Speech Pathology and Audiology Commons^™

Numerical Investigation Of Subglottal Stenosis Effects On Human Voice Production, Dariush Bodaghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aimed to advance knowledge of how subglottal stenosis impacts voice production physiology. An in-house fluid-structure-acoustic interaction approach based on the hydrodynamic/acoustic splitting technique was employed. This technique was rigorously verified for simulating phonation by matching the acoustic behavior to a compressible flow solver for phonation-relevant geometries. Simulations of an idealized 2D vocal tract model demonstrated the effects of supraglottal acoustic resonance on vocal fold kinematics and glottal flow waveform. Results showed that the acoustic coupling between higher harmonics and formats generated pressure oscillations, modifying vocal fold dynamics and glottal flow rate.

A major novelty was the incorporation and …

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

Liam Briggs 2021 Usri - Audio Testing Device, Liam Briggs

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Portable and cost-effective hearing testing device with a UI that can be accessed on a remote web server.

A Study Of Factors That Influence Symbol Selection On Augmentative And Alternative Communication Devices For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, William Todd Dauterman

CCE Theses and Dissertations

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 1 in 59 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) each year. Given the complexity of ASD and how it is manifested in individuals, the execution of proper interventions is difficult. One major area of concern is how individuals with ASD who have limited communication skills are taught to communicate using Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices (AAC). AACs are portable electronic devices that facilitate communication by using audibles, signs, gestures, and picture symbols. Traditionally, Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are the primary facilitators of AAC devices and help establish the language individuals with …

Objective Estimation Of Tracheoesophageal Speech Quality, Yousef S Ettomi Ali

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Speech quality estimation for pathological voices is becoming an increasingly important research topic. The assessment of the quality and the degree of severity of a disordered speech is important to the clinical treatment and rehabilitation of patients. In particular, patients who have undergone total laryngectomy (larynx removal) produce Tracheoesophageal (TE) speech. In this thesis, we study the problem of TE speech quality estimation using advanced signal processing approaches. Since it is not possible to have a reference (clean) signal corresponding to a given TE speech (disordered) signal, we investigate in particular the non-intrusive techniques (also called single-ended or blind approaches) …

Average Speech Directivity, Samuel D. Bellows, Claire M. Pincock, Jennifer K. Whiting, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

Speech directivity describes the angular dependence of acoustic radiation from a talker’s mouth and nostrils and diffraction about his or her body and chair (if seated). It is an essential physical aspect of communication affecting sounds and signals in acoustical environments, audio, and telecommunication systems. Because high-resolution, spherically comprehensive measurements of live, phonetically balanced speech have been unavailable in the past, the authors have undertaken research to produce and share such data for simulations of acoustical environments, optimizations of microphone placements, speech studies, and other applications. The measurements included three male and three female talkers who repeated phonetically balanced passages …

Parkinsonian Speech And Voice Quality: Assessment And Improvement, Amr Gaballah

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Statistics show that nearly 90% of people impaired with PD develop voice and speech disorders. Speech production impairments in PD subjects typically result in hypophonia and consequently, poor speech signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in noisy environments and inferior speech intelligibility and quality. Assessment, monitoring, and improvement of the perceived quality and intelligibility of Parkinsonian voice and speech are, therefore, paramount. In the first study of this thesis, the perceived quality of sustained vowels produced by PD patients was assessed through objective predictors. Subjective quality ratings of sustained vowels were collected from …

Improvement Of Speech Perception For Hearing-Impaired Listeners, Fang Du

Theses and Dissertations

Hearing impairment is becoming a prevalent health problem affecting 5% of world adult populations. Hearing aids and cochlear implant already play an essential role in helping patients over decades, but there are still several open problems that prevent them from providing the maximum benefits. Financial and discomfort reasons lead to only one of four patients choose to use hearing aids; Cochlear implant users always have trouble in understanding speech in a noisy environment.

