Text-Independent Speaker Identification Using the Histogram Transform Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Zhanyu; Yu, Hong; Tan, Zheng-Hua

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic method for the task of text-independent speaker identification (SI). In order to capture the dynamic information during SI, we design a super-MFCCs features by cascading three neighboring Mel-frequency Cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) frames together....... These super-MFCC vectors are utilized for probabilistic model training such that the speaker’s characteristics can be sufficiently captured. The probability density function (PDF) of the aforementioned super-MFCCs features is estimated by the recently proposed histogram transform (HT) method. To recedes...

Analysis of human scream and its impact on text-independent speaker verification.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, John H L; Nandwana, Mahesh Kumar; Shokouhi, Navid

2017-04-01

Scream is defined as sustained, high-energy vocalizations that lack phonological structure. Lack of phonological structure is how scream is identified from other forms of loud vocalization, such as "yell." This study investigates the acoustic aspects of screams and addresses those that are known to prevent standard speaker identification systems from recognizing the identity of screaming speakers. It is well established that speaker variability due to changes in vocal effort and Lombard effect contribute to degraded performance in automatic speech systems (i.e., speech recognition, speaker identification, diarization, etc.). However, previous research in the general area of speaker variability has concentrated on human speech production, whereas less is known about non-speech vocalizations. The UT-NonSpeech corpus is developed here to investigate speaker verification from scream samples. This study considers a detailed analysis in terms of fundamental frequency, spectral peak shift, frame energy distribution, and spectral tilt. It is shown that traditional speaker recognition based on the Gaussian mixture models-universal background model framework is unreliable when evaluated with screams.

Recognition of speaker-dependent continuous speech with KEAL

Science.gov (United States)

Mercier, G.; Bigorgne, D.; Miclet, L.; Le Guennec, L.; Querre, M.

1989-04-01

A description of the speaker-dependent continuous speech recognition system KEAL is given. An unknown utterance, is recognized by means of the followng procedures: acoustic analysis, phonetic segmentation and identification, word and sentence analysis. The combination of feature-based, speaker-independent coarse phonetic segmentation with speaker-dependent statistical classification techniques is one of the main design features of the acoustic-phonetic decoder. The lexical access component is essentially based on a statistical dynamic programming technique which aims at matching a phonemic lexical entry containing various phonological forms, against a phonetic lattice. Sentence recognition is achieved by use of a context-free grammar and a parsing algorithm derived from Earley's parser. A speaker adaptation module allows some of the system parameters to be adjusted by matching known utterances with their acoustical representation. The task to be performed, described by its vocabulary and its grammar, is given as a parameter of the system. Continuously spoken sentences extracted from a 'pseudo-Logo' language are analyzed and results are presented.

Cost-Sensitive Learning for Emotion Robust Speaker Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongdong Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the field of information security, voice is one of the most important parts in biometrics. Especially, with the development of voice communication through the Internet or telephone system, huge voice data resources are accessed. In speaker recognition, voiceprint can be applied as the unique password for the user to prove his/her identity. However, speech with various emotions can cause an unacceptably high error rate and aggravate the performance of speaker recognition system. This paper deals with this problem by introducing a cost-sensitive learning technology to reweight the probability of test affective utterances in the pitch envelop level, which can enhance the robustness in emotion-dependent speaker recognition effectively. Based on that technology, a new architecture of recognition system as well as its components is proposed in this paper. The experiment conducted on the Mandarin Affective Speech Corpus shows that an improvement of 8% identification rate over the traditional speaker recognition is achieved.

Cost-sensitive learning for emotion robust speaker recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dongdong; Yang, Yingchun; Dai, Weihui

2014-01-01

In the field of information security, voice is one of the most important parts in biometrics. Especially, with the development of voice communication through the Internet or telephone system, huge voice data resources are accessed. In speaker recognition, voiceprint can be applied as the unique password for the user to prove his/her identity. However, speech with various emotions can cause an unacceptably high error rate and aggravate the performance of speaker recognition system. This paper deals with this problem by introducing a cost-sensitive learning technology to reweight the probability of test affective utterances in the pitch envelop level, which can enhance the robustness in emotion-dependent speaker recognition effectively. Based on that technology, a new architecture of recognition system as well as its components is proposed in this paper. The experiment conducted on the Mandarin Affective Speech Corpus shows that an improvement of 8% identification rate over the traditional speaker recognition is achieved.

Performance of svm, k-nn and nbc classifiers for text-independent speaker identification with and without modelling through merging models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yussouf Nahayo

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes some methods of robust text-independent speaker identification based on Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM. We implemented a combination of GMM model with a set of classifiers such as Support Vector Machine (SVM, K-Nearest Neighbour (K-NN, and Naive Bayes Classifier (NBC. In order to improve the identification rate, we developed a combination of hybrid systems by using validation technique. The experiments were performed on the dialect DR1 of the TIMIT corpus. The results have showed a better performance for the developed technique compared to the individual techniques.

An introduction to application-independent evaluation of speaker recognition systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, D.A. van; Brümmer, N.

2007-01-01

In the evaluation of speaker recognition systems - an important part of speaker classification [1], the trade-off between missed speakers and false alarms has always been an important diagnostic tool. NIST has defined the task of speaker detection with the associated Detection Cost Function (DCF) to

Speaker diarization system using HXLPS and deep neural network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Subba Ramaiah

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In general, speaker diarization is defined as the process of segmenting the input speech signal and grouped the homogenous regions with regard to the speaker identity. The main idea behind this system is that it is able to discriminate the speaker signal by assigning the label of the each speaker signal. Due to rapid growth of broadcasting and meeting, the speaker diarization is burdensome to enhance the readability of the speech transcription. In order to solve this issue, Holoentropy with the eXtended Linear Prediction using autocorrelation Snapshot (HXLPS and deep neural network (DNN is proposed for the speaker diarization system. The HXLPS extraction method is newly developed by incorporating the Holoentropy with the XLPS. Once we attain the features, the speech and non-speech signals are detected by the Voice Activity Detection (VAD method. Then, i-vector representation of every segmented signal is obtained using Universal Background Model (UBM model. Consequently, DNN is utilized to assign the label for the speaker signal which is then clustered according to the speaker label. The performance is analysed using the evaluation metrics, such as tracking distance, false alarm rate and diarization error rate. The outcome of the proposed method ensures the better diarization performance by achieving the lower DER of 1.36% based on lambda value and DER of 2.23% depends on the frame length. Keywords: Speaker diarization, HXLPS feature extraction, Voice activity detection, Deep neural network, Speaker clustering, Diarization Error Rate (DER

The Role of Speaker Identification in Korean University Students' Attitudes towards Five Varieties of English

Science.gov (United States)

Yook, Cheongmin; Lindemann, Stephanie

2013-01-01

This study investigates how the attitudes of 60 Korean university students towards five varieties of English are affected by the identification of the speaker's nationality and ethnicity. The study employed both a verbal guise technique and questions eliciting overt beliefs and preferences related to learning English. While the majority of the…

A system of automatic speaker recognition on a minicomputer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El Chafei, Cherif

1978-01-01

This study describes a system of automatic speaker recognition using the pitch of the voice. The pre-treatment consists in the extraction of the speakers' discriminating characteristics taken from the pitch. The programme of recognition gives, firstly, a preselection and then calculates the distance between the speaker's characteristics to be recognized and those of the speakers already recorded. An experience of recognition has been realized. It has been undertaken with 15 speakers and included 566 tests spread over an intermittent period of four months. The discriminating characteristics used offer several interesting qualities. The algorithms concerning the measure of the characteristics on one hand, the speakers' classification on the other hand, are simple. The results obtained in real time with a minicomputer are satisfactory. Furthermore they probably could be improved if we considered other speaker's discriminating characteristics but this was unfortunately not in our possibilities. (author) [fr

Forensic speaker identification through comparative analysis of the formant frequencies of the vowels in the Macedonian language

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pop-Dimitrijoska, V.; Apostolovska, G

2012-01-01

The main objective of this study is forensic speaker identification from an incriminated recording. The identification was made through a comparative analysis between first three formants F 1 , F 2 and F 3 of the voice samples from the questioned and suspects’ recordings. The measurements were made with the PRAAT software, for each of the five vowels in the Macedonian language: a, e, i, o and u, which were isolated from the recordings. Used methodology of recording examinations employed in this research showed positive identification of the questioned voice. The forensic audio analysis still doesn't have its place in legal and the crime fighting systems in Macedonia. This is a sufficient reason to put a bigger accent on the research of this issue in the future that will contribute in solving many criminal cases which until now, because of the type of generally accepted evidence, were not resolved. (Author)

Progress in the AMIDA speaker diarization system for meeting data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, D.A. van; Konečný, M.

2008-01-01

In this paper we describe the AMIDA speaker dizarization system as it was submitted to the NIST Rich Transcription evaluation 2007 for conference room data. This is done in the context of the history of this system and other speaker diarization systems. One of the goals of our system is to have as

Robust Digital Speech Watermarking For Online Speaker Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Ali Nematollahi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A robust and blind digital speech watermarking technique has been proposed for online speaker recognition systems based on Discrete Wavelet Packet Transform (DWPT and multiplication to embed the watermark in the amplitudes of the wavelet’s subbands. In order to minimize the degradation effect of the watermark, these subbands are selected where less speaker-specific information was available (500 Hz–3500 Hz and 6000 Hz–7000 Hz. Experimental results on Texas Instruments Massachusetts Institute of Technology (TIMIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, and Mobile Biometry (MOBIO show that the degradation for speaker verification and identification is 1.16% and 2.52%, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed watermark technique can provide enough robustness against different signal processing attacks.

Visual speaker gender affects vowel identification in Danish

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Charlotte; Tøndering, John

2013-01-01

The experiment examined the effect of visual speaker gender on the vowel perception of 20 native Danish-speaking subjects. Auditory stimuli consisting of a continuum between /muːlə/ ‘muzzle’ and /moːlə/ ‘pier’ generated using TANDEM-STRAIGHT matched with video clips of a female and a male speaker...

The TNO speaker diarization system for NIST RT05s meeting data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, D.A. van

2006-01-01

The TNO speaker speaker diarization system is based on a standard BIC segmentation and clustering algorithm. Since for the NIST Rich Transcription speaker dizarization evaluation measure correct speech detection appears to be essential, we have developed a speech activity detector (SAD) as well.

Incorporating Pass-Phrase Dependent Background Models for Text-Dependent Speaker verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarkar, Achintya Kumar; Tan, Zheng-Hua

2018-01-01

-dependent. We show that the proposed method significantly reduces the error rates of text-dependent speaker verification for the non-target types: target-wrong and impostor-wrong while it maintains comparable TD-SV performance when impostors speak a correct utterance with respect to the conventional system......In this paper, we propose pass-phrase dependent background models (PBMs) for text-dependent (TD) speaker verification (SV) to integrate the pass-phrase identification process into the conventional TD-SV system, where a PBM is derived from a text-independent background model through adaptation using...... the utterances of a particular pass-phrase. During training, pass-phrase specific target speaker models are derived from the particular PBM using the training data for the respective target model. While testing, the best PBM is first selected for the test utterance in the maximum likelihood (ML) sense...

Identification system by eye retinal pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sunagawa, Takahisa; Shibata, Susumu

1987-01-01

Identification system by eye retinal pattern is introduced from the view-point of history of R and D, measurement, apparatus, evaluation tests, safety and application. According to our evaluation tests, enrolling time is approximately less than 1 min, verification time is a few seconds and false accept rate is 0 %. Evaluation tests at Sandia National Laboratories in USA show the comparison data of false accept rates such as 0 % for eye retinal pattern, 10.5 % for finger-print, 5.8 % for signature dynamics and 17.7 % for speaker voice. The identification system by eye retinal pattern has only three applications in Japan, but there has been a number of experience in USA. This fact suggests that the system will become an important means for physical protections not only in nuclear field but also in other industrial fields in Japan. (author)

Speaker diarization system on the 2007 NIST rich transcription meeting recognition evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Hanwu; Nwe, Tin Lay; Koh, Eugene Chin Wei; Bin, Ma; Li, Haizhou

2007-09-01

This paper presents a speaker diarization system developed at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) for NIST Rich Transcription 2007 (RT-07) evaluation task. We describe in details our primary approaches for the speaker diarization on the Multiple Distant Microphones (MDM) conditions in conference room scenario. Our proposed system consists of six modules: 1). Least-mean squared (NLMS) adaptive filter for the speaker direction estimate via Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), 2). An initial speaker clustering via two-stage TDOA histogram distribution quantization approach, 3). Multiple microphone speaker data alignment via GCC-PHAT Time Delay Estimate (TDE) among all the distant microphone channel signals, 4). A speaker clustering algorithm based on GMM modeling approach, 5). Non-speech removal via speech/non-speech verification mechanism and, 6). Silence removal via "Double-Layer Windowing"(DLW) method. We achieves error rate of 31.02% on the 2006 Spring (RT-06s) MDM evaluation task and a competitive overall error rate of 15.32% for the NIST Rich Transcription 2007 (RT-07) MDM evaluation task.

Comparative Analysys of Speech Parameters for the Design of Speaker Verification Systems

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Souza, A

2001-01-01

Speaker verification systems are basically composed of three stages: feature extraction, feature processing and comparison of the modified features from speaker voice and from the voice that should be...

A Text-Independent Speaker Authentication System for Mobile Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florentin Thullier

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a text independent speaker authentication method adapted to mobile devices. Special attention was placed on delivering a fully operational application, which admits a sufficient reliability level and an efficient functioning. To this end, we have excluded the need for any network communication. Hence, we opted for the completion of both the training and the identification processes directly on the mobile device through the extraction of linear prediction cepstral coefficients and the naive Bayes algorithm as the classifier. Furthermore, the authentication decision is enhanced to overcome misidentification through access privileges that the user should attribute to each application beforehand. To evaluate the proposed authentication system, eleven participants were involved in the experiment, conducted in quiet and noisy environments. Public speech corpora were also employed to compare this implementation to existing methods. Results were efficient regarding mobile resources’ consumption. The overall classification performance obtained was accurate with a small number of samples. Then, it appeared that our authentication system might be used as a first security layer, but also as part of a multilayer authentication, or as a fall-back mechanism.

The (TNO) Speaker Diarization System for NIST Rich Transcription Evaluation 2005 for meeting data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, D.A. van

2005-01-01

Abstract. The TNO speaker speaker diarization system is based on a standard BIC segmentation and clustering algorithm. Since for the NIST Rich Transcription speaker dizarization evaluation measure correct speech detection appears to be essential, we have developed a speech activity detector (SAD) as

[On the use of the spectral speech characteristics for the determination of biometric parameters of the vocal tract in forensic medical identification of the speaker's personality].

Science.gov (United States)

Kaganov, A Sh

2014-01-01

The objective of the present study was to elucidate the relationship between the spectral speech characteristics and the biometric parameters of the speaker's vocal tract. The secondary objective was to consider the theoretical basis behind the medico-criminalistic personality identification from the biometric parameters of the speaker's vocal tract. The article is based on the results of real forensic medical investigations and the literature data.

The AMI speaker diarization system for NIST RT06s meeting data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, D.A. van; Huijbregts, Marijn

2006-01-01

We describe the systems submitted to the NIST RT06s evaluation for the Speech Activity Detection (SAD) and Speaker Diarization (SPKR) tasks. For speech activity detection, a new analysis methodology is presented that generalizes the Detection Erorr Tradeoff analysis commonly used in speaker

The AMI speaker diarization system for NIST RT06s meeting data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Leeuwen, David A.; Huijbregts, M.A.H.

2007-01-01

We describe the systems submitted to the NIST RT06s evaluation for the Speech Activity Detection (SAD) and Speaker Diarization (SPKR) tasks. For speech activity detection, a new analysis methodology is presented that generalizes the Detection Erorr Tradeoff analysis commonly used in speaker detection

The Blame Game: Performance Analysis of Speaker Diarization System Components

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Wooters, Chuck

2007-01-01

In this paper we discuss the performance analysis of a speaker diarization system similar to the system that was submitted by ICSI at the NIST RT06s evaluation benchmark. The analysis that is based on a series of oracle experiments, provides a good understanding of the performance of each system

The 2016 NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-20

impact on system performance. Index Terms: NIST evaluation, NIST SRE, speaker detection, speaker recognition, speaker verification 1. Introduction NIST... self -reported. Second, there were two training conditions in SRE16, namely fixed and open. In the fixed training condition, par- ticipants were only

Unsupervised Speaker Change Detection for Broadcast News Segmentation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Kasper Winther; Mølgaard, Lasse Lohilahti; Hansen, Lars Kai

2006-01-01

This paper presents a speaker change detection system for news broadcast segmentation based on a vector quantization (VQ) approach. The system does not make any assumption about the number of speakers or speaker identity. The system uses mel frequency cepstral coefficients and change detection...

Automatic Speaker Recognition for Mobile Forensic Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Algabri

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Presently, lawyers, law enforcement agencies, and judges in courts use speech and other biometric features to recognize suspects. In general, speaker recognition is used for discriminating people based on their voices. The process of determining, if a suspected speaker is the source of trace, is called forensic speaker recognition. In such applications, the voice samples are most probably noisy, the recording sessions might mismatch each other, the sessions might not contain sufficient recording for recognition purposes, and the suspect voices are recorded through mobile channel. The identification of a person through his voice within a forensic quality context is challenging. In this paper, we propose a method for forensic speaker recognition for the Arabic language; the King Saud University Arabic Speech Database is used for obtaining experimental results. The advantage of this database is that each speaker’s voice is recorded in both clean and noisy environments, through a microphone and a mobile channel. This diversity facilitates its usage in forensic experimentations. Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients are used for feature extraction and the Gaussian mixture model-universal background model is used for speaker modeling. Our approach has shown low equal error rates (EER, within noisy environments and with very short test samples.

Speech overlap detection in a two-pass speaker diarization system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huijbregts, M.A.H.; Leeuwen, D.A. van; Jong, F. M. G de

2009-01-01

In this paper we present the two-pass speaker diarization system that we developed for the NIST RT09s evaluation. In the first pass of our system a model for speech overlap detection is gen- erated automatically. This model is used in two ways to reduce the diarization errors due to overlapping

Speech overlap detection in a two-pass speaker diarization system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huijbregts, M.; Leeuwen, D.A. van; Jong, F.M.G. de

2009-01-01

In this paper we present the two-pass speaker diarization system that we developed for the NIST RT09s evaluation. In the first pass of our system a model for speech overlap detection is generated automatically. This model is used in two ways to reduce the diarization errors due to overlapping

Limited data speaker identification

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

recognition can be either identification or verification depending on the task objective. .... like Bayesian formalism, voting method and Dempster-Shafer (D–S) theory ..... self-organizing map (SOM) (Kohonen 1990), learning vector quantization ...

Utilising Tree-Based Ensemble Learning for Speaker Segmentation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abou-Zleikha, Mohamed; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll

2014-01-01

In audio and speech processing, accurate detection of the changing points between multiple speakers in speech segments is an important stage for several applications such as speaker identification and tracking. Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC)-based approaches are the most traditionally used...... for a certain condition, the model becomes biased to the data used for training limiting the model’s generalisation ability. In this paper, we propose a BIC-based tuning-free approach for speaker segmentation through the use of ensemble-based learning. A forest of segmentation trees is constructed in which each...... tree is trained using a sampled version of the speech segment. During the tree construction process, a set of randomly selected points in the input sequence is examined as potential segmentation points. The point that yields the highest ΔBIC is chosen and the same process is repeated for the resultant...

Speaker segmentation and clustering

OpenAIRE

Kotti, M; Moschou, V; Kotropoulos, C

2008-01-01

07.08.13 KB. Ok to add the accepted version to Spiral, Elsevier says ok whlile mandate not enforced. This survey focuses on two challenging speech processing topics, namely: speaker segmentation and speaker clustering. Speaker segmentation aims at finding speaker change points in an audio stream, whereas speaker clustering aims at grouping speech segments based on speaker characteristics. Model-based, metric-based, and hybrid speaker segmentation algorithms are reviewed. Concerning speaker...

Towards PLDA-RBM based speaker recognition in mobile environment: Designing stacked/deep PLDA-RBM systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nautsch, Andreas; Hao, Hong; Stafylakis, Themos

2016-01-01

recognition: two deep architectures are presented and examined, which aim at suppressing channel effects and recovering speaker-discriminative information on back-ends trained on a small dataset. Experiments are carried out on the MOBIO SRE'13 database, which is a challenging and publicly available dataset...... for mobile speaker recognition with limited amounts of training data. The experiments show that the proposed system outperforms the baseline i-vector/PLDA approach by relative gains of 31% on female and 9% on male speakers in terms of half total error rate....

Who spoke when? Audio-based speaker location estimation for diarization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dadvar, M.

2011-01-01

Speaker diarization is the process which detects active speakers and groups those speech signals which has been uttered by the same speaker. Generally we can find two main applications for speaker diarization. Automatic Speech Recognition systems make use of the speaker homogeneous clusters to adapt

Speaker-dependent Dictionary-based Speech Enhancement for Text-Dependent Speaker Verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Nicolai Bæk; Thomsen, Dennis Alexander Lehmann; Tan, Zheng-Hua

2016-01-01

not perform well in this setting. In this work we compare the performance of different noise reduction methods under different noise conditions in terms of speaker verification when the text is known and the system is trained on clean data (mis-matched conditions). We furthermore propose a new approach based......The problem of text-dependent speaker verification under noisy conditions is becoming ever more relevant, due to increased usage for authentication in real-world applications. Classical methods for noise reduction such as spectral subtraction and Wiener filtering introduce distortion and do...... on dictionary-based noise reduction and compare it to the baseline methods....

Speaker Authentication

CERN Document Server

Li, Qi (Peter)

2012-01-01

This book focuses on use of voice as a biometric measure for personal authentication. In particular, "Speaker Recognition" covers two approaches in speaker authentication: speaker verification (SV) and verbal information verification (VIV). The SV approach attempts to verify a speaker’s identity based on his/her voice characteristics while the VIV approach validates a speaker’s identity through verification of the content of his/her utterance(s). SV and VIV can be combined for new applications. This is still a new research topic with significant potential applications. The book provides with a broad overview of the recent advances in speaker authentication while giving enough attention to advanced and useful algorithms and techniques. It also provides a step by step introduction to the current state of the speaker authentication technology, from the fundamental concepts to advanced algorithms. We will also present major design methodologies and share our experience in developing real and successful speake...

Data-Model Relationship in Text-Independent Speaker Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stapert Robert

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Text-independent speaker recognition systems such as those based on Gaussian mixture models (GMMs do not include time sequence information (TSI within the model itself. The level of importance of TSI in speaker recognition is an interesting question and one addressed in this paper. Recent works has shown that the utilisation of higher-level information such as idiolect, pronunciation, and prosodics can be useful in reducing speaker recognition error rates. In accordance with these developments, the aim of this paper is to show that as more data becomes available, the basic GMM can be enhanced by utilising TSI, even in a text-independent mode. This paper presents experimental work incorporating TSI into the conventional GMM. The resulting system, known as the segmental mixture model (SMM, embeds dynamic time warping (DTW into a GMM framework. Results are presented on the 2000-speaker SpeechDat Welsh database which show improved speaker recognition performance with the SMM.

Improving Speaker Recognition by Biometric Voice Deconstruction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis Miguel eMazaira-Fernández

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Person identification, especially in critical environments, has always been a subject of great interest. However, it has gained a new dimension in a world threatened by a new kind of terrorism that uses social networks (e.g. YouTube to broadcast its message. In this new scenario, classical identification methods (such fingerprints or face recognition have been forcedly replaced by alternative biometric characteristics such as voice, as sometimes this is the only feature available. Through the present paper, a new methodology to characterize speakers will be shown. This methodology is benefiting from the advances achieved during the last years in understanding and modelling voice production. The paper hypothesizes that a gender dependent characterization of speakers combined with the use of a new set of biometric parameters extracted from the components resulting from the deconstruction of the voice into its glottal source and vocal tract estimates, will enhance recognition rates when compared to classical approaches. A general description about the main hypothesis and the methodology followed to extract gender-dependent extended biometric parameters are given. Experimental validation is carried out both on a highly controlled acoustic condition database, and on a mobile phone network recorded under non-controlled acoustic conditions.

Robust speaker recognition in noisy environments

CERN Document Server

Rao, K Sreenivasa

2014-01-01

This book discusses speaker recognition methods to deal with realistic variable noisy environments. The text covers authentication systems for; robust noisy background environments, functions in real time and incorporated in mobile devices. The book focuses on different approaches to enhance the accuracy of speaker recognition in presence of varying background environments. The authors examine: (a) Feature compensation using multiple background models, (b) Feature mapping using data-driven stochastic models, (c) Design of super vector- based GMM-SVM framework for robust speaker recognition, (d) Total variability modeling (i-vectors) in a discriminative framework and (e) Boosting method to fuse evidences from multiple SVM models.

Identifying the nonlinear mechanical behaviour of micro-speakers from their quasi-linear electrical response

Science.gov (United States)

Zilletti, Michele; Marker, Arthur; Elliott, Stephen John; Holland, Keith

2017-05-01

In this study model identification of the nonlinear dynamics of a micro-speaker is carried out by purely electrical measurements, avoiding any explicit vibration measurements. It is shown that a dynamic model of the micro-speaker, which takes into account the nonlinear damping characteristic of the device, can be identified by measuring the response between the voltage input and the current flowing into the coil. An analytical formulation of the quasi-linear model of the micro-speaker is first derived and an optimisation method is then used to identify a polynomial function which describes the mechanical damping behaviour of the micro-speaker. The analytical results of the quasi-linear model are compared with numerical results. This study potentially opens up the possibility of efficiently implementing nonlinear echo cancellers.

The effect of L1 prosodic backgrounds of Cantonese and Japanese speakers on the perception of Mandarin tones after training

Science.gov (United States)

So, Connie K.

2005-04-01

The present study investigated to what extent ones' L1 prosodic backgrounds affect their learning of a new tonal system. The question as to whether native speakers of a tone language perform differently from those of a pitch accent language will be addressed. Twenty native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese (a tone language) and Japanese (a pitch accent language) were assigned to two groups. All of them had had no prior knowledge of Mandarin, and had never received any form of musical training before they participated in the study. Their performance of the identification of Mandarin tones before and after a short-term training was compared. Analysis of listeners' tonal confusions in the pretest, posttest, and generalization tests revealed that both Cantonese and Japanese listeners had more confusion for two contrastive tone pairs: Tone 1-Tone 4, and Tone 2-Tone 3. Moreover, Cantonese speakers consistently had greater difficulty than Japanese speakers in distinguishing the tones in each pair. These imply that listeners L1 prosodic backgrounds are at work during the process of learning a new tonal system. The findings will be further discussed in terms of the Perceptual Assimilation Model (Best, 1995). [Work supported by SSHRC.

Characterizing opto-electret based paper speakers by using a real-time projection Moiré metrology system

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Ya-Ling; Hsu, Kuan-Yu; Lee, Chih-Kung

2016-03-01

Advancement of distributed piezo-electret sensors and actuators facilitates various smart systems development, which include paper speakers, opto-piezo/electret bio-chips, etc. The array-based loudspeaker system possess several advantages over conventional coil speakers, such as light-weightness, flexibility, low power consumption, directivity, etc. With the understanding that the performance of the large-area piezo-electret loudspeakers or even the microfluidic biochip transport behavior could be tailored by changing their dynamic behaviors, a full-field real-time high-resolution non-contact metrology system was developed. In this paper, influence of the resonance modes and the transient vibrations of an arraybased loudspeaker system on the acoustic effect were measured by using a real-time projection moiré metrology system and microphones. To make the paper speaker even more versatile, we combine the photosensitive material TiOPc into the original electret loudspeaker. The vibration of this newly developed opto-electret loudspeaker could be manipulated by illuminating different light-intensity patterns. Trying to facilitate the tailoring process of the opto-electret loudspeaker, projection moiré was adopted to measure its vibration. By recording the projected fringes which are modulated by the contours of the testing sample, the phase unwrapping algorithm can give us a continuous phase distribution which is proportional to the object height variations. With the aid of the projection moiré metrology system, the vibrations associated with each distinctive light pattern could be characterized. Therefore, we expect that the overall acoustic performance could be improved by finding the suitable illuminating patterns. In this manuscript, the system performance of the projection moiré and the optoelectret paper speakers were cross-examined and verified by the experimental results obtained.

Shhh… I Need Quiet! Children's Understanding of American, British, and Japanese-accented English Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Bent, Tessa; Holt, Rachael Frush

2018-02-01

Children's ability to understand speakers with a wide range of dialects and accents is essential for efficient language development and communication in a global society. Here, the impact of regional dialect and foreign-accent variability on children's speech understanding was evaluated in both quiet and noisy conditions. Five- to seven-year-old children ( n = 90) and adults ( n = 96) repeated sentences produced by three speakers with different accents-American English, British English, and Japanese-accented English-in quiet or noisy conditions. Adults had no difficulty understanding any speaker in quiet conditions. Their performance declined for the nonnative speaker with a moderate amount of noise; their performance only substantially declined for the British English speaker (i.e., below 93% correct) when their understanding of the American English speaker was also impeded. In contrast, although children showed accurate word recognition for the American and British English speakers in quiet conditions, they had difficulty understanding the nonnative speaker even under ideal listening conditions. With a moderate amount of noise, their perception of British English speech declined substantially and their ability to understand the nonnative speaker was particularly poor. These results suggest that although school-aged children can understand unfamiliar native dialects under ideal listening conditions, their ability to recognize words in these dialects may be highly susceptible to the influence of environmental degradation. Fully adult-like word identification for speakers with unfamiliar accents and dialects may exhibit a protracted developmental trajectory.

Perception of English palatal codas by Korean speakers of English

Science.gov (United States)

Yeon, Sang-Hee

2003-04-01

This study aimed at looking at perception of English palatal codas by Korean speakers of English to determine if perception problems are the source of production problems. In particular, first, this study looked at the possible first language effect on the perception of English palatal codas. Second, a possible perceptual source of vowel epenthesis after English palatal codas was investigated. In addition, individual factors, such as length of residence, TOEFL score, gender and academic status, were compared to determine if those affected the varying degree of the perception accuracy. Eleven adult Korean speakers of English as well as three native speakers of English participated in the study. Three sets of a perception test including identification of minimally different English pseudo- or real words were carried out. The results showed that, first, the Korean speakers perceived the English codas significantly worse than the Americans. Second, the study supported the idea that Koreans perceived an extra /i/ after the final affricates due to final release. Finally, none of the individual factors explained the varying degree of the perceptional accuracy. In particular, TOEFL scores and the perception test scores did not have any statistically significant association.

Robustness-related issues in speaker recognition

CERN Document Server

Zheng, Thomas Fang

2017-01-01

This book presents an overview of speaker recognition technologies with an emphasis on dealing with robustness issues. Firstly, the book gives an overview of speaker recognition, such as the basic system framework, categories under different criteria, performance evaluation and its development history. Secondly, with regard to robustness issues, the book presents three categories, including environment-related issues, speaker-related issues and application-oriented issues. For each category, the book describes the current hot topics, existing technologies, and potential research focuses in the future. The book is a useful reference book and self-learning guide for early researchers working in the field of robust speech recognition.

Comparison of Diarization Tools for Building Speaker Database

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Kiktova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper compares open source diarization toolkits (LIUM, DiarTK, ALIZE-Lia_Ral, which were designed for extraction of speaker identity from audio records without any prior information about the analysed data. The comparative study of used diarization tools was performed for three different types of analysed data (broadcast news - BN and TV shows. Corresponding values of achieved DER measure are presented here. The automatic speaker diarization system developed by LIUM was able to identified speech segments belonging to speakers at very good level. Its segmentation outputs can be used to build a speaker database.

Do Speakers and Listeners Observe the Gricean Maxim of Quantity?

Science.gov (United States)

Engelhardt, Paul E.; Bailey, Karl G. D.; Ferreira, Fernanda

2006-01-01

The Gricean Maxim of Quantity is believed to govern linguistic performance. Speakers are assumed to provide as much information as required for referent identification and no more, and listeners are believed to expect unambiguous but concise descriptions. In three experiments we examined the extent to which naive participants are sensitive to the…

On the improvement of speaker diarization by detecting overlapped speech

OpenAIRE

Hernando Pericás, Francisco Javier; Hernando Pericás, Francisco Javier

2010-01-01

Simultaneous speech in meeting environment is responsible for a certain amount of errors caused by standard speaker diarization systems. We are presenting an overlap detection system for far-field data based on spectral and spatial features, where the spatial features obtained on different microphone pairs are fused by means of principal component analysis. Detected overlap segments are applied for speaker diarization in order to increase the purity of speaker clusters an...

Speaker Clustering for a Mixture of Singing and Reading (Preprint)

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

diarization [2, 3] which answers the ques- tion of ”who spoke when?” is a combination of speaker segmentation and clustering. Although it is possible to...focuses on speaker clustering, the techniques developed here can be applied to speaker diarization . For the remainder of this paper, the term ”speech...and retrieval,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 88, 2000. [2] S. Tranter and D. Reynolds, “An overview of automatic speaker diarization systems,” IEEE

Working with Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Pestel, Ann

1989-01-01

The author discusses working with speakers from business and industry to present career information at the secondary level. Advice for speakers is presented, as well as tips for program coordinators. (CH)

On the optimization of a mixed speaker array in an enclosed space using the virtual-speaker weighting method

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Bo; Zheng, Sifa; Liao, Xiangning; Lian, Xiaomin

2018-03-01

In order to achieve sound field reproduction in a wide frequency band, multiple-type speakers are used. The reproduction accuracy is not only affected by the signals sent to the speakers, but also depends on the position and the number of each type of speaker. The method of optimizing a mixed speaker array is investigated in this paper. A virtual-speaker weighting method is proposed to optimize both the position and the number of each type of speaker. In this method, a virtual-speaker model is proposed to quantify the increment of controllability of the speaker array when the speaker number increases. While optimizing a mixed speaker array, the gain of the virtual-speaker transfer function is used to determine the priority orders of the candidate speaker positions, which optimizes the position of each type of speaker. Then the relative gain of the virtual-speaker transfer function is used to determine whether the speakers are redundant, which optimizes the number of each type of speaker. Finally the virtual-speaker weighting method is verified by reproduction experiments of the interior sound field in a passenger car. The results validate that the optimum mixed speaker array can be obtained using the proposed method.

Learning speaker-specific characteristics with a deep neural architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ke; Salman, Ahmad

2011-11-01

Speech signals convey various yet mixed information ranging from linguistic to speaker-specific information. However, most of acoustic representations characterize all different kinds of information as whole, which could hinder either a speech or a speaker recognition (SR) system from producing a better performance. In this paper, we propose a novel deep neural architecture (DNA) especially for learning speaker-specific characteristics from mel-frequency cepstral coefficients, an acoustic representation commonly used in both speech recognition and SR, which results in a speaker-specific overcomplete representation. In order to learn intrinsic speaker-specific characteristics, we come up with an objective function consisting of contrastive losses in terms of speaker similarity/dissimilarity and data reconstruction losses used as regularization to normalize the interference of non-speaker-related information. Moreover, we employ a hybrid learning strategy for learning parameters of the deep neural networks: i.e., local yet greedy layerwise unsupervised pretraining for initialization and global supervised learning for the ultimate discriminative goal. With four Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) benchmarks and two non-English corpora, we demonstrate that our overcomplete representation is robust in characterizing various speakers, no matter whether their utterances have been used in training our DNA, and highly insensitive to text and languages spoken. Extensive comparative studies suggest that our approach yields favorite results in speaker verification and segmentation. Finally, we discuss several issues concerning our proposed approach.

Supervised and Unsupervised Speaker Adaptation in the NIST 2005 Speaker Recognition Evaluation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hansen, Eric G; Slyh, Raymond E; Anderson, Timothy R

2006-01-01

Starting in 2004, the annual NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) has added an optional unsupervised speaker adaptation track where test files are processed sequentially and one may update the target model...

Speaker Recognition from Emotional Speech Using I-vector Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MACKOVÁ Lenka

2014-05-01

Full Text Available In recent years the concept of i-vectors become very popular and successful in the field of the speaker verification. The basic principle of i-vectors is that each utterance is represented by fixed-length feature vector of low-dimension. In the literature for purpose of speaker verification various recordings obtained from telephones or microphones were used. The aim of this experiment was to perform speaker verification using speaker model trained with emotional recordings on i-vector basis. The Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC, log energy, their deltas and acceleration coefficients were used in process of features extraction. As the classification methods of the verification system Mahalanobis distance metric in combination with Eigen Factor Radial normalization was used and in the second approach Cosine Distance Scoring (CSS metric with Within-class Covariance Normalization as a channel compensation was employed. This verification system used emotional recordings of male subjects from freely available German emotional database (Emo-DB.

Forensic Speaker Recognition Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism

CERN Document Server

Patil, Hemant

2012-01-01

Forensic Speaker Recognition: Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism is an anthology of the research findings of 35 speaker recognition experts from around the world. The volume provides a multidimensional view of the complex science involved in determining whether a suspect’s voice truly matches forensic speech samples, collected by law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies, that are associated with the commission of a terrorist act or other crimes. While addressing such topics as the challenges of forensic case work, handling speech signal degradation, analyzing features of speaker recognition to optimize voice verification system performance, and designing voice applications that meet the practical needs of law enforcement and counter-terrorism agencies, this material all sounds a common theme: how the rigors of forensic utility are demanding new levels of excellence in all aspects of speaker recognition. The contributors are among the most eminent scientists in speech engineering and signal process...

Teaching Standard Italian to Dialect Speakers: A Pedagogical Perspective of Linguistic Systems in Contact

Science.gov (United States)

Danesi, Marcel

1974-01-01

The teaching of standard Italian to speakers of Italian dialects both in Italy and in North America is discussed, specifically through a specialized pedagogical program within the framework of a sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic perspective, and based on a structural analysis of linguistic systems in contact. Italian programs in Toronto are…

When speaker identity is unavoidable: Neural processing of speaker identity cues in natural speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuninetti, Alba; Chládková, Kateřina; Peter, Varghese; Schiller, Niels O; Escudero, Paola

2017-11-01

Speech sound acoustic properties vary largely across speakers and accents. When perceiving speech, adult listeners normally disregard non-linguistic variation caused by speaker or accent differences, in order to comprehend the linguistic message, e.g. to correctly identify a speech sound or a word. Here we tested whether the process of normalizing speaker and accent differences, facilitating the recognition of linguistic information, is found at the level of neural processing, and whether it is modulated by the listeners' native language. In a multi-deviant oddball paradigm, native and nonnative speakers of Dutch were exposed to naturally-produced Dutch vowels varying in speaker, sex, accent, and phoneme identity. Unexpectedly, the analysis of mismatch negativity (MMN) amplitudes elicited by each type of change shows a large degree of early perceptual sensitivity to non-linguistic cues. This finding on perception of naturally-produced stimuli contrasts with previous studies examining the perception of synthetic stimuli wherein adult listeners automatically disregard acoustic cues to speaker identity. The present finding bears relevance to speech normalization theories, suggesting that at an unattended level of processing, listeners are indeed sensitive to changes in fundamental frequency in natural speech tokens. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Student perceptions of native and non-native speaker language instructors: A comparison of ESL and Spanish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Callahan

2006-12-01

Full Text Available The question of the native vs. non-native speaker status of second and foreign language instructors has been investigated chiefly from the perspective of the teacher. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students have strong opinions on the relative qualities of instruction by native and non-native speakers. Most research focuses on students of English as a foreign or second language. This paper reports on data gathered through a questionnaire administered to 55 university students: 31 students of Spanish as FL and 24 students of English as SL. Qualitative results show what strengths students believe each type of instructor has, and quantitative results confirm that any gap students may perceive between the abilities of native and non-native instructors is not so wide as one might expect based on popular notions of the issue. ESL students showed a stronger preference for native-speaker instructors overall, and were at variance with the SFL students' ratings of native-speaker instructors' performance on a number of aspects. There was a significant correlation in both groups between having a family member who is a native speaker of the target language and student preference for and self-identification with a native speaker as instructor. (English text

"Feminism Lite?" Feminist Identification, Speaker Appearance, and Perceptions of Feminist and Antifeminist Messengers

Science.gov (United States)

Bullock, Heather E.; Fernald, Julian L.

