Classifying coherent versus nonsense speech perception from EEG using linguistic speech features.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Puffay C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC11324895 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Classifying coherent versus nonsense speech perception from EEG using linguistic speech features.
Puffay Corentin C Vanthornhout Jonas J Gillis Marlies M Clercq Pieter De P Accou Bernd B Hamme Hugo Van HV Francart Tom T
Scientific reports 20240814 1
When a person listens to natural speech, the relation between features of the speech signal and the corresponding evoked electroencephalogram (EEG) is indicative of neural processing of the speech signal. Using linguistic representations of speech, we investigate the differences in neural processing between speech in a native and foreign language that is not understood. We conducted experiments using three stimuli: a comprehensible language, an incomprehensible language, and randomly shuffled wo ...[more]
Similar Datasets
Project description:The role of attention in speech comprehension is not well understood. We used fMRI to study the neural correlates of auditory word, pseudoword, and nonspeech (spectrally rotated speech) perception during a bimodal (auditory, visual) selective attention task. In three conditions, Attend Auditory (ignore visual), Ignore Auditory (attend visual), and Visual (no auditory stimulation), 28 subjects performed a one-back matching task in the assigned attended modality. The visual task, attending to rapidly presented Japanese characters, was designed to be highly demanding in order to prevent attention to the simultaneously presented auditory stimuli. Regardless of stimulus type, attention to the auditory channel enhanced activation by the auditory stimuli (Attend Auditory>Ignore Auditory) in bilateral posterior superior temporal regions and left inferior frontal cortex. Across attentional conditions, there were main effects of speech processing (word+pseudoword>rotated speech) in left orbitofrontal cortex and several posterior right hemisphere regions, though these areas also showed strong interactions with attention (larger speech effects in the Attend Auditory than in the Ignore Auditory condition) and no significant speech effects in the Ignore Auditory condition. Several other regions, including the postcentral gyri, left supramarginal gyrus, and temporal lobes bilaterally, showed similar interactions due to the presence of speech effects only in the Attend Auditory condition. Main effects of lexicality (word>pseudoword) were isolated to a small region of the left lateral prefrontal cortex. Examination of this region showed significant word>pseudoword activation only in the Attend Auditory condition. Several other brain regions, including left ventromedial frontal lobe, left dorsal prefrontal cortex, and left middle temporal gyrus, showed Attention x Lexicality interactions due to the presence of lexical activation only in the Attend Auditory condition. These results support a model in which neutral speech presented in an unattended sensory channel undergoes relatively little processing beyond the early perceptual level. Specifically, processing of phonetic and lexical-semantic information appears to be very limited in such circumstances, consistent with prior behavioral studies.
| S-EPMC2268216 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Linguistic experience affects speech perception from early infancy, as previously evidenced by behavioral and brain measures. Current research focuses on whether linguistic effects on speech perception can be observed at an earlier stage in the neural processing of speech (i.e., auditory brainstem). Brainstem responses reflect rapid, automatic, and preattentive encoding of sounds. Positive experiential effects have been reported by examining the frequency-following response (FFR) component of the complex auditory brainstem response (cABR) in response to sustained high-energy periodic portions of speech sounds (vowels and lexical tones). The current study expands the existing literature by examining the cABR onset component in response to transient and low-energy portions of speech (consonants), employing simultaneous magnetoencephalography (MEG) in addition to electroencephalography (EEG), which provide complementary source information on cABR. Utilizing a cross-cultural design, we behaviorally measured perceptual responses to consonants in native Spanish- and English-speaking adults, in addition to cABR. Brain and behavioral relations were examined. Results replicated previous behavioral differences between language groups and further showed that individual consonant perception is strongly associated with EEG-cABR onset peak latency. MEG-cABR source analysis of the onset peaks complimented the EEG-cABR results by demonstrating subcortical sources for both peaks, with no group differences in peak locations. Current results demonstrate a brainstem-perception relation and show that the effects of linguistic experience on speech perception can be observed at the brainstem level.
| S-EPMC6126758 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe well-established left hemisphere specialisation for language processing has long been claimed to be based on a low-level auditory specialization for specific acoustic features in speech, particularly regarding 'rapid temporal processing'.MethodologyA novel analysis/synthesis technique was used to construct a variety of sounds based on simple sentences which could be manipulated in spectro-temporal complexity, and whether they were intelligible or not. All sounds consisted of two noise-excited spectral prominences (based on the lower two formants in the original speech) which could be static or varying in frequency and/or amplitude independently. Dynamically varying both acoustic features based on the same sentence led to intelligible speech but when either or both acoustic features were static, the stimuli were not intelligible. Using the frequency dynamics from one sentence with the amplitude dynamics of another led to unintelligible sounds of comparable spectro-temporal complexity to the intelligible ones. Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to compare which brain regions were active when participants listened to the different sounds.ConclusionsNeural activity to spectral and amplitude modulations sufficient to support speech intelligibility (without actually being intelligible) was seen bilaterally, with a right temporal lobe dominance. A left dominant response was seen only to intelligible sounds. It thus appears that the left hemisphere specialisation for speech is based on the linguistic properties of utterances, not on particular acoustic features.