In this dissertation, we addressed the hearing aids limitations by proposing a new hearing aid signal processing system named Open-source Self-fitting Hearing Aids System (OS SF hearing …

Speaker-Specific Adaptation Of Maeda Synthesis Parameters For Auditory Feedback, Joseph Vonderhaar

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The Real-time Articulatory Speech Synthesizer (RASS) is a research tool in the Marquette Speech and Swallowing lab that simultaneously collects acoustic and articulatory data from human participants. The system is used to study acoustic-to-articulatory inversion, articulatory-to-acoustic synthesis mapping, and the effects of real-time acoustic feedback. Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) is utilized to collect position data via sensors placed in a subject’s mouth. These kinematic data are then converted into a set of synthesis parameters that controls an articulatory speech synthesizer, which in turn generates an acoustic waveform matching the associated kinematics. Independently from RASS, the synthesized acoustic waveform can be further …

The Effect Of Frequency Resolution On Intelligibility Sentence And Its Relevance To Cochlear Implant Design, Seth H. Roy

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study is to understand how electrical stimulation (as opposed to acoustical stimulation) of the auditory nerve is used in cochlear implants. Speech is a complex signal that changes rapidly in time and frequency domains. Since phonemes (the smallest unit of speech that distinguishes words) depend on nuanced differences in frequency patterns, it would be expected that a signal with drastically reduced frequency information would be of limited value for conveying speech. Such a frequency-poor signal is the object to be investigated in the present work. It is also the basis of the way speech is represented …

Parallel Reference Speaker Weighting For Kinematic-Independent Acoustic-To-Articulatory Inversion, An Ji, Michael T. Johnson, Jeffrey J. Berry

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

Acoustic-to-articulatory inversion, the estimation of articulatory kinematics from an acoustic waveform, is a challenging but important problem. Accurate estimation of articulatory movements has the potential for significant impact on our understanding of speech production, on our capacity to assess and treat pathologies in a clinical setting, and on speech technologies such as computer aided pronunciation assessment and audio-video synthesis. However, because of the complex and speaker-specific relationship between articulation and acoustics, existing approaches for inversion do not generalize well across speakers. As acquiring speaker-specific kinematic data for training is not feasible in many practical applications, this remains an important and …

Coding Strategies For Cochlear Implants Under Adverse Environments, Qudsia Tahmina

Theses and Dissertations

Cochlear implants are electronic prosthetic devices that restores partial hearing in patients with severe to profound hearing loss. Although most coding strategies have significantly improved the perception of speech in quite listening conditions, there remains limitations on speech perception under adverse environments such as in background noise, reverberation and band-limited channels, and we propose strategies that improve the intelligibility of speech transmitted over the telephone networks, reverberated speech and speech in the presence of background noise. For telephone processed speech, we propose to examine the effects of adding low-frequency and high- frequency information to the band-limited telephone speech. Four listening …

Exploring Oculomotor Trends In Collegiate Athletes, Brett Whorley, Julie A. Honaker

UCARE Research Products

Collaborative efforts to improve athlete safety without significantly hindering the rules of the games aim to develop a novel system to better measure and diagnose concussions. Provided that common signs of concussions include blurred vision, distant gaze, and dizziness, the Dizziness and Balance Disorders Lab at UNL believes that the simple oculomotor exam studied in this project may be applied to this procedure. Within the broader goal to better understand the causes, signs, symptoms, and prognosis of concussions, researchers desired to further investigate the results of this oculomotor test. The aim was to identify and interpret correlations between collegiate athlete …

Computational Multimedia For Video Self Modeling, Ju Shen

Ju Shen

Video self modeling (VSM) is a behavioral intervention technique in which a learner models a target behavior by watching a video of oneself. This is the idea behind the psychological theory of self-efficacy - you can learn or model to perform certain tasks because you see yourself doing it, which provides the most ideal form of behavior modeling. The effectiveness of VSM has been demonstrated for many different types of disabilities and behavioral problems ranging from stuttering, inappropriate social behaviors, autism, selective mutism to sports training. However, there is an inherent difficulty associated with the production of VSM material. Prolonged …

Current Steering And Electrode Spanning With Partial Tripolar Stimulation Mode In Cochlear Implants, Ching-Chih Wu

Open Access Dissertations

Cochlear implants (CIs) partially restore hearing sensation to profoundly deaf people by electrically stimulating the surviving auditory neurons. However, CI users perform poorly in challenging listening tasks such as speech recognition in noise and Cochlear implants (CIs) partially restore hearing sensation to profoundly deaf people by electrically stimulating the surviving auditory neurons. However, CI users perform poorly in challenging listening tasks such as speech recognition in noise and music perception, possibly due to the small number of implanted electrodes and the large current spread of electric stimulation. Although current spread may be reduced using partial tripolar (pTP) stimulation mode, the …

Sensorimotor Adaptation Of Speech Using Real-Time Articulatory Resynthesis, Jeffrey J. Berry, Cassandra North, Michael T. Johnson

