A multimodal spectral approach to characterize rhythm in natural speech

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openAccess

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2016

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

12
215-226

Series

JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, Volume 139, issue 1

Abstract

Human utterances demonstrate temporal patterning, also referred to as rhythm. While simple oromotor behaviors (e.g., chewing) feature a salient periodical structure, conversational speech displays a time-varying quasi-rhythmic pattern. Quantification of periodicity in speech is challenging. Unimodal spectral approaches have highlighted rhythmic aspects of speech. However, speech is a complex multimodal phenomenon that arises from the interplay of articulatory, respiratory, and vocal systems. The present study addressed the question of whether a multimodal spectral approach, in the form of coherence analysis between electromyographic (EMG) and acoustic signals, would allow one to characterize rhythm in natural speech more efficiently than a unimodal analysis. The main experimental task consisted of speech production at three speaking rates; a simple oromotor task served as control. The EMG-acoustic coherence emerged as a sensitive means of tracking speech rhythm, whereas spectral analysis of either EMG or acoustic amplitude envelope alone was less informative. Coherence metrics seem to distinguish and highlight rhythmic structure in natural speech.

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Keywords

Coherence, Speech analysis

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Citation

Alexandrou, A, Saarinen, T, Kujala, J & Salmelin, R 2016, ' A multimodal spectral approach to characterize rhythm in natural speech ', Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 139, no. 1, pp. 215-226 . https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4939496