2003-01-01

Drawing on a communications model of persuasion (Hovland, Janis, & Kelley, 1953), this study examined the effect of target appearance on feminists' and nonfeminists' perceptions of a speaker delivering a feminist or an antifeminist message. One hundred three college women watched one of four videotaped speeches that varied by content (profeminist…

Grammatical Planning Units during Real-Time Sentence Production in Speakers with Agrammatic Aphasia and Healthy Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jiyeon; Yoshida, Masaya; Thompson, Cynthia K.

2015-01-01

Purpose: Grammatical encoding (GE) is impaired in agrammatic aphasia; however, the nature of such deficits remains unclear. We examined grammatical planning units during real-time sentence production in speakers with agrammatic aphasia and control speakers, testing two competing models of GE. We queried whether speakers with agrammatic aphasia…

Arctic Visiting Speakers Series (AVS)

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, S. E.; Griswold, J.

2011-12-01

The Arctic Visiting Speakers (AVS) Series funds researchers and other arctic experts to travel and share their knowledge in communities where they might not otherwise connect. Speakers cover a wide range of arctic research topics and can address a variety of audiences including K-12 students, graduate and undergraduate students, and the general public. Host applications are accepted on an on-going basis, depending on funding availability. Applications need to be submitted at least 1 month prior to the expected tour dates. Interested hosts can choose speakers from an online Speakers Bureau or invite a speaker of their choice. Preference is given to individuals and organizations to host speakers that reach a broad audience and the general public. AVS tours are encouraged to span several days, allowing ample time for interactions with faculty, students, local media, and community members. Applications for both domestic and international visits will be considered. Applications for international visits should involve participation of more than one host organization and must include either a US-based speaker or a US-based organization. This is a small but important program that educates the public about Arctic issues. There have been 27 tours since 2007 that have impacted communities across the globe including: Gatineau, Quebec Canada; St. Petersburg, Russia; Piscataway, New Jersey; Cordova, Alaska; Nuuk, Greenland; Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania; Oslo, Norway; Inari, Finland; Borgarnes, Iceland; San Francisco, California and Wolcott, Vermont to name a few. Tours have included lectures to K-12 schools, college and university students, tribal organizations, Boy Scout troops, science center and museum patrons, and the general public. There are approximately 300 attendees enjoying each AVS tour, roughly 4100 people have been reached since 2007. The expectations for each tour are extremely manageable. Hosts must submit a schedule of events and a tour summary to be posted online

Hybrid Speaker Recognition Using Universal Acoustic Model

Science.gov (United States)

Nishimura, Jun; Kuroda, Tadahiro

We propose a novel speaker recognition approach using a speaker-independent universal acoustic model (UAM) for sensornet applications. In sensornet applications such as “Business Microscope”, interactions among knowledge workers in an organization can be visualized by sensing face-to-face communication using wearable sensor nodes. In conventional studies, speakers are detected by comparing energy of input speech signals among the nodes. However, there are often synchronization errors among the nodes which degrade the speaker recognition performance. By focusing on property of the speaker's acoustic channel, UAM can provide robustness against the synchronization error. The overall speaker recognition accuracy is improved by combining UAM with the energy-based approach. For 0.1s speech inputs and 4 subjects, speaker recognition accuracy of 94% is achieved at the synchronization error less than 100ms.

English Language Schooling, Linguistic Realities, and the Native Speaker of English in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen Edwards, Jette G.

2018-01-01

The study employs a case study approach to examine the impact of educational backgrounds on nine Hong Kong tertiary students' English and Cantonese language practices and identifications as native speakers of English and Cantonese. The study employed both survey and interview data to probe the participants' English and Cantonese language use at…

Using timing information in speaker verification

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Heerden, CJ

2005-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of temporal information as a feature for use in speaker verification systems. The relevance of temporal information in a speaker’s utterances is investigated, both with regard to improving the robustness of modern...

Google Home: smart speaker as environmental control unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Noda, Kenichiro

2017-08-23

Environmental Control Units (ECU) are devices or a system that allows a person to control appliances in their home or work environment. Such system can be utilized by clients with physical and/or functional disability to enhance their ability to control their environment, to promote independence and improve their quality of life. Over the last several years, there have been an emergence of several inexpensive, commercially-available, voice activated smart speakers into the market such as Google Home and Amazon Echo. These smart speakers are equipped with far field microphone that supports voice recognition, and allows for complete hand-free operation for various purposes, including for playing music, for information retrieval, and most importantly, for environmental control. Clients with disability could utilize these features to turn the unit into a simple ECU that is completely voice activated and wirelessly connected to appliances. Smart speakers, with their ease of setup, low cost and versatility, may be a more affordable and accessible alternative to the traditional ECU. Implications for Rehabilitation Environmental Control Units (ECU) enable independence for physically and functionally disabled clients, and reduce burden and frequency of demands on carers. Traditional ECU can be costly and may require clients to learn specialized skills to use. Smart speakers have the potential to be used as a new-age ECU by overcoming these barriers, and can be used by a wider range of clients.

A Method to Integrate GMM, SVM and DTW for Speaker Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ing-Jr Ding

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper develops an effective and efficient scheme to integrate Gaussian mixture model (GMM, support vector machine (SVM, and dynamic time wrapping (DTW for automatic speaker recognition. GMM and SVM are two popular classifiers for speaker recognition applications. DTW is a fast and simple template matching method, and it is frequently seen in applications of speech recognition. In this work, DTW does not play a role to perform speech recognition, and it will be employed to be a verifier for verification of valid speakers. The proposed combination scheme of GMM, SVM and DTW, called SVMGMM-DTW, for speaker recognition in this study is a two-phase verification process task including GMM-SVM verification of the first phase and DTW verification of the second phase. By providing a double check to verify the identity of a speaker, it will be difficult for imposters to try to pass the security protection; therefore, the safety degree of speaker recognition systems will be largely increased. A series of experiments designed on door access control applications demonstrated that the superiority of the developed SVMGMM-DTW on speaker recognition accuracy.

Multimodal Speaker Diarization.

Science.gov (United States)

Noulas, A; Englebienne, G; Krose, B J A

2012-01-01

We present a novel probabilistic framework that fuses information coming from the audio and video modality to perform speaker diarization. The proposed framework is a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) that is an extension of a factorial Hidden Markov Model (fHMM) and models the people appearing in an audiovisual recording as multimodal entities that generate observations in the audio stream, the video stream, and the joint audiovisual space. The framework is very robust to different contexts, makes no assumptions about the location of the recording equipment, and does not require labeled training data as it acquires the model parameters using the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. We apply the proposed model to two meeting videos and a news broadcast video, all of which come from publicly available data sets. The results acquired in speaker diarization are in favor of the proposed multimodal framework, which outperforms the single modality analysis results and improves over the state-of-the-art audio-based speaker diarization.

English Speakers Attend More Strongly than Spanish Speakers to Manner of Motion when Classifying Novel Objects and Events

Science.gov (United States)

Kersten, Alan W.; Meissner, Christian A.; Lechuga, Julia; Schwartz, Bennett L.; Albrechtsen, Justin S.; Iglesias, Adam

2010-01-01

Three experiments provide evidence that the conceptualization of moving objects and events is influenced by one's native language, consistent with linguistic relativity theory. Monolingual English speakers and bilingual Spanish/English speakers tested in an English-speaking context performed better than monolingual Spanish speakers and bilingual…

Speaker's voice as a memory cue.

Science.gov (United States)

Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Alain, Claude

2015-02-01

Speaker's voice occupies a central role as the cornerstone of auditory social interaction. Here, we review the evidence suggesting that speaker's voice constitutes an integral context cue in auditory memory. Investigation into the nature of voice representation as a memory cue is essential to understanding auditory memory and the neural correlates which underlie it. Evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological studies suggest that while specific voice reinstatement (i.e., same speaker) often appears to facilitate word memory even without attention to voice at study, the presence of a partial benefit of similar voices between study and test is less clear. In terms of explicit memory experiments utilizing unfamiliar voices, encoding methods appear to play a pivotal role. Voice congruency effects have been found when voice is specifically attended at study (i.e., when relatively shallow, perceptual encoding takes place). These behavioral findings coincide with neural indices of memory performance such as the parietal old/new recollection effect and the late right frontal effect. The former distinguishes between correctly identified old words and correctly identified new words, and reflects voice congruency only when voice is attended at study. Characterization of the latter likely depends upon voice memory, rather than word memory. There is also evidence to suggest that voice effects can be found in implicit memory paradigms. However, the presence of voice effects appears to depend greatly on the task employed. Using a word identification task, perceptual similarity between study and test conditions is, like for explicit memory tests, crucial. In addition, the type of noise employed appears to have a differential effect. While voice effects have been observed when white noise is used at both study and test, using multi-talker babble does not confer the same results. In terms of neuroimaging research modulations, characterization of an implicit memory effect

Utterance Verification for Text-Dependent Speaker Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kinnunen, Tomi; Sahidullah, Md; Kukanov, Ivan

2016-01-01

Text-dependent automatic speaker verification naturally calls for the simultaneous verification of speaker identity and spoken content. These two tasks can be achieved with automatic speaker verification (ASV) and utterance verification (UV) technologies. While both have been addressed previously...

Data requirements for speaker independent acoustic models

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Badenhorst, JAC

2008-11-01

Full Text Available When developing speech recognition systems in resource-constrained environments, careful design of the training corpus can play an important role in compensating for data scarcity. One of the factors to consider relates to the speaker composition...

The Speaker Gender Gap at Critical Care Conferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehta, Sangeeta; Rose, Louise; Cook, Deborah; Herridge, Margaret; Owais, Sawayra; Metaxa, Victoria

2018-06-01

To review women's participation as faculty at five critical care conferences over 7 years. Retrospective analysis of five scientific programs to identify the proportion of females and each speaker's profession based on conference conveners, program documents, or internet research. Three international (European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Society of Critical Care Medicine) and two national (Critical Care Canada Forum, U.K. Intensive Care Society State of the Art Meeting) annual critical care conferences held between 2010 and 2016. Female faculty speakers. None. Male speakers outnumbered female speakers at all five conferences, in all 7 years. Overall, women represented 5-31% of speakers, and female physicians represented 5-26% of speakers. Nursing and allied health professional faculty represented 0-25% of speakers; in general, more than 50% of allied health professionals were women. Over the 7 years, Society of Critical Care Medicine had the highest representation of female (27% overall) and nursing/allied health professional (16-25%) speakers; notably, male physicians substantially outnumbered female physicians in all years (62-70% vs 10-19%, respectively). Women's representation on conference program committees ranged from 0% to 40%, with Society of Critical Care Medicine having the highest representation of women (26-40%). The female proportions of speakers, physician speakers, and program committee members increased significantly over time at the Society of Critical Care Medicine and U.K. Intensive Care Society State of the Art Meeting conferences (p gap at critical care conferences, with male faculty outnumbering female faculty. This gap is more marked among physician speakers than those speakers representing nursing and allied health professionals. Several organizational strategies can address this gender gap.

Brain Plasticity in Speech Training in Native English Speakers Learning Mandarin Tones

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzen, Christina Carolyn

The current study employed behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate brain plasticity associated with second-language (L2) phonetic learning based on an adaptive computer training program. The program utilized the acoustic characteristics of Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) to train monolingual American English-speaking listeners to perceive Mandarin lexical tones. Behavioral identification and discrimination tasks were conducted using naturally recorded speech, carefully controlled synthetic speech, and non-speech control stimuli. The ERP experiments were conducted with selected synthetic speech stimuli in a passive listening oddball paradigm. Identical pre- and post- tests were administered on nine adult listeners, who completed two-to-three hours of perceptual training. The perceptual training sessions used pair-wise lexical tone identification, and progressed through seven levels of difficulty for each tone pair. The levels of difficulty included progression in speaker variability from one to four speakers and progression through four levels of acoustic exaggeration of duration, pitch range, and pitch contour. Behavioral results for the natural speech stimuli revealed significant training-induced improvement in identification of Tones 1, 3, and 4. Improvements in identification of Tone 4 generalized to novel stimuli as well. Additionally, comparison between discrimination of across-category and within-category stimulus pairs taken from a synthetic continuum revealed a training-induced shift toward more native-like categorical perception of the Mandarin lexical tones. Analysis of the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses in the ERP data revealed increased amplitude and decreased latency for pre-attentive processing of across-category discrimination as a result of training. There were also laterality changes in the MMN responses to the non-speech control stimuli, which could reflect reallocation of brain resources in processing pitch patterns

Quantile Acoustic Vectors vs. MFCC Applied to Speaker Verification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mayorga-Ortiz Pedro

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper we describe speaker and command recognition related experiments, through quantile vectors and Gaussian Mixture Modelling (GMM. Over the past several years GMM and MFCC have become two of the dominant approaches for modelling speaker and speech recognition applications. However, memory and computational costs are important drawbacks, because autonomous systems suffer processing and power consumption constraints; thus, having a good trade-off between accuracy and computational requirements is mandatory. We decided to explore another approach (quantile vectors in several tasks and a comparison with MFCC was made. Quantile acoustic vectors are proposed for speaker verification and command recognition tasks and the results showed very good recognition efficiency. This method offered a good trade-off between computation times, characteristics vector complexity and overall achieved efficiency.

Physiological responses at short distances from a parametric speaker

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Soomin

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract In recent years, parametric speakers have been used in various circumstances. In our previous studies, we verified that the physiological burden of the sound of parametric speaker set at 2.6 m from the subjects was lower than that of the general speaker. However, nothing has yet been demonstrated about the effects of the sound of a parametric speaker at the shorter distance between parametric speakers the human body. Therefore, we studied this effect on physiological functions and task performance. Nine male subjects participated in this study. They completed three consecutive sessions: a 20-minute quiet period as a baseline, a 30-minute mental task period with general speakers or parametric speakers, and a 20-minute recovery period. We measured electrocardiogram (ECG photoplethysmogram (PTG, electroencephalogram (EEG, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Four experiments, one with a speaker condition (general speaker and parametric speaker, the other with a distance condition (0.3 m and 1.0 m, were conducted respectively at the same time of day on separate days. To examine the effects of the speaker and distance, three-way repeated measures ANOVA (speaker factor x distance factor x time factor were conducted. In conclusion, we found that the physiological responses were not significantly different between the speaker condition and the distance condition. Meanwhile, it was shown that the physiological burdens increased with progress in time independently of speaker condition and distance condition. In summary, the effects of the parametric speaker at the 2.6 m distance were not obtained at the distance of 1 m or less.

Audiovisual perceptual learning with multiple speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchel, Aaron D; Gerfen, Chip; Weiss, Daniel J

2016-05-01

One challenge for speech perception is between-speaker variability in the acoustic parameters of speech. For example, the same phoneme (e.g. the vowel in "cat") may have substantially different acoustic properties when produced by two different speakers and yet the listener must be able to interpret these disparate stimuli as equivalent. Perceptual tuning, the use of contextual information to adjust phonemic representations, may be one mechanism that helps listeners overcome obstacles they face due to this variability during speech perception. Here we test whether visual contextual cues to speaker identity may facilitate the formation and maintenance of distributional representations for individual speakers, allowing listeners to adjust phoneme boundaries in a speaker-specific manner. We familiarized participants to an audiovisual continuum between /aba/ and /ada/. During familiarization, the "b-face" mouthed /aba/ when an ambiguous token was played, while the "D-face" mouthed /ada/. At test, the same ambiguous token was more likely to be identified as /aba/ when paired with a stilled image of the "b-face" than with an image of the "D-face." This was not the case in the control condition when the two faces were paired equally with the ambiguous token. Together, these results suggest that listeners may form speaker-specific phonemic representations using facial identity cues.

Speakers' choice of frame in binary choice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marc van Buiten

2009-02-01

Full Text Available A distinction is proposed between extit{recommending for} preferred choice options and extit{recommending against} non-preferred choice options. In binary choice, both recommendation modes are logically, though not psychologically, equivalent. We report empirical evidence showing that speakers recommending for preferred options predominantly select positive frames, which are less common when speakers recommend against non-preferred options. In addition, option attractiveness is shown to affect speakers' choice of frame, and adoption of recommendation mode. The results are interpreted in terms of three compatibility effects, (i extit{recommendation mode---valence framing compatibility}: speakers' preference for positive framing is enhanced under extit{recommending for} and diminished under extit{recommending against} instructions, (ii extit{option attractiveness---valence framing compatibility}: speakers' preference for positive framing is more pronounced for attractive than for unattractive options, and (iii extit{recommendation mode---option attractiveness compatibility}: speakers are more likely to adopt a extit{recommending for} approach for attractive than for unattractive binary choice pairs.

Speaker recognition through NLP and CWT modeling.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown-VanHoozer, A.; Kercel, S. W.; Tucker, R. W.

1999-06-23

The objective of this research is to develop a system capable of identifying speakers on wiretaps from a large database (>500 speakers) with a short search time duration (<30 seconds), and with better than 90% accuracy. Much previous research in speaker recognition has led to algorithms that produced encouraging preliminary results, but were overwhelmed when applied to populations of more than a dozen or so different speakers. The authors are investigating a solution to the ''huge population'' problem by seeking two completely different kinds of characterizing features. These features are extracted using the techniques of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and the continuous wavelet transform (CWT). NLP extracts precise neurological, verbal and non-verbal information, and assimilates the information into useful patterns. These patterns are based on specific cues demonstrated by each individual, and provide ways of determining congruency between verbal and non-verbal cues. The primary NLP modalities are characterized through word spotting (or verbal predicates cues, e.g., see, sound, feel, etc.) while the secondary modalities would be characterized through the speech transcription used by the individual. This has the practical effect of reducing the size of the search space, and greatly speeding up the process of identifying an unknown speaker. The wavelet-based line of investigation concentrates on using vowel phonemes and non-verbal cues, such as tempo. The rationale for concentrating on vowels is there are a limited number of vowels phonemes, and at least one of them usually appears in even the shortest of speech segments. Using the fast, CWT algorithm, the details of both the formant frequency and the glottal excitation characteristics can be easily extracted from voice waveforms. The differences in the glottal excitation waveforms as well as the formant frequency are evident in the CWT output. More significantly, the CWT reveals significant

Analysis of Feature Extraction Methods for Speaker Dependent Speech Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gurpreet Kaur

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Speech recognition is about what is being said, irrespective of who is saying. Speech recognition is a growing field. Major progress is taking place on the technology of automatic speech recognition (ASR. Still, there are lots of barriers in this field in terms of recognition rate, background noise, speaker variability, speaking rate, accent etc. Speech recognition rate mainly depends on the selection of features and feature extraction methods. This paper outlines the feature extraction techniques for speaker dependent speech recognition for isolated words. A brief survey of different feature extraction techniques like Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC, Linear Predictive Coding Coefficients (LPCC, Perceptual Linear Prediction (PLP, Relative Spectra Perceptual linear Predictive (RASTA-PLP analysis are presented and evaluation is done. Speech recognition has various applications from daily use to commercial use. We have made a speaker dependent system and this system can be useful in many areas like controlling a patient vehicle using simple commands.

Apology Strategy in English By Native Speaker

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Mezia Kemala Sari

2016-05-01

Full Text Available This research discussed apology strategies in English by native speaker. This descriptive study was presented within the framework of Pragmatics based on the forms of strategies due to the coding manual as found in CCSARP (Cross-Cultural Speech Acts Realization Project.The goals of this study were to describe the apology strategies in English by native speaker and identify the influencing factors of it. Data were collected through the use of the questionnaire in the form of Discourse Completion Test, which was distributed to 30 native speakers. Data were classified based on the degree of familiarity and the social distance between speaker and hearer and then the data of native will be separated and classified by the type of strategies in coding manual. The results of this study are the pattern of apology strategies of native speaker brief with the pattern that potentially occurs IFID plus Offer of repair plus Taking on responsibility. While Alerters, Explanation and Downgrading appear with less number of percentage. Then, the factors that influence the apology utterance by native speakers are the social situation, the degree of familiarity and degree of the offence which more complicated the mistake tend to produce the most complex utterances by the speaker.

Authentication: From Passwords to Biometrics: An implementation of a speaker recognition system on Android

OpenAIRE

Heimark, Erlend

2012-01-01

We implement a biometric authentication system on the Android platform, which is based on text-dependent speaker recognition. The Android version used in the application is Android 4.0. The application makes use of the Modular Audio Recognition Framework, from which many of the algorithms are adapted in the processes of preprocessing and feature extraction. In addition, we employ the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm for the comparison of different voice features. A training procedure is i...

"Necesita una vacuna": what Spanish-speakers want in text-message immunization reminders.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlers-Schmidt, Carolyn R; Chesser, Amy; Brannon, Jennifer; Lopez, Venessa; Shah-Haque, Sapna; Williams, Katherine; Hart, Traci

2013-08-01

Appointment reminders help parents deal with complex immunization schedules. Preferred content of text-message reminders has been identified for English-speakers. Spanish-speaking parents of children under three years old were recruited to develop Spanish text-message immunization reminders. Structured interviews included questions about demographic characteristics, use of technology, and willingness to receive text reminders. Each participant was assigned to one user-centered design (UCD) test: card sort, needs analysis or comprehension testing. Respondents (N=54) were female (70%) and averaged 27 years of age (SD=7). A card sort of 20 immunization-related statements resulted in identification of seven pieces of critical information, which were compiled into eight example texts. These texts were ranked in the needs assessment and the top two were assessed for comprehension. All participants were able to understand the content and describe intention to act. Utilizing UCD testing, Spanish-speakers identified short, specific text content that differed from preferred content of English-speaking parents.

Improving Speaker Recognition by Biometric Voice Deconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Mazaira-Fernandez, Luis Miguel; Álvarez-Marquina, Agustín; Gómez-Vilda, Pedro

2015-01-01

Person identification, especially in critical environments, has always been a subject of great interest. However, it has gained a new dimension in a world threatened by a new kind of terrorism that uses social networks (e.g., YouTube) to broadcast its message. In this new scenario, classical identification methods (such as fingerprints or face recognition) have been forcedly replaced by alternative biometric characteristics such as voice, as sometimes this is the only feature available. The present study benefits from the advances achieved during last years in understanding and modeling voice production. The paper hypothesizes that a gender-dependent characterization of speakers combined with the use of a set of features derived from the components, resulting from the deconstruction of the voice into its glottal source and vocal tract estimates, will enhance recognition rates when compared to classical approaches. A general description about the main hypothesis and the methodology followed to extract the gender-dependent extended biometric parameters is given. Experimental validation is carried out both on a highly controlled acoustic condition database, and on a mobile phone network recorded under non-controlled acoustic conditions. PMID:26442245

Speaker-specific variability of phoneme durations

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Heerden, CJ

2007-11-01

Full Text Available The durations of phonemes varies for different speakers. To this end, the correlations between phonemes across different speakers are studied and a novel approach to predict unknown phoneme durations from the values of known phoneme durations for a...

Revisiting vocal perception in non-human animals: a review of vowel discrimination, speaker voice recognition, and speaker normalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buddhamas eKriengwatana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The extent to which human speech perception evolved by taking advantage of predispositions and pre-existing features of vertebrate auditory and cognitive systems remains a central question in the evolution of speech. This paper reviews asymmetries in vowel perception, speaker voice recognition, and speaker normalization in non-human animals – topics that have not been thoroughly discussed in relation to the abilities of non-human animals, but are nonetheless important aspects of vocal perception. Throughout this paper we demonstrate that addressing these issues in non-human animals is relevant and worthwhile because many non-human animals must deal with similar issues in their natural environment. That is, they must also discriminate between similar-sounding vocalizations, determine signaler identity from vocalizations, and resolve signaler-dependent variation in vocalizations from conspecifics. Overall, we find that, although plausible, the current evidence is insufficiently strong to conclude that directional asymmetries in vowel perception are specific to humans, or that non-human animals can use voice characteristics to recognize human individuals. However, we do find some indication that non-human animals can normalize speaker differences. Accordingly, we identify avenues for future research that would greatly improve and advance our understanding of these topics.

A New Database for Speaker Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feng, Ling; Hansen, Lars Kai

2005-01-01

In this paper we discuss properties of speech databases used for speaker recognition research and evaluation, and we characterize some popular standard databases. The paper presents a new database called ELSDSR dedicated to speaker recognition applications. The main characteristics of this database...

Speaker Segmentation and Clustering Using Gender Information

Science.gov (United States)

2006-02-01

used in the first stages of segmentation forder information in the clustering of the opposite-gender speaker diarization of news broadcasts. files, the...AFRL-HE-WP-TP-2006-0026 AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY Speaker Segmentation and Clustering Using Gender Information Brian M. Ore General Dynamics...COVERED (From - To) February 2006 ProceedinLgs 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Speaker Segmentation and Clustering Using Gender Information 5b

(En)countering native-speakerism global perspectives

CERN Document Server

Holliday, Adrian; Swan, Anne

2015-01-01

The book addresses the issue of native-speakerism, an ideology based on the assumption that 'native speakers' of English have a special claim to the language itself, through critical qualitative studies of the lived experiences of practising teachers and students in a range of scenarios.

Designing, Modeling, Constructing, and Testing a Flat Panel Speaker and Sound Diffuser for a Simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Dillon, Christina

2013-01-01

The goal of this project was to design, model, build, and test a flat panel speaker and frame for a spherical dome structure being made into a simulator. The simulator will be a test bed for evaluating an immersive environment for human interfaces. This project focused on the loud speakers and a sound diffuser for the dome. The rest of the team worked on an Ambisonics 3D sound system, video projection system, and multi-direction treadmill to create the most realistic scene possible. The main programs utilized in this project, were Pro-E and COMSOL. Pro-E was used for creating detailed figures for the fabrication of a frame that held a flat panel loud speaker. The loud speaker was made from a thin sheet of Plexiglas and 4 acoustic exciters. COMSOL, a multiphysics finite analysis simulator, was used to model and evaluate all stages of the loud speaker, frame, and sound diffuser. Acoustical testing measurements were utilized to create polar plots from the working prototype which were then compared to the COMSOL simulations to select the optimal design for the dome. The final goal of the project was to install the flat panel loud speaker design in addition to a sound diffuser on to the wall of the dome. After running tests in COMSOL on various speaker configurations, including a warped Plexiglas version, the optimal speaker design included a flat piece of Plexiglas with a rounded frame to match the curvature of the dome. Eight of these loud speakers will be mounted into an inch and a half of high performance acoustic insulation, or Thinsulate, that will cover the inside of the dome. The following technical paper discusses these projects and explains the engineering processes used, knowledge gained, and the projected future goals of this project

Lip-Synching Using Speaker-Specific Articulation, Shape and Appearance Models

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Gaspard Breton

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We describe here the control, shape and appearance models that are built using an original photogrammetric method to capture characteristics of speaker-specific facial articulation, anatomy, and texture. Two original contributions are put forward here: the trainable trajectory formation model that predicts articulatory trajectories of a talking face from phonetic input and the texture model that computes a texture for each 3D facial shape according to articulation. Using motion capture data from different speakers and module-specific evaluation procedures, we show here that this cloning system restores detailed idiosyncrasies and the global coherence of visible articulation. Results of a subjective evaluation of the global system with competing trajectory formation models are further presented and commented.

Artificially intelligent recognition of Arabic speaker using voice print-based local features

Science.gov (United States)

Mahmood, Awais; Alsulaiman, Mansour; Muhammad, Ghulam; Akram, Sheeraz

2016-11-01

Local features for any pattern recognition system are based on the information extracted locally. In this paper, a local feature extraction technique was developed. This feature was extracted in the time-frequency plain by taking the moving average on the diagonal directions of the time-frequency plane. This feature captured the time-frequency events producing a unique pattern for each speaker that can be viewed as a voice print of the speaker. Hence, we referred to this technique as voice print-based local feature. The proposed feature was compared to other features including mel-frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) for speaker recognition using two different databases. One of the databases used in the comparison is a subset of an LDC database that consisted of two short sentences uttered by 182 speakers. The proposed feature attained 98.35% recognition rate compared to 96.7% for MFCC using the LDC subset.

Real Time Recognition Of Speakers From Internet Audio Stream

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Weychan Radoslaw

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present an automatic speaker recognition technique with the use of the Internet radio lossy (encoded speech signal streams. We show an influence of the audio encoder (e.g., bitrate on the speaker model quality. The model of each speaker was calculated with the use of the Gaussian mixture model (GMM approach. Both the speaker recognition and the further analysis were realized with the use of short utterances to facilitate real time processing. The neighborhoods of the speaker models were analyzed with the use of the ISOMAP algorithm. The experiments were based on four 1-hour public debates with 7–8 speakers (including the moderator, acquired from the Polish radio Internet services. The presented software was developed with the MATLAB environment.

Accent Attribution in Speakers with Foreign Accent Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Verhoeven, Jo; De Pauw, Guy; Pettinato, Michele; Hirson, Allen; Van Borsel, John; Marien, Peter

2013-01-01

Purpose: The main aim of this experiment was to investigate the perception of Foreign Accent Syndrome in comparison to speakers with an authentic foreign accent. Method: Three groups of listeners attributed accents to conversational speech samples of 5 FAS speakers which were embedded amongst those of 5 speakers with a real foreign accent and 5…

Role of Speaker Cues in Attention Inference

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Jin Joo Lee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Current state-of-the-art approaches to emotion recognition primarily focus on modeling the nonverbal expressions of the sole individual without reference to contextual elements such as the co-presence of the partner. In this paper, we demonstrate that the accurate inference of listeners’ social-emotional state of attention depends on accounting for the nonverbal behaviors of their storytelling partner, namely their speaker cues. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of speaker cues in attention inference, we conduct investigations into real-world interactions of children (5–6 years old storytelling with their peers. Through in-depth analysis of human–human interaction data, we first identify nonverbal speaker cues (i.e., backchannel-inviting cues and listener responses (i.e., backchannel feedback. We then demonstrate how speaker cues can modify the interpretation of attention-related backchannels as well as serve as a means to regulate the responsiveness of listeners. We discuss the design implications of our findings toward our primary goal of developing attention recognition models for storytelling robots, and we argue that social robots can proactively use speaker cues to form more accurate inferences about the attentive state of their human partners.

Speaker and Observer Perceptions of Physical Tension during Stuttering.

Science.gov (United States)

Tichenor, Seth; Leslie, Paula; Shaiman, Susan; Yaruss, J Scott

2017-01-01

Speech-language pathologists routinely assess physical tension during evaluation of those who stutter. If speakers experience tension that is not visible to clinicians, then judgments of severity may be inaccurate. This study addressed this potential discrepancy by comparing judgments of tension by people who stutter and expert clinicians to determine if clinicians could accurately identify the speakers' experience of physical tension. Ten adults who stutter were audio-video recorded in two speaking samples. Two board-certified specialists in fluency evaluated the samples using the Stuttering Severity Instrument-4 and a checklist adapted for this study. Speakers rated their tension using the same forms, and then discussed their experiences in a qualitative interview so that themes related to physical tension could be identified. The degree of tension reported by speakers was higher than that observed by specialists. Tension in parts of the body that were less visible to the observer (chest, abdomen, throat) was reported more by speakers than by specialists. The thematic analysis revealed that speakers' experience of tension changes over time and that these changes may be related to speakers' acceptance of stuttering. The lack of agreement between speaker and specialist perceptions of tension suggests that using self-reports is a necessary component for supporting the accurate diagnosis of tension in stuttering. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Forensic speaker recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meuwly, Didier

2013-01-01

The aim of forensic speaker recognition is to establish links between individuals and criminal activities, through audio speech recordings. This field is multidisciplinary, combining predominantly phonetics, linguistics, speech signal processing, and forensic statistics. On these bases, expert-based

Inferring speaker attributes in adductor spasmodic dysphonia: ratings from unfamiliar listeners.

Science.gov (United States)

Isetti, Derek; Xuereb, Linnea; Eadie, Tanya L

2014-05-01

To determine whether unfamiliar listeners' perceptions of speakers with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) differ from control speakers on the parameters of relative age, confidence, tearfulness, and vocal effort and are related to speaker-rated vocal effort or voice-specific quality of life. Twenty speakers with ADSD (including 6 speakers with ADSD plus tremor) and 20 age- and sex-matched controls provided speech recordings, completed a voice-specific quality-of-life instrument (Voice Handicap Index; Jacobson et al., 1997), and rated their own vocal effort. Twenty listeners evaluated speech samples for relative age, confidence, tearfulness, and vocal effort using rating scales. Listeners judged speakers with ADSD as sounding significantly older, less confident, more tearful, and more effortful than control speakers (p < .01). Increased vocal effort was strongly associated with decreased speaker confidence (rs = .88-.89) and sounding more tearful (rs = .83-.85). Self-rated speaker effort was moderately related (rs = .45-.52) to listener impressions. Listeners' perceptions of confidence and tearfulness were also moderately associated with higher Voice Handicap Index scores (rs = .65-.70). Unfamiliar listeners judge speakers with ADSD more negatively than control speakers, with judgments extending beyond typical clinical measures. The results have implications for counseling and understanding the psychosocial effects of ADSD.

Towards an Intelligent Acoustic Front End for Automatic Speech Recognition: Built-in Speaker Normalization

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Umit H. Yapanel

2008-08-01

Full Text Available A proven method for achieving effective automatic speech recognition (ASR due to speaker differences is to perform acoustic feature speaker normalization. More effective speaker normalization methods are needed which require limited computing resources for real-time performance. The most popular speaker normalization technique is vocal-tract length normalization (VTLN, despite the fact that it is computationally expensive. In this study, we propose a novel online VTLN algorithm entitled built-in speaker normalization (BISN, where normalization is performed on-the-fly within a newly proposed PMVDR acoustic front end. The novel algorithm aspect is that in conventional frontend processing with PMVDR and VTLN, two separating warping phases are needed; while in the proposed BISN method only one single speaker dependent warp is used to achieve both the PMVDR perceptual warp and VTLN warp simultaneously. This improved integration unifies the nonlinear warping performed in the front end and reduces simultaneously. This improved integration unifies the nonlinear warping performed in the front end and reduces computational requirements, thereby offering advantages for real-time ASR systems. Evaluations are performed for (i an in-car extended digit recognition task, where an on-the-fly BISN implementation reduces the relative word error rate (WER by 24%, and (ii for a diverse noisy speech task (SPINE 2, where the relative WER improvement was 9%, both relative to the baseline speaker normalization method.

Towards an Intelligent Acoustic Front End for Automatic Speech Recognition: Built-in Speaker Normalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yapanel UmitH

2008-01-01

Full Text Available A proven method for achieving effective automatic speech recognition (ASR due to speaker differences is to perform acoustic feature speaker normalization. More effective speaker normalization methods are needed which require limited computing resources for real-time performance. The most popular speaker normalization technique is vocal-tract length normalization (VTLN, despite the fact that it is computationally expensive. In this study, we propose a novel online VTLN algorithm entitled built-in speaker normalization (BISN, where normalization is performed on-the-fly within a newly proposed PMVDR acoustic front end. The novel algorithm aspect is that in conventional frontend processing with PMVDR and VTLN, two separating warping phases are needed; while in the proposed BISN method only one single speaker dependent warp is used to achieve both the PMVDR perceptual warp and VTLN warp simultaneously. This improved integration unifies the nonlinear warping performed in the front end and reduces simultaneously. This improved integration unifies the nonlinear warping performed in the front end and reduces computational requirements, thereby offering advantages for real-time ASR systems. Evaluations are performed for (i an in-car extended digit recognition task, where an on-the-fly BISN implementation reduces the relative word error rate (WER by 24%, and (ii for a diverse noisy speech task (SPINE 2, where the relative WER improvement was 9%, both relative to the baseline speaker normalization method.

Speaker-dependent Multipitch Tracking Using Deep Neural Networks

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

sentences spoken by each of 34 speakers (18 male, 16 female). Two male and two female speakers (No. 1, 2, 18, 20, same as [30]), denoted as MA1, MA2 ...Engineering Technical Report #12, 2015 Speaker Pairs MA1- MA2 MA1-FE1 MA1-FE2 MA2 -FE1 MA2 -FE2 FE1-FE2 E T ot al 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Jin and Wang Hu and...Pitch 1 Estimated Pitch 2 (d) Figure 6: Multipitch tracking results on a test mixture (pbbv6n and priv3n) for the MA1- MA2 speaker pair. (a) Groundtruth

Request Strategies in Everyday Interactions of Persian and English Speakers

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Shiler Yazdanfar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Cross-cultural studies of speech acts in different linguistic contexts might have interesting implications for language researchers and practitioners. Drawing on the Speech Act Theory, the present study aimed at conducting a comparative study of request speech act in Persian and English. Specifically, the study endeavored to explore the request strategies used in daily interactions of Persian and English speakers based on directness level and supportive moves. To this end, English and Persian TV series were observed and requestive utterances were transcribed. The utterances were then categorized based on Blum-Kulka and Olshtain’s Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Pattern (CCSARP for directness level and internal and external mitigation devises. According to the results, although speakers of both languages opted for the direct level as their most frequently used strategy in their daily interactions, the English speakers used more conventionally indirect strategies than the Persian speakers did, and the Persian speakers used more non-conventionally indirect strategies than the English speakers did. Furthermore, the analyzed data revealed the fact that American English speakers use more mitigation devices in their daily interactions with friends and family members than Persian speakers.

Speaker Reliability Guides Children's Inductive Inferences about Novel Properties

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sunae; Kalish, Charles W.; Harris, Paul L.

2012-01-01

Prior work shows that children can make inductive inferences about objects based on their labels rather than their appearance (Gelman, 2003). A separate line of research shows that children's trust in a speaker's label is selective. Children accept labels from a reliable speaker over an unreliable speaker (e.g., Koenig & Harris, 2005). In the…

Guest Speakers in School-Based Sexuality Education

Science.gov (United States)

McRee, Annie-Laurie; Madsen, Nikki; Eisenberg, Marla E.

2014-01-01

This study, using data from a statewide survey (n = 332), examined teachers' practices regarding the inclusion of guest speakers to cover sexuality content. More than half of teachers (58%) included guest speakers. In multivariate analyses, teachers who taught high school, had professional preparation in health education, or who received…

The Communication of Public Speaking Anxiety: Perceptions of Asian and American Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Martini, Marianne; And Others

1992-01-01

Finds that U.S. audiences perceive Asian speakers to have more speech anxiety than U.S. speakers, even though Asian speakers do not self-report higher anxiety levels. Confirms that speech state anxiety is not communicated effectively between speakers and audiences for Asian or U.S. speakers. (SR)

Application of Native Speaker Models for Identifying Deviations in Rhetorical Moves in Non-Native Speaker Manuscripts

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Assef Khalili

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Explicit teaching of generic conventions of a text genre, usually extracted from native-speaker (NS manuscripts, has long been emphasized in the teaching of Academic Writing inEnglish for Specific Purposes (henceforthESP classes, both in theory and practice. While consciousness-raising about rhetorical structure can be instrumental to non-native speakers(NNS, it has to be admitted that most works done in the field of ESP have tended to focus almost exclusively on native-speaker (NS productions, giving scant attention to non-native speaker (NNS manuscripts. That is, having outlined established norms for good writing on the basis of NS productions, few have been inclined to provide a descriptive account of NNS attempts at trying to produce a research article (RA in English. That is what we have tried to do in the present research. Methods: We randomly selected 20 RAs in dentistry and used two well-established models for results and discussion sections to try to describe the move structure of these articles and show the points of divergence from the established norms. Results: The results pointed to significant divergences that could seriously compromise the quality of an RA. Conclusion: It is believed that the insights gained on the deviations in NNS manuscripts could prove very useful in designing syllabi for ESP classes.

