the level of the syllable [Papoutsi, M., de Zwart, J. A., Jansma, J. M., Pickering, M. J., Bednar, J. A., & Horwitz, B. From phonemes to articulatory codes: an fMRI study of the role of Broca's area in speech production. "Cerebral Cortex", 19, 2156-2165, 2009; Warren, J. E., Wise, R. J. S., & Warren, J. D. Sounds do-able: auditory-motor transformations and the posterior temporal plane. "Trends in Neurosciences, 28", 636-643, 2005; Griffiths, T. D., & Warren, J. D. The planum temporale as a computational hub. "Trends in Neurosciences, 25", 348-353, 2002], whereas more lateral structures on the STG may deal with phonetic analysis of the auditory input [Hickok, G. The functional neuroanatomy of language. "Physics of Life Reviews, 6", 121-143, 2009].

Published
2011
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47. Vocal trait learning

Author

Bradshaw, Abigail and McGettigan, Carolyn

Subjects
Medicine and Health Sciences, Psychiatry and Psychology
Abstract

This study aimed to replicate findings on face social trait and reward learning in the vocal domain. We aimed to investigate whether people prioritise learning about generosity values over reward values for vocal targets, as has been previously shown for face targets (Hackel, Doll & Amodio, 2015). Experiment 1 found that participants did not learn about either traits or reward through reinforcement with auditory stimuli (voices or short tone sequences). Experiment 2 found that participants did however learn about both traits and rewards through reinforcement with sequential presentation of visual stimuli (faces or slot machine icons).

Published
2022
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