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

Sensorimotor adaptation is an important focus in the study of motor learning for non-disordered speech, but has yet to be studied substantially for speech rehabilitation. Speech adaptation is typically elicited experimentally using LPC resynthesis to modify the sounds that a speaker hears himself producing. This method requires that the participant be able to produce a robust speech-acoustic signal and is therefore not well-suited for talkers with dysarthria. We have developed a novel technique using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) to drive an articulatory synthesizer. The acoustic output of the articulatory synthesizer can be perturbed experimentally to study auditory feedback effects on sensorimotor …

The Electromagnetic Articulography Mandarin Accented English (Ema-Mae) Corpus Of Acoustic And 3d Articulatory Kinematic Data, Jeffrey J. Berry, An Ji, Michael T. Johnson

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

There is a significant need for more comprehensive electromagnetic articulography (EMA) datasets that can provide matched acoustics and articulatory kinematic data with good spatial and temporal resolution. The Marquette University Electromagnetic Articulography Mandarin Accented English (EMA-MAE) corpus provides kinematic and acoustic data from 40 gender and dialect balanced speakers representing 20 Midwestern standard American English L1 speakers and 20 Mandarin Accented English (MAE) L2 speakers, half Beijing region dialect and half are Shanghai region dialect. Three dimensional EMA data were collected at a 400 Hz sampling rate using the NDI Wave system, with articulatory sensors on the midsagittal lips, lower …

Computational Multimedia For Video Self Modeling, Ju Shen

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Video self modeling (VSM) is a behavioral intervention technique in which a learner models a target behavior by watching a video of oneself. This is the idea behind the psychological theory of self-efficacy - you can learn or model to perform certain tasks because you see yourself doing it, which provides the most ideal form of behavior modeling. The effectiveness of VSM has been demonstrated for many different types of disabilities and behavioral problems ranging from stuttering, inappropriate social behaviors, autism, selective mutism to sports training. However, there is an inherent difficulty associated with the production of VSM material. Prolonged …

Effects Of Hearing Aid Amplification On Robust Neural Coding Of Speech, Jonathan Daniel Boley

Open Access Dissertations

Hearing aids are able to restore some hearing abilities for people with auditory impairments, but background noise remains a significant problem. Unfortunately, we know very little about how speech is encoded in the auditory system, particularly in impaired systems with prosthetic amplifiers. There is growing evidence that relative timing in the neural signals (known as spatiotemporal coding) is important for speech perception, but there is little research that relates spatiotemporal coding and hearing aid amplification.

This research uses a combination of computational modeling and physiological experiments to characterize how hearing aids affect vowel coding in noise at the level of …

Developing A Drug Delivery System For Treatment Of Vocal Fold Scarring, Aaron Michael Kosinski

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal fold scarring is an affliction that results in the formation of a disorganized and stiff extracellular matrix (ECM) with abnormal ECM component densities & structures including a significant increase in collagen deposition. It is caused by improper healing post injury and results in profound changes in the biomechanical properties of the vocal folds impairing their ability to generate a normal mucosal wave during phonation.

Finding an effective treatment for vocal fold scarring has been elusive. Currently, treatments seek temporary solutions that correct glottal incompetence and reduce stiffness caused by the scar through the augmentation of the vocal folds using …

Age-Related Changes To The Production Of Linguistic Prosody, Daniel Richard Barnes

Open Access Theses

The production of speech prosody (the rhythm, pausing, and intonation associated with natural speech) is critical to effective communication. The current study investigated the impact of age-related changes to physiology and cognition in relation to the production of two types of linguistic prosody: lexical stress and the disambiguation of syntactically ambiguous utterances. Analyses of the acoustic correlates of stress: speech intensity (or sound-pressure level; SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), key word/phrase duration, and pause duration revealed that both young and older adults effectively use these acoustic features to signal linguistic prosody, although the relative weighting of cues differed by group. Differences …

Modeling Hrtf For Sound Localization In Normal Listeners And Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users, Douglas A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical models can be very useful for understanding complicated systems and for testing algorithms through simulation that would be difficult or expensive to implement. This dissertation presents a model that attempts to simulate the sound localization performance of persons using bilateral cochlear implants. The expectation is that this model could prove to be a useful tool in developing new signal processing algorithms for neural encoding strategies.