Human and automatic speaker recognition over telecommunication channels

CERN Document Server

Fernández Gallardo, Laura

2016-01-01

This work addresses the evaluation of the human and the automatic speaker recognition performances under different channel distortions caused by bandwidth limitation, codecs, and electro-acoustic user interfaces, among other impairments. Its main contribution is the demonstration of the benefits of communication channels of extended bandwidth, together with an insight into how speaker-specific characteristics of speech are preserved through different transmissions. It provides sufficient motivation for considering speaker recognition as a criterion for the migration from narrowband to enhanced bandwidths, such as wideband and super-wideband.

Electrophysiology of subject-verb agreement mediated by speakers' gender.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanulíková, Adriana; Carreiras, Manuel

2015-01-01

An important property of speech is that it explicitly conveys features of a speaker's identity such as age or gender. This event-related potential (ERP) study examined the effects of social information provided by a speaker's gender, i.e., the conceptual representation of gender, on subject-verb agreement. Despite numerous studies on agreement, little is known about syntactic computations generated by speaker characteristics extracted from the acoustic signal. Slovak is well suited to investigate this issue because it is a morphologically rich language in which agreement involves features for number, case, and gender. Grammaticality of a sentence can be evaluated by checking a speaker's gender as conveyed by his/her voice. We examined how conceptual information about speaker gender, which is not syntactic but rather social and pragmatic in nature, is interpreted for the computation of agreement patterns. ERP responses to verbs disagreeing with the speaker's gender (e.g., a sentence including a masculine verbal inflection spoken by a female person 'the neighbors were upset because I (∗)stoleMASC plums') elicited a larger early posterior negativity compared to correct sentences. When the agreement was purely syntactic and did not depend on the speaker's gender, a disagreement between a formally marked subject and the verb inflection (e.g., the womanFEM (∗)stoleMASC plums) resulted in a larger P600 preceded by a larger anterior negativity compared to the control sentences. This result is in line with proposals according to which the recruitment of non-syntactic information such as the gender of the speaker results in N400-like effects, while formally marked syntactic features lead to structural integration as reflected in a LAN/P600 complex.

Speakers of different languages process the visual world differently.

Science.gov (United States)

Chabal, Sarah; Marian, Viorica

2015-06-01

Language and vision are highly interactive. Here we show that people activate language when they perceive the visual world, and that this language information impacts how speakers of different languages focus their attention. For example, when searching for an item (e.g., clock) in the same visual display, English and Spanish speakers look at different objects. Whereas English speakers searching for the clock also look at a cloud, Spanish speakers searching for the clock also look at a gift, because the Spanish names for gift (regalo) and clock (reloj) overlap phonologically. These different looking patterns emerge despite an absence of direct language input, showing that linguistic information is automatically activated by visual scene processing. We conclude that the varying linguistic information available to speakers of different languages affects visual perception, leading to differences in how the visual world is processed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Multimodal Speaker Diarization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noulas, A.; Englebienne, G.; Kröse, B.J.A.

2012-01-01

We present a novel probabilistic framework that fuses information coming from the audio and video modality to perform speaker diarization. The proposed framework is a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) that is an extension of a factorial Hidden Markov Model (fHMM) and models the people appearing in an

Neural decoding of attentional selection in multi-speaker environments without access to clean sources

Science.gov (United States)

O'Sullivan, James; Chen, Zhuo; Herrero, Jose; McKhann, Guy M.; Sheth, Sameer A.; Mehta, Ashesh D.; Mesgarani, Nima

2017-10-01

Objective. People who suffer from hearing impairments can find it difficult to follow a conversation in a multi-speaker environment. Current hearing aids can suppress background noise; however, there is little that can be done to help a user attend to a single conversation amongst many without knowing which speaker the user is attending to. Cognitively controlled hearing aids that use auditory attention decoding (AAD) methods are the next step in offering help. Translating the successes in AAD research to real-world applications poses a number of challenges, including the lack of access to the clean sound sources in the environment with which to compare with the neural signals. We propose a novel framework that combines single-channel speech separation algorithms with AAD. Approach. We present an end-to-end system that (1) receives a single audio channel containing a mixture of speakers that is heard by a listener along with the listener’s neural signals, (2) automatically separates the individual speakers in the mixture, (3) determines the attended speaker, and (4) amplifies the attended speaker’s voice to assist the listener. Main results. Using invasive electrophysiology recordings, we identified the regions of the auditory cortex that contribute to AAD. Given appropriate electrode locations, our system is able to decode the attention of subjects and amplify the attended speaker using only the mixed audio. Our quality assessment of the modified audio demonstrates a significant improvement in both subjective and objective speech quality measures. Significance. Our novel framework for AAD bridges the gap between the most recent advancements in speech processing technologies and speech prosthesis research and moves us closer to the development of cognitively controlled hearable devices for the hearing impaired.

Trends and progress in system identification

CERN Document Server

Eykhoff, Pieter

1981-01-01

Trends and Progress in System Identification is a three-part book that focuses on model considerations, identification methods, and experimental conditions involved in system identification. Organized into 10 chapters, this book begins with a discussion of model method in system identification, citing four examples differing on the nature of the models involved, the nature of the fields, and their goals. Subsequent chapters describe the most important aspects of model theory; the """"classical"""" methods and time series estimation; application of least squares and related techniques for the e

Using Reversed MFCC and IT-EM for Automatic Speaker Verification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheeraz Memon

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes text independent automatic speaker verification system using IMFCC (Inverse/ Reverse Mel Frequency Coefficients and IT-EM (Information Theoretic Expectation Maximization. To perform speaker verification, feature extraction using Mel scale has been widely applied and has established better results. The IMFCC is based on inverse Mel-scale. The IMFCC effectively captures information available at the high frequency formants which is ignored by the MFCC. In this paper the fusion of MFCC and IMFCC at input level is proposed. GMMs (Gaussian Mixture Models based on EM (Expectation Maximization have been widely used for classification of text independent verification. However EM comes across the convergence issue. In this paper we use our proposed IT-EM which has faster convergence, to train speaker models. IT-EM uses information theory principles such as PDE (Parzen Density Estimation and KL (Kullback-Leibler divergence measure. IT-EM acclimatizes the weights, means and covariances, like EM. However, IT-EM process is not performed on feature vector sets but on a set of centroids obtained using IT (Information Theoretic metric. The IT-EM process at once diminishes divergence measure between PDE estimates of features distribution within a given class and the centroids distribution within the same class. The feature level fusion and IT-EM is tested for the task of speaker verification using NIST2001 and NIST2004. The experimental evaluation validates that MFCC/IMFCC has better results than the conventional delta/MFCC feature set. The MFCC/IMFCC feature vector size is also much smaller than the delta MFCC thus reducing the computational burden as well. IT-EM method also showed faster convergence, than the conventional EM method, and thus it leads to higher speaker recognition scores.

Studies on inter-speaker variability in speech and its application in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

tic representation of vowel realizations by different speakers. ... in regional background, education level and gender of speaker. A more ...... formal maps such as bilinear transform and its generalizations for speaker normalization. Since.

Content-specific coordination of listeners' to speakers' EEG during communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhlen, Anna K; Allefeld, Carsten; Haynes, John-Dylan

2012-01-01

Cognitive neuroscience has recently begun to extend its focus from the isolated individual mind to two or more individuals coordinating with each other. In this study we uncover a coordination of neural activity between the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) of two people-a person speaking and a person listening. The EEG of one set of twelve participants ("speakers") was recorded while they were narrating short stories. The EEG of another set of twelve participants ("listeners") was recorded while watching audiovisual recordings of these stories. Specifically, listeners watched the superimposed videos of two speakers simultaneously and were instructed to attend either to one or the other speaker. This allowed us to isolate neural coordination due to processing the communicated content from the effects of sensory input. We find several neural signatures of communication: First, the EEG is more similar among listeners attending to the same speaker than among listeners attending to different speakers, indicating that listeners' EEG reflects content-specific information. Secondly, listeners' EEG activity correlates with the attended speakers' EEG, peaking at a time delay of about 12.5 s. This correlation takes place not only between homologous, but also between non-homologous brain areas in speakers and listeners. A semantic analysis of the stories suggests that listeners coordinate with speakers at the level of complex semantic representations, so-called "situation models". With this study we link a coordination of neural activity between individuals directly to verbally communicated information.

Mastering system identification in 100 exercises

CERN Document Server

Schoukens, J; Rolain, Yves

2012-01-01

"This book enables readers to understand system identification and linear system modeling through 100 practical exercises without requiring complex theoretical knowledge. The contents encompass state-of-the-art system identification methods, with both time and frequency domain system identification methods covered, including the pros and cons of each. Each chapter features MATLAB exercises, discussions of the exercises, accompanying MATLAB downloads, and larger projects that serve as potential assignments in this learn-by-doing resource"--

Gricean Semantics and Vague Speaker-Meaning

OpenAIRE

Schiffer, Stephen

2017-01-01

Presentations of Gricean semantics, including Stephen Neale’s in “Silent Reference,” totally ignore vagueness, even though virtually every utterance is vague. I ask how Gricean semantics might be adjusted to accommodate vague speaker-meaning. My answer is that it can’t accommodate it: the Gricean program collapses in the face of vague speaker-meaning. The Gricean might, however, fi nd some solace in knowing that every other extant meta-semantic and semantic program is in the same boat.

Effect of lisping on audience evaluation of male speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mowrer, D E; Wahl, P; Doolan, S J

1978-05-01

The social consequences of adult listeners' first impression of lisping were evaluated in two studies. Five adult speakers were rated by adult listeners with regard to speaking ability, intelligence, education, masculinity, and friendship. Results from both studies indicate that listeners rate adult speakers who demonstrate frontal lisping lower than nonlispers in all five categories investigated. Efforts to correct frontal lisping are justifiable on the basis of the poor impression lisping speakers make on the listener.

Word level language identification in online multilingual communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nguyen, Dong-Phuong; Dogruoz, A. Seza

2013-01-01

Multilingual speakers switch between languages in online and spoken communication. Analyses of large scale multilingual data require automatic language identification at the word level. For our experiments with multilingual online discussions, we first tag the language of individual words using

Non-English speakers attend gastroenterology clinic appointments at higher rates than English speakers in a vulnerable patient population

Science.gov (United States)

Sewell, Justin L.; Kushel, Margot B.; Inadomi, John M.; Yee, Hal F.

2009-01-01

Goals We sought to identify factors associated with gastroenterology clinic attendance in an urban safety net healthcare system. Background Missed clinic appointments reduce the efficiency and availability of healthcare, but subspecialty clinic attendance among patients with established healthcare access has not been studied. Study We performed an observational study using secondary data from administrative sources to study patients referred to, and scheduled for an appointment in, the adult gastroenterology clinic serving the safety net healthcare system of San Francisco, California. Our dependent variable was whether subjects attended or missed a scheduled appointment. Analysis included multivariable logistic regression and classification tree analysis. 1,833 patients were referred and scheduled for an appointment between 05/2005 and 08/2006. Prisoners were excluded. All patients had a primary care provider. Results 683 patients (37.3%) missed their appointment; 1,150 (62.7%) attended. Language was highly associated with attendance in the logistic regression; non-English speakers were less likely than English speakers to miss an appointment (adjusted odds ratio 0.42 [0.28,0.63] for Spanish, 0.56 [0.38,0.82] for Asian language, p gastroenterology clinic appointment, not speaking English was most strongly associated with higher attendance rates. Patient related factors associated with not speaking English likely influence subspecialty clinic attendance rates, and these factors may differ from those affecting general healthcare access. PMID:19169147

Consistency between verbal and non-verbal affective cues: a clue to speaker credibility.

Science.gov (United States)

Gillis, Randall L; Nilsen, Elizabeth S

2017-06-01

Listeners are exposed to inconsistencies in communication; for example, when speakers' words (i.e. verbal) are discrepant with their demonstrated emotions (i.e. non-verbal). Such inconsistencies introduce ambiguity, which may render a speaker to be a less credible source of information. Two experiments examined whether children make credibility discriminations based on the consistency of speakers' affect cues. In Experiment 1, school-age children (7- to 8-year-olds) preferred to solicit information from consistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with negative affect), over novel speakers, to a greater extent than they preferred to solicit information from inconsistent speakers (e.g. those who provided a negative statement with positive affect) over novel speakers. Preschoolers (4- to 5-year-olds) did not demonstrate this preference. Experiment 2 showed that school-age children's ratings of speakers were influenced by speakers' affect consistency when the attribute being judged was related to information acquisition (speakers' believability, "weird" speech), but not general characteristics (speakers' friendliness, likeability). Together, findings suggest that school-age children are sensitive to, and use, the congruency of affect cues to determine whether individuals are credible sources of information.

Young Children's Sensitivity to Speaker Gender When Learning from Others

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Lili; Woolley, Jacqueline D.

2013-01-01

This research explores whether young children are sensitive to speaker gender when learning novel information from others. Four- and 6-year-olds ("N" = 144) chose between conflicting statements from a male versus a female speaker (Studies 1 and 3) or decided which speaker (male or female) they would ask (Study 2) when learning about the functions…

Participation of Second Language and Second Dialect Speakers in the Legal System.

Science.gov (United States)

Eades, Diana

2003-01-01

Overviews current theory and practice and research on second language and second dialect speakers and the language of the law. Suggests most of the studies on the topic have analyzed language in courtrooms, where access to data is much easier than in other legal settings, such as police interviews, mediation sessions, or lawyer-client interviews.…

Performance of wavelet analysis and neural networks for pathological voices identification

Science.gov (United States)

Salhi, Lotfi; Talbi, Mourad; Abid, Sabeur; Cherif, Adnane

2011-09-01

Within the medical environment, diverse techniques exist to assess the state of the voice of the patient. The inspection technique is inconvenient for a number of reasons, such as its high cost, the duration of the inspection, and above all, the fact that it is an invasive technique. This study focuses on a robust, rapid and accurate system for automatic identification of pathological voices. This system employs non-invasive, non-expensive and fully automated method based on hybrid approach: wavelet transform analysis and neural network classifier. First, we present the results obtained in our previous study while using classic feature parameters. These results allow visual identification of pathological voices. Second, quantified parameters drifting from the wavelet analysis are proposed to characterise the speech sample. On the other hand, a system of multilayer neural networks (MNNs) has been developed which carries out the automatic detection of pathological voices. The developed method was evaluated using voice database composed of recorded voice samples (continuous speech) from normophonic or dysphonic speakers. The dysphonic speakers were patients of a National Hospital 'RABTA' of Tunis Tunisia and a University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Experimental results indicate a success rate ranging between 75% and 98.61% for discrimination of normal and pathological voices using the proposed parameters and neural network classifier. We also compared the average classification rate based on the MNN, Gaussian mixture model and support vector machines.

System parameter identification information criteria and algorithms

CERN Document Server

Chen, Badong; Hu, Jinchun; Principe, Jose C

2013-01-01

Recently, criterion functions based on information theoretic measures (entropy, mutual information, information divergence) have attracted attention and become an emerging area of study in signal processing and system identification domain. This book presents a systematic framework for system identification and information processing, investigating system identification from an information theory point of view. The book is divided into six chapters, which cover the information needed to understand the theory and application of system parameter identification. The authors' research pr

Fluency profile: comparison between Brazilian and European Portuguese speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro, Blenda Stephanie Alves e; Martins-Reis, Vanessa de Oliveira; Baptista, Ana Catarina; Celeste, Letícia Correa

2014-01-01

The purpose of the study was to compare the speech fluency of Brazilian Portuguese speakers with that of European Portuguese speakers. The study participants were 76 individuals of any ethnicity or skin color aged 18-29 years. Of the participants, 38 lived in Brazil and 38 in Portugal. Speech samples from all participants were obtained and analyzed according to the variables of typology and frequency of speech disruptions and speech rate. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed to assess the association between the fluency profile and linguistic variant variables. We found that the speech rate of European Portuguese speakers was higher than the speech rate of Brazilian Portuguese speakers in words per minute (p=0.004). The qualitative distribution of the typology of common dysfluencies (pPortuguese speakers is not available, speech therapists in Portugal can use the same speech fluency assessment as has been used in Brazil to establish a diagnosis of stuttering, especially in regard to typical and stuttering dysfluencies, with care taken when evaluating the speech rate.

Direct Speaker Gaze Promotes Trust in Truth-Ambiguous Statements.

Science.gov (United States)

Kreysa, Helene; Kessler, Luise; Schweinberger, Stefan R

2016-01-01

A speaker's gaze behaviour can provide perceivers with a multitude of cues which are relevant for communication, thus constituting an important non-verbal interaction channel. The present study investigated whether direct eye gaze of a speaker affects the likelihood of listeners believing truth-ambiguous statements. Participants were presented with videos in which a speaker produced such statements with either direct or averted gaze. The statements were selected through a rating study to ensure that participants were unlikely to know a-priori whether they were true or not (e.g., "sniffer dogs cannot smell the difference between identical twins"). Participants indicated in a forced-choice task whether or not they believed each statement. We found that participants were more likely to believe statements by a speaker looking at them directly, compared to a speaker with averted gaze. Moreover, when participants disagreed with a statement, they were slower to do so when the statement was uttered with direct (compared to averted) gaze, suggesting that the process of rejecting a statement as untrue may be inhibited when that statement is accompanied by direct gaze.

Facial Expression Generation from Speaker's Emotional States in Daily Conversation

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Hiroki; Ohshima, Koh

A framework for generating facial expressions from emotional states in daily conversation is described. It provides a mapping between emotional states and facial expressions, where the former is represented by vectors with psychologically-defined abstract dimensions, and the latter is coded by the Facial Action Coding System. In order to obtain the mapping, parallel data with rated emotional states and facial expressions were collected for utterances of a female speaker, and a neural network was trained with the data. The effectiveness of proposed method is verified by a subjective evaluation test. As the result, the Mean Opinion Score with respect to the suitability of generated facial expression was 3.86 for the speaker, which was close to that of hand-made facial expressions.

A hybrid generative-discriminative approach to speaker diarization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noulas, A.K.; van Kasteren, T.; Kröse, B.J.A.

2008-01-01

In this paper we present a sound probabilistic approach to speaker diarization. We use a hybrid framework where a distribution over the number of speakers at each point of a multimodal stream is estimated with a discriminative model. The output of this process is used as input in a generative model

Understanding speaker attitudes from prosody by adults with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Monetta, Laura; Cheang, Henry S; Pell, Marc D

2008-09-01

The ability to interpret vocal (prosodic) cues during social interactions can be disrupted by Parkinson's disease, with notable effects on how emotions are understood from speech. This study investigated whether PD patients who have emotional prosody deficits exhibit further difficulties decoding the attitude of a speaker from prosody. Vocally inflected but semantically nonsensical 'pseudo-utterances' were presented to listener groups with and without PD in two separate rating tasks. Task I required participants to rate how confident a speaker sounded from their voice and Task 2 required listeners to rate how polite the speaker sounded for a comparable set of pseudo-utterances. The results showed that PD patients were significantly less able than HC participants to use prosodic cues to differentiate intended levels of speaker confidence in speech, although the patients could accurately detect the politelimpolite attitude of the speaker from prosody in most cases. Our data suggest that many PD patients fail to use vocal cues to effectively infer a speaker's emotions as well as certain attitudes in speech such as confidence, consistent with the idea that the basal ganglia play a role in the meaningful processing of prosodic sequences in spoken language (Pell & Leonard, 2003).

Simultaneous Assessment of Speech Identification and Spatial Discrimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer K. Bizley

2015-12-01

Full Text Available With increasing numbers of children and adults receiving bilateral cochlear implants, there is an urgent need for assessment tools that enable testing of binaural hearing abilities. Current test batteries are either limited in scope or are of an impractical duration for routine testing. Here, we report a behavioral test that enables combined testing of speech identification and spatial discrimination in noise. In this task, multitalker babble was presented from all speakers, and pairs of speech tokens were sequentially presented from two adjacent speakers. Listeners were required to identify both words from a closed set of four possibilities and to determine whether the second token was presented to the left or right of the first. In Experiment 1, normal-hearing adult listeners were tested at 15° intervals throughout the frontal hemifield. Listeners showed highest spatial discrimination performance in and around the frontal midline, with a decline at more eccentric locations. In contrast, speech identification abilities were least accurate near the midline and showed an improvement in performance at more lateral locations. In Experiment 2, normal-hearing listeners were assessed using a restricted range of speaker locations designed to match those found in clinical testing environments. Here, speakers were separated by 15° around the midline and 30° at more lateral locations. This resulted in a similar pattern of behavioral results as in Experiment 1. We conclude, this test offers the potential to assess both spatial discrimination and the ability to use spatial information for unmasking in clinical populations.

On the Use of Complementary Spectral Features for Speaker Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sridhar Krishnan

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The most popular features for speaker recognition are Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs and linear prediction cepstral coefficients (LPCCs. These features are used extensively because they characterize the vocal tract configuration which is known to be highly speaker-dependent. In this work, several features are introduced that can characterize the vocal system in order to complement the traditional features and produce better speaker recognition models. The spectral centroid (SC, spectral bandwidth (SBW, spectral band energy (SBE, spectral crest factor (SCF, spectral flatness measure (SFM, Shannon entropy (SE, and Renyi entropy (RE were utilized for this purpose. This work demonstrates that these features are robust in noisy conditions by simulating some common distortions that are found in the speakers' environment and a typical telephone channel. Babble noise, additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN, and a bandpass channel with 1 dB of ripple were used to simulate these noisy conditions. The results show significant improvements in classification performance for all noise conditions when these features were used to complement the MFCC and ΔMFCC features. In particular, the SC and SCF improved performance in almost all noise conditions within the examined SNR range (10–40 dB. For example, in cases where there was only one source of distortion, classification improvements of up to 8% and 10% were achieved under babble noise and AWGN, respectively, using the SCF feature.

Evidential Uses in the Spanish of Quechua Speakers in Peru.

Science.gov (United States)

Escobar, Anna Maria

1994-01-01

Analysis of recordings of spontaneous speech of native speakers of Quechua speaking Spanish as a second language reveals that, using verbal morphological resources of Spanish, they have grammaticalized an epistemic marking system resembling that of Quechua. Sources of this process in both Quechua and Spanish are analyzed. (MSE)

Linear array of photodiodes to track a human speaker for video recording

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeTone, D; Neal, H; Lougheed, R

2012-01-01

Communication and collaboration using stored digital media has garnered more interest by many areas of business, government and education in recent years. This is due primarily to improvements in the quality of cameras and speed of computers. An advantage of digital media is that it can serve as an effective alternative when physical interaction is not possible. Video recordings that allow for viewers to discern a presenter's facial features, lips and hand motions are more effective than videos that do not. To attain this, one must maintain a video capture in which the speaker occupies a significant portion of the captured pixels. However, camera operators are costly, and often do an imperfect job of tracking presenters in unrehearsed situations. This creates motivation for a robust, automated system that directs a video camera to follow a presenter as he or she walks anywhere in the front of a lecture hall or large conference room. Such a system is presented. The system consists of a commercial, off-the-shelf pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) color video camera, a necklace of infrared LEDs and a linear photodiode array detector. Electronic output from the photodiode array is processed to generate the location of the LED necklace, which is worn by a human speaker. The computer controls the video camera movements to record video of the speaker. The speaker's vertical position and depth are assumed to remain relatively constant– the video camera is sent only panning (horizontal) movement commands. The LED necklace is flashed at 70Hz at a 50% duty cycle to provide noise-filtering capability. The benefit to using a photodiode array versus a standard video camera is its higher frame rate (4kHz vs. 60Hz). The higher frame rate allows for the filtering of infrared noise such as sunlight and indoor lighting–a capability absent from other tracking technologies. The system has been tested in a large lecture hall and is shown to be effective.

Linear array of photodiodes to track a human speaker for video recording

Science.gov (United States)

DeTone, D.; Neal, H.; Lougheed, R.

2012-12-01

Communication and collaboration using stored digital media has garnered more interest by many areas of business, government and education in recent years. This is due primarily to improvements in the quality of cameras and speed of computers. An advantage of digital media is that it can serve as an effective alternative when physical interaction is not possible. Video recordings that allow for viewers to discern a presenter's facial features, lips and hand motions are more effective than videos that do not. To attain this, one must maintain a video capture in which the speaker occupies a significant portion of the captured pixels. However, camera operators are costly, and often do an imperfect job of tracking presenters in unrehearsed situations. This creates motivation for a robust, automated system that directs a video camera to follow a presenter as he or she walks anywhere in the front of a lecture hall or large conference room. Such a system is presented. The system consists of a commercial, off-the-shelf pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) color video camera, a necklace of infrared LEDs and a linear photodiode array detector. Electronic output from the photodiode array is processed to generate the location of the LED necklace, which is worn by a human speaker. The computer controls the video camera movements to record video of the speaker. The speaker's vertical position and depth are assumed to remain relatively constant- the video camera is sent only panning (horizontal) movement commands. The LED necklace is flashed at 70Hz at a 50% duty cycle to provide noise-filtering capability. The benefit to using a photodiode array versus a standard video camera is its higher frame rate (4kHz vs. 60Hz). The higher frame rate allows for the filtering of infrared noise such as sunlight and indoor lighting-a capability absent from other tracking technologies. The system has been tested in a large lecture hall and is shown to be effective.

Time-Delay System Identification Using Genetic Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhenyu; Seested, Glen Thane

2013-01-01

Due to the unknown dead-time coefficient, the time-delay system identification turns to be a non-convex optimization problem. This paper investigates the identification of a simple time-delay system, named First-Order-Plus-Dead-Time (FOPDT), by using the Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique. The qual......Due to the unknown dead-time coefficient, the time-delay system identification turns to be a non-convex optimization problem. This paper investigates the identification of a simple time-delay system, named First-Order-Plus-Dead-Time (FOPDT), by using the Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique...

Direct Speaker Gaze Promotes Trust in Truth-Ambiguous Statements.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helene Kreysa

Full Text Available A speaker's gaze behaviour can provide perceivers with a multitude of cues which are relevant for communication, thus constituting an important non-verbal interaction channel. The present study investigated whether direct eye gaze of a speaker affects the likelihood of listeners believing truth-ambiguous statements. Participants were presented with videos in which a speaker produced such statements with either direct or averted gaze. The statements were selected through a rating study to ensure that participants were unlikely to know a-priori whether they were true or not (e.g., "sniffer dogs cannot smell the difference between identical twins". Participants indicated in a forced-choice task whether or not they believed each statement. We found that participants were more likely to believe statements by a speaker looking at them directly, compared to a speaker with averted gaze. Moreover, when participants disagreed with a statement, they were slower to do so when the statement was uttered with direct (compared to averted gaze, suggesting that the process of rejecting a statement as untrue may be inhibited when that statement is accompanied by direct gaze.

Physiological Indices of Bilingualism: Oral–Motor Coordination and Speech Rate in Bengali–English Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Chakraborty, Rahul; Goffman, Lisa; Smith, Anne

2009-01-01

Purpose To examine how age of immersion and proficiency in a 2nd language influence speech movement variability and speaking rate in both a 1st language and a 2nd language. Method A group of 21 Bengali–English bilingual speakers participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded. For all 21 speakers, lip movement variability was assessed based on productions of Bengali (L1; 1st language) and English (L2; 2nd language) sentences. For analyses related to the influence of L2 proficiency on speech production processes, participants were sorted into low- (n = 7) and high-proficiency (n = 7) groups. Lip movement variability and speech rate were evaluated for both of these groups across L1 and L2 sentences. Results Surprisingly, adult bilingual speakers produced equally consistent speech movement patterns in their production of L1 and L2. When groups were sorted according to proficiency, highly proficient speakers were marginally more variable in their L1. In addition, there were some phoneme-specific effects, most markedly that segments not shared by both languages were treated differently in production. Consistent with previous studies, movement durations were longer for less proficient speakers in both L1 and L2. Interpretation In contrast to those of child learners, the speech motor systems of adult L2 speakers show a high degree of consistency. Such lack of variability presumably contributes to protracted difficulties with acquiring nativelike pronunciation in L2. The proficiency results suggest bidirectional interactions across L1 and L2, which is consistent with hypotheses regarding interference and the sharing of phonological space. A slower speech rate in less proficient speakers implies that there are increased task demands on speech production processes. PMID:18367680

Bilingual and Monolingual Children Prefer Native-Accented Speakers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre L. eSouza

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007. Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld & Lambert, 1964, which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children’s reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.

Bilingual and monolingual children prefer native-accented speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, André L; Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

2013-01-01

Adults and young children prefer to affiliate with some individuals rather than others. Studies have shown that monolingual children show in-group biases for individuals who speak their native language without a foreign accent (Kinzler et al., 2007). Some studies have suggested that bilingual children are less influenced than monolinguals by language variety when attributing personality traits to different speakers (Anisfeld and Lambert, 1964), which could indicate that bilinguals have fewer in-group biases and perhaps greater social flexibility. However, no previous studies have compared monolingual and bilingual children's reactions to speakers with unfamiliar foreign accents. In the present study, we investigated the social preferences of 5-year-old English and French monolinguals and English-French bilinguals. Contrary to our predictions, both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers preferred to be friends with native-accented speakers over speakers who spoke their dominant language with an unfamiliar foreign accent. This result suggests that both monolingual and bilingual children have strong preferences for in-group members who use a familiar language variety, and that bilingualism does not lead to generalized social flexibility.

Differences in Sickness Allowance Receipt between Swedish Speakers and Finnish Speakers in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaarina S. Reini

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Previous research has documented lower disability retirement and mortality rates of Swedish speakers as compared with Finnish speakers in Finland. This paper is the first to compare the two language groups with regard to the receipt of sickness allowance, which is an objective health measure that reflects a less severe poor health condition. Register-based data covering the years 1988-2011 are used. We estimate logistic regression models with generalized estimating equations to account for repeated observations at the individual level. We find that Swedish-speaking men have approximately 30 percent lower odds of receiving sickness allowance than Finnish-speaking men, whereas the difference in women is about 15 percent. In correspondence with previous research on all-cause mortality at working ages, we find no language-group difference in sickness allowance receipt in the socially most successful subgroup of the population.

Electro-optical fuel pin identification system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchner, T.L.

1978-09-01

A prototype Electro-Optical Fuel Pin Identification System referred to as the Fuel Pin Identification System (FPIS) has been developed by the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL) in support of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) presently under construction at HEDL. The system is designed to remotely read an alpha-numeric identification number that is roll stamped on the top of the fuel pin end cap. The prototype FPIS consists of four major subassemblies: optical read head, digital compression electronics, video display, and line printer

Comprehending non-native speakers: theory and evidence for adjustment in manner of processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lev-Ari, Shiri

2014-01-01

Non-native speakers have lower linguistic competence than native speakers, which renders their language less reliable in conveying their intentions. We suggest that expectations of lower competence lead listeners to adapt their manner of processing when they listen to non-native speakers. We propose that listeners use cognitive resources to adjust by increasing their reliance on top-down processes and extracting less information from the language of the non-native speaker. An eye-tracking study supports our proposal by showing that when following instructions by a non-native speaker, listeners make more contextually-induced interpretations. Those with relatively high working memory also increase their reliance on context to anticipate the speaker's upcoming reference, and are less likely to notice lexical errors in the non-native speech, indicating that they take less information from the speaker's language. These results contribute to our understanding of the flexibility in language processing and have implications for interactions between native and non-native speakers.

Role of Speaker Cues in Attention Inference

OpenAIRE

Jin Joo Lee; Cynthia Breazeal; David DeSteno

2017-01-01

Current state-of-the-art approaches to emotion recognition primarily focus on modeling the nonverbal expressions of the sole individual without reference to contextual elements such as the co-presence of the partner. In this paper, we demonstrate that the accurate inference of listeners’ social-emotional state of attention depends on accounting for the nonverbal behaviors of their storytelling partner, namely their speaker cues. To gain a deeper understanding of the role of speaker cues in at...

Adaptive Communication: Languages with More Non-Native Speakers Tend to Have Fewer Word Forms.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian Bentz

Full Text Available Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity. Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language.

Adaptive Communication: Languages with More Non-Native Speakers Tend to Have Fewer Word Forms

Science.gov (United States)

Bentz, Christian; Verkerk, Annemarie; Kiela, Douwe; Hill, Felix; Buttery, Paula

2015-01-01

Explaining the diversity of languages across the world is one of the central aims of typological, historical, and evolutionary linguistics. We consider the effect of language contact-the number of non-native speakers a language has-on the way languages change and evolve. By analysing hundreds of languages within and across language families, regions, and text types, we show that languages with greater levels of contact typically employ fewer word forms to encode the same information content (a property we refer to as lexical diversity). Based on three types of statistical analyses, we demonstrate that this variance can in part be explained by the impact of non-native speakers on information encoding strategies. Finally, we argue that languages are information encoding systems shaped by the varying needs of their speakers. Language evolution and change should be modeled as the co-evolution of multiple intertwined adaptive systems: On one hand, the structure of human societies and human learning capabilities, and on the other, the structure of language. PMID:26083380

Race in Conflict with Heritage: "Black" Heritage Language Speaker of Japanese

Science.gov (United States)

Doerr, Neriko Musha; Kumagai, Yuri

2014-01-01

"Heritage language speaker" is a relatively new term to denote minority language speakers who grew up in a household where the language was used or those who have a family, ancestral, or racial connection to the minority language. In research on heritage language speakers, overlap between these 2 definitions is often assumed--that is,…

On System Identification of Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Perisic, Nevena; Pedersen, B.J.

Recently several methods have been proposed for the system identification of wind turbines which can be considered as a linear time-varying system due to the operating conditions. For the identification of linear wind turbine models, either black-box or grey-box identification can be used....... The operational model analysis (OMA) methodology can provide accurate estimates of the natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of the systems as long as the measurements have a low noise to signal ratio. However, in order to take information about the wind turbine into account a grey...

System Identification with Quantized Observations

CERN Document Server

Wang, Le Yi; Zhang, Jifeng; Zhao, Yanlong

2010-01-01

This book presents recently developed methodologies that utilize quantized information in system identification and explores their potential in extending control capabilities for systems with limited sensor information or networked systems. The results of these methodologies can be applied to signal processing and control design of communication and computer networks, sensor networks, mobile agents, coordinated data fusion, remote sensing, telemedicine, and other fields in which noise-corrupted quantized data need to be processed. Providing a comprehensive coverage of quantized identification,

Are Cantonese-speakers really descriptivists? Revisiting cross-cultural semantics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Barry

2010-05-01

In an article in Cognition [Machery, E., Mallon, R., Nichols, S., & Stich, S. (2004). Semantics cross-cultural style. Cognition, 92, B1-B12] present data which purports to show that East Asian Cantonese-speakers tend to have descriptivist intuitions about the referents of proper names, while Western English-speakers tend to have causal-historical intuitions about proper names. Machery et al. take this finding to support the view that some intuitions, the universality of which they claim is central to philosophical theories, vary according to cultural background. Machery et al. conclude from their findings that the philosophical methodology of consulting intuitions about hypothetical cases is flawed vis a vis the goal of determining truths about some philosophical domains like philosophical semantics. In the following study, three new vignettes in English were given to Western native English-speakers, and Cantonese translations were given to native Cantonese-speaking immigrants from a Cantonese community in Southern California. For all three vignettes, questions were given to elicit intuitions about the referent of a proper name and the truth-value of an uttered sentence containing a proper name. The results from this study reveal that East Asian Cantonese-speakers do not differ from Western English-speakers in ways that support Machery et al.'s conclusions. This new data concerning the intuitions of Cantonese-speakers raises questions about whether cross-cultural variation in answers to questions on certain vignettes reveal genuine differences in intuitions, or whether such differences stem from non-intuitional differences, such as differences in linguistic competence. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Embedded System for Biometric Identification

OpenAIRE

Rosli, Ahmad Nasir Che

2010-01-01

This chapter describes the design and implementation of an Embedded System for Biometric Identification from hardware and software perspectives. The first part of the chapter describes the idea of biometric identification. This includes the definition of

Performance Assessment of the CapitalBio Mycobacterium Identification Array System for Identification of Mycobacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jingbo; Yan, Zihe; Han, Min; Han, Zhijun; Jin, Lingjie; Zhao, Yanlin

2012-01-01

The CapitalBio Mycobacterium identification microarray system is a rapid system for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The performance of this system was assessed with 24 reference strains, 486 Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates, and 40 clinical samples and then compared to the “gold standard” of DNA sequencing. The CapitalBio Mycobacterium identification microarray system showed highly concordant identification results of 100% and 98.4% for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the CapitalBio Mycobacterium identification array for identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were 99.6% and 100%, respectively, for direct detection and identification of clinical samples, and the overall sensitivity was 52.5%. It was 100% for sputum, 16.7% for pleural fluid, and 10% for bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, respectively. The total assay was completed in 6 h, including DNA extraction, PCR, and hybridization. The results of this study confirm the utility of this system for the rapid identification of mycobacteria and suggest that the CapitalBio Mycobacterium identification array is a molecular diagnostic technique with high sensitivity and specificity that has the capacity to quickly identify most mycobacteria. PMID:22090408

Data-Driven Photovoltaic System Modeling Based on Nonlinear System Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayedh Alqahtani

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Solar photovoltaic (PV energy sources are rapidly gaining potential growth and popularity compared to conventional fossil fuel sources. As the merging of PV systems with existing power sources increases, reliable and accurate PV system identification is essential, to address the highly nonlinear change in PV system dynamic and operational characteristics. This paper deals with the identification of a PV system characteristic with a switch-mode power converter. Measured input-output data are collected from a real PV panel to be used for the identification. The data are divided into estimation and validation sets. The identification methodology is discussed. A Hammerstein-Wiener model is identified and selected due to its suitability to best capture the PV system dynamics, and results and discussion are provided to demonstrate the accuracy of the selected model structure.

Assessing the Performance of Automatic Speech Recognition Systems When Used by Native and Non-Native Speakers of Three Major Languages in Dictation Workflows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zapata, Julián; Kirkedal, Andreas Søeborg

2015-01-01

In this paper, we report on a two-part experiment aiming to assess and compare the performance of two types of automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems on two different computational platforms when used to augment dictation workflows. The experiment was performed with a sample of speakers...

A Study on Metadiscoursive Interaction in the MA Theses of the Native Speakers of English and the Turkish Speakers of English

Science.gov (United States)

Köroglu, Zehra; Tüm, Gülden

2017-01-01

This study has been conducted to evaluate the TM usage in the MA theses written by the native speakers (NSs) of English and the Turkish speakers (TSs) of English. The purpose is to compare the TM usage in the introduction, results and discussion, and conclusion sections by both groups' randomly selected MA theses in the field of ELT between the…

Segmentation of the Speaker's Face Region with Audiovisual Correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuyu; Sato, Yoichi

The ability to find the speaker's face region in a video is useful for various applications. In this work, we develop a novel technique to find this region within different time windows, which is robust against the changes of view, scale, and background. The main thrust of our technique is to integrate audiovisual correlation analysis into a video segmentation framework. We analyze the audiovisual correlation locally by computing quadratic mutual information between our audiovisual features. The computation of quadratic mutual information is based on the probability density functions estimated by kernel density estimation with adaptive kernel bandwidth. The results of this audiovisual correlation analysis are incorporated into graph cut-based video segmentation to resolve a globally optimum extraction of the speaker's face region. The setting of any heuristic threshold in this segmentation is avoided by learning the correlation distributions of speaker and background by expectation maximization. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can detect the speaker's face region accurately and robustly for different views, scales, and backgrounds.

