442 research outputs found
Modeling the perception of children's age from speech acoustics
No full textFull text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is restricted to current UTD affiliates.Adult listeners were presented with /hVd/ syllables spoken by boys and girls ranging from 5 to 18 years of age. Half of the listeners were informed of the sex of the speaker; the other half were not. Results indicate that veridical age in children can be predicted accurately based on the acoustic characteristics of the talker's voice and that listener behavior is highly predictable on the basis of speech acoustics. Furthermore, listeners appear to incorporate assumptions about talker sex into their estimates of talker age, even when information about the talker's sex is not explicitly provided for them. © 2018 Acoustical Society of America.National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1124479)School of Behavioral and Brain Science
Perceiving foreign-accented speech with decreased spectral resolution in single- and multiple-talker conditions
No full textTo determine the effect of reduced spectral resolution on the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech, vocoder-processed sentences from native and Mandarin-accented English talkers were presented to listeners in single- and multiple-talker conditions. Reduced spectral resolution had little effect on native speech but lowered performance for foreign-accented speech, with a further decrease in multiple- talker conditions. Following the initial exposure, foreign-accented speech with reduced spectral resolution was less intelligible than unprocessed speech in both single- and multiple-talker conditions. Intelligibility improved with extended exposure, but only for single- talker conditions. Results indicate a perceptual impairment when perceiving foreign-accented speech with reduced spectral resolution.School of Behavioral and Brain Science
Voice gender and the segregation of competing talkers: Perceptual learning in cochlear implant simulations
No full textFull text access from Treasures at UT Dallas is available only to current UTD affiliates.Two experiments explored the role of differences in voice gender in the recognition of speech masked by a competing talker in cochlear implant simulations. Experiment 1 confirmed that listeners with normal hearing receive little benefit from differences in voice gender between a target and masker sentence in four- and eight-channel simulations, consistent with previous findings that cochlear implants deliver an impoverished representation of the cues for voice gender. However, gender differences led to small but significant improvements in word recognition with 16 and 32 channels. Experiment 2 assessed the benefits of perceptual training on the use of voice gender cues in an eight-channel simulation. Listeners were assigned to one of four groups: (1) word recognition training with target and masker differing in gender; (2) word recognition training with same-gender target and masker; (3) gender recognition training; or (4) control with no training. Significant improvements in word recognition were observed from pre- to post-test sessions for all three training groups compared to the control group. These improvements were maintained at the late session (one week following the last training session) for all three groups. There was an overall improvement in masked word recognition performance provided by gender mismatch following training, but the amount of benefit did not differ as a function of the type of training. The training effects observed here are consistent with a form of rapid perceptual learning that contributes to the segregation of competing voices but does not specifically enhance the benefits provided by voice gender cues.National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders F31 DC9537; National Science Foundation grant 1124479.School of Behavioral and Brain Science
Introduction to forensic voice comparison
No full textThis chapter provides a brief introduction to forensic voice comparison. It describes different approaches that have been used to extract information from voice recordings: auditory, spectrographic, acoustic-phonetic, and automatic approaches. It also describes different frameworks that have been used to draw inferences from such information: likelihood-ratio, posterior-probability, identification/exclusion/inconclusive, and the UK framework. In addition, the chapter describes empirical validation of forensic voice comparison systems and briefly discusses legal admissibility
O trágico como condição do humano: ressignificação da tragédia na civilização ocidental
