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This book interconnects two essential disciplines to study the perception of speech: Neuroscience and Quality of Experience, which to date have rarely been used together for the purposes of research on speech quality perception. In five key experiments, the book demonstrates the application of standard clinical methods in neurophysiology on the one hand and of methods used in fields of research concerned with speech quality perception on the other. Using this combination, the book shows that speech stimuli with different lengths and different quality impairments are accompanied by physiological reactions related to quality variations, e.g., a positive peak in an event-related potential. Furthermore, it demonstrates that – in most cases – quality impairment intensity has an impact on the intensity of physiological reactions.
This book presents a new approach to examining the perceived quality of audiovisual sequences. It uses electroencephalography (EEG) to explain in detail how user quality judgments are formed within a test participant, and what the physiological implications might be when subjects are exposed to lower quality media. The book redefines the experimental paradigms of using EEG in the area of quality assessment so that they better suit the requirements of standard subjective quality testing, and presents experimental protocols and stimuli that have been adjusted accordingly.
This book provides a new multi-method, process-oriented approach towards speech quality assessment, which allows readers to examine the influence of speech transmission quality on a variety of perceptual and cognitive processes in human listeners. Fundamental concepts and methodologies surrounding the topic of process-oriented quality assessment are introduced and discussed. The book further describes a functional process model of human quality perception, which theoretically integrates results obtained in three experimental studies. This book’s conceptual ideas, empirical findings, and theoretical interpretations should be of particular interest to researchers working in the fields of Quality and Usability Engineering, Audio Engineering, Psychoacoustics, Audiology, and Psychophysiology.
Recent studies have suggested that speech perception is processed by distinct brain networks, and correlated neural signals generated by these networks can be identified from brain electromagnetic recordings such as EEG. We studied the dynamic property of 40-Hz gamma band steady-state auditory responses evoked by speech and non-speech stimuli, and found that these two categories of signals are processed differentially over the left and right auditory cortex. We applied an envelope-based Hilbert-Huang decomposition of the data, and extracted signals from a functional network that is only correlated with speech stimuli. We believe these are evidences that speech signals are preferentially processed at a longer (syllabic) time scales than that of non-speech (phonetic). In a separate study, the envelope correlated neural signals have been used to successfully classify the perceived and imagined syllabic rhythms from EEG. We then developed a new method of geometrically accurate spline surface Laplacian (SSL) to improve the spatial resolution of EEG and to estimate the radial current source density on the inner skull surface. Numerical simulations and real EEG data have shown that the new method is more accurate than traditional spherical SSL by incorporating the surface curvature information (manuscript submitted). In a third experiment we recorded EEG when subjects were asked to listen or imagine a small set of selected sentences. We apply a fast wavelet transform technique to counter the lag and compression uncertainty of imagined speech, and apply the new SSL to the extracted signal to estimate the anatomical origin of the neural correlates.
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the First International Workshop on Future and Emergent Trends in Language Technology, FETLT 2015, held in Seville, Spain, in November 2015. The 10 full papers presented together with 3 position papers and 7 invited keynote abstracts were selected from numerous submissions. The structure of the Workshop will feature a significant number of experts in language technologies and convergent areas. One objective will be the organization of forum sessions in order to review some of the current-trend research projects that are already addressing new methodological approaches and proposing solutions and innovative applications. A second major objective will be brainstorming sessions where representatives of the most innovative industrial sector in this area can present and describe the challenges and socio-economic needs of the present and immediate future. All researchers are invited to submit proposals that incorporate solid research and innovation ideas in the field of language technology and in connection with other convergent areas.
Sensory Evaluation of Sound provides a detailed review of the latest sensory evaluation techniques, specifically applied to the evaluation of sound and audio. This three-part book commences with an introduction to the fundamental role of sound and hearing, which is followed by an overview of sensory evaluation methods and associated univariate and multivariate statistical analysis techniques. The final part of the book provides several chapters with concrete real-world applications of sensory evaluation ranging from telecommunications, hearing aids design and binaural sound, via the latest research in concert hall acoustics through to audio-visual interaction. Aimed at the engineer, researcher, university student or manager the book gives insight into the advanced methods for the sensory evaluation with many application examples. Introduces the fundamental of hearing and the value of sound Provides a firm theoretical basis for advanced techniques in sensory evaluation of sound that are then illustrated with concrete examples from university research through to industrial product development Includes chapters on sensory evaluation practices and methods as well as univariate and multivariate statistical analysis Six application chapters covering a wide range of concrete sensory evaluation study examples including insight into audio-visual assessment Includes data analysis with several associated downloadable datasets Provides extensive references to the existing research literature, text books and standards
In this thesis spoken language comprehension models are evaluated based on different analysis methods for an auditory fMRI study. It aimed to distinguish between neural correlates of spoken language comprehension and the perception of speech-like signals, holding the acoustic properties of speech but without any meaningful content. The results are based on a novel approach for the evaluation of searchlight classification results. With multivariate pattern analyses, specific local brain activation patterns for spoken language comprehension could be identified in structures of the temporal, frontal, and parietal cortex as well as the cingulate cortex. A further network analysis based on the model of psycho-physiological interactions has shown a network between frontal- and parietal lobe areas and the cingulate cortex for the processing of valid speech and a network between temporo-parietal structures and the cingulate cortex for the processing of invalid speech.
Many studies of non-native speech sound learning report a great deal of individual variability; some learners master the sounds of a second language with ease, while others struggle to perceive and produce sounds, even after years of learning the language. Although some contributions of phonological, auditory, or cognitive skills have been found to predict non-native speech sound learning ability as measured by laboratory tasks, the field lacks a comprehensive understanding of where these differences originate from. Recent findings, however, suggest that individual differences in sleep duration may predict learning after a period of offline consolidation, though these findings are mixed. Another issue is that the large amount of individual variability seen in studies of non-native learning makes it difficult to obtain precise estimates of effect sizes. Therefore, the first aim of this dissertation was to replicate and extend recent behavioral and neuroimaging findings in non-native speech sound learning with a larger sample size than is typical. The second goal was to test a new question, namely, that how consistently and categorically listeners perceive native-language sounds will predict success on non-native speech sound learning tasks. Finally, we sought to establish whether measures of brain structure can predict how categorically listeners perceive sounds in the native language and how consistently they respond to those sounds. We did not replicate recent findings showing behavioral improvement after sleep on non-native speech sound learning tasks, nor did we replicate the finding that sleep duration predicts overnight improvement. However, gyrification of the bilateral transverse temporal gyri and hippocampal volume predicted an individual's overnight improvement, suggesting a role for memory consolidation, even though we did not see overnight improvement at the group level. We additionally did not find that individual differences in categorical perception predicted non-native speech sound learning, which presents a challenge for some predominant theories of non-native speech sound learning, which future research will have to address. Overall, learners with reduced surface area and volume in frontal regions showed more graded and consistent perception of native-language speech sounds, supporting the notion that these regions underlie categorical perception.