A fundamental residue pitch perception bias for tone language speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Petitti, Elizabeth

A complex tone composed of only higher-order harmonics typically elicits a pitch percept equivalent to the tone's missing fundamental frequency (f0). When judging the direction of residue pitch change between two such tones, however, listeners may have completely opposite perceptual experiences depending on whether they are biased to perceive changes based on the overall spectrum or the missing f0 (harmonic spacing). Individual differences in residue pitch change judgments are reliable and have been associated with musical experience and functional neuroanatomy. Tone languages put greater pitch processing demands on their speakers than non-tone languages, and we investigated whether these lifelong differences in linguistic pitch processing affect listeners' bias for residue pitch. We asked native tone language speakers and native English speakers to perform a pitch judgment task for two tones with missing fundamental frequencies. Given tone pairs with ambiguous pitch changes, listeners were asked to judge the direction of pitch change, where the direction of their response indicated whether they attended to the overall spectrum (exhibiting a spectral bias) or the missing f0 (exhibiting a fundamental bias). We found that tone language speakers are significantly more likely to perceive pitch changes based on the missing f0 than English speakers. These results suggest that tone-language speakers' privileged experience with linguistic pitch fundamentally tunes their basic auditory processing.

Genetic Algorithm-Based Identification of Fractional-Order Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shengxi Zhou

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Fractional calculus has become an increasingly popular tool for modeling the complex behaviors of physical systems from diverse domains. One of the key issues to apply fractional calculus to engineering problems is to achieve the parameter identification of fractional-order systems. A time-domain identification algorithm based on a genetic algorithm (GA is proposed in this paper. The multi-variable parameter identification is converted into a parameter optimization by applying GA to the identification of fractional-order systems. To evaluate the identification accuracy and stability, the time-domain output error considering the condition variation is designed as the fitness function for parameter optimization. The identification process is established under various noise levels and excitation levels. The effects of external excitation and the noise level on the identification accuracy are analyzed in detail. The simulation results show that the proposed method could identify the parameters of both commensurate rate and non-commensurate rate fractional-order systems from the data with noise. It is also observed that excitation signal is an important factor influencing the identification accuracy of fractional-order systems.

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences. PMID:28450829

Musical Sophistication and the Effect of Complexity on Auditory Discrimination in Finnish Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Caitlin; Aalto, Daniel; Šimko, Juraj; Vainio, Martti; Tervaniemi, Mari

2017-01-01

Musical experiences and native language are both known to affect auditory processing. The present work aims to disentangle the influences of native language phonology and musicality on behavioral and subcortical sound feature processing in a population of musically diverse Finnish speakers as well as to investigate the specificity of enhancement from musical training. Finnish speakers are highly sensitive to duration cues since in Finnish, vowel and consonant duration determine word meaning. Using a correlational approach with a set of behavioral sound feature discrimination tasks, brainstem recordings, and a musical sophistication questionnaire, we find no evidence for an association between musical sophistication and more precise duration processing in Finnish speakers either in the auditory brainstem response or in behavioral tasks, but they do show an enhanced pitch discrimination compared to Finnish speakers with less musical experience and show greater duration modulation in a complex task. These results are consistent with a ceiling effect set for certain sound features which corresponds to the phonology of the native language, leaving an opportunity for music experience-based enhancement of sound features not explicitly encoded in the language (such as pitch, which is not explicitly encoded in Finnish). Finally, the pattern of duration modulation in more musically sophisticated Finnish speakers suggests integrated feature processing for greater efficiency in a real world musical situation. These results have implications for research into the specificity of plasticity in the auditory system as well as to the effects of interaction of specific language features with musical experiences.

Internal request modification by first and second language speakers ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study focuses on the question of whether Luganda English speakers would negatively transfer into their English speech the use of syntactic and lexical down graders resulting in pragmatic failure. Data were collected from Luganda and Luganda English speakers by means of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) ...

Speaker Input Variability Does Not Explain Why Larger Populations Have Simpler Languages.

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, Mark; Kirby, Simon; Smith, Kenny

2015-01-01

A learner's linguistic input is more variable if it comes from a greater number of speakers. Higher speaker input variability has been shown to facilitate the acquisition of phonemic boundaries, since data drawn from multiple speakers provides more information about the distribution of phonemes in a speech community. It has also been proposed that speaker input variability may have a systematic influence on individual-level learning of morphology, which can in turn influence the group-level characteristics of a language. Languages spoken by larger groups of people have less complex morphology than those spoken in smaller communities. While a mechanism by which the number of speakers could have such an effect is yet to be convincingly identified, differences in speaker input variability, which is thought to be larger in larger groups, may provide an explanation. By hindering the acquisition, and hence faithful cross-generational transfer, of complex morphology, higher speaker input variability may result in structural simplification. We assess this claim in two experiments which investigate the effect of such variability on language learning, considering its influence on a learner's ability to segment a continuous speech stream and acquire a morphologically complex miniature language. We ultimately find no evidence to support the proposal that speaker input variability influences language learning and so cannot support the hypothesis that it explains how population size determines the structural properties of language.

Effects of low speed wind on the recognition/identification and pass-through communication tasks of auditory situation awareness afforded by military hearing protection/enhancement devices and tactical communication and protective systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kichol; Casali, John G

2016-01-01

To investigate the effect of controlled low-speed wind-noise on the auditory situation awareness performance afforded by military hearing protection/enhancement devices (HPED) and tactical communication and protective systems (TCAPS). Recognition/identification and pass-through communications tasks were separately conducted under three wind conditions (0, 5, and 10 mph). Subjects wore two in-ear-type TCAPS, one earmuff-type TCAPS, a Combat Arms Earplug in its 'open' or pass-through setting, and an EB-15LE electronic earplug. Devices with electronic gain systems were tested under two gain settings: 'unity' and 'max'. Testing without any device (open ear) was conducted as a control. Ten subjects were recruited from the student population at Virginia Tech. Audiometric requirements were 25 dBHL or better at 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz in both ears. Performance on the interaction of communication task-by-device was significantly different only in 0 mph wind speed. The between-device performance differences varied with azimuthal speaker locations. It is evident from this study that stable (non-gusting) wind speeds up to 10 mph did not significantly degrade recognition/identification task performance and pass-through communication performance of the group of HPEDs and TCAPS tested. However, the various devices performed differently as the test sound signal speaker location was varied and it appears that physical as well as electronic features may have contributed to this directional result.

Multistage Data Selection-based Unsupervised Speaker Adaptation for Personalized Speech Emotion Recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kim, Jaebok; Park, Jeong-Sik

This paper proposes an efficient speech emotion recognition (SER) approach that utilizes personal voice data accumulated on personal devices. A representative weakness of conventional SER systems is the user-dependent performance induced by the speaker independent (SI) acoustic model framework. But,

Does verbatim sentence recall underestimate the language competence of near-native speakers?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith eSchweppe

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Verbatim sentence recall is widely used to test the language competence of native and non-native speakers since it involves comprehension and production of connected speech. However, we assume that, to maintain surface information, sentence recall relies particularly on attentional resources, which differentially affects native and non-native speakers. Since even in near-natives language processing is less automatized than in native speakers, processing a sentence in a foreign language plus retaining its surface may result in a cognitive overload. We contrasted sentence recall performance of German native speakers with that of highly proficient non-natives. Non-natives recalled the sentences significantly poorer than the natives, but performed equally well on a cloze test. This implies that sentence recall underestimates the language competence of good non-native speakers in mixed groups with native speakers. The findings also suggest that theories of sentence recall need to consider both its linguistic and its attentional aspects.

Speech Clarity Index (Ψ): A Distance-Based Speech Quality Indicator and Recognition Rate Prediction for Dysarthric Speakers with Cerebral Palsy

Science.gov (United States)

Kayasith, Prakasith; Theeramunkong, Thanaruk

It is a tedious and subjective task to measure severity of a dysarthria by manually evaluating his/her speech using available standard assessment methods based on human perception. This paper presents an automated approach to assess speech quality of a dysarthric speaker with cerebral palsy. With the consideration of two complementary factors, speech consistency and speech distinction, a speech quality indicator called speech clarity index (Ψ) is proposed as a measure of the speaker's ability to produce consistent speech signal for a certain word and distinguished speech signal for different words. As an application, it can be used to assess speech quality and forecast speech recognition rate of speech made by an individual dysarthric speaker before actual exhaustive implementation of an automatic speech recognition system for the speaker. The effectiveness of Ψ as a speech recognition rate predictor is evaluated by rank-order inconsistency, correlation coefficient, and root-mean-square of difference. The evaluations had been done by comparing its predicted recognition rates with ones predicted by the standard methods called the articulatory and intelligibility tests based on the two recognition systems (HMM and ANN). The results show that Ψ is a promising indicator for predicting recognition rate of dysarthric speech. All experiments had been done on speech corpus composed of speech data from eight normal speakers and eight dysarthric speakers.

Are Cantonese-Speakers Really Descriptivists? Revisiting Cross-Cultural Semantics

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Barry

2010-01-01

In an article in "Cognition" [Machery, E., Mallon, R., Nichols, S., & Stich, S. (2004). "Semantics cross-cultural style." "Cognition, 92", B1-B12] present data which purports to show that East Asian Cantonese-speakers tend to have descriptivist intuitions about the referents of proper names, while Western English-speakers tend to have…

Access control and personal identification systems

CERN Document Server

Bowers, Dan M

1988-01-01

Access Control and Personal Identification Systems provides an education in the field of access control and personal identification systems, which is essential in selecting the appropriate equipment, dealing intelligently with vendors in purchases of the equipment, and integrating the equipment into a total effective system. Access control devices and systems comprise an important part of almost every security system, but are seldom the sole source of security. In order for the goals of the total system to be met, the other portions of the security system must also be well planned and executed

Pitch perception and production in congenital amusia: Evidence from Cantonese speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Fang; Chan, Alice H D; Ciocca, Valter; Roquet, Catherine; Peretz, Isabelle; Wong, Patrick C M

2016-07-01

This study investigated pitch perception and production in speech and music in individuals with congenital amusia (a disorder of musical pitch processing) who are native speakers of Cantonese, a tone language with a highly complex tonal system. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking congenital amusics and 16 controls performed a set of lexical tone perception, production, singing, and psychophysical pitch threshold tasks. Their tone production accuracy and singing proficiency were subsequently judged by independent listeners, and subjected to acoustic analyses. Relative to controls, amusics showed impaired discrimination of lexical tones in both speech and non-speech conditions. They also received lower ratings for singing proficiency, producing larger pitch interval deviations and making more pitch interval errors compared to controls. Demonstrating higher pitch direction identification thresholds than controls for both speech syllables and piano tones, amusics nevertheless produced native lexical tones with comparable pitch trajectories and intelligibility as controls. Significant correlations were found between pitch threshold and lexical tone perception, music perception and production, but not between lexical tone perception and production for amusics. These findings provide further evidence that congenital amusia is a domain-general language-independent pitch-processing deficit that is associated with severely impaired music perception and production, mildly impaired speech perception, and largely intact speech production.

Teaching Portuguese to Spanish Speakers: A Case for Trilingualism

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho, Ana M.; Freire, Juliana Luna; da Silva, Antonio J. B.

2010-01-01

Portuguese is the sixth-most-spoken native language in the world, with approximately 240,000,000 speakers. Within the United States, there is a growing demand for K-12 language programs to engage the community of Portuguese heritage speakers. According to the 2000 U.S. census, 85,000 school-age children speak Portuguese at home. As a result, more…

Speaker Introductions at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: Forms of Address Reveal Gender Bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Files, Julia A; Mayer, Anita P; Ko, Marcia G; Friedrich, Patricia; Jenkins, Marjorie; Bryan, Michael J; Vegunta, Suneela; Wittich, Christopher M; Lyle, Melissa A; Melikian, Ryan; Duston, Trevor; Chang, Yu-Hui H; Hayes, Sharonne N

2017-05-01

Gender bias has been identified as one of the drivers of gender disparity in academic medicine. Bias may be reinforced by gender subordinating language or differential use of formality in forms of address. Professional titles may influence the perceived expertise and authority of the referenced individual. The objective of this study is to examine how professional titles were used in the same and mixed-gender speaker introductions at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds (IMGR). A retrospective observational study of video-archived speaker introductions at consecutive IMGR was conducted at two different locations (Arizona, Minnesota) of an academic medical center. Introducers and speakers at IMGR were physician and scientist peers holding MD, PhD, or MD/PhD degrees. The primary outcome was whether or not a speaker's professional title was used during the first form of address during speaker introductions at IMGR. As secondary outcomes, we evaluated whether or not the speakers professional title was used in any form of address during the introduction. Three hundred twenty-one forms of address were analyzed. Female introducers were more likely to use professional titles when introducing any speaker during the first form of address compared with male introducers (96.2% [102/106] vs. 65.6% [141/215]; p form of address 97.8% (45/46) compared with male dyads who utilized a formal title 72.4% (110/152) of the time (p = 0.007). In mixed-gender dyads, where the introducer was female and speaker male, formal titles were used 95.0% (57/60) of the time. Male introducers of female speakers utilized professional titles 49.2% (31/63) of the time (p addressed by professional title than were men introduced by men. Differential formality in speaker introductions may amplify isolation, marginalization, and professional discomfiture expressed by women faculty in academic medicine.

A general auditory bias for handling speaker variability in speech? Evidence in humans and songbirds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buddhamas eKriengwatana

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Different speakers produce the same speech sound differently, yet listeners are still able to reliably identify the speech sound. How listeners can adjust their perception to compensate for speaker differences in speech, and whether these compensatory processes are unique only to humans, is still not fully understood. In this study we compare the ability of humans and zebra finches to categorize vowels despite speaker variation in speech in order to test the hypothesis that accommodating speaker and gender differences in isolated vowels can be achieved without prior experience with speaker-related variability. Using a behavioural Go/No-go task and identical stimuli, we compared Australian English adults’ (naïve to Dutch and zebra finches’ (naïve to human speech ability to categorize /ɪ/ and /ɛ/ vowels of an novel Dutch speaker after learning to discriminate those vowels from only one other speaker. Experiment 1 and 2 presented vowels of two speakers interspersed or blocked, respectively. Results demonstrate that categorization of vowels is possible without prior exposure to speaker-related variability in speech for zebra finches, and in non-native vowel categories for humans. Therefore, this study is the first to provide evidence for what might be a species-shared auditory bias that may supersede speaker-related information during vowel categorization. It additionally provides behavioural evidence contradicting a prior hypothesis that accommodation of speaker differences is achieved via the use of formant ratios. Therefore, investigations of alternative accounts of vowel normalization that incorporate the possibility of an auditory bias for disregarding inter-speaker variability are warranted.

The mechanism of speech processing in congenital amusia: evidence from Mandarin speakers.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fang Liu

Full Text Available Congenital amusia is a neuro-developmental disorder of pitch perception that causes severe problems with music processing but only subtle difficulties in speech processing. This study investigated speech processing in a group of Mandarin speakers with congenital amusia. Thirteen Mandarin amusics and thirteen matched controls participated in a set of tone and intonation perception tasks and two pitch threshold tasks. Compared with controls, amusics showed impaired performance on word discrimination in natural speech and their gliding tone analogs. They also performed worse than controls on discriminating gliding tone sequences derived from statements and questions, and showed elevated thresholds for pitch change detection and pitch direction discrimination. However, they performed as well as controls on word identification, and on statement-question identification and discrimination in natural speech. Overall, tasks that involved multiple acoustic cues to communicative meaning were not impacted by amusia. Only when the tasks relied mainly on pitch sensitivity did amusics show impaired performance compared to controls. These findings help explain why amusia only affects speech processing in subtle ways. Further studies on a larger sample of Mandarin amusics and on amusics of other language backgrounds are needed to consolidate these results.

The mechanism of speech processing in congenital amusia: evidence from Mandarin speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Fang; Jiang, Cunmei; Thompson, William Forde; Xu, Yi; Yang, Yufang; Stewart, Lauren

2012-01-01

Congenital amusia is a neuro-developmental disorder of pitch perception that causes severe problems with music processing but only subtle difficulties in speech processing. This study investigated speech processing in a group of Mandarin speakers with congenital amusia. Thirteen Mandarin amusics and thirteen matched controls participated in a set of tone and intonation perception tasks and two pitch threshold tasks. Compared with controls, amusics showed impaired performance on word discrimination in natural speech and their gliding tone analogs. They also performed worse than controls on discriminating gliding tone sequences derived from statements and questions, and showed elevated thresholds for pitch change detection and pitch direction discrimination. However, they performed as well as controls on word identification, and on statement-question identification and discrimination in natural speech. Overall, tasks that involved multiple acoustic cues to communicative meaning were not impacted by amusia. Only when the tasks relied mainly on pitch sensitivity did amusics show impaired performance compared to controls. These findings help explain why amusia only affects speech processing in subtle ways. Further studies on a larger sample of Mandarin amusics and on amusics of other language backgrounds are needed to consolidate these results.

Cost Optimal System Identification Experiment Design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

A structural system identification experiment design method is formulated in the light of decision theory, structural reliability theory and optimization theory. The experiment design is based on a preposterior analysis, well-known from the classical decision theory. I.e. the decisions concerning...... reflecting the cost of the experiment and the value of obtained additional information. An example concerning design of an experiment for parametric identification of a single degree of freedom structural system shows the applicability of the experiment design method....... the experiment design are not based on obtained experimental data. Instead the decisions are based on the expected experimental data assumed to be obtained from the measurements, estimated based on prior information and engineering judgement. The design method provides a system identification experiment design...

Presenting and processing information in background noise: A combined speaker-listener perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Bockstael, Annelies; Samyn, Laurie; Corthals, Paul; Botteldooren, Dick

2018-01-01

Transferring information orally in background noise is challenging, for both speaker and listener. Successful transfer depends on complex interaction between characteristics related to listener, speaker, task, background noise, and context. To fully assess the underlying real-life mechanisms, experimental design has to mimic this complex reality. In the current study, the effects of different types of background noise have been studied in an ecologically valid test design. Documentary-style information had to be presented by the speaker and simultaneously acquired by the listener in four conditions: quiet, unintelligible multitalker babble, fluctuating city street noise, and little varying highway noise. For both speaker and listener, the primary task was to focus on the content that had to be transferred. In addition, for the speakers, the occurrence of hesitation phenomena was assessed. The listener had to perform an additional secondary task to address listening effort. For the listener the condition with the most eventful background noise, i.e., fluctuating city street noise, appeared to be the most difficult with markedly longer duration of the secondary task. In the same fluctuating background noise, speech appeared to be less disfluent, suggesting a higher level of concentration from the speaker's side.

Key-note speaker: Predictors of weight loss after preventive Health consultations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lous, Jørgen; Freund, Kirsten S

2018-01-01

Invited key-note speaker ved conferencen: Preventive Medicine and Public Health Conference 2018, July 16-17, London.......Invited key-note speaker ved conferencen: Preventive Medicine and Public Health Conference 2018, July 16-17, London....

Automaticity and stability of adaptation to a foreign-accented speaker

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Witteman, M.J.; Bardhan, N.P.; Weber, A.C.; McQueen, J.M.

2015-01-01

In three cross-modal priming experiments we asked whether adaptation to a foreign-accented speaker is automatic, and whether adaptation can be seen after a long delay between initial exposure and test. Dutch listeners were exposed to a Hebrew-accented Dutch speaker with two types of Dutch words:

Dysprosody and Stimulus Effects in Cantonese Speakers with Parkinson's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Joan K.-Y.; Whitehill, Tara; Cheung, Katherine S.-K.

2010-01-01

Background: Dysprosody is a common feature in speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria. However, speech prosody varies across different types of speech materials. This raises the question of what is the most appropriate speech material for the evaluation of dysprosody. Aims: To characterize the prosodic impairment in Cantonese speakers with…

Profiles of an Acquisition Generation: Nontraditional Heritage Speakers of Spanish

Science.gov (United States)

DeFeo, Dayna Jean

2018-01-01

Though definitions vary, the literature on heritage speakers of Spanish identifies two primary attributes: a linguistic and cultural connection to the language. This article profiles four Anglo college students who grew up in bilingual or Spanish-dominant communities in the Southwest who self-identified as Spanish heritage speakers, citing…

THE HUMOROUS SPEAKER: THE CONSTRUCTION OF ETHOS IN COMEDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Flávia Figueiredo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The rhetoric is guided by three dimensions: logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is the speech itself, pathos are the passions that the speaker, through logos, awakens in his audience, and ethos is the image that the speaker creates of himself, also through logos, in front of an audience. The rhetorical genres are three: deliberative (which drives the audience or the judge to think about future events, characterizing them as convenient or harmful, judiciary (the audience thinks about past events in order to classify them as fair or unfair and epidictic (the audience will judge any fact occurred, or even the character of a person as beautiful or not. According to Figueiredo (2014 and based on Eggs (2005, we advocate that ethos is not a mark left by the speaker only in rhetorical genres, but in any textual genre, once the result of human production, the simplest choices in textual construction, are able to reproduce something that is closely linked to speaker, thus, demarcating hir/her ethos. To verify this assumption, we selected a display of a video of the comedian Danilo Gentili, which will be examined in the light of Rhetoric and Textual Linguistics. So, our objective is to find, in the stand-up comedy genre, marks left by the speaker in the speech that characterizes his/her ethos. The analysis results show that ethos, discursive genre and communicational purpose amalgamate in an indissoluble complex in which the success of one of them interdepends on how the other was built.

Identification and Damage Detection on Structural Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brincker, Rune; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Andersen, Palle

1994-01-01

A short introduction is given to system identification and damage assessment in civil engineering structures. The most commonly used FFT-based techniques for system identification are mentioned, and the Random decrement technique and parametric methods based on ARMA models are introduced. Speed...

Defining "Native Speaker" in Multilingual Settings: English as a Native Language in Asia

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen Edwards, Jette G.

2017-01-01

The current study examines how and why speakers of English from multilingual contexts in Asia are identifying as native speakers of English. Eighteen participants from different contexts in Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, and The Philippines, who self-identified as native speakers of English participated in hour-long interviews…

Two-component network model in voice identification technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edita K. Kuular

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Among the most important parameters of biometric systems with voice modalities that determine their effectiveness, along with reliability and noise immunity, a speed of identification and verification of a person has been accentuated. This parameter is especially sensitive while processing large-scale voice databases in real time regime. Many research studies in this area are aimed at developing new and improving existing algorithms for presentation and processing voice records to ensure high performance of voice biometric systems. Here, it seems promising to apply a modern approach, which is based on complex network platform for solving complex massive problems with a large number of elements and taking into account their interrelationships. Thus, there are known some works which while solving problems of analysis and recognition of faces from photographs, transform images into complex networks for their subsequent processing by standard techniques. One of the first applications of complex networks to sound series (musical and speech analysis are description of frequency characteristics by constructing network models - converting the series into networks. On the network ontology platform a previously proposed technique of audio information representation aimed on its automatic analysis and speaker recognition has been developed. This implies converting information into the form of associative semantic (cognitive network structure with amplitude and frequency components both. Two speaker exemplars have been recorded and transformed into pertinent networks with consequent comparison of their topological metrics. The set of topological metrics for each of network models (amplitude and frequency one is a vector, and together  those combine a matrix, as a digital "network" voiceprint. The proposed network approach, with its sensitivity to personal conditions-physiological, psychological, emotional, might be useful not only for person identification

Sensitivity to phonological context in L2 spelling: evidence from Russian ESL speakers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dich, Nadya

2010-01-01

The study attempts to investigate factors underlying the development of spellers’ sensitivity to phonological context in English. Native English speakers and Russian speakers of English as a second language (ESL) were tested on their ability to use information about the coda to predict the spelling...... on the information about the coda when spelling vowels in nonwords. In both native and non-native speakers, context sensitivity was predicted by English word spelling; in Russian ESL speakers this relationship was mediated by English proficiency. L1 spelling proficiency did not facilitate L2 context sensitivity...

Integrated Robust Open-Set Speaker Identification System (IROSIS)

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

the exact joint estimation, but the deviation is small enough. The references [16] and [18] introduce a “ Gauss - Seidel -like iterative algorithm... iteration for a given number of times or until convergence . The Baum-Welch statistics are re-calculated in every iteration . 3.3.1.2 MAP adaptation of GMMs...have almost converged , and in the subsequent iterations it is mostly the magnitude that gets adjusted. When the initial values are two small, it would

An analysis of topics and vocabulary in Chinese oral narratives by normal speakers and speakers with fluent aphasia.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Sam-Po; Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Lai, Christy

2018-01-01

This study analysed the topic and vocabulary of Chinese speakers based on language samples of personal recounts in a large spoken Chinese database recently made available in the public domain, i.e. Cantonese AphasiaBank ( http://www.speech.hku.hk/caphbank/search/ ). The goal of the analysis is to offer clinicians a rich source for selecting ecologically valid training materials for rehabilitating Chinese-speaking people with aphasia (PWA) in the design and planning of culturally and linguistically appropriate treatments. Discourse production of 65 Chinese-speaking PWA of fluent types (henceforth, PWFA) and their non-aphasic controls narrating an important event in their life were extracted from Cantonese AphasiaBank. Analyses of topics and vocabularies in terms of part-of-speech, word frequency, lexical semantics, and diversity were conducted. There was significant overlap in topics between the two groups. While the vocabulary was larger for controls than that of PWFA as expected, they were similar in distribution across parts-of-speech, frequency of occurrence, and the ratio of concrete to abstract items in major open word classes. Moreover, proportionately more different verbs than nouns were employed at the individual level for both speaker groups. The findings provide important implications for guiding directions of aphasia rehabilitation not only of fluent but also non-fluent Chinese aphasic speakers.

Incremental Closed-loop Identification of Linear Parameter Varying Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, Klaus

2011-01-01

, closed-loop system identification is more difficult than open-loop identification. In this paper we prove that the so-called Hansen Scheme, a technique known from linear time-invariant systems theory for transforming closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems, can be extended...

The Status of Native Speaker Intuitions in a Polylectal Grammar.

Science.gov (United States)

Debose, Charles E.

A study of one speaker's intuitions about and performance in Black English is presented with relation to Saussure's "langue-parole" dichotomy. Native speakers of a language have intuitions about the static synchronic entities although the data of their speaking is variable and panchronic. These entities are in a diglossic relationship to each…

Speaker and Accent Variation Are Handled Differently: Evidence in Native and Non-Native Listeners

Science.gov (United States)

Kriengwatana, Buddhamas; Terry, Josephine; Chládková, Kateřina; Escudero, Paola

2016-01-01

Listeners are able to cope with between-speaker variability in speech that stems from anatomical sources (i.e. individual and sex differences in vocal tract size) and sociolinguistic sources (i.e. accents). We hypothesized that listeners adapt to these two types of variation differently because prior work indicates that adapting to speaker/sex variability may occur pre-lexically while adapting to accent variability may require learning from attention to explicit cues (i.e. feedback). In Experiment 1, we tested our hypothesis by training native Dutch listeners and Australian-English (AusE) listeners without any experience with Dutch or Flemish to discriminate between the Dutch vowels /I/ and /ε/ from a single speaker. We then tested their ability to classify /I/ and /ε/ vowels of a novel Dutch speaker (i.e. speaker or sex change only), or vowels of a novel Flemish speaker (i.e. speaker or sex change plus accent change). We found that both Dutch and AusE listeners could successfully categorize vowels if the change involved a speaker/sex change, but not if the change involved an accent change. When AusE listeners were given feedback on their categorization responses to the novel speaker in Experiment 2, they were able to successfully categorize vowels involving an accent change. These results suggest that adapting to accents may be a two-step process, whereby the first step involves adapting to speaker differences at a pre-lexical level, and the second step involves adapting to accent differences at a contextual level, where listeners have access to word meaning or are given feedback that allows them to appropriately adjust their perceptual category boundaries. PMID:27309889

System Identification A Frequency Domain Approach

CERN Document Server

Pintelon, Rik

2012-01-01

System identification is a general term used to describe mathematical tools and algorithms that build dynamical models from measured data. Used for prediction, control, physical interpretation, and the designing of any electrical systems, they are vital in the fields of electrical, mechanical, civil, and chemical engineering. Focusing mainly on frequency domain techniques, System Identification: A Frequency Domain Approach, Second Edition also studies in detail the similarities and differences with the classical time domain approach. It high??lights many of the important steps in the identi

Beyond the language given: the neural correlates of inferring speaker meaning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bašnáková, Jana; Weber, Kirsten; Petersson, Karl Magnus; van Berkum, Jos; Hagoort, Peter

2014-10-01

Even though language allows us to say exactly what we mean, we often use language to say things indirectly, in a way that depends on the specific communicative context. For example, we can use an apparently straightforward sentence like "It is hard to give a good presentation" to convey deeper meanings, like "Your talk was a mess!" One of the big puzzles in language science is how listeners work out what speakers really mean, which is a skill absolutely central to communication. However, most neuroimaging studies of language comprehension have focused on the arguably much simpler, context-independent process of understanding direct utterances. To examine the neural systems involved in getting at contextually constrained indirect meaning, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging as people listened to indirect replies in spoken dialog. Relative to direct control utterances, indirect replies engaged dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, right temporo-parietal junction and insula, as well as bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and right medial temporal gyrus. This suggests that listeners take the speaker's perspective on both cognitive (theory of mind) and affective (empathy-like) levels. In line with classic pragmatic theories, our results also indicate that currently popular "simulationist" accounts of language comprehension fail to explain how listeners understand the speaker's intended message. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Children's Understanding That Utterances Emanate from Minds: Using Speaker Belief To Aid Interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Peter; Robinson, Elizabeth J.; Thompson, Doreen E.

1999-01-01

Three experiments examined 3- to 6-year olds' ability to use a speaker's utterance based on false belief to identify which of several referents was intended. Found that many 4- to 5-year olds performed correctly only when it was unnecessary to consider the speaker's belief. When the speaker gave an ambiguous utterance, many 3- to 6-year olds…

Popular Public Discourse at Speakers' Corner: Negotiating Cultural Identities in Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McIlvenny, Paul

1996-01-01

, religious and general topical 'soap-box' oration. However, audiences are not passive receivers of rhetorical messages. They are active negotiators of interpretations and alignments that may conflict with the speaker's and other audience members' orientations to prior talk. Speakers' Corner is a space...

Decoupling Identification for Serial Two-Link Two-Inertia System

Science.gov (United States)

Oaki, Junji; Adachi, Shuichi

The purpose of our study is to develop a precise model by applying the technique of system identification for the model-based control of a nonlinear robot arm, under taking joint-elasticity into consideration. We previously proposed a systematic identification method, called “decoupling identification,” for a “SCARA-type” planar two-link robot arm with elastic joints caused by the Harmonic-drive® reduction gears. The proposed method serves as an extension of the conventional rigid-joint-model-based identification. The robot arm is treated as a serial two-link two-inertia system with nonlinearity. The decoupling identification method using link-accelerometer signals enables the serial two-link two-inertia system to be divided into two linear one-link two-inertia systems. The MATLAB®'s commands for state-space model estimation are utilized in the proposed method. Physical parameters such as motor inertias, link inertias, joint-friction coefficients, and joint-spring coefficients are estimated through the identified one-link two-inertia systems using a gray-box approach. This paper describes accuracy evaluations using the two-link arm for the decoupling identification method under introducing closed-loop-controlled elements and varying amplitude-setup of identification-input. Experimental results show that the identification method also works with closed-loop-controlled elements. Therefore, the identification method is applicable to a “PUMA-type” vertical robot arm under gravity.

Closed-loop System Identification with New Sensors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, K; Stoustrup, Jakob

2008-01-01

This paper deals with system identification of new system dynamics revealed by online introduction of new sensors in existing multi-variable linear control systems. The so-called "Hansen Scheme" utilises the dual Youla-Kucera parameterisation of all systems stabilised by a given linear controller...... to transform closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems. We show that this scheme can be formally extended to accomodate extra sensors in a nice way. The approach is illustrated on a simple simulation example....

75 FR 25137 - Changes to Standard Numbering System, Vessel Identification System, and Boating Accident Report...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-07

...-2003-14963] RIN 1625-AB45 Changes to Standard Numbering System, Vessel Identification System, and... System (SNS), the Vessel Identification System (VIS), and casualty reporting; require validation of... Standard Numbering System U.S.C. United States Code VIS Vessel Identification System III. Background Coast...

A bimodal biometric identification system

Science.gov (United States)

Laghari, Mohammad S.; Khuwaja, Gulzar A.

2013-03-01

Biometrics consists of methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. Physicals are related to the shape of the body. Behavioral are related to the behavior of a person. However, biometric authentication systems suffer from imprecision and difficulty in person recognition due to a number of reasons and no single biometrics is expected to effectively satisfy the requirements of all verification and/or identification applications. Bimodal biometric systems are expected to be more reliable due to the presence of two pieces of evidence and also be able to meet the severe performance requirements imposed by various applications. This paper presents a neural network based bimodal biometric identification system by using human face and handwritten signature features.

Speaker Linking and Applications using Non-Parametric Hashing Methods

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-08

nonparametric estimate of a multivariate density function,” The Annals of Math- ematical Statistics , vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 1049–1051, 1965. [9] E. A. Patrick...Speaker Linking and Applications using Non-Parametric Hashing Methods† Douglas Sturim and William M. Campbell MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA...with many approaches [1, 2]. For this paper, we focus on using i-vectors [2], but the methods apply to any embedding. For the task of speaker QBE and

Moving-Talker, Speaker-Independent Feature Study, and Baseline Results Using the CUAVE Multimodal Speech Corpus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patterson Eric K

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Strides in computer technology and the search for deeper, more powerful techniques in signal processing have brought multimodal research to the forefront in recent years. Audio-visual speech processing has become an important part of this research because it holds great potential for overcoming certain problems of traditional audio-only methods. Difficulties, due to background noise and multiple speakers in an application environment, are significantly reduced by the additional information provided by visual features. This paper presents information on a new audio-visual database, a feature study on moving speakers, and on baseline results for the whole speaker group. Although a few databases have been collected in this area, none has emerged as a standard for comparison. Also, efforts to date have often been limited, focusing on cropped video or stationary speakers. This paper seeks to introduce a challenging audio-visual database that is flexible and fairly comprehensive, yet easily available to researchers on one DVD. The Clemson University Audio-Visual Experiments (CUAVE database is a speaker-independent corpus of both connected and continuous digit strings totaling over 7000 utterances. It contains a wide variety of speakers and is designed to meet several goals discussed in this paper. One of these goals is to allow testing of adverse conditions such as moving talkers and speaker pairs. A feature study of connected digit strings is also discussed. It compares stationary and moving talkers in a speaker-independent grouping. An image-processing-based contour technique, an image transform method, and a deformable template scheme are used in this comparison to obtain visual features. This paper also presents methods and results in an attempt to make these techniques more robust to speaker movement. Finally, initial baseline speaker-independent results are included using all speakers, and conclusions as well as suggested areas of research are

Multi-level RF identification system

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, Kerry D.; Anderson, Gordon A.; Gilbert, Ronald W.

2004-07-20

A radio frequency identification system having a radio frequency transceiver for generating a continuous wave RF interrogation signal that impinges upon an RF identification tag. An oscillation circuit in the RF identification tag modulates the interrogation signal with a subcarrier of a predetermined frequency and modulates the frequency-modulated signal back to the transmitting interrogator. The interrogator recovers and analyzes the subcarrier signal and determines its frequency. The interrogator generates an output indicative of the frequency of the subcarrier frequency, thereby identifying the responding RFID tag as one of a "class" of RFID tags configured to respond with a subcarrier signal of a predetermined frequency.

A simple optical method for measuring the vibration amplitude of a speaker

OpenAIRE

UEDA, Masahiro; YAMAGUCHI, Toshihiko; KAKIUCHI, Hiroki; SUGA, Hiroshi

1999-01-01

A simple optical method has been proposed for measuring the vibration amplitude of a speaker vibrating with a frequency of approximately 10 kHz. The method is based on a multiple reflection between a vibrating speaker plane and a mirror parallel to that speaker plane. The multiple reflection can magnify a dispersion of the laser beam caused by the vibration, and easily make a measurement of the amplitude. The measuring sensitivity ranges between sub-microns and 1 mm. A preliminary experim...

Coronal View Ultrasound Imaging of Movement in Different Segments of the Tongue during Paced Recital: Findings from Four Normal Speakers and a Speaker with Partial Glossectomy

Science.gov (United States)

Bressmann, Tim; Flowers, Heather; Wong, Willy; Irish, Jonathan C.

2010-01-01

The goal of this study was to quantitatively describe aspects of coronal tongue movement in different anatomical regions of the tongue. Four normal speakers and a speaker with partial glossectomy read four repetitions of a metronome-paced poem. Their tongue movement was recorded in four coronal planes using two-dimensional B-mode ultrasound…

Writer identification system for Ethiopic handwriting | Demoze | Zede ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Writer identification is a popular and ongoing research area having a wide variety of applications in banking, criminal justice system, access control, determining the authenticity of handwritten mails, etc. In this paper, an off-line text independent Ethiopic writer identification system has been proposed. The system uses 50 ...

Intelligibility of Standard German and Low German to Speakers of Dutch

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gooskens, C.S.; Kürschner, Sebastian; van Bezooijen, R.

2011-01-01

This paper reports on the intelligibility of spoken Low German and Standard German for speakers of Dutch. Two aspects are considered. First, the relative potential for intelligibility of the Low German variety of Bremen and the High German variety of Modern Standard German for speakers of Dutch is

Speaker detection for conversational robots using synchrony between audio and video

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Noulas, A.; Englebienne, G.; Terwijn, B.; Kröse, B.; Hanheide, M.; Zender, H.

2010-01-01

This paper compares different methods for detecting the speaking person when multiple persons are interacting with a robot. We evaluate the state-of-the-art speaker detection methods on the iCat robot. These methods use the synchrony between audio and video to locate the most probable speaker. We

Evaluating acoustic speaker normalization algorithms: evidence from longitudinal child data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohn, Mary Elizabeth; Farrington, Charlie

2012-03-01

Speaker vowel formant normalization, a technique that controls for variation introduced by physical differences between speakers, is necessary in variationist studies to compare speakers of different ages, genders, and physiological makeup in order to understand non-physiological variation patterns within populations. Many algorithms have been established to reduce variation introduced into vocalic data from physiological sources. The lack of real-time studies tracking the effectiveness of these normalization algorithms from childhood through adolescence inhibits exploration of child participation in vowel shifts. This analysis compares normalization techniques applied to data collected from ten African American children across five time points. Linear regressions compare the reduction in variation attributable to age and gender for each speaker for the vowels BEET, BAT, BOT, BUT, and BOAR. A normalization technique is successful if it maintains variation attributable to a reference sociolinguistic variable, while reducing variation attributable to age. Results indicate that normalization techniques which rely on both a measure of central tendency and range of the vowel space perform best at reducing variation attributable to age, although some variation attributable to age persists after normalization for some sections of the vowel space. © 2012 Acoustical Society of America

System Identification, Environmental Modelling, and Control System Design

CERN Document Server

Garnier, Hugues

2012-01-01

System Identification, Environmetric Modelling, and Control Systems Design is dedicated to Professor Peter Young on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. Professor Young has been a pioneer in systems and control, and over the past 45 years he has influenced many developments in this field. This volume is comprised of a collection of contributions by leading experts in system identification, time-series analysis, environmetric modelling and control system design – modern research in topics that reflect important areas of interest in Professor Young’s research career. Recent theoretical developments in and relevant applications of these areas are explored treating the various subjects broadly and in depth. The authoritative and up-to-date research presented here will be of interest to academic researcher in control and disciplines related to environmental research, particularly those to with water systems. The tutorial style in which many of the contributions are composed also makes the book suitable as ...