| S-EPMC3184092 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Speech processing is highly incremental. It is widely accepted that human listeners continuously use the linguistic context to anticipate upcoming concepts, words, and phonemes. However, previous evidence supports two seemingly contradictory models of how a predictive context is integrated with the bottom-up sensory input: Classic psycholinguistic paradigms suggest a two-stage process, in which acoustic input initially leads to local, context-independent representations, which are then quickly integrated with contextual constraints. This contrasts with the view that the brain constructs a single coherent, unified interpretation of the input, which fully integrates available information across representational hierarchies, and thus uses contextual constraints to modulate even the earliest sensory representations. To distinguish these hypotheses, we tested magnetoencephalography responses to continuous narrative speech for signatures of local and unified predictive models. Results provide evidence that listeners employ both types of models in parallel. Two local context models uniquely predict some part of early neural responses, one based on sublexical phoneme sequences, and one based on the phonemes in the current word alone; at the same time, even early responses to phonemes also reflect a unified model that incorporates sentence-level constraints to predict upcoming phonemes. Neural source localization places the anatomical origins of the different predictive models in nonidentical parts of the superior temporal lobes bilaterally, with the right hemisphere showing a relative preference for more local models. These results suggest that speech processing recruits both local and unified predictive models in parallel, reconciling previous disparate findings. Parallel models might make the perceptual system more robust, facilitate processing of unexpected inputs, and serve a function in language acquisition.
| S-EPMC8830882 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study examined music and speech perception in normal-hearing children with some or no musical training. Thirty children (mean age = 11.3 years), 15 with and 15 without formal music training participated in the study. Music perception was measured using a melodic contour identification (MCI) task; stimuli were a piano sample or sung speech with a fixed timbre (same word for each note) or a mixed timbre (different words for each note). Speech perception was measured in quiet and in steady noise using a matrix-styled sentence recognition task; stimuli were naturally intonated speech or sung speech with a fixed pitch (same note for each word) or a mixed pitch (different notes for each word). Significant musician advantages were observed for MCI and speech in noise but not for speech in quiet. MCI performance was significantly poorer with the mixed timbre stimuli. Speech performance in noise was significantly poorer with the fixed or mixed pitch stimuli than with spoken speech. Across all subjects, age at testing and MCI performance were significantly correlated with speech performance in noise. MCI and speech performance in quiet was significantly poorer for children than for adults from a related study using the same stimuli and tasks; speech performance in noise was significantly poorer for young than for older children. Long-term music training appeared to benefit melodic pitch perception and speech understanding in noise in these pediatric listeners.
| S-EPMC5888806 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Speech perception often takes place in noisy environments, where multiple auditory signals compete with one another. The addition of visual cues such as talkers' faces or lip movements to an auditory signal can help improve the intelligibility of speech in those suboptimal listening environments. This is referred to as audiovisual benefits. The current study aimed to delineate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions under which visual presentations of the acoustic amplitude envelopes have their most significant impact on speech perception. Seventeen adults with normal hearing were recruited. Participants were presented with spoken sentences in babble noise either in auditory-only or auditory-visual conditions with various SNRs at -7, -5, -3, -1, and 1 dB. The visual stimulus applied in this study was a sphere that varied in size syncing with the amplitude envelope of the target speech signals. Participants were asked to transcribe the sentences they heard. Results showed that a significant improvement in accuracy in the auditory-visual condition versus the audio-only condition was obtained at the SNRs of -3 and -1 dB, but no improvement was observed in other SNRs. These results showed that dynamic temporal visual information can benefit speech perception in noise, and the optimal facilitative effects of visual amplitude envelope can be observed under an intermediate SNR range.
| S-EPMC8216555 | biostudies-literature
Project description:During online speech processing, our brain tracks the acoustic fluctuations in speech at different timescales. Previous research has focused on generic timescales (for example, delta or theta bands) that are assumed to map onto linguistic features such as prosody or syllables. However, given the high intersubject variability in speaking patterns, such a generic association between the timescales of brain activity and speech properties can be ambiguous. Here, we analyse speech tracking in source-localised magnetoencephalographic data by directly focusing on timescales extracted from statistical regularities in our speech material. This revealed widespread significant tracking at the timescales of phrases (0.6-1.3 Hz), words (1.8-3 Hz), syllables (2.8-4.8 Hz), and phonemes (8-12.4 Hz). Importantly, when examining its perceptual relevance, we found stronger tracking for correctly comprehended trials in the left premotor (PM) cortex at the phrasal scale as well as in left middle temporal cortex at the word scale. Control analyses using generic bands confirmed that these effects were specific to the speech regularities in our stimuli. Furthermore, we found that the phase at the phrasal timescale coupled to power at beta frequency (13-30 Hz) in motor areas. This cross-frequency coupling presumably reflects top-down temporal prediction in ongoing speech perception. Together, our results reveal specific functional and perceptually relevant roles of distinct tracking and cross-frequency processes along the auditory-motor pathway.
