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Biomedical subjects

F Fallside

Publications and source records attributed to F Fallside.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Speech technology in the year 2001.

This paper introduces the session "Technology in the Year 2001" and is the first of four papers dealing with the future of human-machine communication by voice. In looking to the future it is important to recognize both the difficulties of technological forecasting and the frailties of the technology as it exists today--frailties that are manifestations of our limited scientific understanding of human cognition. The technology to realize truly advanced applications does not yet exist and cannot be supported by our presently incomplete science of speech. To achieve this long-term goal, the authors advocate a fundamental research program using a cybernetic approach substantially different from more conventional synthetic approaches. In a cybernetic approach, feedback control systems will allow a machine to adapt to a linguistically rich environment using reinforcement learning.

Computers↗
PubMed1984

Computer-aided tinnitus characterization.

A purpose-built tinnitus synthesizer interfaced to a computer has been designed which can be used to characterize most types of subjective tinnitus. A patient is able to match his own tinnitus by making responses to simple questions using push buttons on a hand-held box. The system can be used to determine the characteristics of tinnitus consisting of tones, random noise or combinations of these sounds; any sound can also be pulsed synchronously with a patient's pulse beat in order to match pulsatile tinnitus. It is then possible to use the frequency and loudness characteristics of tinnitus in order to determine the suitability of masking therapy for a patient.

Audiometry↗
PubMed1983

Vowel-learning and the vowel system of deaf children: age and feedback-related differences.

A study comparing perceptual judgments of vowels produced by deaf children taught to speak by using a computer-based aid (experimental group, E) and by conventional techniques (control group, C) revealed feedback-related differences. These concerned the ability to reorganise articulatory performance, intelligibility of vowels after training, and the strength of the memory trace, which all showed an advantage for the E group. A phoneme-by-phoneme analysis indicated that the E group improved consistently on back and central vowels, whereas no consistent trend was found in the C group. The modifications observed were also age-dependent, more progress was found in the younger than in the older children's performance. An error analysis showed that asymmetric vowel confusions were predominant and that the major factor accounting for all errors was the small difference between second formant values. The findings are discussed in terms of the articulatory and perceptual variables intervening in the vowel intelligibility of deaf children.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Acquisition of frication by severely hearing-impaired children.

The ability of severely deaf school children to master fricative production and the fricative-affricate distinction was studied over a period of 6 months. The children were given daily speech therapy and half of them received, in addition, visual feedback from a microprocessor-based speech training aid - the 'Fricative and Timing Aid'. The speech of a third group of children, who received no training from us, was also monitored. Results were analysed in terms of the acquisition of fricatives and affricates, and of their position in a word. Results yielded by perceptual tests showed a substantial increase in the intelligibility of all trained children for almost all phonemes at the end of the training programme. Retention scores, i.e. intelligibility scores obtained by re-testing the children after a 2-moth period of non-practice, showed that practically no forgetting of articulatory skills occurred during this interval. Comparisons between children trained with or without visual feedback in general showed no difference between them; however, the former were more intelligible when producing affricates. No improvement in intelligibility was found when no systematic speech training was available. It was concluded that while frication may not be acquired spontaneously, it is a task within the reach of severely deaf children when adequately trained.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Acquisition of the voicing distinction by profoundly hearing-impaired children.

The ability of profoundly deaf schoolchildren to learn the voicing distinction was studied over a period of 6 months. The children were given daily speech therapy and half of them received, in addition, visual feedback from a microprocessor-based speech training aid - the Fricative and Timing Aid. Their performance was analysed in terms of the acquisition of voiced v. voiceless stop consonants and of their position in a word. Results yielded by perceptual tests showed a substantial increase in the intelligibility of stop consonants at the end of the training programme. Retention scores, i.e. intelligibility scores obtained by re-testing the children after a 2-month period of non-practice, showed that practically no articulatory skills were forgotten during this interval. Measurements of vowel duration in word-final stop consonants indicated a considerable decrease in vowel length with training, and although this remained higher than for hearing children it probably contributed to higher intelligibility scores. Comparisons between children trained with or without visual feedback showed a definite advantage for the former. No improvement in intelligibility was found when no systematic speech training was available. It was concluded that while the voicing distinction may not be acquired spontaneously, it is a skill within reach of profoundly deaf children when they are trained adequately.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Teaching vowel articulation with the computer vowel trainer. Methodology and results.

The Computer Vowel Trainer (CVT) uses linear prediction to estimate and display the shape of the speaker's vocal tract during an utterance. The assessment of the CVT was carried out over a period of three years with 14 profoundly deaf children divided into an experimental and a matched control group. Two main results were obtained: (a) children learning to articulate with the CVT achieve consistently higher articulation scores than those trained with conventional methods; (b) the younger the children, the greater their progress in vowel learning, retention and generalization.

Age Factors↗