Do children go for the nice guys? The influence of speaker benevolence and certainty on selective word learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergstra, Myrthe; DE Mulder, Hannah N M; Coopmans, Peter

2018-04-06

This study investigated how speaker certainty (a rational cue) and speaker benevolence (an emotional cue) influence children's willingness to learn words in a selective learning paradigm. In two experiments four- to six-year-olds learnt novel labels from two speakers and, after a week, their memory for these labels was reassessed. Results demonstrated that children retained the label-object pairings for at least a week. Furthermore, children preferred to learn from certain over uncertain speakers, but they had no significant preference for nice over nasty speakers. When the cues were combined, children followed certain speakers, even if they were nasty. However, children did prefer to learn from nice and certain speakers over nasty and certain speakers. These results suggest that rational cues regarding a speaker's linguistic competence trump emotional cues regarding a speaker's affective status in word learning. However, emotional cues were found to have a subtle influence on this process.

Secret-key and identification rates for biometric identification systems with protected templates

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ignatenko, T.; Willems, F.M.J.

2010-01-01

In this paper we consider secret generation in biometric identification systems with protected templates. This problem is closely related to the study of the bio metric identification capacity [Willems et al., 2003] and [O’Sullivan and Sclmmid, 2002] and the common randomness generation scheme

Effects of Language Background on Gaze Behavior: A Crosslinguistic Comparison Between Korean and German Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Goller, Florian; Lee, Donghoon; Ansorge, Ulrich; Choi, Soonja

2017-01-01

Languages differ in how they categorize spatial relations: While German differentiates between containment (in) and support (auf) with distinct spatial words—(a) den Kuli IN die Kappe stecken (”put pen in cap”); (b) die Kappe AUF den Kuli stecken (”put cap on pen”)—Korean uses a single spatial word (kkita) collapsing (a) and (b) into one semantic category, particularly when the spatial enclosure is tight-fit. Korean uses a different word (i.e., netha) for loose-fits (e.g., apple in bowl). We tested whether these differences influence the attention of the speaker. In a crosslinguistic study, we compared native German speakers with native Korean speakers. Participants rated the similarity of two successive video clips of several scenes where two objects were joined or nested (either in a tight or loose manner). The rating data show that Korean speakers base their rating of similarity more on tight- versus loose-fit, whereas German speakers base their rating more on containment versus support (in vs. auf). Throughout the experiment, we also measured the participants’ eye movements. Korean speakers looked equally long at the moving Figure object and at the stationary Ground object, whereas German speakers were more biased to look at the Ground object. Additionally, Korean speakers also looked more at the region where the two objects touched than did German speakers. We discuss our data in the light of crosslinguistic semantics and the extent of their influence on spatial cognition and perception. PMID:29362644

The Sound of Voice: Voice-Based Categorization of Speakers' Sexual Orientation within and across Languages.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Sulpizio

Full Text Available Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency and to non-native speakers (language-specificity, has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.

Popular Public Discourse at Speakers' Corner: Negotiating Cultural Identities in Interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McIlvenny, Paul

1996-01-01

In this paper I examine how cultural identities are actively negotiated in popular debate at a multicultural public setting in London. Speakers at Speakers' Corner manage the local construction of group affiliation, audience response and argument in and through talk, within the context of ethnic...... in which participant 'citizens' in the public sphere can actively struggle over cultural representation and identities. Using transcribed examples of video data recorded at Speakers' Corner my paper will examine how cultural identity is invoked in the management of active participation. Audiences...... and their affiliations are regulated and made accountable through the routines of membership categorisation and the policing of cultural identities and their imaginary borders....

Proficiency in English sentence stress production by Cantonese speakers who speak English as a second language (ESL).

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Manwa L; Chen, Yang

2011-12-01

The present study examined English sentence stress produced by native Cantonese speakers who were speaking English as a second language (ESL). Cantonese ESL speakers' proficiency in English stress production as perceived by English-speaking listeners was also studied. Acoustical parameters associated with sentence stress including fundamental frequency (F0), vowel duration, and intensity were measured from the English sentences produced by 40 Cantonese ESL speakers. Data were compared with those obtained from 40 native speakers of American English. The speech samples were also judged by eight native listeners who were native speakers of American English for placement, degree, and naturalness of stress. Results showed that Cantonese ESL speakers were able to use F0, vowel duration, and intensity to differentiate sentence stress patterns. Yet, both female and male Cantonese ESL speakers exhibited consistently higher F0 in stressed words than English speakers. Overall, Cantonese ESL speakers were found to be proficient in using duration and intensity to signal sentence stress, in a way comparable with English speakers. In addition, F0 and intensity were found to correlate closely with perceptual judgement and the degree of stress with the naturalness of stress.

Articulatory Movements during Vowels in Speakers with Dysarthria and Healthy Controls

Science.gov (United States)

Yunusova, Yana; Weismer, Gary; Westbury, John R.; Lindstrom, Mary J.

2008-01-01

Purpose: This study compared movement characteristics of markers attached to the jaw, lower lip, tongue blade, and dorsum during production of selected English vowels by normal speakers and speakers with dysarthria due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson disease (PD). The study asked the following questions: (a) Are movement…

Closed-loop Identification for Control of Linear Parameter Varying Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, Klaus

2014-01-01

, closed- loop system identification is more difficult than open-loop identification. In this paper we prove that the so-called Hansen Scheme, a technique known from linear time-invariant systems theory for transforming closed-loop system identification problems into open-loop-like problems, can...

A Comparison of Coverbal Gesture Use in Oral Discourse Among Speakers With Fluent and Nonfluent Aphasia

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Sam-Po; Chak, Gigi Wan-Chi

2017-01-01

Purpose Coverbal gesture use, which is affected by the presence and degree of aphasia, can be culturally specific. The purpose of this study was to compare gesture use among Cantonese-speaking individuals: 23 neurologically healthy speakers, 23 speakers with fluent aphasia, and 21 speakers with nonfluent aphasia. Method Multimedia data of discourse samples from these speakers were extracted from the Cantonese AphasiaBank. Gestures were independently annotated on their forms and functions to determine how gesturing rate and distribution of gestures differed across speaker groups. A multiple regression was conducted to determine the most predictive variable(s) for gesture-to-word ratio. Results Although speakers with nonfluent aphasia gestured most frequently, the rate of gesture use in counterparts with fluent aphasia did not differ significantly from controls. Different patterns of gesture functions in the 3 speaker groups revealed that gesture plays a minor role in lexical retrieval whereas its role in enhancing communication dominates among the speakers with aphasia. The percentages of complete sentences and dysfluency strongly predicted the gesturing rate in aphasia. Conclusions The current results supported the sketch model of language–gesture association. The relationship between gesture production and linguistic abilities and clinical implications for gesture-based language intervention for speakers with aphasia are also discussed. PMID:28609510

Modeling methods of MEMS micro-speaker with electrostatic working principle

Science.gov (United States)

Tumpold, D.; Kaltenbacher, M.; Glacer, C.; Nawaz, M.; Dehé, A.

2013-05-01

The market for mobile devices like tablets, laptops or mobile phones is increasing rapidly. Device housings get thinner and energy efficiency is more and more important. Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) loudspeakers, fabricated in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible technology merge energy efficient driving technology with cost economical fabrication processes. In most cases, the fabrication of such devices within the design process is a lengthy and costly task. Therefore, the need for computer modeling tools capable of precisely simulating the multi-field interactions is increasing. The accurate modeling of such MEMS devices results in a system of coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) describing the interaction between the electric, mechanical and acoustic field. For the efficient and accurate solution we apply the Finite Element (FE) method. Thereby, we fully take the nonlinear effects into account: electrostatic force, charged moving body (loaded membrane) in an electric field, geometric nonlinearities and mechanical contact during the snap-in case between loaded membrane and stator. To efficiently handle the coupling between the mechanical and acoustic fields, we apply Mortar FE techniques, which allow different grid sizes along the coupling interface. Furthermore, we present a recently developed PML (Perfectly Matched Layer) technique, which allows limiting the acoustic computational domain even in the near field without getting spurious reflections. For computations towards the acoustic far field we us a Kirchhoff Helmholtz integral (e.g, to compute the directivity pattern). We will present simulations of a MEMS speaker system based on a single sided driving mechanism as well as an outlook on MEMS speakers using double stator systems (pull-pull-system), and discuss their efficiency (SPL) and quality (THD) towards the generated acoustic sound.

Use of the BAT with a Cantonese-Putonghua Speaker with Aphasia

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Weekes, Brendan Stuart

2011-01-01

The aim of this article is to illustrate the use of the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) with a Cantonese-Putonghua speaker. We describe G, who is a relatively young Chinese bilingual speaker with aphasia. G's communication abilities in his L2, Putonghua, were impaired following brain damage. This impairment caused specific difficulties in…

Subspace identification of distributed clusters of homogeneous systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yu, C.; Verhaegen, M.H.G.

2017-01-01

This note studies the identification of a network comprised of interconnected clusters of LTI systems. Each cluster consists of homogeneous dynamical systems, and its interconnections with the rest of the network are unmeasurable. A subspace identification method is proposed for identifying a single

Processing advantage for emotional words in bilingual speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponari, Marta; Rodríguez-Cuadrado, Sara; Vinson, David; Fox, Neil; Costa, Albert; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2015-10-01

Effects of emotion on word processing are well established in monolingual speakers. However, studies that have assessed whether affective features of words undergo the same processing in a native and nonnative language have provided mixed results: Studies that have found differences between native language (L1) and second language (L2) processing attributed the difference to the fact that L2 learned late in life would not be processed affectively, because affective associations are established during childhood. Other studies suggest that adult learners show similar effects of emotional features in L1 and L2. Differences in affective processing of L2 words can be linked to age and context of learning, proficiency, language dominance, and degree of similarity between L2 and L1. Here, in a lexical decision task on tightly matched negative, positive, and neutral words, highly proficient English speakers from typologically different L1s showed the same facilitation in processing emotionally valenced words as native English speakers, regardless of their L1, the age of English acquisition, or the frequency and context of English use. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Evaluation of the utility of a glycemic pattern identification system.

Science.gov (United States)

Otto, Erik A; Tannan, Vinay

2014-07-01

With the increasing prevalence of systems allowing automated, real-time transmission of blood glucose data there is a need for pattern recognition techniques that can inform of deleterious patterns in glycemic control when people test. We evaluated the utility of pattern identification with a novel pattern identification system named Vigilant™ and compared it to standard pattern identification methods in diabetes. To characterize the importance of an identified pattern we evaluated the relative risk of future hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic events in diurnal periods following identification of a pattern in a data set of 536 patients with diabetes. We evaluated events 2 days, 7 days, 30 days, and 61-90 days from pattern identification, across diabetes types and cohorts of glycemic control, and also compared the system to 6 pattern identification methods consisting of deleterious event counts and percentages over 5-, 14-, and 30-day windows. Episodes of hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, severe hypoglycemia, and severe hyperglycemia were 120%, 46%, 123%, and 76% more likely after pattern identification, respectively, compared to periods when no pattern was identified. The system was also significantly more predictive of deleterious events than other pattern identification methods evaluated, and was persistently predictive up to 3 months after pattern identification. The system identified patterns that are significantly predictive of deleterious glycemic events, and more so relative to many pattern identification methods used in diabetes management today. Further study will inform how improved pattern identification can lead to improved glycemic control. © 2014 Diabetes Technology Society.

Pitch perception and production in congenital amusia: Evidence from Cantonese speakers

OpenAIRE

Liu, Fang; Chan, Alice H. D.; Ciocca, Valter; Roquet, Catherine; Peretz, Isabelle; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2016-01-01

This study investigated pitch perception and production in speech and music in individuals with congenital amusia (a disorder of musical pitch processing) who are native speakers of Cantonese, a tone language with a highly complex tonal system. Sixteen Cantonese-speaking congenital amusics and 16 controls performed a set of lexical tone perception, production, singing, and psychophysical pitch threshold tasks. Their tone production accuracy and singing proficiency were subsequently judged by ...

Methods of Speakers\\' Effects on the Audience

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فریبا حسینی

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Methods of Speakers' Effects on the Audience    Nasrollah Shameli *   Fariba Hosayni **     Abstract   This article is focused on four issues. The first issue is related to the speaker's external appearance including the beauty of face, the power of his voice, moves and signals by hand, the stick and eyebrow as well as the height. Such characteristics could have an important effect on the audience. The second issue is related to internal features of the speaker. These include the ethics of the preacher , his/her piety and intention on the speakers based on their personalities, habits and emotions, knowledge and culture, and speed of learning. The third issue is concerned with the appearance of the lecture. Words should be clear enough as well as being mixed with Quranic verses, poetry and proverbs. The final issue is related to the content. It is argued that the subject of the talk should be in accordance with the level of understanding of listeners as well as being new and interesting for them.   3 - A phenomenon rhetoric: It was noted in this section How to give words and phrases so that these words and phrases are clear, correct, mixed in parables, governance and Quranic verses, and appropriate their meaning.   4 - the content of Oratory : It was noted in this section to the topic of Oratory and say that the Oratory should be the theme commensurate with the minds of audiences and also should mean that agree with the case may be, then I say: that the rhetoric if the theme was innovative and new is affecting more and more on the audience.     Key words : Oratory , Preacher , Audience, Influence of speech     * Associate Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Isfahan E-mail: Dr-Nasrolla Shameli@Yahoo.com   * * M.A. in Arabic Language and Literature from Isfahan University E-mail: faribahosayni@yahoo.com

Gender parity trends for invited speakers at four prominent virology conference series.

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Kalejta, Robert F; Palmenberg, Ann C

2017-06-07

Scientific conferences are most beneficial to participants when they showcase significant new experimental developments, accurately summarize the current state of the field, and provide strong opportunities for collaborative networking. A top-notch slate of invited speakers, assembled by conference organizers or committees, is key to achieving these goals. The perceived underrepresentation of female speakers at prominent scientific meetings is currently a popular topic for discussion, but one that often lacks supportive data. We compiled the full rosters of invited speakers over the last 35 years for four prominent international virology conferences, the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting (ASV), the International Herpesvirus Workshop (IHW), the Positive-Strand RNA Virus Symposium (PSR), and the Gordon Research Conference on Viruses & Cells (GRC). The rosters were cross-indexed by unique names, gender, year, and repeat invitations. When plotted as gender-dependent trends over time, all four conferences showed a clear proclivity for male-dominated invited speaker lists. Encouragingly, shifts toward parity are emerging within all units, but at different rates. Not surprisingly, both selection of a larger percentage of first time participants and the presence of a woman on the speaker selection committee correlated with improved parity. Session chair information was also collected for the IHW and GRC. These visible positions also displayed a strong male dominance over time that is eroding slowly. We offer our personal interpretation of these data to aid future organizers achieve improved equity among the limited number of available positions for session moderators and invited speakers. IMPORTANCE Politicians and media members have a tendency to cite anecdotes as conclusions without any supporting data. This happens so frequently now, that a name for it has emerged: fake news. Good science proceeds otherwise. The under representation of women as invited

Language control in different contexts: the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers

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David William Green

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes that different experimental contexts (single or dual language contexts permit different neural loci at which words in the target language can be selected. However, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the neural circuit mediating language control we need to consider the community context in which bilingual speakers typically use their two languages (the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers. The contrast between speakers from code-switching and non-code switching communities offers a way to increase our understanding of the cortical, subcortical and, in particular, cerebellar structures involved in language control. It will also help us identify the non-verbal behavioural correlates associated with these control processes.

Design Tools for Dynamic, Data-Driven, Stream Mining Systems

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2015-01-01

growth in technologies for sensing and computation has contributed to large increases in the volume of data that must be managed and analyzed in many...recognition, speaker identification, pattern recognition) and wireless communication (e.g., GSM, digital radio, NFC , Bluetooth), as well as control...systems for performance and energy consumption. In Proceedings of the IEEE Real-Time Technology and Applications Symposium, pages 124–132, 2003. [49

Application of identification techniques to remote manipulator system flight data

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Shepard, G. D.; Lepanto, J. A.; Metzinger, R. W.; Fogel, E.

1983-01-01

This paper addresses the application of identification techniques to flight data from the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS). A description of the remote manipulator, including structural and control system characteristics, sensors, and actuators is given. A brief overview of system identification procedures is presented, and the practical aspects of implementing system identification algorithms are discussed. In particular, the problems posed by desampling rate, numerical error, and system nonlinearities are considered. Simulation predictions of damping, frequency, and system order are compared with values identified from flight data to support an evaluation of RMS structural and control system models. Finally, conclusions are drawn regarding the application of identification techniques to flight data obtained from a flexible space structure.

Objective eye-gaze behaviour during face-to-face communication with proficient alaryngeal speakers: a preliminary study.

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Evitts, Paul; Gallop, Robert

2011-01-01

There is a large body of research demonstrating the impact of visual information on speaker intelligibility in both normal and disordered speaker populations. However, there is minimal information on which specific visual features listeners find salient during conversational discourse. To investigate listeners' eye-gaze behaviour during face-to-face conversation with normal, laryngeal and proficient alaryngeal speakers. Sixty participants individually participated in a 10-min conversation with one of four speakers (typical laryngeal, tracheoesophageal, oesophageal, electrolaryngeal; 15 participants randomly assigned to one mode of speech). All speakers were > 85% intelligible and were judged to be 'proficient' by two certified speech-language pathologists. Participants were fitted with a head-mounted eye-gaze tracking device (Mobile Eye, ASL) that calculated the region of interest and mean duration of eye-gaze. Self-reported gaze behaviour was also obtained following the conversation using a 10 cm visual analogue scale. While listening, participants viewed the lower facial region of the oesophageal speaker more than the normal or tracheoesophageal speaker. Results of non-hierarchical cluster analyses showed that while listening, the pattern of eye-gaze was predominantly directed at the lower face of the oesophageal and electrolaryngeal speaker and more evenly dispersed among the background, lower face, and eyes of the normal and tracheoesophageal speakers. Finally, results show a low correlation between self-reported eye-gaze behaviour and objective regions of interest data. Overall, results suggest similar eye-gaze behaviour when healthy controls converse with normal and tracheoesophageal speakers and that participants had significantly different eye-gaze patterns when conversing with an oesophageal speaker. Results are discussed in terms of existing eye-gaze data and its potential implications on auditory-visual speech perception. © 2011 Royal College of Speech

Speaker Prediction based on Head Orientations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rienks, R.J.; Poppe, Ronald Walter; van Otterlo, M.; Poel, Mannes; Poel, M.; Nijholt, A.; Nijholt, Antinus

2005-01-01

To gain insight into gaze behavior in meetings, this paper compares the results from a Naive Bayes classifier, Neural Networks and humans on speaker prediction in four-person meetings given solely the azimuth head angles. The Naive Bayes classifier scored 69.4% correctly, Neural Networks 62.3% and

A portable air jet actuator device for mechanical system identification

Science.gov (United States)

Belden, Jesse; Staats, Wayne L.; Mazumdar, Anirban; Hunter, Ian W.

2011-03-01

System identification of limb mechanics can help diagnose ailments and can aid in the optimization of robotic limb control parameters and designs. An interesting fluid phenomenon—the Coandă effect—is utilized in a portable actuator to provide a stochastic binary force disturbance to a limb system. The design of the actuator is approached with the goal of creating a portable device which could be deployed on human or robotic limbs for in situ mechanical system identification. The viability of the device is demonstrated by identifying the parameters of an underdamped elastic beam system with fixed inertia and stiffness and variable damping. The nonparametric compliance impulse response yielded from the system identification is modeled as a second-order system and the resultant parameters are found to be in excellent agreement with those found using more traditional system identification techniques. The current design could be further miniaturized and developed as a portable, wireless, unrestrained mechanical system identification instrument for less intrusive and more widespread use.

System identification on two-phase flow stability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Shaorong; Zhang Youjie; Wang Dazhong; Bo Jinghai; Wang Fei

1996-01-01

The theoretical principle, experimental method and results of interrelation analysis identification for the instability of two-phase flow are described. A completely new concept of test technology and method on two-phase flow stability was developed by using he theory of information science on system stability and system identification for two-phase flow stability in thermo-physics field. Application of this method would make it possible to identify instability boundary of two-phase flow under stable operation conditions of two-phase flow system. The experiment was carried out on the thermohydraulic test system HRTL-5. Using reverse repeated pseudo-random sequences of heating power as input signal sources and flow rate as response function in the test, the two-phase flow stability and stability margin of the natural circulation system are investigated. The effectiveness and feasibility of identifying two-phase flow stability by using this system identification method were experimentally demonstrated. Basic data required for mathematics modeling of two-phase flow and analysis of two-phase flow stability were obtained, which are useful for analyzing, monitoring of the system operation condition, and forecasting of two-phase flow stability in engineering system

An acoustic analysis of English vowels produced by speakers of seven different native-language backgrounds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuven, van V.J.J.P.; Gooskens, C.

2017-01-01

We measured F1, F2 and duration of ten English monophthongs produced by American native speakers and by Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian and Chinese L2 speakers. We hypothesized that (i) L2 speakers would approximate the English vowels more closely as the phonological distance between

The beneficial effect of a speaker's gestures on the listener's memory for action phrases: The pivotal role of the listener's premotor cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Ianì, Francesco; Burin, Dalila; Salatino, Adriana; Pia, Lorenzo; Ricci, Raffaella; Bucciarelli, Monica

2018-04-10

Memory for action phrases improves in the listeners when the speaker accompanies them with gestures compared to when the speaker stays still. Since behavioral studies revealed a pivotal role of the listeners' motor system, we aimed to disentangle the role of primary motor and premotor cortices. Participants had to recall phrases uttered by a speaker in two conditions: in the gesture condition, the speaker performed gestures congruent with the action; in the no-gesture condition, the speaker stayed still. In Experiment 1, half of the participants underwent inhibitory rTMS over the hand/arm region of the left premotor cortex (PMC) and the other half over the hand/arm region of the left primary motor cortex (M1). The enactment effect disappeared only following rTMS over PMC. In Experiment 2, we detected the usual enactment effect after rTMS over vertex, thereby excluding possible nonspecific rTMS effects. These findings suggest that the information encoded in the premotor cortex is a crucial part of the memory trace. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Acquisition of English Focus Marking by Non-Native Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Rachel Elizabeth

This dissertation examines Mandarin and Korean speakers' acquisition of English focus marking, which is realized by accenting particular words within a focused constituent. It is important for non-native speakers to learn how accent placement relates to focus in English because appropriate accent placement and realization makes a learner's English more native-like and easier to understand. Such knowledge may also improve their English comprehension skills. In this study, 20 native English speakers, 20 native Mandarin speakers, and 20 native Korean speakers participated in four experiments: (1) a production experiment, in which they were recorded reading the answers to questions, (2) a perception experiment, in which they were asked to determine which word in a recording was the last prominent word, (3) an understanding experiment, in which they were asked whether the answers in recorded question-answer pairs had context-appropriate prosody, and (4) an accent placement experiment, in which they were asked which word they would make prominent in a particular context. Finally, a new group of native English speakers listened to utterances produced in the production experiment, and determined whether the prosody of each utterance was appropriate for its context. The results of the five experiments support a novel predictive model for second language prosodic focus marking acquisition. This model holds that both transfer of linguistic features from a learner's native language (L1) and features of their second language (L2) affect learners' acquisition of prosodic focus marking. As a result, the model includes two complementary components: the Transfer Component and the L2 Challenge Component. The Transfer Component predicts that prosodic structures in the L2 will be more easily acquired by language learners that have similar structures in their L1 than those who do not, even if there are differences between the L1 and L2 in how the structures are realized. The L2

Speaker transfer in children's peer conversation: completing communication-aid-mediated contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Michael; Bloch, Steven; Wilkinson, Ray

2013-03-01

Managing the exchange of speakers from one person to another effectively is a key issue for participants in everyday conversational interaction. Speakers use a range of resources to indicate, in advance, when their turn will come to an end, and listeners attend to such signals in order to know when they might legitimately speak. Using the principles and findings from conversation analysis, this paper examines features of speaker transfer in a conversation between a boy with cerebral palsy who has been provided with a voice-output communication aid (VOCA), and a peer without physical or communication difficulties. Specifically, the analysis focuses on turn exchange, where a VOCA-mediated contribution approach completion, and the child without communication needs is due to speak next.

Comparing headphone and speaker effects on simulated driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, T M; Nilsson, T H

1990-12-01

Twelve persons drove for three hours in an automobile simulator while listening to music at sound level 63dB over stereo headphones during one session and from a dashboard speaker during another session. They were required to steer a mountain highway, maintain a certain indicated speed, shift gears, and respond to occasional hazards. Steering and speed control were dependent on visual cues. The need to shift and the hazards were indicated by sound and vibration effects. With the headphones, the driver's average reaction time for the most complex task presented--shifting gears--was about one-third second longer than with the speaker. The use of headphones did not delay the development of subjective fatigue.

Identification of fractional-order systems with unknown initial values and structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Wei, E-mail: duwei0203@gmail.com [Key Laboratory of Advanced Control and Optimization for Chemical Processes, Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China); Miao, Qingying, E-mail: qymiao@sjtu.edu.cn [School of Continuing Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030 (China); Tong, Le, E-mail: tongle0328@gmail.com [Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (China); Tang, Yang [Key Laboratory of Advanced Control and Optimization for Chemical Processes, Ministry of Education, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237 (China)

2017-06-21

In this paper, the identification problem of fractional-order chaotic systems is proposed and investigated via an evolutionary optimization approach. Different with other studies to date, this research focuses on the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems with not only unknown orders and parameters, but also unknown initial values and structure. A group of fractional-order chaotic systems, i.e., Lorenz, Lü, Chen, Rössler, Arneodo and Volta chaotic systems, are set as the system candidate pool. The identification problem of fractional-order chaotic systems in this research belongs to mixed integer nonlinear optimization in essence. A powerful evolutionary algorithm called composite differential evolution (CoDE) is introduced for the identification problem presented in this paper. Extensive experiments are carried out to show that the fractional-order chaotic systems with unknown initial values and structure can be successfully identified by means of CoDE. - Highlights: • Unknown initial values and structure are introduced in the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems; • Only a series of output is utilized in the identification of fractional-order chaotic systems; • CoDE is used for the identification problem and the results are satisfactory when compared with other DE variants.

Speaker information affects false recognition of unstudied lexical-semantic associates.

Science.gov (United States)

Luthra, Sahil; Fox, Neal P; Blumstein, Sheila E

2018-05-01

Recognition of and memory for a spoken word can be facilitated by a prior presentation of that word spoken by the same talker. However, it is less clear whether this speaker congruency advantage generalizes to facilitate recognition of unheard related words. The present investigation employed a false memory paradigm to examine whether information about a speaker's identity in items heard by listeners could influence the recognition of novel items (critical intruders) phonologically or semantically related to the studied items. In Experiment 1, false recognition of semantically associated critical intruders was sensitive to speaker information, though only when subjects attended to talker identity during encoding. Results from Experiment 2 also provide some evidence that talker information affects the false recognition of critical intruders. Taken together, the present findings indicate that indexical information is able to contact the lexical-semantic network to affect the processing of unheard words.

LPV system identification using series expansion models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Toth, R.; Heuberger, P.S.C.; Hof, Van den P.M.J.; Santos, dos P.L.; Perdicoúlis, T.P.A.; Novara, C.; Ramos, J.A.; Rivera, D.E.

2011-01-01

This review volume reports the state-of-the-art in Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) system identification. Written by world renowned researchers, the book contains twelve chapters, focusing on the most recent LPV identification methods for both discrete-time and continuous-time models, using different

Study of audio speakers containing ferrofluid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosensweig, R E [34 Gloucester Road, Summit, NJ 07901 (United States); Hirota, Y; Tsuda, S [Ferrotec, 1-4-14 Kyobashi, chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-0031 (Japan); Raj, K [Ferrotec, 33 Constitution Drive, Bedford, NH 03110 (United States)

2008-05-21

This work validates a method for increasing the radial restoring force on the voice coil in audio speakers containing ferrofluid. In addition, a study is made of factors influencing splash loss of the ferrofluid due to shock. Ferrohydrodynamic analysis is employed throughout to model behavior, and predictions are compared to experimental data.

During Threaded Discussions Are Non-Native English Speakers Always at a Disadvantage?

Science.gov (United States)

Shafer Willner, Lynn

2014-01-01

When participating in threaded discussions, under what conditions might non¬native speakers of English (NNSE) be at a comparative disadvantage to their classmates who are native speakers of English (NSE)? This study compares the threaded discussion perspectives of closely-matched NNSE and NSE adult students having different levels of threaded…

Dynamic Parameter Identification of Hydrodynamic Bearing-Rotor System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhiqiang Song

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A new method called modal parameter genetic time domain identification was employed to study the characteristics of the bearing-rotor system. A multifrequency signal decomposition technology to identify the main components of the measured signal and reject the image mode produced by noise has been used. The first- and second-order natural frequency and damping ratios of the shaft system are identified. Furthermore, because of the deficiency of the traditional least square method, a new genetic identification method to identify the bearing dynamic characteristic parameters has been proposed. The method has been effective albeit with few testing points and operation cases. The derivation of oil-film dynamic coefficients could also provide a basis for shaft system natural vibration characteristic and vibration response analysis. Using the identified dynamic coefficients as the supporting condition, the shaft system modal characteristics were studied. The calculated first- and second-order natural frequencies match quite well those obtained from the modal parameter identification. It was proved that the modal parameter and physical parameter identification methods utilized in this paper are reasonable.

Analysis of Acoustic Features in Speakers with Cognitive Disorders and Speech Impairments

Science.gov (United States)

Saz, Oscar; Simón, Javier; Rodríguez, W. Ricardo; Lleida, Eduardo; Vaquero, Carlos

2009-12-01

This work presents the results in the analysis of the acoustic features (formants and the three suprasegmental features: tone, intensity and duration) of the vowel production in a group of 14 young speakers suffering different kinds of speech impairments due to physical and cognitive disorders. A corpus with unimpaired children's speech is used to determine the reference values for these features in speakers without any kind of speech impairment within the same domain of the impaired speakers; this is 57 isolated words. The signal processing to extract the formant and pitch values is based on a Linear Prediction Coefficients (LPCs) analysis of the segments considered as vowels in a Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based Viterbi forced alignment. Intensity and duration are also based in the outcome of the automated segmentation. As main conclusion of the work, it is shown that intelligibility of the vowel production is lowered in impaired speakers even when the vowel is perceived as correct by human labelers. The decrease in intelligibility is due to a 30% of increase in confusability in the formants map, a reduction of 50% in the discriminative power in energy between stressed and unstressed vowels and to a 50% increase of the standard deviation in the length of the vowels. On the other hand, impaired speakers keep good control of tone in the production of stressed and unstressed vowels.

Evaluation of Speakers at a National Continuing Medical Education (CME Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jannette Collins, MD, MEd, FCCP

2002-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Evaluations of a national radiology continuing medical education (CME course in thoracic imaging were analyzed to determine what constitutes effective and ineffective lecturing. Methods and Materials: Evaluations of sessions and individual speakers participating in a five-day course jointly sponsored by the Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA were tallied by the RSNA Department of Data Management and three members of the STR Training Committee. Comments were collated and analyzed to determine the number of positive and negative comments and common themes related to ineffective lecturing. Results: Twenty-two sessions were evaluated by 234 (75.7% of 309 professional registrants. Eighty-one speakers were evaluated by an average of 153 registrants (range, 2 – 313. Mean ratings for 10 items evaluating sessions ranged from 1.28 – 2.05 (1=most positive, 4=least positive; SD .451 - .902. The average speaker rating was 5.7 (1=very poor, 7=outstanding; SD 0.94; range 4.3 – 6.4. Total number of comments analyzed was 862, with 505 (58.6% considered positive and 404 (46.9% considered negative (the total number exceeds 862 as a “comment” could consist of both positive and negative statements. Poor content was mentioned most frequently, making up 107 (26.5% of 404 negative comments, and applied to 51 (63% of 81 speakers. Other negative comments, in order of decreasing frequency, were related to delivery, image slides, command of the English language, text slides, and handouts. Conclusions: Individual evaluations of speakers at a national CME course provided information regarding the quality of lectures that was not provided by evaluations of grouped presentations. Systematic review of speaker evaluations provided specific information related to the types and frequency of features related to ineffective lecturing. This information can be used to design CME course evaluations, design future CME

Complimenting Functions by Native English Speakers and Iranian EFL Learners: A Divergence or Convergence

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Ali Akbar Ansarin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The study of compliment speech act has been under investigation on many occasions in recent years. In this study, an attempt is made to explore appraisals performed by native English speakers and Iranian EFL learners to find out how these two groups diverge or converge from each other with regard to complimenting patterns and norms. The participants of the study were 60 advanced Iranian EFL learners who were speaking Persian as their first language and 60 native English speakers. Through a written Discourse Completion Task comprised of eight different scenarios, compliments were analyzed with regard to topics (performance, personality, possession, and skill, functions (explicit, implicit, and opt-out, gender differences and the common positive adjectives used by two groups of native and nonnative participants. The findings suggested that native English speakers praised individuals more implicitly in comparison with Iranian EFL learners and native speakers provided opt-outs more frequently than Iranian EFL learners did. The analysis of data by Chi-square showed that gender and macro functions are independent of each other among Iranian EFL learners’ compliments while for native speakers, gender played a significant role in the distribution of appraisals. Iranian EFL learners’ complimenting patterns converge more towards those of native English speakers. Moreover, both groups favored explicit compliments. However, Iranian EFL learners were more inclined to provide explicit compliments. It can be concluded that there were more similarities rather than differences between Iranian EFL learners and native English speakers regarding compliment speech act. The results of this study can benefit researchers, teachers, material developers, and EFL learners.

7 CFR 247.13 - Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers... § 247.13 Provisions for non-English or limited-English speakers. (a) What must State and local agencies do to ensure that non-English or limited-English speaking persons are aware of their rights and...

Improved Stochastic Subspace System Identification for Structural Health Monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Chia-Ming; Loh, Chin-Hsiung

2015-07-01

Structural health monitoring acquires structural information through numerous sensor measurements. Vibrational measurement data render the dynamic characteristics of structures to be extracted, in particular of the modal properties such as natural frequencies, damping, and mode shapes. The stochastic subspace system identification has been recognized as a power tool which can present a structure in the modal coordinates. To obtain qualitative identified data, this tool needs to spend computational expense on a large set of measurements. In study, a stochastic system identification framework is proposed to improve the efficiency and quality of the conventional stochastic subspace system identification. This framework includes 1) measured signal processing, 2) efficient space projection, 3) system order selection, and 4) modal property derivation. The measured signal processing employs the singular spectrum analysis algorithm to lower the noise components as well as to present a data set in a reduced dimension. The subspace is subsequently derived from the data set presented in a delayed coordinate. With the proposed order selection criteria, the number of structural modes is determined, resulting in the modal properties. This system identification framework is applied to a real-world bridge for exploring the feasibility in real-time applications. The results show that this improved system identification method significantly decreases computational time, while qualitative modal parameters are still attained.

Communication Interface for Mexican Spanish Dysarthric Speakers

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Gladys Bonilla-Enriquez

2012-03-01

Full Text Available La disartria es una discapacidad motora del habla caracterizada por debilidad o poca coordinación de los músculos del habla. Esta condición puede ser causada por un infarto, parálisis cerebral, o por una lesión severa en el cerebro. Para mexicanos con esta condición hay muy pocas, si es que hay alguna, tecnologías de asistencia para mejorar sus habilidades sociales de interacción. En este artículo presentamos nuestros avances hacia el desarrollo de una interfazde comunicación para hablantes con disartria cuya lengua materna sea el español mexicano. La metodología propuesta depende de (1 diseño especial de un corpus de entrenamiento con voz normal y recursos limitados, (2 adaptación de usuario estándar, y (3 control de la perplejidad del modelo de lenguaje para lograr alta precisión en el Reconocimiento Automático del Habla (RAH. La interfaz permite al usuario y terapéuta el realizar actividades como adaptación dinámica de usuario, adaptación de vocabulario, y síntesis de texto a voz. Pruebas en vivo fueron realizadas con un usuario con disartria leve, logrando precisiones de 93%-95% para habla espontánea.Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder due to weakness or poor coordination of the speechmuscles. This condition can be caused by a stroke, cerebral palsy, or by a traumatic braininjury. For Mexican people with this condition there are few, if any, assistive technologies to improve their social interaction skills. In this paper we present our advances towards the development of a communication interface for dysarthric speakers whose native language is Mexican Spanish. We propose a methodology that relies on (1 special design of a training normal-speech corpus with limited resources, (2 standard speaker adaptation, and (3 control of language model perplexity, to achieve high Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR accuracy. The interface allows the user and therapist to perform tasks such as dynamic speaker adaptation, vocabulary

System Identification Methods for Aircraft Flight Control Development and Validation

Science.gov (United States)

1995-10-01

System-identification methods compose a mathematical model, or series of models, : from measurements of inputs and outputs of dynamic systems. This paper : discusses the use of frequency-domain system-identification methods for the : development and ...

Improved system blind identification based on second-order ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

An improved system blind identification method based on second- order cyclostationary statistics and the properties of group delay, has been ... In the last decade, there has been considerable research on achieving blind identification.

Vocal caricatures reveal signatures of speaker identity

Science.gov (United States)

López, Sabrina; Riera, Pablo; Assaneo, María Florencia; Eguía, Manuel; Sigman, Mariano; Trevisan, Marcos A.

2013-12-01

What are the features that impersonators select to elicit a speaker's identity? We built a voice database of public figures (targets) and imitations produced by professional impersonators. They produced one imitation based on their memory of the target (caricature) and another one after listening to the target audio (replica). A set of naive participants then judged identity and similarity of pairs of voices. Identity was better evoked by the caricatures and replicas were perceived to be closer to the targets in terms of voice similarity. We used this data to map relevant acoustic dimensions for each task. Our results indicate that speaker identity is mainly associated with vocal tract features, while perception of voice similarity is related to vocal folds parameters. We therefore show the way in which acoustic caricatures emphasize identity features at the cost of loosing similarity, which allows drawing an analogy with caricatures in the visual space.

Within-category variance and lexical tone discrimination in native and non-native speakers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoffmann, C.W.G.; Sadakata, M.; Chen, A.; Desain, P.W.M.; McQueen, J.M.; Gussenhove, C.; Chen, Y.; Dediu, D.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we show how acoustic variance within lexical tones in disyllabic Mandarin Chinese pseudowords affects discrimination abilities in both native and non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Within-category acoustic variance did not hinder native speakers in discriminating between lexical

The Acquisition of Clitic Pronouns in the Spanish Interlanguage of Peruvian Quechua Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Klee, Carol A.