The head related transfer function (HRTF) is a critical component of this model, and in the ideal case, provides the base characteristics of head shadow, torso and pinna effects. This defines the temporal, intensity …

Tracking Articulator Movements Using Orientation Measurements, An Ji, Michael T. Johnson, Jeffrey J. Berry

Speech Pathology and Audiology Faculty Research and Publications

This paper introduces a new method to track articulator movements, specifically jaw position and angle, using 5 degree of freedom (5 DOF) orientation data. The approach uses a quaternion rotation method to accomplish this jaw tracking during speech using a single senor on the mandibular incisor. Data were collected using the NDI Wave Speech Research System for one pilot subject with various speech tasks. The degree of jaw rotation from the proposed approach is compared with traditional geometric calculation. Results show that the quaternion based method is able to describe jaw angle trajectory and gives more accurate and smooth estimation …

Intelligibility Of Electrolarynx Speech Using A Novel Hands-Free Actuator, Brian Madden, Mark Nolan, Ted Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal or plastic plate at a frequency within the range of glottal excitation. In this paper, the intelligibility of speech produced using a novel hands-free actuator is compared to speech produced using a conventional electrolarynx. Two able-bodied speakers (one male, one female) performed a closed response test containing 28 monosyllabic words, once using a conventional electrolarynx and a second time using the novel design. The resulting audio recordings …

Augmented Control Of A Hands-Free Electrolarynx, Brian Madden, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx acts as the sound source, providing a quasi-periodic excitation of the vocal tract. Following a total laryngectomy, some people speak using an electrolarynx which employs an electromechanical actuator to perform the excitatory function of the absent larynx. Drawbacks of conventional electrolarynx designs include the monotonic sound emitted, the need for a free-hand to operate the device, and the difficulty experienced by many laryngectomees in adapting to its use. One improvement to the electrolarynx, which clinicians and users frequently suggest, is the provision of a convenient hands-free control facility. This would allow more natural use of …

Intelligibility Of Electrolarynx Speech Using A Novel Actuator, Brian Madden, Mark Nolan, Ted Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. Following a laryngectomy, some people speak using an electrolarynx which replaces the excitatory function of the absent larynx. Drawbacks of conventional electrolarynx designs include the buzzing monotonic sound emitted, the need for a free hand to operate the device, and difficulty experienced by many laryngectomees in adapting to its use. Despite these shortcomings, it remains the preferred method of speech rehabilitation for a substantial minority of laryngectomees. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal …

A Model For Electrical Communication Between Cochlear Implants And The Brain, Douglas A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the last thirty years, cochlear implants have become an invaluable instrument in the treatment of severe-to-profound hearing impairment. An important aspect of research in the continued development of cochlear implants is the in vivo assessment of signal processing algorithms intended to improve perception of speech and other auditory signals. In trying to determine how closely cochlear implant recipients process sound relative to the processing done by a normal auditory system, various assessment techniques have been applied. The most common technique has been measurement of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs), which involves the recording of neural responses to auditory stimulation. Depending …

Health Prognisis Of Electronics Via Power Profiling, Jonathan Amilcar Cervantes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this research is to investigate a new approach for the early detection of latent defects in electronic devices in the field. Reliability is assessed through the non-traditional approach of recording and evaluating the power profile of electronic devices within a deterministic state of operation. Traditionally, measuring the quiescent current (Iddq) of a device has been employed in manufacturing tests to detect defective parts prior to deployment to the field. However, the monitoring of the deterministic power signature (i.e. boot up or during a self-test routine) has never been exploited to monitor the health of a device in …

Spectral Analysis Of Pathological Acoustic Speech Waveforms, Priyanka Medida

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. The design and problem solving skills of engineering are combined with medical and biological science, which improves medical disorder diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this study is to develop an automated procedure for detecting excessive jitter in speech signals, which is useful for differentiating normal from pathologic speech. The fundamental motivation for this research is that tools are needed by speech pathologists and laryngologists for use in the early detection and treatment of laryngeal disorders. Acoustical analysis of speech was performed to analyze various features …

Signal Modeling With Non-Uniform Time Sampling Of Features For Automatic Speech Recognition, Montri Karnjanadecha

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation presents an investigation of non-uniform time sampling methods for spectral/temporal feature extraction in speech. Frame-based features were computed based on an encoding of the global spectral shape using a Discrete Cosine Transform. In most current “standard” methods, trajectory (dynamic) features are determined from frame-based parameters using a fixed time sampling, i.e., fixed block length and fixed block spacing. In this research, new methods are proposed and investigated in which block length and/or block spacing are variable. The idea was initially tested with HMM-based isolated word recognition, and a significant performance improvement resulted when a variable block length and …