Dataset Information

Is It Speech or Song? Effect of Melody Priming on Pitch Perception of Modified Mandarin Speech.

ABSTRACT: Tonal languages make use of pitch variation for distinguishing lexical semantics, and their melodic richness seems comparable to that of music. The present study investigated a novel priming effect of melody on the pitch processing of Mandarin speech. When a spoken Mandarin utterance is preceded by a musical melody, which mimics the melody of the utterance, the listener is likely to perceive this utterance as song. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural substrates of this speech-to-song transformation. Pitch contours of spoken utterances were modified so that these utterances can be perceived as either speech or song. When modified speech (target) was preceded by a musical melody (prime) that mimics the speech melody, a task of judging the melodic similarity between the target and prime was associated with increased activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior/middle temporal gyrus (STG/MTG) during target perception. We suggest that the pars triangularis of the right IFG may allocate attentional resources to the multi-modal processing of speech melody, and the STG/MTG may integrate the phonological and musical (melodic) information of this stimulus. These results are discussed in relation to subvocal rehearsal, a speech-to-song illusion, and song perception.

SUBMITTER: Tsai CG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6826721 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Is It Speech or Song? Effect of Melody Priming on Pitch Perception of Modified Mandarin Speech.

Tsai Chen-Gia CG Li Chia-Wei CW

Brain sciences 20191022 10

Tonal languages make use of pitch variation for distinguishing lexical semantics, and their melodic richness seems comparable to that of music. The present study investigated a novel priming effect of melody on the pitch processing of Mandarin speech. When a spoken Mandarin utterance is preceded by a musical melody, which mimics the melody of the utterance, the listener is likely to perceive this utterance as song. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural substrates of ...[more]

PMID: 31652522

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Project description:ImportanceCochlear implant users generally display poor pitch perception. Flat-panel computed tomography (FPCT) has recently emerged as a modality capable of localizing individual electrode contacts within the cochlea in vivo. Significant place-pitch mismatch between the clinical implant processing settings given to patients and the theoretical maps based on FPCT imaging has previously been noted.ObjectiveTo assess whether place-pitch mismatch is associated with poor cochlear implant-mediated pitch perception through evaluation of an individualized, image-guided approach toward cochlear implant programming on speech and music perception among cochlear implant users.Design, setting, and participantsA prospective cohort study of 17 cochlear implant users with MED-EL electrode arrays was performed at a tertiary referral center. The study was conducted from June 2016 to July 2017.InterventionsTheoretical place-pitch maps using FPCT secondary reconstructions and 3-dimensional curved planar re-formation software were developed. The clinical map settings (eg, strategy, rate, volume, frequency band range) were modified to keep factors constant between the 2 maps and minimize confounding. The acclimation period to the maps was 30 minutes.Main outcomes and measuresParticipants performed speech perception tasks (eg, consonant-nucleus-consonant, Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech-in-Noise, vowel identification) and a pitch-scaling task while using the image-guided place-pitch map (intervention) and the modified clinical map (control). Performance scores between the 2 interventions were measured.ResultsOf the 17 participants, 10 (58.8%) were women; mean (SD) was 59 (11.3) years. A significant median increase in pitch scaling accuracy was noted when using the experimental map compared with the control map (4 more correct answers; 95% CI, 0-8). Specifically, the number of pitch-scaling reversals for notes spaced at 1.65 semitones or greater decreased when an image-based approach to cochlear implant programming was used vs the modified clinical map (4 mistakes; 95% CI, 0.5-7). Although there was no observable median improvement in speech perception during use of an image-based map, the acute changes in frequency allocation and electrode channel deactivations used with the image-guided maps did not worsen consonant-nucleus-consonant (-1% correct phonemes, 95% CI, -2.5% to 6%) and Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech-in-Noise (0.5-dB difference; 95% CI, -0.75 to 2.25 dB) median performance results relative to the clinical maps used by the patients.Conclusions and relevanceAn image-based approach toward ochlear implant mapping may improve pitch perception outcomes by reducing place-pitch mismatch. Studies using a longer acclimation period with chronic stimulation over months may help assess the full range of the benefits associated with personalized image-guided cochlear implant mapping.

Dataset Information

Is It Speech or Song? Effect of Melody Priming on Pitch Perception of Modified Mandarin Speech.

Publications

Is It Speech or Song? Effect of Melody Priming on Pitch Perception of Modified Mandarin Speech.

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