1989-01-01

Analysis of four adult Quechua speakers' acquisition of clitic pronouns in Spanish revealed that educational attainment and amount of contact with monolingual Spanish speakers were positively related to native-like norms of competence in the use of object pronouns in Spanish. (CB)

PARAMETRIC IDENTIFICATION OF STOCHASTIC SYSTEM BY NON-GRADIENT RANDOM SEARCHING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Lobaty

2017-01-01

Full Text Available At this moment we know a great variety of identification objects, tasks and methods and its significance is constantly increasing in various fields of science and technology.  The identification problem is dependent on a priori information about identification object, besides that  the existing approaches and methods of identification are determined by the form of mathematical models (deterministic, stochastic, frequency, temporal, spectral etc.. The paper considers a problem for determination of system parameters  (identification object which is assigned by the stochastic mathematical model including random functions of time. It has been shown  that while making optimization of the stochastic systems subject to random actions deterministic methods can be applied only for a limited approximate optimization of the system by taking into account average random effects and fixed structure of the system. The paper proposes an algorithm for identification of  parameters in a mathematical model of  the stochastic system by non-gradient random searching. A specific  feature  of the algorithm is its applicability  practically to mathematic models of any type because the applied algorithm does not depend on linearization and differentiability of functions included in the mathematical model of the system. The proposed algorithm  ensures searching of  an extremum for the specified quality criteria in terms of external uncertainties and limitations while using random searching of parameters for a mathematical model of the system. The paper presents results of the investigations on operational capability of the considered identification method  while using mathematical simulation of hypothetical control system with a priori unknown parameter values of the mathematical model. The presented results of the mathematical simulation obviously demonstrate the operational capability of the proposed identification method.

"I May Be a Native Speaker but I'm Not Monolingual": Reimagining "All" Teachers' Linguistic Identities in TESOL

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Elizabeth M.

2016-01-01

Teacher linguistic identity has so far mainly been researched in terms of whether a teacher identifies (or is identified by others) as a native speaker (NEST) or nonnative speaker (NNEST) (Moussu & Llurda, 2008; Reis, 2011). Native speakers are presumed to be monolingual, and nonnative speakers, although by definition bilingual, tend to be…

Bridging Gaps in Common Ground: Speakers Design Their Gestures for Their Listeners

Science.gov (United States)

Hilliard, Caitlin; Cook, Susan Wagner

2016-01-01

Communication is shaped both by what we are trying to say and by whom we are saying it to. We examined whether and how shared information influences the gestures speakers produce along with their speech. Unlike prior work examining effects of common ground on speech and gesture, we examined a situation in which some speakers have the same amount…

Exploiting deep neural networks and head movements for binaural localisation of multiple speakers in reverberant conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ma, Ning; Brown, Guy J.; May, Tobias

2015-01-01

This paper presents a novel machine-hearing system that exploits deep neural networks (DNNs) and head movements for binaural localisation of multiple speakers in reverberant conditions. DNNs are used to map binaural features, consisting of the complete crosscorrelation function (CCF) and interaural...

Performance of an optical identification and interrogation system

Science.gov (United States)

Venugopalan, A.; Ghosh, A. K.; Verma, P.; Cheng, S.

2008-04-01

A free space optics based identification and interrogation system has been designed. The applications of the proposed system lie primarily in areas which require a secure means of mutual identification and information exchange between optical readers and tags. Conventional RFIDs raise issues regarding security threats, electromagnetic interference and health safety. The security of RF-ID chips is low due to the wide spatial spread of radio waves. Malicious nodes can read data being transmitted on the network, if they are in the receiving range. The proposed system provides an alternative which utilizes the narrow paraxial beams of lasers and an RSA-based authentication scheme. These provide enhanced security to communication between a tag and the base station or reader. The optical reader can also perform remote identification and the tag can be read from a far off distance, given line of sight. The free space optical identification and interrogation system can be used for inventory management, security systems at airports, port security, communication with high security systems, etc. to name a few. The proposed system was implemented with low-cost, off-the-shelf components and its performance in terms of throughput and bit error rate has been measured and analyzed. The range of operation with a bit-error-rate lower than 10-9 was measured to be about 4.5 m. The security of the system is based on the strengths of the RSA encryption scheme implemented using more than 1024 bits.

Encoding, rehearsal, and recall in signers and speakers: shared network but differential engagement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bavelier, D; Newman, A J; Mukherjee, M; Hauser, P; Kemeny, S; Braun, A; Boutla, M

2008-10-01

Short-term memory (STM), or the ability to hold verbal information in mind for a few seconds, is known to rely on the integrity of a frontoparietal network of areas. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to ask whether a similar network is engaged when verbal information is conveyed through a visuospatial language, American Sign Language, rather than speech. Deaf native signers and hearing native English speakers performed a verbal recall task, where they had to first encode a list of letters in memory, maintain it for a few seconds, and finally recall it in the order presented. The frontoparietal network described to mediate STM in speakers was also observed in signers, with its recruitment appearing independent of the modality of the language. This finding supports the view that signed and spoken STM rely on similar mechanisms. However, deaf signers and hearing speakers differentially engaged key structures of the frontoparietal network as the stages of STM unfold. In particular, deaf signers relied to a greater extent than hearing speakers on passive memory storage areas during encoding and maintenance, but on executive process areas during recall. This work opens new avenues for understanding similarities and differences in STM performance in signers and speakers.

Identification of general linear mechanical systems

Science.gov (United States)

Sirlin, S. W.; Longman, R. W.; Juang, J. N.

1983-01-01

Previous work in identification theory has been concerned with the general first order time derivative form. Linear mechanical systems, a large and important class, naturally have a second order form. This paper utilizes this additional structural information for the purpose of identification. A realization is obtained from input-output data, and then knowledge of the system input, output, and inertia matrices is used to determine a set of linear equations whereby we identify the remaining unknown system matrices. Necessary and sufficient conditions on the number, type and placement of sensors and actuators are given which guarantee identificability, and less stringent conditions are given which guarantee generic identifiability. Both a priori identifiability and a posteriori identifiability are considered, i.e., identifiability being insured prior to obtaining data, and identifiability being assured with a given data set.

Speaker-Sex Discrimination for Voiced and Whispered Vowels at Short Durations

OpenAIRE

Smith, David R. R.

2016-01-01

Whispered vowels, produced with no vocal fold vibration, lack the periodic temporal fine structure which in voiced vowels underlies the perceptual attribute of pitch (a salient auditory cue to speaker sex). Voiced vowels possess no temporal fine structure at very short durations (below two glottal cycles). The prediction was that speaker-sex discrimination performance for whispered and voiced vowels would be similar for very short durations but, as stimulus duration increases, voiced vowel pe...

Promoting Communities of Practice among Non-Native Speakers of English in Online Discussions

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hoe Kyeung

2011-01-01

An online discussion involving text-based computer-mediated communication has great potential for promoting equal participation among non-native speakers of English. Several studies claimed that online discussions could enhance the academic participation of non-native speakers of English. However, there is little research around participation…

Learning foreign labels from a foreign speaker: the role of (limited) exposure to a second language.

Science.gov (United States)

Akhtar, Nameera; Menjivar, Jennifer; Hoicka, Elena; Sabbagh, Mark A

2012-11-01

Three- and four-year-olds (N = 144) were introduced to novel labels by an English speaker and a foreign speaker (of Nordish, a made-up language), and were asked to endorse one of the speaker's labels. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared to bilingual children and English-speaking children who were regularly exposed to a language other than English. All children tended to endorse the English speaker's labels when asked 'What do you call this?', but when asked 'What do you call this in Nordish?', children with exposure to a second language were more likely to endorse the foreign label than monolingual and bilingual children. The findings suggest that, at this age, exposure to, but not necessarily immersion in, more than one language may promote the ability to learn foreign words from a foreign speaker.

Is the superior verbal memory span of Mandarin speakers due to faster rehearsal?

Science.gov (United States)

Mattys, Sven L; Baddeley, Alan; Trenkic, Danijela

2018-04-01

It is well established that digit span in native Chinese speakers is atypically high. This is commonly attributed to a capacity for more rapid subvocal rehearsal for that group. We explored this hypothesis by testing a group of English-speaking native Mandarin speakers on digit span and word span in both Mandarin and English, together with a measure of speed of articulation for each. When compared to the performance of native English speakers, the Mandarin group proved to be superior on both digit and word spans while predictably having lower spans in English. This suggests that the Mandarin advantage is not limited to digits. Speed of rehearsal correlated with span performance across materials. However, this correlation was more pronounced for English speakers than for any of the Chinese measures. Further analysis suggested that speed of rehearsal did not provide an adequate account of differences between Mandarin and English spans or for the advantage of digits over words. Possible alternative explanations are discussed.

Modeling of Biometric Identification System Using the Colored Petri Nets

Science.gov (United States)

Petrosyan, G. R.; Ter-Vardanyan, L. A.; Gaboutchian, A. V.

2015-05-01

In this paper we present a model of biometric identification system transformed into Petri Nets. Petri Nets, as a graphical and mathematical tool, provide a uniform environment for modelling, formal analysis, and design of discrete event systems. The main objective of this paper is to introduce the fundamental concepts of Petri Nets to the researchers and practitioners, both from identification systems, who are involved in the work in the areas of modelling and analysis of biometric identification types of systems, as well as those who may potentially be involved in these areas. In addition, the paper introduces high-level Petri Nets, as Colored Petri Nets (CPN). In this paper the model of Colored Petri Net describes the identification process much simpler.

Variation among heritage speakers: Sequential vs. simultaneous bilinguals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Lee

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This study examines the differences in the grammatical knowledge of two types of heritage speakers of Korean. Early simultaneous bilinguals are exposed to both English and the heritage language from birth, whereas early sequential bilinguals are exposed to the heritage language first and then to English upon schooling. A listening comprehension task involving relative clauses was conducted with 51 beginning-level Korean heritage speakers. The results showed that the early sequential bilinguals exhibited much more accurate knowledge than the early simultaneous bilinguals, who lacked rudimentary knowledge of Korean relative clauses. Drawing on the findings of adult and child Korean L1 data on the acquisition of relative clauses, the performance of each group is discussed with respect to attrition and incomplete acquisition of the heritage language.

The native-speaker fever in English language teaching (ELT: Pitting pedagogical competence against historical origin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anchimbe, Eric A.

2006-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses English language teaching (ELT around the world, and argues that as a profession, it should emphasise pedagogical competence rather than native-speaker requirement in the recruitment of teachers in English as a foreign language (EFL and English as a second language (ESL contexts. It establishes that being a native speaker does not make one automatically a competent speaker or, of that matter, a competent teacher of the language. It observes that on many grounds, including physical, sociocultural, technological and economic changes in the world as well as the status of English as official and national language in many post-colonial regions, the distinction between native and non-native speakers is no longer valid.

Psychophysical Boundary for Categorization of Voiced-Voiceless Stop Consonants in Native Japanese Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Tamura, Shunsuke; Ito, Kazuhito; Hirose, Nobuyuki; Mori, Shuji

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychophysical boundary used for categorization of voiced-voiceless stop consonants in native Japanese speakers. Method: Twelve native Japanese speakers participated in the experiment. The stimuli were synthetic stop consonant-vowel stimuli varying in voice onset time (VOT) with…

Optimized Experiment Design for Marine Systems Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blanke, M.; Knudsen, Morten

1999-01-01

Simulation of maneuvring and design of motion controls for marine systems require non-linear mathematical models, which often have more than one-hundred parameters. Model identification is hence an extremely difficult task. This paper discusses experiment design for marine systems identification...... and proposes a sensitivity approach to solve the practical experiment design problem. The applicability of the sensitivity approach is demonstrated on a large non-linear model of surge, sway, roll and yaw of a ship. The use of the method is illustrated for a container-ship where both model and full-scale tests...

Identification of System Parameters by the Random Decrement Technique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brincker, Rune; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Rytter, Anders

1991-01-01

-Walker equations and finally, least-square fitting of the theoretical correlation function. The results are compared to the results of fitting an Auto Regressive Moving Average (ARMA) model directly to the system output from a single-degree-of-freedom system loaded by white noise.......The aim of this paper is to investigate and illustrate the possibilities of using correlation functions estimated by the Random Decrement Technique as a basis for parameter identification. A two-stage system identification system is used: first, the correlation functions are estimated by the Random...... Decrement Technique, and then the system parameters are identified from the correlation function estimates. Three different techniques are used in the parameter identification process: a simple non-parametric method, estimation of an Auto Regressive (AR) model by solving an overdetermined set of Yule...

Does training make French speakers more able to identify lexical stress?

OpenAIRE

Schwab, Sandra; Llisterri, Joaquim

2013-01-01

This research takes the stress deafness hypothesis as a starting point (e.g. Dupoux et al., 2008), and, more specifically, the fact that French speakers present difficulties in perceiving lexical stress in a free-stress language. In this framework, we aim at determining whether a prosodic training could improve the ability of French speakers to identify the stressed syllable in Spanish words. Three groups of participants took part in this experiment. The Native group was composed of 16 speake...

a sociophonetic study of young nigerian english speakers

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Oladipupo

between male and female speakers in boundary consonant deletion, (F(1, .... speech perception (Foulkes 2006, Clopper & Pisoni, 2005, Thomas 2002). ... in Nigeria, and had had the privilege of travelling to Europe and the Americas for the.

Decoding speech perception by native and non-native speakers using single-trial electrophysiological data.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Brandmeyer

Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs are systems that use real-time analysis of neuroimaging data to determine the mental state of their user for purposes such as providing neurofeedback. Here, we investigate the feasibility of a BCI based on speech perception. Multivariate pattern classification methods were applied to single-trial EEG data collected during speech perception by native and non-native speakers. Two principal questions were asked: 1 Can differences in the perceived categories of pairs of phonemes be decoded at the single-trial level? 2 Can these same categorical differences be decoded across participants, within or between native-language groups? Results indicated that classification performance progressively increased with respect to the categorical status (within, boundary or across of the stimulus contrast, and was also influenced by the native language of individual participants. Classifier performance showed strong relationships with traditional event-related potential measures and behavioral responses. The results of the cross-participant analysis indicated an overall increase in average classifier performance when trained on data from all participants (native and non-native. A second cross-participant classifier trained only on data from native speakers led to an overall improvement in performance for native speakers, but a reduction in performance for non-native speakers. We also found that the native language of a given participant could be decoded on the basis of EEG data with accuracy above 80%. These results indicate that electrophysiological responses underlying speech perception can be decoded at the single-trial level, and that decoding performance systematically reflects graded changes in the responses related to the phonological status of the stimuli. This approach could be used in extensions of the BCI paradigm to support perceptual learning during second language acquisition.

Classifications of Vocalic Segments from Articulatory Kinematics: Healthy Controls and Speakers with Dysarthria

Science.gov (United States)

Yunusova, Yana; Weismer, Gary G.; Lindstrom, Mary J.

2011-01-01

Purpose: In this study, the authors classified vocalic segments produced by control speakers (C) and speakers with dysarthria due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson's disease (PD); classification was based on movement measures. The researchers asked the following questions: (a) Can vowels be classified on the basis of selected…

Variation in Microbial Identification System accuracy for yeast identification depending on commercial source of Sabouraud dextrose agar.

Science.gov (United States)

Kellogg, J A; Bankert, D A; Chaturvedi, V

1999-06-01

The accuracy of the Microbial Identification System (MIS; MIDI, Inc. ) for identification of yeasts to the species level was compared by using 438 isolates grown on prepoured BBL Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) and prepoured Remel SDA. Correct identification was observed for 326 (74%) of the yeasts cultured on BBL SDA versus only 214 (49%) of yeasts grown on Remel SDA (P < 0.001). The commercial source of the SDA used in the MIS procedure significantly influences the system's accuracy.

Structural system identification: Structural dynamics model validation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Red-Horse, J.R.

1997-04-01

Structural system identification is concerned with the development of systematic procedures and tools for developing predictive analytical models based on a physical structure`s dynamic response characteristics. It is a multidisciplinary process that involves the ability (1) to define high fidelity physics-based analysis models, (2) to acquire accurate test-derived information for physical specimens using diagnostic experiments, (3) to validate the numerical simulation model by reconciling differences that inevitably exist between the analysis model and the experimental data, and (4) to quantify uncertainties in the final system models and subsequent numerical simulations. The goal of this project was to develop structural system identification techniques and software suitable for both research and production applications in code and model validation.

The effect on recognition memory of noise cancelling headphones in a noisy environment with native and nonnative speakers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brett R C Molesworth

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Noise has the potential to impair cognitive performance. For nonnative speakers, the effect of noise on performance is more severe than their native counterparts. What remains unknown is the effectiveness of countermeasures such as noise attenuating devices in such circumstances. Therefore, the main aim of the present research was to examine the effectiveness of active noise attenuating countermeasures in the presence of simulated aircraft noise for both native and nonnative English speakers. Thirty-two participants, half native English speakers and half native German speakers completed four recognition (cued recall tasks presented in English under four different audio conditions, all in the presence of simulated aircraft noise. The results of the research indicated that in simulated aircraft noise at 65 dB(A, performance of nonnative English speakers was poorer than for native English speakers. The beneficial effects of noise cancelling headphones in improving the signal to noise ratio led to an improved performance for nonnative speakers. These results have particular importance for organizations operating in a safety-critical environment such as aviation.

Continuing Medical Education Speakers with High Evaluation Scores Use more Image-based Slides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferguson, Ian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Although continuing medical education (CME presentations are common across health professions, it is unknown whether slide design is independently associated with audience evaluations of the speaker. Based on the conceptual framework of Mayer’s theory of multimedia learning, this study aimed to determine whether image use and text density in presentation slides are associated with overall speaker evaluations. This retrospective analysis of six sequential CME conferences (two annual emergency medicine conferences over a three-year period used a mixed linear regression model to assess whether postconference speaker evaluations were associated with image fraction (percentage of image-based slides per presentation and text density (number of words per slide. A total of 105 unique lectures were given by 49 faculty members, and 1,222 evaluations (70.1% response rate were available for analysis. On average, 47.4% (SD=25.36 of slides had at least one educationally-relevant image (image fraction. Image fraction significantly predicted overall higher evaluation scores [F(1, 100.676=6.158, p=0.015] in the mixed linear regression model. The mean (SD text density was 25.61 (8.14 words/slide but was not a significant predictor [F(1, 86.293=0.55, p=0.815]. Of note, the individual speaker [χ2 (1=2.952, p=0.003] and speaker seniority [F(3, 59.713=4.083, p=0.011] significantly predicted higher scores. This is the first published study to date assessing the linkage between slide design and CME speaker evaluations by an audience of practicing clinicians. The incorporation of images was associated with higher evaluation scores, in alignment with Mayer’s theory of multimedia learning. Contrary to this theory, however, text density showed no significant association, suggesting that these scores may be multifactorial. Professional development efforts should focus on teaching best practices in both slide design and presentation skills.

Continuing Medical Education Speakers with High Evaluation Scores Use more Image-based Slides.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferguson, Ian; Phillips, Andrew W; Lin, Michelle

2017-01-01

Although continuing medical education (CME) presentations are common across health professions, it is unknown whether slide design is independently associated with audience evaluations of the speaker. Based on the conceptual framework of Mayer's theory of multimedia learning, this study aimed to determine whether image use and text density in presentation slides are associated with overall speaker evaluations. This retrospective analysis of six sequential CME conferences (two annual emergency medicine conferences over a three-year period) used a mixed linear regression model to assess whether post-conference speaker evaluations were associated with image fraction (percentage of image-based slides per presentation) and text density (number of words per slide). A total of 105 unique lectures were given by 49 faculty members, and 1,222 evaluations (70.1% response rate) were available for analysis. On average, 47.4% (SD=25.36) of slides had at least one educationally-relevant image (image fraction). Image fraction significantly predicted overall higher evaluation scores [F(1, 100.676)=6.158, p=0.015] in the mixed linear regression model. The mean (SD) text density was 25.61 (8.14) words/slide but was not a significant predictor [F(1, 86.293)=0.55, p=0.815]. Of note, the individual speaker [χ 2 (1)=2.952, p=0.003] and speaker seniority [F(3, 59.713)=4.083, p=0.011] significantly predicted higher scores. This is the first published study to date assessing the linkage between slide design and CME speaker evaluations by an audience of practicing clinicians. The incorporation of images was associated with higher evaluation scores, in alignment with Mayer's theory of multimedia learning. Contrary to this theory, however, text density showed no significant association, suggesting that these scores may be multifactorial. Professional development efforts should focus on teaching best practices in both slide design and presentation skills.

Speaker emotion recognition: from classical classifiers to deep neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Mezghani, Eya; Charfeddine, Maha; Nicolas, Henri; Ben Amar, Chokri

2018-04-01

Speaker emotion recognition is considered among the most challenging tasks in recent years. In fact, automatic systems for security, medicine or education can be improved when considering the speech affective state. In this paper, a twofold approach for speech emotion classification is proposed. At the first side, a relevant set of features is adopted, and then at the second one, numerous supervised training techniques, involving classic methods as well as deep learning, are experimented. Experimental results indicate that deep architecture can improve classification performance on two affective databases, the Berlin Dataset of Emotional Speech and the SAVEE Dataset Surrey Audio-Visual Expressed Emotion.

Speaker-Sex Discrimination for Voiced and Whispered Vowels at Short Durations.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, David R R

2016-01-01

Whispered vowels, produced with no vocal fold vibration, lack the periodic temporal fine structure which in voiced vowels underlies the perceptual attribute of pitch (a salient auditory cue to speaker sex). Voiced vowels possess no temporal fine structure at very short durations (below two glottal cycles). The prediction was that speaker-sex discrimination performance for whispered and voiced vowels would be similar for very short durations but, as stimulus duration increases, voiced vowel performance would improve relative to whispered vowel performance as pitch information becomes available. This pattern of results was shown for women's but not for men's voices. A whispered vowel needs to have a duration three times longer than a voiced vowel before listeners can reliably tell whether it's spoken by a man or woman (∼30 ms vs. ∼10 ms). Listeners were half as sensitive to information about speaker-sex when it is carried by whispered compared with voiced vowels.

Infant sensitivity to speaker and language in learning a second label.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhagwat, Jui; Casasola, Marianella

2014-02-01

Two experiments examined when monolingual, English-learning 19-month-old infants learn a second object label. Two experimenters sat together. One labeled a novel object with one novel label, whereas the other labeled the same object with a different label in either the same or a different language. Infants were tested on their comprehension of each label immediately following its presentation. Infants mapped the first label at above chance levels, but they did so with the second label only when requested by the speaker who provided it (Experiment 1) or when the second experimenter labeled the object in a different language (Experiment 2). These results show that 19-month-olds learn second object labels but do not readily generalize them across speakers of the same language. The results highlight how speaker and language spoken guide infants' acceptance of second labels, supporting sociopragmatic views of word learning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Identification of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Possessing Some Non-linearities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. N. Pavlov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of this work is the problem of identification of nonlinear dynamic systems based on the experimental data obtained by applying test signals to the system. The goal is to determinate coefficients of differential equations of systems by experimental frequency hodographs and separate similar, but different, in essence, forces: dissipative forces with the square of the first derivative in the motion equations and dissipative force from the action of dry friction. There was a proposal to use the harmonic linearization method to approximate each of the nonlinearity of "quadratic friction" and "dry friction" by linear friction with the appropriate harmonic linearization coefficient.Assume that a frequency transfer function of the identified system has a known form. Assume as well that there are disturbances while obtaining frequency characteristics of the realworld system. As a result, the points of experimentally obtained hodograph move randomly. Searching for solution of the identification problem was in the hodograph class, specified by the system model, which has the form of the frequency transfer function the same as the form of the frequency transfer function of the system identified. Minimizing a proximity criterion (measure of the experimentally obtained system hodograph and the system hodograph model for all the experimental points described and previously published by one of the authors allowed searching for the unknown coefficients of the frequenc ransfer function of the system model. The paper shows the possibility to identify a nonlinear dynamic system with multiple nonlinearities, obtained on the experimental samples of the frequency system hodograph. The proposed algorithm allows to select the nonlinearity of the type "quadratic friction" and "dry friction", i.e. also in the case where the nonlinearity is dependent on the same dynamic parameter, in particular, on the derivative of the system output value. For the dynamic

B Anand | Speakers | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

However, the mechanism by which this protospacer fragment gets integrated in a directional fashion into the leader proximal end is elusive. The speakers group identified that the leader region abutting the first CRISPR repeat localizes Integration Host Factor (IHF) and Cas1-2 complex in Escherichia coli. IHF binding to the ...

L2 speakers decompose morphologically complex verbs: fMRI evidence from priming of transparent derived verbs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophie eDe Grauwe

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this fMRI long-lag priming study, we investigated the processing of Dutch semantically transparent, derived prefix verbs. In such words, the meaning of the word as a whole can be deduced from the meanings of its parts, e.g. wegleggen ‘put aside’. Many behavioral and some fMRI studies suggest that native (L1 speakers decompose transparent derived words. The brain region usually implicated in morphological decomposition is the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG. In non-native (L2 speakers, the processing of transparent derived words has hardly been investigated, especially in fMRI studies, and results are contradictory: Some studies find more reliance on holistic (i.e. non-decompositional processing by L2 speakers; some find no difference between L1 and L2 speakers. In this study, we wanted to find out whether Dutch transparent derived prefix verbs are decomposed or processed holistically by German L2 speakers of Dutch. Half of the derived verbs (e.g. omvallen ‘fall down’ were preceded by their stem (e.g. vallen ‘fall’ with a lag of 4 to 6 words (‘primed’; the other half (e.g. inslapen ‘fall asleep’ were not (‘unprimed’. L1 and L2 speakers of Dutch made lexical decisions on these visually presented verbs. Both ROI analyses and whole-brain analyses showed that there was a significant repetition suppression effect for primed compared to unprimed derived verbs in the LIFG. This was true both for the analyses over L2 speakers only and for the analyses over the two language groups together. The latter did not reveal any interaction with language group (L1 vs. L2 in the LIFG. Thus, L2 speakers show a clear priming effect in the LIFG, an area that has been associated with morphological decomposition. Our findings are consistent with the idea that L2 speakers engage in decomposition of transparent derived verbs rather than processing them holistically.

Biometric identification systems: the science of transaction facilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Robert R.

1994-10-01

The future ofthe "secure transaction" and the success ofall undertakings that depend on absolute certainty that the individuals involved really are who and what they represent themselves to be is dependent upon the successful development of absolutely accurate, low-cost and easy-to-operate Biometric Identification Systems. Whether these transactions are political, military, financial or administrative (e.g. health cards, drivers licenses, welfare entitlement, national identification cards, credit card transactions, etc.), the need for such secure and positive identification has never been greater -and yet we are only at the beginning ofan era in which we will see the emergence and proliferation of Biometric Identification Systems in nearly every field ofhuman endeavor. Proper application ofthese systems will change the way the world operates, and that is precisely the goal ofComparator Systems Corporation. Just as with the photo-copier 40 years ago and the personal computer 20 years ago, the potential applications for positive personal identification are going to make the Biometric Identification System a commonplace component in the standard practice ofbusiness, and in interhuman relationships ofall kinds. The development of new and specific application hardware, as well as the necessary algorithms and related software required for integration into existing operating procedures and newly developed systems alike, has been a more-than-a-decade-long process at Comparator -and we are now on the verge of delivering these systems to the world markets so urgently in need of them. An individual could feel extremely confident and satisfied ifhe could present his credit, debit, or ATM card at any point of sale and, after inserting his card, could simply place his finger on a glass panel and in less than a second be positively accepted as being the person that the card purported him to be; not to mention the security and satisfaction of the vendor involved in knowing that

A portable system for nuclear, chemical agent, and explosives identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, W.E.; Buckley, W.M.; Kreek, S.A.; Mauger, G.J.; Lavietes, A.D.; Dougan, A.D.; Caffrey, A.J.

2001-01-01

The FRIS/PINS hybrid integrates the LLNL-developed Field Radionuclide Identification System (FRIS) with the INEEL-developed Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy (PINS) chemical assay system to yield a combined general radioisotope, special nuclear material, and chemical weapons/explosives detection and identification system. The PINS system uses a neutron source and a high-purity germanium γ-ray detector. The FRIS system uses an electromechanically cooled germanium detector and its own analysis software to detect and identify special nuclear material and other radioisotopes. The FRIS/PINS combined system also uses the electromechanically-cooled germanium detector. There is no other currently available integrated technology that can combine a prompt-gamma neutron-activation analysis capability for CWE with a passive radioisotope measurement and identification capability for special nuclear material

A Portable System for Nuclear, Chemical Agent and Explosives Identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parker, W.E.; Buckley, W.M.; Kreek, S.A.; Caffrey, A.J.; Mauger, G.J.; Lavietes, A.D.; Dougan, A.D.

2000-01-01

The FRIS/PINS hybrid integrates the LLNL-developed Field Radionuclide Identification System (FRIS) with the INEEL-developed Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy (PINS) chemical assay system to yield a combined general radioisotope, special nuclear material, and chemical weapons/explosives detection and identification system. The PINS system uses a neutron source and a high-purity germanium γ-ray detector. The FRIS system uses an electrochemically cooled germanium detector and its own analysis software to detect and identify special nuclear material and other radioisotopes. The FRIS/PINS combined system also uses the electromechanically-cooled germanium detector. There is no other currently available integrated technology that can combine an active neutron interrogation and analysis capability for CWE with a passive radioisotope measurement and identification capability for special nuclear material

Congenital Amusia in Speakers of a Tone Language: Association with Lexical Tone Agnosia

Science.gov (United States)

Nan, Yun; Sun, Yanan; Peretz, Isabelle

2010-01-01

Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder that affects the processing of musical pitch in speakers of non-tonal languages like English and French. We assessed whether this musical disorder exists among speakers of Mandarin Chinese who use pitch to alter the meaning of words. Using the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusia, we tested 117…

Phoneme Error Pattern by Heritage Speakers of Spanish on an English Word Recognition Test.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Lu-Feng

2017-04-01

Heritage speakers acquire their native language from home use in their early childhood. As the native language is typically a minority language in the society, these individuals receive their formal education in the majority language and eventually develop greater competency with the majority than their native language. To date, there have not been specific research attempts to understand word recognition by heritage speakers. It is not clear if and to what degree we may infer from evidence based on bilingual listeners in general. This preliminary study investigated how heritage speakers of Spanish perform on an English word recognition test and analyzed their phoneme errors. A prospective, cross-sectional, observational design was employed. Twelve normal-hearing adult Spanish heritage speakers (four men, eight women, 20-38 yr old) participated in the study. Their language background was obtained through the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire. Nine English monolingual listeners (three men, six women, 20-41 yr old) were also included for comparison purposes. Listeners were presented with 200 Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words in quiet. They repeated each word orally and in writing. Their responses were scored by word, word-initial consonant, vowel, and word-final consonant. Performance was compared between groups with Student's t test or analysis of variance. Group-specific error patterns were primarily descriptive, but intergroup comparisons were made using 95% or 99% confidence intervals for proportional data. The two groups of listeners yielded comparable scores when their responses were examined by word, vowel, and final consonant. However, heritage speakers of Spanish misidentified significantly more word-initial consonants and had significantly more difficulty with initial /p, b, h/ than their monolingual peers. The two groups yielded similar patterns for vowel and word-final consonants, but heritage speakers made significantly

Combining Behavioral and ERP Methodologies to Investigate the Differences Between McGurk Effects Demonstrated by Cantonese and Mandarin Speakers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Zhang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The present study investigated the impact of Chinese dialects on McGurk effect using behavioral and event-related potential (ERP methodologies. Specifically, intra-language comparison of McGurk effect was conducted between Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. The behavioral results showed that Cantonese speakers exhibited a stronger McGurk effect in audiovisual speech perception compared to Mandarin speakers, although both groups performed equally in the auditory and visual conditions. ERP results revealed that Cantonese speakers were more sensitive to visual cues than Mandarin speakers, though this was not the case for the auditory cues. Taken together, the current findings suggest that the McGurk effect generated by Chinese speakers is mainly influenced by segmental phonology during audiovisual speech integration.

Combining Behavioral and ERP Methodologies to Investigate the Differences Between McGurk Effects Demonstrated by Cantonese and Mandarin Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Juan; Meng, Yaxuan; McBride, Catherine; Fan, Xitao; Yuan, Zhen

2018-01-01

The present study investigated the impact of Chinese dialects on McGurk effect using behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) methodologies. Specifically, intra-language comparison of McGurk effect was conducted between Mandarin and Cantonese speakers. The behavioral results showed that Cantonese speakers exhibited a stronger McGurk effect in audiovisual speech perception compared to Mandarin speakers, although both groups performed equally in the auditory and visual conditions. ERP results revealed that Cantonese speakers were more sensitive to visual cues than Mandarin speakers, though this was not the case for the auditory cues. Taken together, the current findings suggest that the McGurk effect generated by Chinese speakers is mainly influenced by segmental phonology during audiovisual speech integration. PMID:29780312

Communication‐related affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions in speakers with spasmodic dysphonia

Science.gov (United States)

Vanryckeghem, Martine

2017-01-01

Objectives To investigate the self‐perceived affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions associated with communication of speakers with spasmodic dysphonia as a function of employment status. Study Design Prospective cross‐sectional investigation Methods 148 Participants with spasmodic dysphonia (SD) completed an adapted version of the Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB‐Voice), a multidimensional assessment of self‐perceived reactions to communication. The BAB‐Voice consisted of four subtests: the Speech Situation Checklist for A) Emotional Reaction (SSC‐ER) and B) Speech Disruption (SSC‐SD), C) the Behavior Checklist (BCL), and D) the Communication Attitude Test for Adults (BigCAT). Participants were assigned to groups based on employment status (working versus retired). Results Descriptive comparison of the BAB‐Voice in speakers with SD to previously published non‐dysphonic speaker data revealed substantially higher scores associated with SD across all four subtests. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) revealed no significantly different BAB‐Voice subtest scores as a function of SD group status (working vs. retired). Conclusions BAB‐Voice scores revealed that speakers with SD experienced substantial impact of their voice disorder on communication attitude, coping behaviors, and affective reactions in speaking situations as reflected in their high BAB scores. These impacts do not appear to be influenced by work status, as speakers with SD who were employed or retired experienced similar levels of affective and behavioral reactions in various speaking situations and cognitive responses. These findings are consistent with previously published pilot data. The specificity of items assessed by means of the BAB‐Voice may inform the clinician of valid patient‐centered treatment goals which target the impairment extended beyond the physiological dimension. Level of Evidence 2b PMID:29299525

Communication-related affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions in speakers with spasmodic dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Watts, Christopher R; Vanryckeghem, Martine

2017-12-01

To investigate the self-perceived affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions associated with communication of speakers with spasmodic dysphonia as a function of employment status. Prospective cross-sectional investigation. 148 Participants with spasmodic dysphonia (SD) completed an adapted version of the Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB-Voice), a multidimensional assessment of self-perceived reactions to communication. The BAB-Voice consisted of four subtests: the Speech Situation Checklist for A) Emotional Reaction (SSC-ER) and B) Speech Disruption (SSC-SD), C) the Behavior Checklist (BCL), and D) the Communication Attitude Test for Adults (BigCAT). Participants were assigned to groups based on employment status (working versus retired). Descriptive comparison of the BAB-Voice in speakers with SD to previously published non-dysphonic speaker data revealed substantially higher scores associated with SD across all four subtests. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) revealed no significantly different BAB-Voice subtest scores as a function of SD group status (working vs. retired). BAB-Voice scores revealed that speakers with SD experienced substantial impact of their voice disorder on communication attitude, coping behaviors, and affective reactions in speaking situations as reflected in their high BAB scores. These impacts do not appear to be influenced by work status, as speakers with SD who were employed or retired experienced similar levels of affective and behavioral reactions in various speaking situations and cognitive responses. These findings are consistent with previously published pilot data. The specificity of items assessed by means of the BAB-Voice may inform the clinician of valid patient-centered treatment goals which target the impairment extended beyond the physiological dimension. 2b.

Limitations of the Current Microbial Identification System for Identification of Clinical Yeast Isolates

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Kellogg, James A.; Bankert, David A.; Chaturvedi, Vishnu

1998-01-01

The ability of the rapid, computerized Microbial Identification System (MIS; Microbial ID, Inc.) to identify a variety of clinical isolates of yeast species was compared to the abilities of a combination of tests including the Yeast Biochemical Card (bioMerieux Vitek), determination of microscopic morphology on cornmeal agar with Tween 80, and when necessary, conventional biochemical tests and/or the API 20C Aux system (bioMerieux Vitek) to identify the same yeast isolates. The MIS chromatographically analyzes cellular fatty acids and compares the results with the fatty acid profiles in its database. Yeast isolates were subcultured onto Sabouraud dextrose agar and were incubated at 28°C for 24 h. The resulting colonies were saponified, methylated, extracted, and chromatographically analyzed (by version 3.8 of the MIS YSTCLN database) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Of 477 isolates of 23 species tested, 448 (94%) were given species names by the MIS and 29 (6%) were unidentified (specified as “no match” by the MIS). Of the 448 isolates given names by the MIS, only 335 (75%) of the identifications were correct to the species level. While the MIS correctly identified only 102 (82%) of 124 isolates of Candida glabrata, the predictive value of an MIS identification of unknown isolates as C. glabrata was 100% (102 of 102) because no isolates of other species were misidentified as C. glabrata. In contrast, while the MIS correctly identified 100% (15 of 15) of the isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the predictive value of an MIS identification of unknown isolates as S. cerevisiae was only 47% (15 of 32), because 17 isolates of C. glabrata were misidentified as S. cerevisiae. The low predictive values for accuracy associated with MIS identifications for most of the remaining yeast species indicate that the procedure and/or database for the system need to be improved. PMID:9574676

Schizophrenia among Sesotho speakers in South Africa | Mosotho ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Results: Core symptoms of schizophrenia among Sesotho speakers do not differ significantly from other cultures. However, the content of psychological symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations is strongly affected by cultural variables. Somatic symptoms such as headaches, palpitations, dizziness and excessive ...

Sentence comprehension in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abuom, Tom O.; Shah, Emmah; Bastiaanse, Roelien

For this study, sentence comprehension was tested in Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic speakers. The sentences were controlled for four factors: (1) order of the arguments (base vs. derived); (2) embedding (declarative vs. relative sentences); (3) overt use of the relative pronoun "who"; (4)

An evidence-based rehabilitation program for tracheoesophageal speakers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jongmans, P.; Rossum, M.; As-Brooks, C.; Hilgers, F.; Pols, L.; Hilgers, F.J.M.; Pols, L.C.W.; van Rossum, M.; van den Brekel, M.W.M.

2008-01-01

Objectives: to develop an evidence-based therapy program aimed at improving tracheoesophageal speech intelligibility. The therapy program is based on particular problems found for TE speakers in a previous study as performed by the authors. Patients/Materials and Methods: 9 male laryngectomized

The Effects of the Literal Meaning of Emotional Phrases on the Identification of Vocal Emotions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shigeno, Sumi

2018-02-01

This study investigates the discrepancy between the literal emotional content of speech and emotional tone in the identification of speakers' vocal emotions in both the listeners' native language (Japanese), and in an unfamiliar language (random-spliced Japanese). Both experiments involve a "congruent condition," in which the emotion contained in the literal meaning of speech (words and phrases) was compatible with vocal emotion, and an "incongruent condition," in which these forms of emotional information were discordant. Results for Japanese indicated that performance in identifying emotions did not differ significantly between the congruent and incongruent conditions. However, the results for random-spliced Japanese indicated that vocal emotion was correctly identified more often in the congruent than in the incongruent condition. The different results for Japanese and random-spliced Japanese suggested that the literal meaning of emotional phrases influences the listener's perception of the speaker's emotion, and that Japanese participants could infer speakers' intended emotions in the incongruent condition.

Identification of System Parameters by the Random Decrement Technique

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brincker, Rune; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Rytter, Anders

-Walker equations and finally least square fitting of the theoretical correlation function. The results are compared to the results of fitting an Auto Regressive Moving Average(ARMA) model directly to the system output. All investigations are performed on the simulated output from a single degree-off-freedom system......The aim of this paper is to investigate and illustrate the possibilities of using correlation functions estimated by the Random Decrement Technique as a basis for parameter identification. A two-stage system identification method is used: first the correlation functions are estimated by the Random...... Decrement technique and then the system parameters are identified from the correlation function estimates. Three different techniques are used in the parameters identification process: a simple non-paramatic method, estimation of an Auto Regressive(AR) model by solving an overdetermined set of Yule...