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. Doutorado Interdisciplinar em Ciências Humanas.Como se explica que um fenômeno histórico singular como a tragédia, concebida de forma original pelos gregos ao final de século VI a.C., com o mérito de abrir um novo espaço no domínio da experiência humana, possa ter sobrevivido por quase três mil anos? Após grandes eventos e rupturas históricas - tais como a longa Idade Média, o Renascimento, o Romantismo, o Iluminismo, as Revoluções Científica e Industrial, as duas Guerras Mundiais... - será ainda possível vincular a tragédia ática com a crescente vulnerabilidade da condição humana no mundo contemporâneo? Será possível a convivência do trágico dentro da configuração cristã do Ocidente? Essas e tantas outras questões são analisadas no concerto desta tese. Dentre os temas privilegiados, destaca-se uma abordagem superficial da trajetória da espécie humana desde os primórdios das primeiras civilizações sedentárias, há cerca de dez mil e quinhentos anos, na tentativa de resgatar indícios do processo de formação da civilização ocidental e, principalmente, das raízes da tragédia grega. É o caso de algumas civilizações do Oriente (origem do culto dionisíaco), da civilização hebraica e, em especial, da Antiguidade grega, o berço da tragédia. Esta é a temática do Capítulo I. Na pesquisa sobre a genealogia da tragédia e do pensamento trágico (Capítulo II), se confere atenção especial aos mitos, deuses e heróis das epopéias homéricas, marcos referenciais da civilização grega primitiva, na qual foram geradas a política (democracia), a tragédia, a comédia, a filosofia e a própria ciência, sob diferentes inspirações e perspectivas. Na análise das semelhanças e contradições dos três grandes trágicos e algumas de suas respectivas obras - Ésquilo (com Oréstia e Prometeu Acorrentado), Sófocles (em seu Édipo Rei) e Eurípides (com Medéia) - merece especial atenção a figura paradigmática de Édipo, tanto para interpretar a essência e os elementos da arte trágica, quanto na perspectiva de uma possível permanência do pensamento trágico na linha do tempo, e na possibilidade de relação com o nosso próprio mundo, em sua reflexão sobre a arte, a filosofia e a própria vida humana. Ao final do capítulo, é feita uma breve incursão do trágico nos domínios da política, da ética e da racionalidade técnica. A abrangência e complexidade do tema que envolve o trágico como condição do humano não permite alcançar, nos limites deste estudo, toda sua extensão e profundidade. Esta reflexão é mediada por alguns pensadores (trágicos ou não), vinculados a uma visão crítica, plural e interdisciplinar; uma visão comprometida com a experiência da liberdade na existência humana
Utopia e possibilidade : elementos para uma filosofia juridica militante
No full textDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciencias JuridicasA primeira frase é sempre a mais difícil: escreva a mais verdadeira que lhe vier à mente, recomendava Hemingway, e talvez a frase mais verdadeira para introduzir este trabalho seja aquela que diz ser um trabalho de iniciante, por isso o nome "elementos para uma filosofia". É também aberto e inacabado, tem potencialidades ainda não descobertas. Todavia, não é conjunto desordenado, visando impressionar o desavisado com falsa erudição, que venha a confundir mais do que esclarecer. É um trabalho filosófico, no bom sentido do termo; propõe perguntas autênticas, dentro de seus limites, resolvendo-as através da razão, deixando de lado o verniz da inútil erudição. Neste sentido, um auto-esclarecimento - sapare aude - uma forma de ir tentando responder a perguntas particulares, pessoais, que podem ser as mesmas de outros e, logo, universais. Este é o sentido único de filosofar: auto-esclarecer-se, e ir à praça do mercado para ver se alguém mais quer interessar-se por essa teoria prática. A filosofia então só faz sentido onde há um espaço público no qual se respire em liberdade
A Centralidade da vida em Nietzsche e Agamben frente a metafísica ocidental e a biopolítica contemporânea
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Ciências Humanas, Florianópolis, 2010Esta tese é resultante do esforço de pesquisa teórico-bibliográfica em torno da questão da centralidade da vida no pensamento de Nietzsche e Agamben, a partir de seus posicionamentos frente à metafísica ocidental e as demandas biopoliticas que implicam sobre as formas-de-vida-que-vem. Nietzsche e Agamben questionam a estrutura metafísica que constitui o arcabouço cultural ocidental demonstrando que desde os instantes iniciais do Ocidente o que está em jogo é a apreensão, o controle, a disciplinarização, a normalização e a e normatização moral, política e jurídica sobre as possibilidades potenciais em que a vida se move. O niilismo denunciado e anunciado por Nietzsche se apresenta como superação do homem civilizado, domesticado, violentado pelo império dos meios em seu apequenamento vital, reduzido à mera condição biológica, de um corpo que não se concebe mais como grande razão, portador de uma grande saúde vital, potencializador da vida humana a tornar-se o que ela é em meio à multiplicidade de outras tantas forças vitais em jogo. Para Agamben, o humano ao se estabelecer na ruptura entre physis e phone, ao incluir a vida animal