tDCS modulates speech perception and production in second language learners.

Accurate identification and pronunciation of nonnative speech sounds can be particularly challenging for adult language learners. The current study tested the effects of a brief musical training combined with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on speech perception and production in a second language (L2). The sample comprised 36 native Hebrew speakers, aged 18-38, who studied English as L2 in a formal setting and had little musical training.

Logarithmic Versus Linear Change in Step Size When Using an Adaptive Threshold-Seeking Procedure in a Frequency Discrimination Task: Does It Matter?

Different rules for changing step sizes (e.g., logarithmic, linear) are alternately used in adaptive threshold-seeking procedures, with no clear justification.

Intelligibility of bandpass filtered speech: The effect of filter types.

Many studies have examined the contribution of different spectral bands to speech intelligibility, measuring recognition scores of filtered speech stimuli. For a given filter bandwidth, the influence of filter properties on such experiments has been studied mainly with respect to transition band slopes. The objective of the present study was to determine whether nominal transition band slope is a sufficient characterization of filter properties.

Auditory Perceptual Abilities Are Associated with Specific Auditory Experience.

The extent to which auditory experience can shape general auditory perceptual abilities is still under constant debate. Some studies show that specific auditory expertise may have a general effect on auditory perceptual abilities, while others show a more limited influence, exhibited only in a relatively narrow range associated with the area of expertise. The current study addresses this issue by examining experience-dependent enhancement in perceptual abilities in the auditory domain.

Listening to music with personal listening devices: monitoring the noise dose using a smartphone application.

Objectives: To monitor listening habits to personal listening devices (PLDs) using a smartphone application and to compare actual listening habits to self-report data.

Design: Two stages: self-report listening habits questionnaire, and real-time monitoring of listening habits through a smartphone application.

Study Sample: Overall 117 participants aged 18-34 years (mean 25.

Prosody recognition in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: from psychoacoustics to cognition.

Prosody is an important tool of human communication, carrying both affective and pragmatic messages in speech. Prosody recognition relies on processing of acoustic cues, such as the fundamental frequency of the voice signal, and their interpretation according to acquired socioemotional scripts. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show deficiencies in affective prosody recognition.

Colloquial Arabic vowels in Israel: a comparative acoustic study of two dialects.

This study explores the acoustic properties of the vowel systems of two dialects of colloquial Arabic spoken in Israel. One dialect is spoken in the Galilee region in the north of Israel, and the other is spoken in the Triangle (Muthallath) region, in central Israel. These vowel systems have five short and five long vowels /i, i:, e, e:, a, a:, o, o:, u, u:/.

A word by any other intonation: fMRI evidence for implicit memory traces for pitch contours of spoken words in adult brains.

Objectives: Intonation may serve as a cue for facilitated recognition and processing of spoken words and it has been suggested that the pitch contour of spoken words is implicitly remembered. Thus, using the repetition suppression (RS) effect of BOLD-fMRI signals, we tested whether the same spoken words are differentially processed in language and auditory brain areas depending on whether or not they retain an arbitrary intonation pattern.

Experimental Design: Words were presented repeatedly in three blocks for passive and active listening tasks.

Psychoacoustic abilities as predictors of vocal emotion recognition.

Prosodic attributes of speech, such as intonation, influence our ability to recognize, comprehend, and produce affect, as well as semantic and pragmatic meaning, in vocal utterances. The present study examines associations between auditory perceptual abilities and the perception of prosody, both pragmatic and affective. This association has not been previously examined.

Preferred listening levels of personal listening devices in young teenagers: self reports and physical measurements.

Objective: To assess the potential risk of hearing loss to young listeners, due to the use of personal listening devices (PLDs).

Design: The study included two parts: (1) A self-report questionnaire on music listening habits, and (2) Physical measurements of preferred listening levels, in quiet and in everyday background noise.

Study Sample: Young teenagers aged 13 to 17 years.

Identification of children's gender and age by listeners.

Objectives: Voice carries abundant information about the speaker. This acoustic information changes throughout life. Although the ability of identifying audible cues on a speaker's gender and age is considered an intuitive task, little is known about the ability to identify and decipher this perceptual information.

Are changes in pitch and formants enough to influence talker normalization processes in children and adults?

In the present study, we examined the influence of mean F0 and formant values on talker normalization. Initially, two speakers recorded an identical set of 10 isophonemic word lists in Hebrew, consisting of 10 words each. These recordings were then manipulated by means that affect F0 only, or both F0 and formant frequencies.

Thresholds for perception of ripple depth in the passband of a low-pass filter.

Filters are often used in research related to speech and tone perception. Idealized filters with flat pass-bands, flat stop-bands, and infinitely steep rolloff are impossible to implement, thus practical filters often have a frequency response curve that has a certain degree of ripple, and always have finite rolloff. Despite this, there is a dearth of literature concerning the sensitivity of the ear to such artifacts.

Evaluating the influence of warmup on singing voice quality using acoustic measures.

Vocal warmup is generally accepted as vital for singing performance. However, only a limited number of studies have evaluated this effect quantitatively. In this study, we evaluated the effect of vocal warmup on voice production, among young female singers, using a set of acoustic parameters.

Are the perceptual effects of spectral smearing influenced by speaker gender?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the effect of loss of spectral detail on speech perception is influenced by the gender of the speaker. Spectral smearing was carried out by multiplying the speech signal by a series of low-passed white noise samples, causing tonal components in the signal to be replaced by noise. Smearing bandwidths of 0 Hz (no smearing), 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz, 2,000 Hz, 4,000 Hz, 8,000 Hz and full bandwidth were used.

The effect of superior auditory skills on vocal accuracy.

The relationship between auditory perception and vocal production has been typically investigated by evaluating the effect of either altered or degraded auditory feedback on speech production in either normal hearing or hearing-impaired individuals. Our goal in the present study was to examine this relationship in individuals with superior auditory abilities. Thirteen professional musicians and thirteen nonmusicians, with no vocal or singing training, participated in this study.