Identification of time-varying nonlinear systems using differential evolution algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Perisic, Nevena; Green, Peter L; Worden, Keith

2013-01-01

(DE) algorithm for the identification of time-varying systems. DE is an evolutionary optimisation method developed to perform direct search in a continuous space without requiring any derivative estimation. DE is modified so that the objective function changes with time to account for the continuing......, thus identification of time-varying systems with nonlinearities can be a very challenging task. In order to avoid conventional least squares and gradient identification methods which require uni-modal and double differentiable objective functions, this work proposes a modified differential evolution...... inclusion of new data within an error metric. This paper presents results of identification of a time-varying SDOF system with Coulomb friction using simulated noise-free and noisy data for the case of time-varying friction coefficient, stiffness and damping. The obtained results are promising and the focus...

On the same wavelength: predictable language enhances speaker-listener brain-to-brain synchrony in posterior superior temporal gyrus.

Science.gov (United States)

Dikker, Suzanne; Silbert, Lauren J; Hasson, Uri; Zevin, Jason D

2014-04-30

Recent research has shown that the degree to which speakers and listeners exhibit similar brain activity patterns during human linguistic interaction is correlated with communicative success. Here, we used an intersubject correlation approach in fMRI to test the hypothesis that a listener's ability to predict a speaker's utterance increases such neural coupling between speakers and listeners. Nine subjects listened to recordings of a speaker describing visual scenes that varied in the degree to which they permitted specific linguistic predictions. In line with our hypothesis, the temporal profile of listeners' brain activity was significantly more synchronous with the speaker's brain activity for highly predictive contexts in left posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), an area previously associated with predictive auditory language processing. In this region, predictability differentially affected the temporal profiles of brain responses in the speaker and listeners respectively, in turn affecting correlated activity between the two: whereas pSTG activation increased with predictability in the speaker, listeners' pSTG activity instead decreased for more predictable sentences. Listeners additionally showed stronger BOLD responses for predictive images before sentence onset, suggesting that highly predictable contexts lead comprehenders to preactivate predicted words.

Thermal Stresses Analysis and Optimized TTP Processes to Achieved CNT-Based Diaphragm for Thin Panel Speakers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feng-Min Lai

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Industrial companies popularly used the powder coating, classing, and thermal transfer printing (TTP technique to avoid oxidation on the metallic surface and stiffened speaker diaphragm. This study developed a TTP technique to fabricate a carbon nanotubes (CNTs stiffened speaker diaphragm for thin panel speaker. The self-developed TTP stiffening technique did not require a high curing temperature that decreased the mechanical property of CNTs. In addition to increasing the stiffness of diaphragm substrate, this technique alleviated the middle and high frequency attenuation associated with the smoothing sound pressure curve of thin panel speaker. The advantage of TTP technique is less harmful to the ecology, but it causes thermal residual stresses and some unstable connections between printed plates. Thus, this study used the numerical analysis software (ANSYS to analyze the stress and thermal of work piece which have not delaminated problems in transfer interface. The Taguchi quality engineering method was applied to identify the optimal manufacturing parameters. Finally, the optimal manufacturing parameters were employed to fabricate a CNT-based diaphragm, which was then assembled onto a speaker. The result indicated that the CNT-based diaphragm improved the sound pressure curve smoothness of the speaker, which produced a minimum high frequency dip difference (ΔdB value.

The Space-Time Topography of English Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Duman, Steve

2016-01-01

English speakers talk and think about Time in terms of physical space. The past is behind us, and the future is in front of us. In this way, we "map" space onto Time. This dissertation addresses the specificity of this physical space, or its topography. Inspired by languages like Yupno (Nunez, et al., 2012) and Bamileke-Dschang (Hyman,…

Does dynamic information about the speaker's face contribute to semantic speech processing? ERP evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Gutiérrez, David; Abdel Rahman, Rasha; Martín-Loeches, Manuel; Muñoz, Francisco; Schacht, Annekathrin; Sommer, Werner

2018-07-01

Face-to-face interactions characterize communication in social contexts. These situations are typically multimodal, requiring the integration of linguistic auditory input with facial information from the speaker. In particular, eye gaze and visual speech provide the listener with social and linguistic information, respectively. Despite the importance of this context for an ecological study of language, research on audiovisual integration has mainly focused on the phonological level, leaving aside effects on semantic comprehension. Here we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the influence of facial dynamic information on semantic processing of connected speech. Participants were presented with either a video or a still picture of the speaker, concomitant to auditory sentences. Along three experiments, we manipulated the presence or absence of the speaker's dynamic facial features (mouth and eyes) and compared the amplitudes of the semantic N400 elicited by unexpected words. Contrary to our predictions, the N400 was not modulated by dynamic facial information; therefore, semantic processing seems to be unaffected by the speaker's gaze and visual speech. Even though, during the processing of expected words, dynamic faces elicited a long-lasting late posterior positivity compared to the static condition. This effect was significantly reduced when the mouth of the speaker was covered. Our findings may indicate an increase of attentional processing to richer communicative contexts. The present findings also demonstrate that in natural communicative face-to-face encounters, perceiving the face of a speaker in motion provides supplementary information that is taken into account by the listener, especially when auditory comprehension is non-demanding. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Infants' Selectively Pay Attention to the Information They Receive from a Native Speaker of Their Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Marno, Hanna; Guellai, Bahia; Vidal, Yamil; Franzoi, Julia; Nespor, Marina; Mehler, Jacques

2016-01-01

From the first moments of their life, infants show a preference for their native language, as well as toward speakers with whom they share the same language. This preference appears to have broad consequences in various domains later on, supporting group affiliations and collaborative actions in children. Here, we propose that infants' preference for native speakers of their language also serves a further purpose, specifically allowing them to efficiently acquire culture specific knowledge via social learning. By selectively attending to informants who are native speakers of their language and who probably also share the same cultural background with the infant, young learners can maximize the possibility to acquire cultural knowledge. To test whether infants would preferably attend the information they receive from a speaker of their native language, we familiarized 12-month-old infants with a native and a foreign speaker, and then presented them with movies where each of the speakers silently gazed toward unfamiliar objects. At test, infants' looking behavior to the two objects alone was measured. Results revealed that infants preferred to look longer at the object presented by the native speaker. Strikingly, the effect was replicated also with 5-month-old infants, indicating an early development of such preference. These findings provide evidence that young infants pay more attention to the information presented by a person with whom they share the same language. This selectivity can serve as a basis for efficient social learning by influencing how infants' allocate attention between potential sources of information in their environment.

Neural bases of congenital amusia in tonal language speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Caicai; Peng, Gang; Shao, Jing; Wang, William S-Y

2017-03-01

Congenital amusia is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder of fine-grained pitch processing. In this fMRI study, we examined the neural bases of congenial amusia in speakers of a tonal language - Cantonese. Previous studies on non-tonal language speakers suggest that the neural deficits of congenital amusia lie in the music-selective neural circuitry in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). However, it is unclear whether this finding can generalize to congenital amusics in tonal languages. Tonal language experience has been reported to shape the neural processing of pitch, which raises the question of how tonal language experience affects the neural bases of congenital amusia. To investigate this question, we examined the neural circuitries sub-serving the processing of relative pitch interval in pitch-matched Cantonese level tone and musical stimuli in 11 Cantonese-speaking amusics and 11 musically intact controls. Cantonese-speaking amusics exhibited abnormal brain activities in a widely distributed neural network during the processing of lexical tone and musical stimuli. Whereas the controls exhibited significant activation in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) in the lexical tone condition and in the cerebellum regardless of the lexical tone and music conditions, no activation was found in the amusics in those regions, which likely reflects a dysfunctional neural mechanism of relative pitch processing in the amusics. Furthermore, the amusics showed abnormally strong activation of the right middle frontal gyrus and precuneus when the pitch stimuli were repeated, which presumably reflect deficits of attending to repeated pitch stimuli or encoding them into working memory. No significant group difference was found in the right IFG in either the whole-brain analysis or region-of-interest analysis. These findings imply that the neural deficits in tonal language speakers might differ from those in non-tonal language speakers, and overlap partly with the

Dynamic Stiffness Transfer Function of an Electromechanical Actuator Using System Identification

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sang Hwa; Tahk, Min-Jea

2018-04-01

In the aeroelastic analysis of flight vehicles with electromechanical actuators (EMAs), an accurate prediction of flutter requires dynamic stiffness characteristics of the EMA. The dynamic stiffness transfer function of the EMA with brushless direct current (BLDC) motor can be obtained by conducting complicated mathematical calculations of control algorithms and mechanical/electrical nonlinearities using linearization techniques. Thus, system identification approaches using experimental data, as an alternative, have considerable advantages. However, the test setup for system identification is expensive and complex, and experimental procedures for data collection are time-consuming tasks. To obtain the dynamic stiffness transfer function, this paper proposes a linear system identification method that uses information obtained from a reliable dynamic stiffness model with a control algorithm and nonlinearities. The results of this study show that the system identification procedure is compact, and the transfer function is able to describe the dynamic stiffness characteristics of the EMA. In addition, to verify the validity of the system identification method, the simulation results of the dynamic stiffness transfer function and the dynamic stiffness model were compared with the experimental data for various external loads.

System Identification of Mistuned Bladed Disks from Traveling Wave Response Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Feiner, D. M.; Griffin, J. H.; Jones, K. W.; Kenyon, J. A.; Mehmed, O.; Kurkov, A. P.

2003-01-01

A new approach to modal analysis is presented. By applying this technique to bladed disk system identification methods, one can determine the mistuning in a rotor based on its response to a traveling wave excitation. This allows system identification to be performed under rotating conditions, and thus expands the applicability of existing mistuning identification techniques from integrally bladed rotors to conventional bladed disks.

Time-Contrastive Learning Based DNN Bottleneck Features for Text-Dependent Speaker Verification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarkar, Achintya Kumar; Tan, Zheng-Hua

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present a time-contrastive learning (TCL) based bottleneck (BN) feature extraction method for speech signals with an application to text-dependent (TD) speaker verification (SV). It is well-known that speech signals exhibit quasi-stationary behavior in and only in a short interval......, and the TCL method aims to exploit this temporal structure. More specifically, it trains deep neural networks (DNNs) to discriminate temporal events obtained by uniformly segmenting speech signals, in contrast to existing DNN based BN feature extraction methods that train DNNs using labeled data...... to discriminate speakers or pass-phrases or phones or a combination of them. In the context of speaker verification, speech data of fixed pass-phrases are used for TCL-BN training, while the pass-phrases used for TCL-BN training are excluded from being used for SV, so that the learned features can be considered...

Perceptual and acoustic analysis of lexical stress in Greek speakers with dysarthria.

Science.gov (United States)

Papakyritsis, Ioannis; Müller, Nicole

2014-01-01

The study reported in this paper investigated the abilities of Greek speakers with dysarthria to signal lexical stress at the single word level. Three speakers with dysarthria and two unimpaired control participants were recorded completing a repetition task of a list of words consisting of minimal pairs of Greek disyllabic words contrasted by lexical stress location only. Fourteen listeners were asked to determine the attempted stress location for each word pair. Acoustic analyses of duration and intensity ratios, both within and across words, were undertaken to identify possible acoustic correlates of the listeners' judgments concerning stress location. Acoustic and perceptual data indicate that while each participant with dysarthria in this study had some difficulty in signaling stress unambiguously, the pattern of difficulty was different for each speaker. Further, it was found that the relationship between the listeners' judgments of stress location and the acoustic data was not conclusive.

Integrating single-point vibrometer and full-field electronic speckle pattern interferometer to evaluate a micro-speaker

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Wen-Chi; Chen, Yu-Chi; Chien, Chih-Jen; Wang, An-Bang; Lee, Chih-Kung

2011-04-01

A testing system contains an advanced vibrometer/interferometer device (AVID) and a high-speed electronic speckle pattern interferometer (ESPI) was developed. AVID is a laser Doppler vibrometer that can be used to detect single-point linear and angular velocity with DC to 20 MHz bandwidth and with nanometer resolution. In swept frequency mode, frequency response from mHz to MHz of the structure of interest can be measured. The ESPI experimental setup can be used to measure full-field out-of-plane displacement. A 5-1 phase shifting method and a correlation algorithm were used to analyze the phase difference between the reference signal and the speckle signal scattered from the sample surface. In order to show the efficiency and effectiveness of AVID and ESPI, we designed a micro-speaker composed of a plate with fixed boundaries and two piezo-actuators attached to the sides of the plate. The AVID was used to measure the vibration of one of the piezo-actuators and the ESPI was adopted to measure the two-dimensional out-of-plane displacement of the plate. A microphone was used to measure the acoustic response created by the micro-speaker. Driving signal includes random signal, sinusoidal signal, amplitude modulated high-frequency carrier signal, etc. Angular response induced by amplitude modulated high-frequency carrier signal was found to be significantly narrower than the frequency responses created by other types of driving signals. The validity of our newly developed NDE system are detailed by comparing the relationship between the vibration signal of the micro-speaker and the acoustic field generated.

Switches to English during French Service Encounters: Relationships with L2 French Speakers' Willingness to Communicate and Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

McNaughton, Stephanie; McDonough, Kim

2015-01-01

This exploratory study investigated second language (L2) French speakers' service encounters in the multilingual setting of Montreal, specifically whether switches to English during French service encounters were related to L2 speakers' willingness to communicate or motivation. Over a two-week period, 17 French L2 speakers in Montreal submitted…

Accurate Lithium-ion battery parameter estimation with continuous-time system identification methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia, Bing; Zhao, Xin; Callafon, Raymond de; Garnier, Hugues; Nguyen, Truong; Mi, Chris

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Continuous-time system identification is applied in Lithium-ion battery modeling. • Continuous-time and discrete-time identification methods are compared in detail. • The instrumental variable method is employed to further improve the estimation. • Simulations and experiments validate the advantages of continuous-time methods. - Abstract: The modeling of Lithium-ion batteries usually utilizes discrete-time system identification methods to estimate parameters of discrete models. However, in real applications, there is a fundamental limitation of the discrete-time methods in dealing with sensitivity when the system is stiff and the storage resolutions are limited. To overcome this problem, this paper adopts direct continuous-time system identification methods to estimate the parameters of equivalent circuit models for Lithium-ion batteries. Compared with discrete-time system identification methods, the continuous-time system identification methods provide more accurate estimates to both fast and slow dynamics in battery systems and are less sensitive to disturbances. A case of a 2"n"d-order equivalent circuit model is studied which shows that the continuous-time estimates are more robust to high sampling rates, measurement noises and rounding errors. In addition, the estimation by the conventional continuous-time least squares method is further improved in the case of noisy output measurement by introducing the instrumental variable method. Simulation and experiment results validate the analysis and demonstrate the advantages of the continuous-time system identification methods in battery applications.

Willing Learners yet Unwilling Speakers in ESL Classrooms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zuraidah Ali

2007-12-01

Full Text Available To some of us, speech production in ESL has become so natural and integral that we seem to take it for granted. We often do not even remember how we struggled through the initial process of mastering English. Unfortunately, to students who are still learning English, they seem to face myriad problems that make them appear unwilling or reluctant ESL speakers. This study will investigate this phenomenon which is very common in the ESL classroom. Setting its background on related research findings on this matter, a qualitative study was conducted among foreign students enrolled in the Intensive English Programme (IEP at Institute of Liberal Studies (IKAL, University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN. The results will show and discuss an extent of truth behind this perplexing phenomenon: willing learners, yet unwilling speakers of ESL, in our effort to provide supportive learning cultures in second language acquisition (SLA to this group of students.

English exposed common mistakes made by Chinese speakers

CERN Document Server

Hart, Steve

2017-01-01

Having analysed the most common English errors made in over 600 academic papers written by Chinese undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers, Steve Hart has written an essential, practical guide specifically for the native Chinese speaker on how to write good academic English. English Exposed: Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers is divided into three main sections. The first section examines errors made with verbs, nouns, prepositions, and other grammatical classes of words. The second section focuses on problems of word choice. In addition to helping the reader find the right word, it provides instruction for selecting the right style too. The third section covers a variety of other areas essential for the academic writer, such as using punctuation, adding appropriate references, referring to tables and figures, and selecting among various English date and time phrases. Using English Exposed will allow a writer to produce material where content and ideas-not language mistakes-speak the loudest.

The BESIII muon identification system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Jiawen; Qian Sen; Chen Jin; Du Zhizhen; Han Jifeng; Li Rubo; Liu Jichen; Liang Hao; Mao, Yajun; Ma Liehua; Wang Yifang; Xie Yigang; Xie Yuguang; Zhang Qingmin; Zhao Jianbing; Zhao, T.; Zhou, Yongzhao

2010-01-01

The muon identification system of BESIII experiment at the IHEP is described. The muon counter (MUC) is composed of resistive plate chambers (RPCs) working in self-quenching streamer mode with the gas mixture Ar/C 2 F 4 H 2 /C 4 H 10 =50/42/8. The design, the construction, the mass production and the quality control result of the detectors are described in detail. The paper also presents the performance of the bare RPCs and the superlayer modules with cosmic rays. Finally, the subsystems of MUC, including the RPC superlayer modules, the gas systems, the HV and LV system and the readout electronic system, are also presented.

Insight into the Attitudes of Speakers of Urban Meccan Hijazi Arabic towards their Dialect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sameeha D. Alahmadi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The current study mainly aims to examine the attitudes of speakers of Urban Meccan Hijazi Arabic (UMHA towards their dialect, which is spoken in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It also investigates whether the participants’ age, sex and educational level have any impact on their perception of their dialect. To this end, I designed a 5-point-Likert-scale questionnaire, requiring participants to rate their attitudes towards their dialect. I asked 80 participants, whose first language is UMHA, to fill out the questionnaire. On the basis of the three independent variables, namely, age, sex and educational level, the participants were divided into three groups: old and young speakers, male and female speakers and educated and uneducated speakers. The results reveal that in general, all the groups (young and old, male and female, and educated and uneducated participants have a sense of responsibility towards their dialect, making their attitudes towards their dialect positive. However, differences exist between the three groups. For instance, old speakers tend to express their pride of their dialect more than young speakers. The same pattern is observed in male and female groups. The results show that females may feel embarrassed to provide answers that may imply that they are not proud of their own dialect, since the majority of women in the Arab world, in general, are under more pressure to conform to the overt norms of the society than males. Therefore, I argue that most Arab women may not have the same freedom to express their opinions and feelings about various issues. Based on the results, the study concludes with some recommendations for further research.  Keywords: sociolinguistics, language attitudes, dialectology, social variables, Urban Meccan Hijazi Arabic

Accuracy of MFCC-Based Speaker Recognition in Series 60 Device

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pasi Fränti

2005-10-01

Full Text Available A fixed point implementation of speaker recognition based on MFCC signal processing is considered. We analyze the numerical error of the MFCC and its effect on the recognition accuracy. Techniques to reduce the information loss in a converted fixed point implementation are introduced. We increase the signal processing accuracy by adjusting the ratio of presentation accuracy of the operators and the signal. The signal processing error is found out to be more important to the speaker recognition accuracy than the error in the classification algorithm. The results are verified by applying the alternative technique to speech data. We also discuss the specific programming requirements set up by the Symbian and Series 60.

Televison assessment and identification system for the plutonium protection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenwoll, D.A.

1979-02-01

This report covers the selection, description, and use of the components comprising the Television Assessment and Identification System in the Hanford Plutonium Protection System. This work was sponsored by the Department of Energy/Office of Safeguards and Security (DOE/OSS) as part of the overall Sandia Fixed Facility Physical Protection Program

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory electronic vehicle identification system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Landt, J.A.; Bobbett, R.E.; Koelle, A.R.; Salazar, P.H.

1980-01-01

A three-digit electronic identification system is described. Digits may be decimal (1000 combinations) or hexidecimal (8192 combinations). Battery-powered transponders are interrogated with a lower-power (1 W) radio signal. Line-of-sight interrogations up to 33 m (100 ft) are possible. Successful interrogations up to 7 m (20 ft) are possible for concealed transponders (that is, in the engine compartment). Vehicles moving at high rates of speed can be interrogated. This system provides data in a computer-compatible RS232 format. The system can be used for other applications with little or no modification. A similar system is in present use for identification and temperature monitoring of livestock. No unforeseen problems exist for expanding the coding scheme to identify larger numbers of objects

Umesh V Waghmare | Speakers | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Umesh V Waghmare. Theoretical Sciences Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560 064, ... These ideas apply quite well to dynamical structure of a crystal, as described by the dispersion of its phonons or vibrational waves. The speakers group has shown an interesting ...

A general auditory bias for handling speaker variability in speech? Evidence in humans and songbirds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kriengwatana, B.; Escudero, P.; Kerkhoven, A.H.; ten Cate, C.

2015-01-01

Different speakers produce the same speech sound differently, yet listeners are still able to reliably identify the speech sound. How listeners can adjust their perception to compensate for speaker differences in speech, and whether these compensatory processes are unique only to humans, is still

Age differences in vocal emotion perception: on the role of speaker age and listener sex.

Science.gov (United States)

Sen, Antarika; Isaacowitz, Derek; Schirmer, Annett

2017-10-24

Older adults have greater difficulty than younger adults perceiving vocal emotions. To better characterise this effect, we explored its relation to age differences in sensory, cognitive and emotional functioning. Additionally, we examined the role of speaker age and listener sex. Participants (N = 163) aged 19-34 years and 60-85 years categorised neutral sentences spoken by ten younger and ten older speakers with a happy, neutral, sad, or angry voice. Acoustic analyses indicated that expressions from younger and older speakers denoted the intended emotion with similar accuracy. As expected, younger participants outperformed older participants and this effect was statistically mediated by an age-related decline in both optimism and working-memory. Additionally, age differences in emotion perception were larger for younger as compared to older speakers and a better perception of younger as compared to older speakers was greater in younger as compared to older participants. Last, a female perception benefit was less pervasive in the older than the younger group. Together, these findings suggest that the role of age for emotion perception is multi-faceted. It is linked to emotional and cognitive change, to processing biases that benefit young and own-age expressions, and to the different aptitudes of women and men.

Complete functional characterization of sensory neurons by system identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Michael C-K; David, Stephen V; Gallant, Jack L

2006-01-01

System identification is a growing approach to sensory neurophysiology that facilitates the development of quantitative functional models of sensory processing. This approach provides a clear set of guidelines for combining experimental data with other knowledge about sensory function to obtain a description that optimally predicts the way that neurons process sensory information. This prediction paradigm provides an objective method for evaluating and comparing computational models. In this chapter we review many of the system identification algorithms that have been used in sensory neurophysiology, and we show how they can be viewed as variants of a single statistical inference problem. We then review many of the practical issues that arise when applying these methods to neurophysiological experiments: stimulus selection, behavioral control, model visualization, and validation. Finally we discuss several problems to which system identification has been applied recently, including one important long-term goal of sensory neuroscience: developing models of sensory systems that accurately predict neuronal responses under completely natural conditions.

Subspace System Identification of the Kalman Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Di Ruscio

2003-07-01

Full Text Available Some proofs concerning a subspace identification algorithm are presented. It is proved that the Kalman filter gain and the noise innovations process can be identified directly from known input and output data without explicitly solving the Riccati equation. Furthermore, it is in general and for colored inputs, proved that the subspace identification of the states only is possible if the deterministic part of the system is known or identified beforehand. However, if the inputs are white, then, it is proved that the states can be identified directly. Some alternative projection matrices which can be used to compute the extended observability matrix directly from the data are presented. Furthermore, an efficient method for computing the deterministic part of the system is presented. The closed loop subspace identification problem is also addressed and it is shown that this problem is solved and unbiased estimates are obtained by simply including a filter in the feedback. Furthermore, an algorithm for consistent closed loop subspace estimation is presented. This algorithm is using the controller parameters in order to overcome the bias problem.

What makes a charismatic speaker?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niebuhr, Oliver; Voße, Jana; Brem, Alexander

2016-01-01

The former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was one of the most charismatic speakers of the past decades. However, there is, as yet, no detailed quantitative profile of his way of speaking. We used state-of-the-art computer techniques to acoustically analyze his speech behavior and relate it to reference...... samples. Our paper provides the first-ever acoustic profile of Steve Jobs, based on about 4000 syllables and 12,000 individual speech sounds from his two most outstanding and well-known product presentations: the introductions of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2. Our results show that Steve Jobs stands out...

a five year review of api20e bacteria identification system's

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The API20E system (API; bioMérieux, France) is a plastic strip with microtubes containing dehydrated substrates, originally designed for the identification of Enterobacteriaceae so that identification of fermenters with the system would be straightforward. The API20E system was extended to include non- fermenters by the ...

MAC, A System for Automatically IPR Identification, Collection and Distribution

Science.gov (United States)

Serrão, Carlos

Controlling Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the Digital World is a very hard challenge. The facility to create multiple bit-by-bit identical copies from original IPR works creates the opportunities for digital piracy. One of the most affected industries by this fact is the Music Industry. The Music Industry has supported huge losses during the last few years due to this fact. Moreover, this fact is also affecting the way that music rights collecting and distributing societies are operating to assure a correct music IPR identification, collection and distribution. In this article a system for automating this IPR identification, collection and distribution is presented and described. This system makes usage of advanced automatic audio identification system based on audio fingerprinting technology. This paper will present the details of the system and present a use-case scenario where this system is being used.

Improving substructure identification accuracy of shear structures using virtual control system

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dongyu; Yang, Yang; Wang, Tingqiang; Li, Hui

2018-02-01

Substructure identification is a powerful tool to identify the parameters of a complex structure. Previously, the authors developed an inductive substructure identification method for shear structures. The identification error analysis showed that the identification accuracy of this method is significantly influenced by the magnitudes of two key structural responses near a certain frequency; if these responses are unfavorable, the method cannot provide accurate estimation results. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to improve the substructure identification accuracy by introducing a virtual control system (VCS) into the structure. A virtual control system is a self-balanced system, which consists of some control devices and a set of self-balanced forces. The self-balanced forces counterbalance the forces that the control devices apply on the structure. The control devices are combined with the structure to form a controlled structure used to replace the original structure in the substructure identification; and the self-balance forces are treated as known external excitations to the controlled structure. By optimally tuning the VCS’s parameters, the dynamic characteristics of the controlled structure can be changed such that the original structural responses become more favorable for the substructure identification and, thus, the identification accuracy is improved. A numerical example of 6-story shear structure is utilized to verify the effectiveness of the VCS based controlled substructure identification method. Finally, shake table tests are conducted on a 3-story structural model to verify the efficacy of the VCS to enhance the identification accuracy of the structural parameters.

Processing ser and estar to locate objects and events: An ERP study with L2 speakers of Spanish.

Science.gov (United States)

Dussias, Paola E; Contemori, Carla; Román, Patricia

2014-01-01

In Spanish locative constructions, a different form of the copula is selected in relation to the semantic properties of the grammatical subject: sentences that locate objects require estar while those that locate events require ser (both translated in English as 'to be'). In an ERP study, we examined whether second language (L2) speakers of Spanish are sensitive to the selectional restrictions that the different types of subjects impose on the choice of the two copulas. Twenty-four native speakers of Spanish and two groups of L2 Spanish speakers (24 beginners and 18 advanced speakers) were recruited to investigate the processing of 'object/event + estar/ser ' permutations. Participants provided grammaticality judgments on correct (object + estar ; event + ser ) and incorrect (object + ser ; event + estar ) sentences while their brain activity was recorded. In line with previous studies (Leone-Fernández, Molinaro, Carreiras, & Barber, 2012; Sera, Gathje, & Pintado, 1999), the results of the grammaticality judgment for the native speakers showed that participants correctly accepted object + estar and event + ser constructions. In addition, while 'object + ser ' constructions were considered grossly ungrammatical, 'event + estar ' combinations were perceived as unacceptable to a lesser degree. For these same participants, ERP recording time-locked to the onset of the critical word ' en ' showed a larger P600 for the ser predicates when the subject was an object than when it was an event (*La silla es en la cocina vs. La fiesta es en la cocina). This P600 effect is consistent with syntactic repair of the defining predicate when it does not fit with the adequate semantic properties of the subject. For estar predicates (La silla está en la cocina vs. *La fiesta está en la cocina), the findings showed a central-frontal negativity between 500-700 ms. Grammaticality judgment data for the L2 speakers of Spanish showed that beginners were significantly less accurate than

System identification and structural health monitoring of bridge structures

OpenAIRE

Islami, Kleidi

2013-01-01

This research study addresses two issues for the identification of structural characteristics of civil infrastructure systems. The first one is related to the problem of dynamic system identification, by means of experimental and operational modal analysis, applied to a large variety of bridge structures. Based on time and frequency domain techniques and mainly with output-only acceleration, velocity or strain data, modal parameters have been estimated for suspension bridges, masonry arch bri...

Research of Uncertainty Reasoning in Pineapple Disease Identification System

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Liqun; Fan, Haifeng

In order to deal with the uncertainty of evidences mostly existing in pineapple disease identification system, a reasoning model based on evidence credibility factor was established. The uncertainty reasoning method is discussed,including: uncertain representation of knowledge, uncertain representation of rules, uncertain representation of multi-evidences and update of reasoning rules. The reasoning can fully reflect the uncertainty in disease identification and reduce the influence of subjective factors on the accuracy of the system.

System identification using Nuclear Norm & Tabu Search optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, Asif A.; Schoen, Marco P.; Bosworth, Ken W.

2018-01-01

In recent years, subspace System Identification (SI) algorithms have seen increased research, stemming from advanced minimization methods being applied to the Nuclear Norm (NN) approach in system identification. These minimization algorithms are based on hard computing methodologies. To the authors’ knowledge, as of now, there has been no work reported that utilizes soft computing algorithms to address the minimization problem within the nuclear norm SI framework. A linear, time-invariant, discrete time system is used in this work as the basic model for characterizing a dynamical system to be identified. The main objective is to extract a mathematical model from collected experimental input-output data. Hankel matrices are constructed from experimental data, and the extended observability matrix is employed to define an estimated output of the system. This estimated output and the actual - measured - output are utilized to construct a minimization problem. An embedded rank measure assures minimum state realization outcomes. Current NN-SI algorithms employ hard computing algorithms for minimization. In this work, we propose a simple Tabu Search (TS) algorithm for minimization. TS algorithm based SI is compared with the iterative Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) line search optimization based NN-SI. For comparison, several different benchmark system identification problems are solved by both approaches. Results show improved performance of the proposed SI-TS algorithm compared to the NN-SI ADMM algorithm.

The Effect of Noise on Relationships Between Speech Intelligibility and Self-Reported Communication Measures in Tracheoesophageal Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Eadie, Tanya L; Otero, Devon Sawin; Bolt, Susan; Kapsner-Smith, Mara; Sullivan, Jessica R

2016-08-01

The purpose of this study was to examine how sentence intelligibility relates to self-reported communication in tracheoesophageal speakers when speech intelligibility is measured in quiet and noise. Twenty-four tracheoesophageal speakers who were at least 1 year postlaryngectomy provided audio recordings of 5 sentences from the Sentence Intelligibility Test. Speakers also completed self-reported measures of communication-the Voice Handicap Index-10 and the Communicative Participation Item Bank short form. Speech recordings were presented to 2 groups of inexperienced listeners who heard sentences in quiet or noise. Listeners transcribed the sentences to yield speech intelligibility scores. Very weak relationships were found between intelligibility in quiet and measures of voice handicap and communicative participation. Slightly stronger, but still weak and nonsignificant, relationships were observed between measures of intelligibility in noise and both self-reported measures. However, 12 speakers who were more than 65% intelligible in noise showed strong and statistically significant relationships with both self-reported measures (R2 = .76-.79). Speech intelligibility in quiet is a weak predictor of self-reported communication measures in tracheoesophageal speakers. Speech intelligibility in noise may be a better metric of self-reported communicative function for speakers who demonstrate higher speech intelligibility in noise.

Native Speakers' Perception of Non-Native English Speech

Science.gov (United States)

Jaber, Maysa; Hussein, Riyad F.

2011-01-01

This study is aimed at investigating the rating and intelligibility of different non-native varieties of English, namely French English, Japanese English and Jordanian English by native English speakers and their attitudes towards these foreign accents. To achieve the goals of this study, the researchers used a web-based questionnaire which…

Limited data speaker identification

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

This work demonstrates the following: multiple frame size and rate (MFSR) analysis provides improvement in the analysis stage, combination of mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), its temporal derivatives ( Δ , Δ Δ ) , linear prediction residual (LPR) and linear prediction residual phase (LPRP) features provides ...

Physics-based mathematical models for quantum devices via experimental system identification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schirmer, S G; Oi, D K L; Devitt, S J [Department of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Rd, Cambridge, CB3 0WA (United Kingdom); SUPA, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG (United Kingdom); National Institute of Informatics, 2-1-2 Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8430 (Japan)], E-mail: sgs29@cam.ac.uk

2008-03-15

We consider the task of intrinsic control system identification for quantum devices. The problem of experimental determination of subspace confinement is considered, and simple general strategies for full Hamiltonian identification and decoherence characterization of a controlled two-level system are presented.

Time-Efficient Cloning Attacks Identification in Large-Scale RFID Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ju-min Zhao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Radio Frequency Identification (RFID is an emerging technology for electronic labeling of objects for the purpose of automatically identifying, categorizing, locating, and tracking the objects. But in their current form RFID systems are susceptible to cloning attacks that seriously threaten RFID applications but are hard to prevent. Existing protocols aimed at detecting whether there are cloning attacks in single-reader RFID systems. In this paper, we investigate the cloning attacks identification in the multireader scenario and first propose a time-efficient protocol, called the time-efficient Cloning Attacks Identification Protocol (CAIP to identify all cloned tags in multireaders RFID systems. We evaluate the performance of CAIP through extensive simulations. The results show that CAIP can identify all the cloned tags in large-scale RFID systems fairly fast with required accuracy.

A Portable, Air-Jet-Actuator-Based Device for System Identification

Science.gov (United States)

Staats, Wayne; Belden, Jesse; Mazumdar, Anirban; Hunter, Ian

2010-11-01

System identification (ID) of human and robotic limbs could help in diagnosis of ailments and aid in optimization of control parameters and future redesigns. We present a self-contained actuator, which uses the Coanda effect to rapidly switch the direction of a high speed air jet to create a binary stochastic force input to a limb for system ID. The design of the actuator is approached with the goal of creating a portable device, which could deployed on robot or human limbs for in situ identification. The viability of the device is demonstrated by performing stochastic system ID on an underdamped elastic beam system with fixed inertia and stiffness, and variable damping. The non-parametric impulse response yielded from the stochastic system ID is modeled as a second order system, and the resultant parameters are found to be in excellent agreement with those found using more traditional system ID techniques. The current design could be further miniaturized and developed as a portable, wireless, on-site multi-axis system identification system for less intrusive and more widespread use.

21 CFR 880.6300 - Implantable radiofrequency transponder system for patient identification and health information.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... patient identification and health information. 880.6300 Section 880.6300 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG... radiofrequency transponder system for patient identification and health information. (a) Identification. An implantable radiofrequency transponder system for patient identification and health information is a device...

System identification with information theoretic criteria

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A.A. Stoorvogel; J.H. van Schuppen (Jan)

1995-01-01

textabstractAttention is focused in this paper on the approximation problem of system identification with information theoretic criteria. For a class of problems it is shown that the criterion of mutual information rate is identical to the criterion of exponential-of-quadratic cost and to

Modeling emotional content of music using system identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Korhonen, Mark D; Clausi, David A; Jernigan, M Ed

2006-06-01

Research was conducted to develop a methodology to model the emotional content of music as a function of time and musical features. Emotion is quantified using the dimensions valence and arousal, and system-identification techniques are used to create the models. Results demonstrate that system identification provides a means to generalize the emotional content for a genre of music. The average R2 statistic of a valid linear model structure is 21.9% for valence and 78.4% for arousal. The proposed method of constructing models of emotional content generalizes previous time-series models and removes ambiguity from classifiers of emotion.

Improved Palmprint Identification System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harshala C. Salave

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Generally private information is provided by using passwords or Personal Identification Numbers which is easy to implement but it is very easily stolen or forgotten or hack. In Biometrics for individuals identification uses human physiological which are constant throughout life like palm face DNA iris etc. or behavioral characteristicswhich is not constant in life like voice signature keystroke etc.. But mostly gain more attention to palmprint identification and is becoming more popular technique using for identification and promising alternatives to the traditional password or PIN based authentication techniques. In this paper propose palmprint identification using veins on the palm and fingers. Here use fusion of techniques such as Discrete Wavelet transformDWT Canny Edge Detector Gaussian Filter Principle Component AnalysisPCA.

White Native English Speakers Needed: The Rhetorical Construction of Privilege in Online Teacher Recruitment Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Ruecker, Todd; Ives, Lindsey

2015-01-01

Over the past few decades, scholars have paid increasing attention to the role of native speakerism in the field of TESOL. Several recent studies have exposed instances of native speakerism in TESOL recruitment discourses published through a variety of media, but none have focused specifically on professional websites advertising programs in…

System identification: a frequency domain approach

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Pintelon, R; Schoukens, J

2001-01-01

... in the Identification Process 17 1.4.1 Collect Information about the System 17 1.4.2 Select a Model Structure to Represent the System 17 1.4.3 Match the Selected Model Structure to the Measurements 19 1.4.4 Validate the Selected Model 19 1.4.5 Conclusion 19 A Statistical Approach to the Estimation Problem 1.5.1 Least Squares Estimation 20 1.5.2 Weighted Least Squar...

Health monitoring system for transmission shafts based on adaptive parameter identification

Science.gov (United States)

Souflas, I.; Pezouvanis, A.; Ebrahimi, K. M.

2018-05-01

A health monitoring system for a transmission shaft is proposed. The solution is based on the real-time identification of the physical characteristics of the transmission shaft i.e. stiffness and damping coefficients, by using a physical oriented model and linear recursive identification. The efficacy of the suggested condition monitoring system is demonstrated on a prototype transient engine testing facility equipped with a transmission shaft capable of varying its physical properties. Simulation studies reveal that coupling shaft faults can be detected and isolated using the proposed condition monitoring system. Besides, the performance of various recursive identification algorithms is addressed. The results of this work recommend that the health status of engine dynamometer shafts can be monitored using a simple lumped-parameter shaft model and a linear recursive identification algorithm which makes the concept practically viable.

Extending Situated Language Comprehension (Accounts) with Speaker and Comprehender Characteristics: Toward Socially Situated Interpretation.

Science.gov (United States)

Münster, Katja; Knoeferle, Pia

2017-01-01

More and more findings suggest a tight temporal coupling between (non-linguistic) socially interpreted context and language processing. Still, real-time language processing accounts remain largely elusive with respect to the influence of biological (e.g., age) and experiential (e.g., world and moral knowledge) comprehender characteristics and the influence of the 'socially interpreted' context, as for instance provided by the speaker. This context could include actions, facial expressions, a speaker's voice or gaze, and gestures among others. We review findings from social psychology, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics to highlight the relevance of (the interplay between) the socially interpreted context and comprehender characteristics for language processing. The review informs the extension of an extant real-time processing account (already featuring a coordinated interplay between language comprehension and the non-linguistic visual context) with a variable ('ProCom') that captures characteristics of the language user and with a first approximation of the comprehender's speaker representation. Extending the CIA to the sCIA (social Coordinated Interplay Account) is the first step toward a real-time language comprehension account which might eventually accommodate the socially situated communicative interplay between comprehenders and speakers.