na polis por meio do desenvolvimento da linguagem, posiciona a vida numa zona de indeterminação, possibilitando à ação soberana a legitimação de seu poder, que se estabelece em constante estado exceção ao dispor da vida, ao produzir vida nua. Vida nua que já não é mais a vida animal, mas também não é a vida humana qualificada, mas sim uma vida matável e sacrificável de acordo com os interesses políticos, econômicos em jogo em determinado contexto. Para Agamben, a biopolítica esta na origem da estrutura metafísica e cultural ocidental e seu ápice paradigmático na contemporaneidade se materializou nos campos de concentração. Nietzsche e Agamben, salvaguardadas as diferenças temporais e conceituais, questionam corajosamente as formas-de-vida que se apresentaram no decorrer a dinâmica civilizatória e, que nos conduziram às formas-de-vida presentes na contemporaneidade. Nietzsche ao conceber a vida como vontade de poder, pretende superar a repressão das forças moralizantes que menosprezam e mantém a vida humana em sua condição massificada e mediocrizante presente em seu tempo. Agamben propõem a compreensão de como a potência do pensamento pode paralisar a máquina antropológica ocidental de produção de vida nua, de aprisionamento, uso e consumo da vida pela racionalidade político-administrativa estatal. Para os dois pensadores o que esta em jogo na contemporaneidade é o fato de não abdicarmos da potência da vida em sua dimensão trágica e como obra de arte.This thesis is a result of the effort of theoretical research and literature around the question of the centrality of life in Nietzsche and Agamben's thought from their positions ahead of Western metaphysics and the demands on the biopolitical that involving about life-forms to come it. Nietzsche, Agamben question the structure metaphysical that constitutes the backbone of Western culture, showing that since its initial instants of the West in which this game is the seizure, control, disciplining, and normalization moral, political and legal on the potential possibilities in that Life moves itself. Nihilism was reported and announced by Nietzsche, presents itself as an overcome man's civilized, domesticated, raped in the middle of empire in belittling his life reduced to mere biological conditions of a body that is not conceived more as a big reason, carrying a large vital health, a potentiator of human being's life to become who it is in the midst of multiplicity of so many other vital forces in play. For Agamben the human to be established in a split between physis and phone, to include animal life in the polis through the development of language stands in an area of life indetermination allowing the legitimation of their sovereign power that acts in a constant state exception, have of life, producing bare life. Bare life that is no longer animal life but human life is not qualified, but a matavele life and expendable according to the political, economic stake in a given context. For Agamben, biopolitics is at the origin of Western cultural and metaphysical structure and its apex in the contemporary paradigm is materialized in concentration camps. Nietzsche, Agamben, subject to the temporary differences and conceptual question boldly life forms that were presented during the dynamics of civilization and that led us to the contemporary forms of life. Nietzsche to conceive the life as will to power that intends to overcome the repressive forces that despise moralizing and maintain human life in its present condition mass and mediocre in his time. Agamben to propose an understanding it gives as the power of thought propose the halting of the machine anthropological western production of bare life, of life imprisonment and rape by rationality political-administrative state. For both thinkers in who this game nowadays is that we must abandon not the power of life in its tragic dimension and as a work of art
Production and Perception of Affective Prosody by Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textAffective prosody, defined as the use of paralinguistic elements in speech to convey emotion, is important for effective social functioning. While generally a trivial task for typically-developing (TD) adults, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present with significant challenges in social communication and interaction, including prosody. Previous research has shown that talkers with ASD produce pragmatic prosody with increased variability in fundamental frequency (f0, which is closely correlated with voice pitch), but it was unclear whether those differences carry over to speaking tasks involving emotion elicitation. A controlled set of expressive speech recordings was obtained from talkers with ASD and controls in five emotion contexts: angry, happy, interested, sad, and neutral. Emotion-specific group differences in f0, intensity, and duration were found in multiple speech types, and the pattern of results was characterized by inconsistent and