| S-EPMC5864086 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe measurement and monitoring of generalized anxiety disorder requires frequent interaction with psychiatrists or psychologists. Access to mental health professionals is often difficult because of high costs or insufficient availability. The ability to assess generalized anxiety disorder passively and at frequent intervals could be a useful complement to conventional treatment and help with relapse monitoring. Prior work suggests that higher anxiety levels are associated with features of human speech. As such, monitoring speech using personal smartphones or other wearable devices may be a means to achieve passive anxiety monitoring.ObjectiveThis study aims to validate the association of previously suggested acoustic and linguistic features of speech with anxiety severity.MethodsA large number of participants (n=2000) were recruited and participated in a single web-based study session. Participants completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale assessment and provided an impromptu speech sample in response to a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test. Acoustic and linguistic speech features were a priori selected based on the existing speech and anxiety literature, along with related features. Associations between speech features and anxiety levels were assessed using age and personal income as covariates.ResultsWord count and speaking duration were negatively correlated with anxiety scores (r=-0.12; P<.001), indicating that participants with higher anxiety scores spoke less. Several acoustic features were also significantly (P<.05) associated with anxiety, including the mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, linear prediction cepstral coefficients, shimmer, fundamental frequency, and first formant. In contrast to previous literature, second and third formant, jitter, and zero crossing rate for the z score of the power spectral density acoustic features were not significantly associated with anxiety. Linguistic features, including negative-emotion words, were also associated with anxiety (r=0.10; P<.001). In addition, some linguistic relationships were sex dependent. For example, the count of words related to power was positively associated with anxiety in women (r=0.07; P=.03), whereas it was negatively associated with anxiety in men (r=-0.09; P=.01).ConclusionsBoth acoustic and linguistic speech measures are associated with anxiety scores. The amount of speech, acoustic quality of speech, and gender-specific linguistic characteristics of speech may be useful as part of a system to screen for anxiety, detect relapse, or monitor treatment.
| S-EPMC9308078 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This paper puts forward a new method of landscape recognition and evaluation by using aerial video and EEG technology. In this study, seven typical landscape types (forest, wetland, grassland, desert, water, farmland, and city) were selected. Different electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were generated through different inner experiences and feelings felt by people watching video stimuli of the different landscape types. The electroencephalogram (EEG) features were extracted to obtain the mean amplitude spectrum (MAS), power spectrum density (PSD), differential entropy (DE), differential asymmetry (DASM), rational asymmetry (RASM), and differential caudality (DCAU) in the five frequency bands of delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. According to electroencephalogram (EEG) features, four classifiers including the back propagation (BP) neural network, k-nearest neighbor classification (KNN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) were used to classify the landscape types. The results showed that the support vector machine (SVM) classifier and the random forest (RF) classifier had the highest accuracy of landscape recognition, which reached 98.24% and 96.72%, respectively. Among the six classification features selected, the classification accuracy of MAS, PSD, and DE with frequency domain features were higher than those of the spatial domain features of DASM, RASM and DCAU. In different wave bands, the average classification accuracy of all subjects was 98.24% in the gamma band, 94.62% in the beta band, and 97.29% in the total band. This study identifies and classifies landscape perception based on multi-channel EEG signals, which provides a new idea and method for the quantification of human perception.
| S-EPMC8776197 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Visual input is crucial for understanding speech under noisy conditions, but there are hardly any tools to assess the individual ability to lipread. With this study, we wanted to (1) investigate how linguistic characteristics of language on the one hand and hearing impairment on the other hand have an impact on lipreading abilities and (2) provide a tool to assess lipreading abilities for German speakers. 170 participants (22 prelingually deaf) completed the online assessment, which consisted of a subjective hearing impairment scale and silent videos in which different item categories (numbers, words, and sentences) were spoken. The task for our participants was to recognize the spoken stimuli just by visual inspection. We used different versions of one test and investigated the impact of item categories, word frequency in the spoken language, articulation, sentence frequency in the spoken language, sentence length, and differences between speakers on the recognition score. We found an effect of item categories, articulation, sentence frequency, and sentence length on the recognition score. With respect to hearing impairment we found that higher subjective hearing impairment is associated with higher test score. We did not find any evidence that prelingually deaf individuals show enhanced lipreading skills over people with postlingual acquired hearing impairment. However, we see an interaction with education only in the prelingual deaf, but not in the population with postlingual acquired hearing loss. This points to the fact that there are different factors contributing to enhanced lipreading abilities depending on the onset of hearing impairment (prelingual vs. postlingual). Overall, lipreading skills vary strongly in the general population independent of hearing impairment. Based on our findings we constructed a new and efficient lipreading assessment tool (SaLT) that can be used to test behavioral lipreading abilities in the German speaking population.
| S-EPMC9524625 | biostudies-literature