Browsing by Subject "Speech"
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Item Accelerometer-based real-time voice activity detection using neck surface vibration measurement(2019-06) Dubey, SauravSpeech analysis has a growing number of clinical and industry applications, all of which rely on Voice Activity Detection (VAD). Common VAD applications use microphones, which can be problematic in the presence of background noise and additional voices. Recent studies have utilized accelerometers instead of microphones as voice transducers. As part of a larger research project on impaired speech in the voce disorder spasmodic dysphonia (SD), this study aimed to explore the use of wearable accelerometers to detect speech. These accelerometers would be part of a real-time VAD system embedded in a wearable neck collar for patients with SD. This collar would deliver vibro-tactile stimulation (VTS) to the laryngeal muscles during speech as a therapy for these patients. The aims of this research concerned a) finding the ideal location on the neck to place the accelerometers and b) developing a VAD algorithm that reliably detects the onset and offset of speech based on these accelerometer signals. Methods: 6 healthy adult participants (M/F = 3/3, 26 ± SD = 5.1 years) vocalized 20 sample sentences under 12 conditions from a combination of 3 variables: 1) Normal or slow speed of speech, 2) Three accelerometer attachment locations: thyroid cartilage, sternocleidomastoid, and superior to the C7 vertebra, and 3) Application of VTS during speech in two locations. Time-synchronized acceleration and audio were recorded in each condition. Results: Number of onsets of voice activity and total time voiced, as calculated from application of the VAD algorithm to the acceleration data, were measured. The thyroid cartilage attachment location had over 90% accuracy detecting speech in both measures on average. The average accuracy of the sternocleidomastoid location was below 75% accuracy and was below 15% for C7. Discussion: Placing of an accelerometer at the thyroid cartilage for real-time detection of speech was shown to be feasible. The obtained usability data document that accelerometer signals at this anatomical landmark provide the most reliable data to detect speech. The other two locations tested were too variable in accuracy for implementing VAD. With respect to using the established VAD algorithm in the wearable collar device to treat voice symptoms in spasmodic dysphonia, one needs to state that the algorithm can be improved in robustness to filter out the noise caused by vibration. The use of advanced processing methods such as adaptive filtering will likely deliver the desired result.Item Angela Davis(Voices from the Gaps, 1999) Aiello, Janet Marie; Curtright, LaurenItem Anna Julia (Haywood) Cooper(Voices from the Gaps, 2004)Item The effects of explicit knowledge of and implicit attitudes about race on adult perceptions of children’s speech.(2010-07) Christy, Andrea LynnSummary abstract not availableItem Hallie Quinn Brown(Voices from the Gaps, 2000) Berce, Ali; Johnson, Stacy; Keenan, Christine; Williams, Tara J.; Curtright, LaurenItem Rhetorical Diplomacy and U.S. International Influence: The Path of Democracy in Burma(2015-08) Little, AaronRhetorical diplomacy involves pressing U.S. foreign policy initiatives and vision of U.S. presidents through their rhetorical actions. In the rhetorical presidency paradigm the president encounters a resistant regime or government who refuses to pass or adopt U.S. policy. In order to press a regime a president then must form alliances with two parties: the first are those with whom the resistant regime is allied. This is commonly accomplished by influencing trade associations or regional associations with whom the U.S. has alliances and who then may force the resistant regime to acquiesce to U.S. demands. The second group are those social movement actors within the resistant governments country who press the regime internally. These actions involve giving speeches, remarks, and statements by the president and those who represent the Executive Branch. No other international leader, at the present, has the prestige and capability of speaking to world peoples and leaders with such rhetorical impact, and these rhetorical impacts are made possible through rhetorical diplomacy without the high cost of military intervention. The Burmese pro-democracy remains one of the few cases where, through presidential diplomacy, a totalitarian regime has acquiesced to the demands of local and nonviolent social movements without foreign military intervention. This dissertation examines the last two decades of U.S. presidential involvement in the Burmese democracy movement and assesses how rhetorical diplomacy has successfully motivated a resistant military regime to institute democratic reforms. I also analyze the political, financial, and military relationships involved in rhetorical diplomacy that presidents must balance. This dissertation provides a space for Burmese peoples and democratic leaders to voice their opinions concerning U.S. involvement in their country. The second half of this dissertation analyzes surveys and interviews I conducted in Burma in the Summer of 2014, where I asked respondents to assess their agreement with U.S. policy, strategy, and engagement style. Thus, this dissertation offers a comprehensive analysis of rhetorical diplomacy and explains how rhetoric of U.S. presidents are meaningful to those who U.S. foreign policy ostensibly assists.Item Speech-Related Sensory Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease(2015-12) Chen, Yu-WenBackground. Persons with Parkinson’s disease (PD) show speech impairments that are not solely accounted for by motor impairment. In the literature on motor control of trunk and limbs in PD, somatosensory deficits were found and suggested to be associated with movement abnormalities. Less is known about speech-related sensory systems in PD, and little has been done to investigate the link between specific speech sounds and relevant sensory impairments in PD. Purpose. The primary goal of this dissertation is to determine whether there is a relationship between the speech of persons with PD and their auditory and tactile acuity. Using production of sibilants /s/ and /ʃ/ as the speech target, the study seeks to answer four questions: 1) Do persons with PD produce a smaller acoustic difference between sibilant fricatives relative to healthy controls? 2) Do persons with PD show decreased auditory acuity in discriminating spectral shapes? 3) Do persons with PD show decreased acuity to tactile stimuli on the tongue tip? And 4) Are there relationships of sibilant contrast to auditory and lingual-tactile acuity? Method. Ten participants with PD and ten age- and gender-matched healthy participants were studied. Participants performed three tasks. In the production task, they read a passage and eight sentences with /s/- and /ʃ/-initial words; acoustic contrast between the two sibilants was measured using difference between the average first spectral moments of /s/ and /ʃ/. For the auditory task, in each trial they listened to three aperiodic sounds, acoustically modified from /s/ and /ʃ/ and differing in spectral shapes, and judged which sound was different than the other two; auditory acuity measures were calculated from the psychoacoustic functions of their responses. For the tactile task, they judged the orientation of a dome-shaped grating probe gently touching their tongue tip; tactile acuity measures were extracted from the psychophysical functions of their responses. Group comparisons were made for every measure and correlation analyses were done between the speech-production measures and sensory acuity measures. Results. Results found that participants with PD had a smaller sibilant contrast than healthy controls for productions in sentences, but not for ones in the continuous speech passage. The PD participants had significantly reduced auditory acuity in discriminating spectral shapes relative to healthy controls, and significantly reduced tactile acuity of the tongue tip. Correlation analyses showed significant correlation between the tactile acuity and sibilant contrast for the PD group. Conclusions. Results from the study suggest associations of sensory impairment to speech production in persons with PD, calling for more research into the sensory underpinnings of the speech problems of this clinical population.Item Writing to Learn in Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Hearing Mechanisms(University of Minnesota, 2003) Liss, Julie M.; Hanson, Stephanie D.