exaggerated patterns of affective prosody production in talkers with ASD compared to controls. The perceptual relevance of the affective acoustic differences was tested in three listening experiments involving talkers and listeners with ASD and controls. The first two experiments involving TD listeners were designed to examine the perceptual impact of increased f0 variability and intensity found in recordings produced by talkers with ASD. Compared to the intensity manipulation, modifying the f0 contour had a larger impact on emotion recognition accuracy. The third experiment was designed to compare perception of affective prosody in listeners with ASD and controls using unmodified stimuli, and revealed that differences in affective prosody perception were more closely related to talker group production differences than listener group differences. The results are consistent with previous work in face perception showing increased emotion identification rates but lower naturalness ratings when listeners responded to stimuli produced by individuals with ASD. The findings are interpreted within the context of the speech attunement framework, which suggests that individuals with ASD lack the motivation to attune their prosodic speech to sound like TD talkers
Perception of Novel Sounds in the Presence of Background Noise : Comparison Between Individuals with Normal Hearing, Cochlear Implant Users, and Recurrent Neural Networks
No full textThe goal of this dissertation is to investigate how listeners and learning machines cope with the
ambiguity caused by interfering multiple novel sound sources. Starting from an ambiguous
auditory scene with competing sound sources, this dissertation investigates how a particular
sound source draws listeners’ attention while the remaining sources lose their salience and
become background (noise). Listeners’ perception of competing novel sounds is investigated in a
series of experiments that varied in terms of listening conditions, simulating the difficulties
experienced by hearing-impaired individuals in noise. In Chapter 1, the mechanisms behind
listeners' perception of speech in the presence of competing sounds are reviewed. Chapter 2
describes three experiments that investigated the recognition of novel sounds in the presence of
background noise. The chapter begins with a replication of a previous study, providing evidence
that listeners can segregate a novel target sound from the competing distractor only if it repeats
across different distractors. A subsequent experiment tested the hypothesis that listeners’ ability
to detect change in a sound depends on their knowledge of its source, which is gained via
repetition. It is concluded that listeners are able to perceptually learn patterns of the repeating
target while suppressing the changes in the masker stream. Two neural network architectures
previously employed to study mechanisms of learning, generalized Hebbian and anti-Hebbian,
are evaluated. It is shown that the generalized Hebbian learning network produces similar results
to those obtained from the listeners. Experiments in Chapter 3 provide evidence that recognition
of a novel target sound becomes robust against new (unheard) distractors when listeners go
through an exposure stage in which the target is presented repeatedly across multiple distractors.
Chapter 3 concludes by reporting experiments 3-2 and 3-3 that investigated recognition of
consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel (CVCV) words in the presence of novel distractors.
Experiment 3-2 showed that upon exposing the listeners to target tokens across multiple
distractors, the process of learning new CVCV tokens shifts from context-specificity to an
adaptation-plus-prototype mechanism. The goal in experiment 3-3 was to investigate whether or
not cochlear implant users, who have limited spectral resolution, would show the same behavior
as listeners with normal hearing in experiment 3-2. The main goal in Chapter 4 is to investigate
the extent to which the findings in experiment 3-2 can be replicated by recurrent neural networks
(RNNs). This chapter begins with a brief introduction to RNNs and long short-term memories
(LSTMs). In experiment 4-1 a recurrent LSTM auto-encoder was trained to reconstruct an input
CVCV target when mixed with a distractor with or without the presence of a context sequence
prior to the input. It was shown that the network could reconstruct the input with better accuracy
when the context sequence contained the repeating CVCV target across multiple distractors.
Furthermore, similar to the findings in experiment 3-2, the presence of such a context sequence
improved the network’s generalizability to unseen data (novel distractors). Experiment 4-2
showed that the presence of the context sequence led to an improved semi-supervised speech
enhancement algorithm that recovered the target CVCV tokens while suppressing the distractors
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