HOC Based Blind Identification of Hydroturbine Shaft Volterra System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bing Bai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In order to identify the quadratic Volterra system simplified from the hydroturbine shaft system, a blind identification method based on the third-order cumulants and a reversely recursive method are proposed. The input sequence of the system under consideration is an unobservable independent identically distributed (i.i.d., zero-mean and non-Gaussian stationary signal, and the observed signals are the superposition of the system output signal and Gaussian noise. To calculate the third-order moment of the output signal, a computer loop judgment method is put forward to determine the coefficient. When using optimization method to identify the time domain kernels, we combined the traditional optimization algorithm (direct search method with genetic algorithm (GA and constituted the hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA. Finally, according to the prototype observation signal and the time domain kernel parameters obtained from identification, the input signal of the system can be gained recursively. To test the proposed method, three numerical experiments and engineering application have been carried out. The results show that the method is applicable to the blind identification of the hydroturbine shaft system and has strong universality; the input signal obtained by the reversely recursive method can be approximately taken as the random excitation acted on the runner of the hydroturbine shaft system.

Omission of definite and indefinite articles in the spontaneous speech of agrammatic speakers with Broca's aphasia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Havik, E.; Bastiaanse, Y.R.M.

2004-01-01

Background: Cross-linguistic investigation of agrammatic speech in speakers of different languages allows us to tests theoretical accounts of the nature of agrammatism. A significant feature of the speech of many agrammatic speakers is a problem with article production. Mansson and Ahlsen (2001)

Online Identification of a Mechanical System in the Frequency Domain with Short-Time DFT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niko Nevaranta

2015-07-01

Full Text Available A proper system identification method is of great importance in the process of acquiring an analytical model that adequately represents the characteristics of the monitored system. While the use of different time-domain online identification techniques has been widely recognized as a powerful approach for system diagnostics, the frequency domain identification techniques have primarily been considered for offline commissioning purposes. This paper addresses issues in the online frequency domain identification of a flexible two-mass mechanical system with varying dynamics, and a particular attention is paid to detect the changes in the system dynamics. An online identification method is presented that is based on a recursive Kalman filter configured to perform like a discrete Fourier transform (DFT at a selected set of frequencies. The experimental online identification results are compared with the corresponding values obtained from the offline-identified frequency responses. The results show an acceptable agreement and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed identification method.

Fundamental limits for privacy-preserving biometric identification systems that support authentication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ignatenko, T.; Willems, F.M.J.

2015-01-01

In this paper we analyze two types of biometric identification systems with protected templates that also support authentication. In the first system two terminals observe biometric enrollment and identification sequences of a number of individuals. It is the goal of these terminals to form a common

28 CFR 20.36 - Participation in the Interstate Identification Index System.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Participation in the Interstate Identification Index System. 20.36 Section 20.36 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL JUSTICE... in the Interstate Identification Index System. (a) In order to acquire and retain direct access to...

Left hemisphere lateralization for lexical and acoustic pitch processing in Cantonese speakers as revealed by mismatch negativity.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Feng; Zhang, Caicai; Hu, Axu; Zhao, Guoping

2013-12-01

For nontonal language speakers, speech processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and musical processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., function-dependent brain asymmetry). On the other hand, acoustic temporal processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and spectral/pitch processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry). In this study, we examine whether the hemispheric lateralization of lexical pitch and acoustic pitch processing in tonal language speakers is consistent with the patterns of function- and acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry in nontonal language speakers. Pitch contrast in both speech stimuli (syllable /ji/ in Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (harmonic tone in Experiment 1; pure tone in Experiment 2) was presented to native Cantonese speakers in passive oddball paradigms. We found that the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by lexical pitch contrast was lateralized to the left hemisphere, which is consistent with the pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., left hemisphere lateralization for speech processing) in nontonal language speakers. However, the MMN elicited by acoustic pitch contrast was also left hemisphere lateralized (harmonic tone in Experiment 1) or showed a tendency for left hemisphere lateralization (pure tone in Experiment 2), which is inconsistent with the pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., right hemisphere lateralization for acoustic pitch processing) in nontonal language speakers. The consistent pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry and the inconsistent pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry between tonal and nontonal language speakers can be explained by the hypothesis that the acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry is the consequence of a carryover effect from function-dependent brain asymmetry. Potential evolutionary implication of this hypothesis is discussed. © 2013.

2009 United States Automatic Identification System Database

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 2009 United States Automatic Identification System Database contains vessel traffic data for planning purposes within the U.S. coastal waters. The database is...

2014 United States Automatic Identification System Database

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 2014 United States Automatic Identification System Database contains vessel traffic data for planning purposes within the U.S. coastal waters. The database is...

2012 United States Automatic Identification System Database

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 2012 United States Automatic Identification System Database contains vessel traffic data for planning purposes within the U.S. coastal waters. The database is...

2010 United States Automatic Identification System Database

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 2010 United States Automatic Identification System Database contains vessel traffic data for planning purposes within the U.S. coastal waters. The database is...

2011 United States Automatic Identification System Database

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The 2011 United States Automatic Identification System Database contains vessel traffic data for planning purposes within the U.S. coastal waters. The database is...

The Main Concept Analysis: Validation and sensitivity in differentiating discourse produced by unimpaired English speakers from individuals with aphasia and dementia of Alzheimer type.

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Whiteside, Janet; Bargmann, Peggy

2016-10-01

Discourse from speakers with dementia and aphasia is associated with comparable but not identical deficits, necessitating appropriate methods to differentiate them. The current study aims to validate the Main Concept Analysis (MCA) to be used for eliciting and quantifying discourse among native typical English speakers and to establish its norm, and investigate the validity and sensitivity of the MCA to compare discourse produced by individuals with fluent aphasia, non-fluent aphasia, or dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT), and unimpaired elderly. Discourse elicited through a sequential picture description task was collected from 60 unimpaired participants to determine the MCA scoring criteria; 12 speakers with fluent aphasia, 12 with non-fluent aphasia, 13 with DAT, and 20 elderly participants from the healthy group were compared on the finalized MCA. Results of MANOVA revealed significant univariate omnibus effects of speaker group as an independent variable on each main concept index. MCA profiles differed significantly between all participant groups except dementia versus fluent aphasia. Correlations between the MCA performances and the Western Aphasia Battery and Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test were found to be statistically significant among the clinical groups. The MCA was appropriate to be used among native speakers of English. The results also provided further empirical evidence of discourse deficits in aphasia and dementia. Practitioners can use the MCA to evaluate discourse production systemically and objectively.

Credibility of native and non-native speakers of English revisited: Do non-native listeners feel the same?

OpenAIRE

Hanzlíková, Dagmar; Skarnitzl, Radek

2017-01-01

This study reports on research stimulated by Lev-Ari and Keysar (2010) who showed that native listeners find statements delivered by foreign-accented speakers to be less true than those read by native speakers. Our objective was to replicate the study with non-native listeners to see whether this effect is also relevant in international communication contexts. The same set of statements from the original study was recorded by 6 native and 6 nonnative speakers of English. 121 non-native listen...

Disrupted behaviour in grammatical morphology in French speakers with autism spectrum disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Normand, Marie-Thérèse; Blanc, Romuald; Caldani, Simona; Bonnet-Brilhault, Frédérique

2018-01-18

Mixed and inconsistent findings have been reported across languages concerning grammatical morphology in speakers with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Some researchers argue for a selective sparing of grammar whereas others claim to have identified grammatical deficits. The present study aimed to investigate this issue in 26 participants with ASD speaking European French who were matched on age, gender and SES to 26 participants with typical development (TD). The groups were compared regarding their productivity and accuracy of syntactic and agreement categories using the French MOR part-of-speech tagger available from the CHILDES. The groups significantly differed in productivity with respect to nouns, adjectives, determiners, prepositions and gender markers. Error analysis revealed that ASD speakers exhibited a disrupted behaviour in grammatical morphology. They made gender, tense and preposition errors and they omitted determiners and pronouns in nominal and verbal contexts. ASD speakers may have a reduced sensitivity to perceiving and processing the distributional structure of syntactic categories when producing grammatical morphemes and agreement categories. The theoretical and cross-linguistic implications of these findings are discussed.

Proportionate Minimum Error Entropy Algorithm for Sparse System Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zongze Wu

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Sparse system identification has received a great deal of attention due to its broad applicability. The proportionate normalized least mean square (PNLMS algorithm, as a popular tool, achieves excellent performance for sparse system identification. In previous studies, most of the cost functions used in proportionate-type sparse adaptive algorithms are based on the mean square error (MSE criterion, which is optimal only when the measurement noise is Gaussian. However, this condition does not hold in most real-world environments. In this work, we use the minimum error entropy (MEE criterion, an alternative to the conventional MSE criterion, to develop the proportionate minimum error entropy (PMEE algorithm for sparse system identification, which may achieve much better performance than the MSE based methods especially in heavy-tailed non-Gaussian situations. Moreover, we analyze the convergence of the proposed algorithm and derive a sufficient condition that ensures the mean square convergence. Simulation results confirm the excellent performance of the new algorithm.

Nuclear power plant transient identification using a neuro-fuzzy inference system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mol, Antonio Carlos de Abreu; Oliveira, Mauro Vitor de; Santos, Isaac Jose Antonio Luchetti dos; Carvalho, Paulo Victor Rodrigues de; Grecco, Claudio Henrique dos Santos; Auguto, Silas Cordeiro

2005-01-01

Transient identification in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) is often a very hard task and may involve a great amount of human cognition. The early identification of unexpected departures from steady state behavior is an essential step for the operation, control and accident management in nuclear power plants. The basis for the identification of a change in the system is that different system faults and anomalies lead to different patterns of evolution of the involved process variables. During an abnormal event, the operator must monitor a great amount of information from the instruments, that represents a specific type of event. In this work, an approach for the identification of transients is presented, aiming at helping the operator to make a decision relative to the procedure to be followed in situations of accidents/transients at nuclear power plants. In this way, a diagnostic strategy based on hierarchical use artificial neural networks (ANN) for a first level transient diagnose. After the ANN has done a preliminary transient type identification, a fuzzy-logic system analyzes the results emitting reliability degree of it. In order to validate the method, a Nuclear Power Plant transient identification problem, comprising postulated accidents, is proposed. Noisy data was used to evaluate the method robustness. The results obtained reveal the ability of the method in dealing with dynamic identification of transients and its reliability degree. (author)

Practical Modeling and Comprehensive System Identification of a BLDC Motor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Changle Xiang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to outline all the steps in a rigorous and simple procedure for system identification of BLDC motor. A practical mathematical model for identification is derived. Frequency domain identification techniques and time domain estimation method are combined to obtain the unknown parameters. The methods in time domain are founded on the least squares approximation method and a disturbance observer. Only the availability of experimental data for rotor speed and armature current are required for identification. The proposed identification method is systematically investigated, and the final identified model is validated by experimental results performed on a typical BLDC motor in UAV.

An online ID identification system for liquefied-gas cylinder plant

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jin; Ding, Zhenwen; Han, Lei; Zhang, Hao

2017-11-01

An automatic ID identification system for gas cylinders' online production was developed based on the production conditions and requirements of the Technical Committee for Standardization of Gas Cylinders. A cylinder ID image acquisition system was designed to improve the image contrast of ID regions on gas cylinders against the background. Then the ID digits region was located by the CNN template matching algorithm. Following that, an adaptive threshold method based on the analysis of local average grey value and standard deviation was proposed to overcome defects of non-uniform background in the segmentation results. To improve the single digit identification accuracy, two BP neural networks were trained respectively for the identification of all digits and the easily confusable digits. If the single digit was classified as one of confusable digits by the former BP neural network, it was further tested by the later one, and the later result was taken as the final identification result of this single digit. At last, the majority voting was adopted to decide the final identification result for the 6-digit cylinder ID. The developed system was installed on a production line of a liquefied-petroleum-gas cylinder plant and worked in parallel with the existing weighing step on the line. Through the field test, the correct identification rate for single ID digit was 94.73%, and none of the tested 2000 cylinder ID was misclassified through the majority voting.

A system boundary identification method for life cycle assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Tao; Zhang, Hongchao; Liu, Zhichao

2014-01-01

, technical, geographical and temporal dimensions are presented to limit the boundaries of LCA. An algorithm is developed to identify an appropriate boundary by searching the process tree and evaluating the environmental impact contribution of each process while it is added into the studied system...... as processes are added. The two threshold rules and identification methods presented can be used to identify system boundary of LCA. The case study demonstrated that the methodology presented in this paper is an effective tool for the boundary identification....

LPV Identification of a Heat Distribution System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trangbæk, K; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon

2010-01-01

This paper deals with incremental system identification of district heating systems to improve control performance. As long as various parameters, e.g. valve settings, are kept fixed, the dynamics of district heating systems can be approximated well by linear models; however, the dynamics change ....... The approach is tested on a laboratory setup emulating a district heating system, where local controllers regulate pumps connected to a common supply. Experiments show that cross-couplings in the system can indeed be identified in closed-loop operation....

Expert system based radionuclide identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aarnio, P.A.; Ala-Heikkil, J.J.; Hakulinen, T.T.; Nikkinen, M.T.

1998-01-01

An expert system coupled with the gamma spectrum analysis system SAMPO has been developed for automating the qualitative identification of radionuclides as well as for determining the quantitative parameters of the spectrum components. The program is written in C-language and runs in various environments ranging from PCs to UNIX workstations. The expert system utilizes a complete gamma library with over 2600 nuclides and 80,000 lines, and a rule base of about fifty criteria including energies, relative peak intensities, genesis modes, half lives, parent-daughter relationships, etc. The rule base is furthermore extensible by the user. This is not an original contribution but a somewhat updated version of papers and reports previously published elsewhere. (author)

Pragmatic Instruction May Not Be Necessary among Heritage Speakers of Spanish: A Study on Requests

Science.gov (United States)

Barros García, María J.; Bachelor, Jeremy W.

2018-01-01

This paper studies the pragmatic competence of U.S. heritage speakers of Spanish in an attempt to determine (a) the degree of pragmatic transfer from English to Spanish experienced by heritage speakers when producing different types of requests in Spanish; and (b) how to best teach pragmatics to students of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL).…

The effects of L2 proficiency level on the processing of wh-questions among Dutch second language speakers of English

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jackson, C.N.; Hell, J.G. van

2011-01-01

Using a self-paced reading task, the present study explores how Dutch-English L2 speakers parse English wh-subject-extractions and wh-object-extractions. Results suggest that English native speakers and highly-proficient Dutch–English L2 speakers do not always exhibit measurable signs of on-line

System Identification for Integrated Aircraft Development and Flight Testing (l’Identification des systemes pour le developpement integre des aeronefs et les essais en vol)

Science.gov (United States)

1999-03-01

aerodynamics to affect load motions. The effects include a load trail angle in proportion to the drag specific force, and modification of the load pendulum...equations algorithm for flight data filtering architeture . and data consistency checking; and SCIDNT 8, an output architecture. error identification...accelerations at the seven sensor locations, identified system is proportional to the number When system identification is performed, as of flexible modes

Orthography-Induced Length Contrasts in the Second Language Phonological Systems of L2 Speakers of English: Evidence from Minimal Pairs.

Science.gov (United States)

Bassetti, Bene; Sokolović-Perović, Mirjana; Mairano, Paolo; Cerni, Tania

2018-06-01

Research shows that the orthographic forms ("spellings") of second language (L2) words affect speech production in L2 speakers. This study investigated whether English orthographic forms lead L2 speakers to produce English homophonic word pairs as phonological minimal pairs. Targets were 33 orthographic minimal pairs, that is to say homophonic words that would be pronounced as phonological minimal pairs if orthography affects pronunciation. Word pairs contained the same target sound spelled with one letter or two, such as the /n/ in finish and Finnish (both /'fɪnɪʃ/ in Standard British English). To test for effects of length and type of L2 exposure, we compared Italian instructed learners of English, Italian-English late bilinguals with lengthy naturalistic exposure, and English natives. A reading-aloud task revealed that Italian speakers of English L2 produce two English homophonic words as a minimal pair distinguished by different consonant or vowel length, for instance producing the target /'fɪnɪʃ/ with a short [n] or a long [nː] to reflect the number of consonant letters in the spelling of the words finish and Finnish. Similar effects were found on the pronunciation of vowels, for instance in the orthographic pair scene-seen (both /siːn/). Naturalistic exposure did not reduce orthographic effects, as effects were found both in learners and in late bilinguals living in an English-speaking environment. It appears that the orthographic form of L2 words can result in the establishment of a phonological contrast that does not exist in the target language. Results have implications for models of L2 phonological development.

Within the School and the Community--A Speaker's Bureau.

Science.gov (United States)

McClintock, Joy H.

Student interest prompted the formation of a Speaker's Bureau in Seminole Senior High School, Seminole, Florida. First, students compiled a list of community contacts, including civic clubs, churches, retirement villages, newspaper offices, and the County School Administration media center. A letter of introduction was composed and speaking…

Experiment design for identification of structured linear systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Potters, M.G.

2016-01-01

Experiment Design for system identification involves the design of an optimal input signal with the purpose of accurately estimating unknown parameters in a system. Specifically, in the Least-Costly Experiment Design (LCED) framework, the optimal input signal results from an optimisation problem in

The impact of musical training and tone language experience on talker identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xin; Myers, Emily

2015-01-01

Listeners can use pitch changes in speech to identify talkers. Individuals exhibit large variability in sensitivity to pitch and in accuracy perceiving talker identity. In particular, people who have musical training or long-term tone language use are found to have enhanced pitch perception. In the present study, the influence of pitch experience on talker identification was investigated as listeners identified talkers in native language as well as non-native languages. Experiment 1 was designed to explore the influence of pitch experience on talker identification in two groups of individuals with potential advantages for pitch processing: musicians and tone language speakers. Experiment 2 further investigated individual differences in pitch processing and the contribution to talker identification by testing a mediation model. Cumulatively, the results suggested that (a) musical training confers an advantage for talker identification, supporting a shared resources hypothesis regarding music and language and (b) linguistic use of lexical tones also increases accuracy in hearing talker identity. Importantly, these two types of hearing experience enhance talker identification by sharpening pitch perception skills in a domain-general manner.

Vortex Tube Modeling Using the System Identification Method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Han, Jaeyoung; Jeong, Jiwoong; Yu, Sangseok [Chungnam Nat’l Univ., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Im, Seokyeon [Tongmyong Univ., Busan (Korea, Republic of)

2017-05-15

In this study, vortex tube system model is developed to predict the temperature of the hot and the cold sides. The vortex tube model is developed based on the system identification method, and the model utilized in this work to design the vortex tube is ARX type (Auto-Regressive with eXtra inputs). The derived polynomial model is validated against experimental data to verify the overall model accuracy. It is also shown that the derived model passes the stability test. It is confirmed that the derived model closely mimics the physical behavior of the vortex tube from both the static and dynamic numerical experiments by changing the angles of the low-temperature side throttle valve, clearly showing temperature separation. These results imply that the system identification based modeling can be a promising approach for the prediction of complex physical systems, including the vortex tube.

Robust uncertainty evaluation for system identification on distributed wireless platforms

Science.gov (United States)

Crinière, Antoine; Döhler, Michael; Le Cam, Vincent; Mevel, Laurent

2016-04-01

Health monitoring of civil structures by system identification procedures from automatic control is now accepted as a valid approach. These methods provide frequencies and modeshapes from the structure over time. For a continuous monitoring the excitation of a structure is usually ambient, thus unknown and assumed to be noise. Hence, all estimates from the vibration measurements are realizations of random variables with inherent uncertainty due to (unknown) process and measurement noise and finite data length. The underlying algorithms are usually running under Matlab under the assumption of large memory pool and considerable computational power. Even under these premises, computational and memory usage are heavy and not realistic for being embedded in on-site sensor platforms such as the PEGASE platform. Moreover, the current push for distributed wireless systems calls for algorithmic adaptation for lowering data exchanges and maximizing local processing. Finally, the recent breakthrough in system identification allows us to process both frequency information and its related uncertainty together from one and only one data sequence, at the expense of computational and memory explosion that require even more careful attention than before. The current approach will focus on presenting a system identification procedure called multi-setup subspace identification that allows to process both frequencies and their related variances from a set of interconnected wireless systems with all computation running locally within the limited memory pool of each system before being merged on a host supervisor. Careful attention will be given to data exchanges and I/O satisfying OGC standards, as well as minimizing memory footprints and maximizing computational efficiency. Those systems are built in a way of autonomous operations on field and could be later included in a wide distributed architecture such as the Cloud2SM project. The usefulness of these strategies is illustrated on

Point source identification in nonlinear advection–diffusion–reaction systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mamonov, A V; Tsai, Y-H R

2013-01-01

We consider a problem of identification of point sources in time-dependent advection–diffusion systems with a nonlinear reaction term. The linear counterpart of the problem in question can be reduced to solving a system of nonlinear algebraic equations via the use of adjoint equations. We extend this approach by constructing an algorithm that solves the problem iteratively to account for the nonlinearity of the reaction term. We study the question of improving the quality of source identification by adding more measurements adaptively using the solution obtained previously with a smaller number of measurements. (paper)

Forensic Automatic Speaker Recognition Based on Likelihood Ratio Using Acoustic-phonetic Features Measured Automatically

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huapeng Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Forensic speaker recognition is experiencing a remarkable paradigm shift in terms of the evaluation framework and presentation of voice evidence. This paper proposes a new method of forensic automatic speaker recognition using the likelihood ratio framework to quantify the strength of voice evidence. The proposed method uses a reference database to calculate the within- and between-speaker variability. Some acoustic-phonetic features are extracted automatically using the software VoiceSauce. The effectiveness of the approach was tested using two Mandarin databases: A mobile telephone database and a landline database. The experiment's results indicate that these acoustic-phonetic features do have some discriminating potential and are worth trying in discrimination. The automatic acoustic-phonetic features have acceptable discriminative performance and can provide more reliable results in evidence analysis when fused with other kind of voice features.

Music Identification System Using MPEG-7 Audio Signature Descriptors

Science.gov (United States)

You, Shingchern D.; Chen, Wei-Hwa; Chen, Woei-Kae

2013-01-01

This paper describes a multiresolution system based on MPEG-7 audio signature descriptors for music identification. Such an identification system may be used to detect illegally copied music circulated over the Internet. In the proposed system, low-resolution descriptors are used to search likely candidates, and then full-resolution descriptors are used to identify the unknown (query) audio. With this arrangement, the proposed system achieves both high speed and high accuracy. To deal with the problem that a piece of query audio may not be inside the system's database, we suggest two different methods to find the decision threshold. Simulation results show that the proposed method II can achieve an accuracy of 99.4% for query inputs both inside and outside the database. Overall, it is highly possible to use the proposed system for copyright control. PMID:23533359

Variation in Microbial Identification System Accuracy for Yeast Identification Depending on Commercial Source of Sabouraud Dextrose Agar

OpenAIRE

Kellogg, James A.; Bankert, David A.; Chaturvedi, Vishnu

1999-01-01

The accuracy of the Microbial Identification System (MIS; MIDI, Inc.) for identification of yeasts to the species level was compared by using 438 isolates grown on prepoured BBL Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) and prepoured Remel SDA. Correct identification was observed for 326 (74%) of the yeasts cultured on BBL SDA versus only 214 (49%) of yeasts grown on Remel SDA (P < 0.001). The commercial source of the SDA used in the MIS procedure significantly influences the system’s accuracy.

Individual differences in selective attention predict speech identification at a cocktail party.

Science.gov (United States)

Oberfeld, Daniel; Klöckner-Nowotny, Felicitas

2016-08-31

Listeners with normal hearing show considerable individual differences in speech understanding when competing speakers are present, as in a crowded restaurant. Here, we show that one source of this variance are individual differences in the ability to focus selective attention on a target stimulus in the presence of distractors. In 50 young normal-hearing listeners, the performance in tasks measuring auditory and visual selective attention was associated with sentence identification in the presence of spatially separated competing speakers. Together, the measures of selective attention explained a similar proportion of variance as the binaural sensitivity for the acoustic temporal fine structure. Working memory span, age, and audiometric thresholds showed no significant association with speech understanding. These results suggest that a reduced ability to focus attention on a target is one reason why some listeners with normal hearing sensitivity have difficulty communicating in situations with background noise.

A Framework for People Re-Identification in Multi-Camera Surveillance Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ammar, Sirine; Zaghden, Nizar; Neji, Mahmoud

2017-01-01

People re-identification has been a very active research topic recently in computer vision. It is an important application in surveillance system with disjoint cameras. This paper is focused on the implementation of a human re-identification system. First the face of detected people is divided into three parts and some soft-biometric traits are…

A biometric identification system based on eigenpalm and eigenfinger features.

Science.gov (United States)

Ribaric, Slobodan; Fratric, Ivan

2005-11-01

This paper presents a multimodal biometric identification system based on the features of the human hand. We describe a new biometric approach to personal identification using eigenfinger and eigenpalm features, with fusion applied at the matching-score level. The identification process can be divided into the following phases: capturing the image; preprocessing; extracting and normalizing the palm and strip-like finger subimages; extracting the eigenpalm and eigenfinger features based on the K-L transform; matching and fusion; and, finally, a decision based on the (k, l)-NN classifier and thresholding. The system was tested on a database of 237 people (1,820 hand images). The experimental results showed the effectiveness of the system in terms of the recognition rate (100 percent), the equal error rate (EER = 0.58 percent), and the total error rate (TER = 0.72 percent).

Model Updating Nonlinear System Identification Toolbox, Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ZONA Technology (ZONA) proposes to develop an enhanced model updating nonlinear system identification (MUNSID) methodology that utilizes flight data with...

Challenges in parameter identification of large structural dynamic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koh, C.G.

2001-01-01

In theory, it is possible to determine the parameters of a structural or mechanical system by subjecting it to some dynamic excitation and measuring the response. Considerable research has been carried out in this subject area known as the system identification over the past two decades. Nevertheless, the challenges associated with numerical convergence are still formidable when the system is large in terms of the number of degrees of freedom and number of unknowns. While many methods work for small systems, the convergence becomes difficult, if not impossible, for large systems. In this keynote lecture, both classical and non-classical system identification methods for dynamic testing and vibration-based inspection are discussed. For classical methods, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) approach is used. On this basis, a substructural identification method has been developed as a strategy to deal with large structural systems. This is achieved by reducing the problem size, thereby significantly improving the numerical convergence and efficiency. Two versions of this method are presented each with its own merits. A numerical example of frame structure with 20 unknown parameters is illustrated. For non-classical methods, the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is shown to be applicable with relative ease due to its 'forward analysis' nature. The computational time is, however, still enormous for large structural systems due to the combinatorial explosion problem. A model GA method has been developed to address this problem and tested with considerable success on a relatively large system of 50 degrees of freedom, accounting for input and output noise effects. An advantages of this GA-based identification method is that the objective function can be defined in response measured. Numerical studies show that the method is relatively robust, as it does in response measured. Numerical studies show that the method is relatively robust, as it dos not require good initial guess and the

Using wavelet multi-resolution nature to accelerate the identification of fractional order system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yuan-Lu; Meng Xiao; Ding Ya-Qing

2017-01-01

Because of the fractional order derivatives, the identification of the fractional order system (FOS) is more complex than that of an integral order system (IOS). In order to avoid high time consumption in the system identification, the least-squares method is used to find other parameters by fixing the fractional derivative order. Hereafter, the optimal parameters of a system will be found by varying the derivative order in an interval. In addition, the operational matrix of the fractional order integration combined with the multi-resolution nature of a wavelet is used to accelerate the FOS identification, which is achieved by discarding wavelet coefficients of high-frequency components of input and output signals. In the end, the identifications of some known fractional order systems and an elastic torsion system are used to verify the proposed method. (paper)

PWL approximation of nonlinear dynamical systems, part II: identification issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Feo, O; Storace, M

2005-01-01

This paper and its companion address the problem of the approximation/identification of nonlinear dynamical systems depending on parameters, with a view to their circuit implementation. The proposed method is based on a piecewise-linear approximation technique. In particular, this paper describes a black-box identification method based on state space reconstruction and PWL approximation, and applies it to some particularly significant dynamical systems (two topological normal forms and the Colpitts oscillator)

A virtual speaker in noisy classroom conditions: supporting or disrupting children's listening comprehension?

Science.gov (United States)

Nirme, Jens; Haake, Magnus; Lyberg Åhlander, Viveka; Brännström, Jonas; Sahlén, Birgitta

2018-04-05

Seeing a speaker's face facilitates speech recognition, particularly under noisy conditions. Evidence for how it might affect comprehension of the content of the speech is more sparse. We investigated how children's listening comprehension is affected by multi-talker babble noise, with or without presentation of a digitally animated virtual speaker, and whether successful comprehension is related to performance on a test of executive functioning. We performed a mixed-design experiment with 55 (34 female) participants (8- to 9-year-olds), recruited from Swedish elementary schools. The children were presented with four different narratives, each in one of four conditions: audio-only presentation in a quiet setting, audio-only presentation in noisy setting, audio-visual presentation in a quiet setting, and audio-visual presentation in a noisy setting. After each narrative, the children answered questions on the content and rated their perceived listening effort. Finally, they performed a test of executive functioning. We found significantly fewer correct answers to explicit content questions after listening in noise. This negative effect was only mitigated to a marginally significant degree by audio-visual presentation. Strong executive function only predicted more correct answers in quiet settings. Altogether, our results are inconclusive regarding how seeing a virtual speaker affects listening comprehension. We discuss how methodological adjustments, including modifications to our virtual speaker, can be used to discriminate between possible explanations to our results and contribute to understanding the listening conditions children face in a typical classroom.

Improved gravitational search algorithm for parameter identification of water turbine regulation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zhihuan; Yuan, Xiaohui; Tian, Hao; Ji, Bin

2014-01-01

Highlights: • We propose an improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA). • IGSA is applied to parameter identification of water turbine regulation system (WTRS). • WTRS is modeled by considering the impact of turbine speed on torque and water flow. • Weighted objective function strategy is applied to parameter identification of WTRS. - Abstract: Parameter identification of water turbine regulation system (WTRS) is crucial in precise modeling hydropower generating unit (HGU) and provides support for the adaptive control and stability analysis of power system. In this paper, an improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA) is proposed and applied to solve the identification problem for WTRS system under load and no-load running conditions. This newly algorithm which is based on standard gravitational search algorithm (GSA) accelerates convergence speed with combination of the search strategy of particle swarm optimization and elastic-ball method. Chaotic mutation which is devised to stepping out the local optimal with a certain probability is also added into the algorithm to avoid premature. Furthermore, a new kind of model associated to the engineering practices is built and analyzed in the simulation tests. An illustrative example for parameter identification of WTRS is used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed IGSA, as compared with standard GSA and particle swarm optimization in terms of parameter identification accuracy and convergence speed. The simulation results show that IGSA performs best for all identification indicators

Upport vector machines for nonlinear kernel ARMA system identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Martínez-Ramón, Manel; Rojo-Alvarez, José Luis; Camps-Valls, Gustavo; Muñioz-Marí, Jordi; Navia-Vázquez, Angel; Soria-Olivas, Emilio; Figueiras-Vidal, Aníbal R

2006-11-01

Nonlinear system identification based on support vector machines (SVM) has been usually addressed by means of the standard SVM regression (SVR), which can be seen as an implicit nonlinear autoregressive and moving average (ARMA) model in some reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). The proposal of this letter is twofold. First, the explicit consideration of an ARMA model in an RKHS (SVM-ARMA2K) is proposed. We show that stating the ARMA equations in an RKHS leads to solving the regularized normal equations in that RKHS, in terms of the autocorrelation and cross correlation of the (nonlinearly) transformed input and output discrete time processes. Second, a general class of SVM-based system identification nonlinear models is presented, based on the use of composite Mercer's kernels. This general class can improve model flexibility by emphasizing the input-output cross information (SVM-ARMA4K), which leads to straightforward and natural combinations of implicit and explicit ARMA models (SVR-ARMA2K and SVR-ARMA4K). Capabilities of these different SVM-based system identification schemes are illustrated with two benchmark problems.

Gesturing by Speakers with Aphasia: How Does It Compare?

Science.gov (United States)

Mol, Lisette; Krahmer, Emiel; van de Sandt-Koenderman, Mieke

2013-01-01

Purpose: To study the independence of gesture and verbal language production. The authors assessed whether gesture can be semantically compensatory in cases of verbal language impairment and whether speakers with aphasia and control participants use similar depiction techniques in gesture. Method: The informativeness of gesture was assessed in 3…

A comparison of three speaker-intrinsic vowel formant frequency normalization algorithms for sociophonetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fabricius, Anne; Watt, Dominic; Johnson, Daniel Ezra

2009-01-01

from RP and Aberdeen English (northeast Scotland). We conclude that, for the data examined here, the S-centroid W&F procedures performs at least as well as the two most recognized speaker-intrinsic, vowel-extrinsic, formant-intrinsic normalization methods, Lobanov's (1971) z-score procedure and Nearey......This paper evaluates a speaker-intrinsic vowel formant frequency normalization algorithm initially proposed in Watt & Fabricius (2002). We compare how well this routine, known as the S-centroid procedure, performs as a sociophonetic research tool in three ways: reducing variance in area ratios...

Identification for automotive systems

CERN Document Server

Hjalmarsson, Håkan; Re, Luigi

2012-01-01

Increasing complexity and performance and reliability expectations make modeling of automotive system both more difficult and more urgent. Automotive control has slowly evolved from an add-on to classical engine and vehicle design to a key technology to enforce consumption, pollution and safety limits. Modeling, however, is still mainly based on classical methods, even though much progress has been done in the identification community to speed it up and improve it. This book, the product of a workshop of representatives of different communities, offers an insight on how to close the gap and exploit this progress for the next generations of vehicles.

Music Identification System Using MPEG-7 Audio Signature Descriptors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shingchern D. You

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes a multiresolution system based on MPEG-7 audio signature descriptors for music identification. Such an identification system may be used to detect illegally copied music circulated over the Internet. In the proposed system, low-resolution descriptors are used to search likely candidates, and then full-resolution descriptors are used to identify the unknown (query audio. With this arrangement, the proposed system achieves both high speed and high accuracy. To deal with the problem that a piece of query audio may not be inside the system’s database, we suggest two different methods to find the decision threshold. Simulation results show that the proposed method II can achieve an accuracy of 99.4% for query inputs both inside and outside the database. Overall, it is highly possible to use the proposed system for copyright control.

Testing Template and Testing Concept of Operations for Speaker Authentication Technology

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sipko, Marek M

2006-01-01

This thesis documents the findings of developing a generic testing template and supporting concept of operations for speaker verification technology as part of the Iraqi Enrollment via Voice Authentication Project (IEVAP...

Accent, Intelligibility, and the Role of the Listener: Perceptions of English-Accented German by Native German Speakers

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes-Harb, Rachel; Watzinger-Tharp, Johanna

2012-01-01

We explore the relationship between accentedness and intelligibility, and investigate how listeners' beliefs about nonnative speech interact with their accentedness and intelligibility judgments. Native German speakers and native English learners of German produced German sentences, which were presented to 12 native German speakers in accentedness…

Modelling of Biometric Identification System with Given Parameters Using Colored Petri Nets

Science.gov (United States)

Petrosyan, G.; Ter-Vardanyan, L.; Gaboutchian, A.

2017-05-01

Biometric identification systems use given parameters and function on the basis of Colored Petri Nets as a modelling language developed for systems in which communication, synchronization and distributed resources play an important role. Colored Petri Nets combine the strengths of Classical Petri Nets with the power of a high-level programming language. Coloured Petri Nets have both, formal intuitive and graphical presentations. Graphical CPN model consists of a set of interacting modules which include a network of places, transitions and arcs. Mathematical representation has a well-defined syntax and semantics, as well as defines system behavioural properties. One of the best known features used in biometric is the human finger print pattern. During the last decade other human features have become of interest, such as iris-based or face recognition. The objective of this paper is to introduce the fundamental concepts of Petri Nets in relation to tooth shape analysis. Biometric identification systems functioning has two phases: data enrollment phase and identification phase. During the data enrollment phase images of teeth are added to database. This record contains enrollment data as a noisy version of the biometrical data corresponding to the individual. During the identification phase an unknown individual is observed again and is compared to the enrollment data in the database and then system estimates the individual. The purpose of modeling biometric identification system by means of Petri Nets is to reveal the following aspects of the functioning model: the efficiency of the model, behavior of the model, mistakes and accidents in the model, feasibility of the model simplification or substitution of its separate components for more effective components without interfering system functioning. The results of biometric identification system modeling and evaluating are presented and discussed.

White blood cells identification system based on convolutional deep neural learning networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahin, A I; Guo, Yanhui; Amin, K M; Sharawi, Amr A

2017-11-16

White blood cells (WBCs) differential counting yields valued information about human health and disease. The current developed automated cell morphology equipments perform differential count which is based on blood smear image analysis. Previous identification systems for WBCs consist of successive dependent stages; pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction, feature selection, and classification. There is a real need to employ deep learning methodologies so that the performance of previous WBCs identification systems can be increased. Classifying small limited datasets through deep learning systems is a major challenge and should be investigated. In this paper, we propose a novel identification system for WBCs based on deep convolutional neural networks. Two methodologies based on transfer learning are followed: transfer learning based on deep activation features and fine-tuning of existed deep networks. Deep acrivation featues are extracted from several pre-trained networks and employed in a traditional identification system. Moreover, a novel end-to-end convolutional deep architecture called "WBCsNet" is proposed and built from scratch. Finally, a limited balanced WBCs dataset classification is performed through the WBCsNet as a pre-trained network. During our experiments, three different public WBCs datasets (2551 images) have been used which contain 5 healthy WBCs types. The overall system accuracy achieved by the proposed WBCsNet is (96.1%) which is more than different transfer learning approaches or even the previous traditional identification system. We also present features visualization for the WBCsNet activation which reflects higher response than the pre-trained activated one. a novel WBCs identification system based on deep learning theory is proposed and a high performance WBCsNet can be employed as a pre-trained network. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Identification and Evaluation of Medical Translator Mobile Applications Using an Adapted APPLICATIONS Scoring System.

Science.gov (United States)

Khander, Amrin; Farag, Sara; Chen, Katherine T

2017-12-22

With an increasing number of patients requiring translator services, many providers are turning to mobile applications (apps) for assistance. However, there have been no published reviews of medical translator apps. To identify and evaluate medical translator mobile apps using an adapted APPLICATIONS scoring system. A list of apps was identified from the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores, using the search term, "medical translator." Apps not found on two different searches, not in an English-based platform, not used for translation, or not functional after purchase, were excluded. The remaining apps were evaluated using an adapted APPLICATIONS scoring system, which included both objective and subjective criteria. App comprehensiveness was a weighted score defined by the number of non-English languages included in each app relative to the proportion of non-English speakers in the United States. The Apple iTunes and Google Play stores. Medical translator apps identified using the search term "medical translator." Main Outcomes and Measures: Compilation of medical translator apps for provider usage. A total of 524 apps were initially found. After applying the exclusion criteria, 20 (8.2%) apps from the Google Play store and 26 (9.2%) apps from the Apple iTunes store remained for evaluation. The highest scoring apps, Canopy Medical Translator, Universal Doctor Speaker, and Vocre Translate, scored 13.5 out of 18.7 possible points. A large proportion of apps initially found did not function as medical translator apps. Using the APPLICATIONS scoring system, we have identified and evaluated medical translator apps for providers who care for non-English speaking patients.

Hankel Matrix Correlation Function-Based Subspace Identification Method for UAV Servo System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minghong She

2018-01-01

Full Text Available For the identification problem of closed-loop subspace model, we propose a zero space projection method based on the estimation of correlation function to fill the block Hankel matrix of identification model by combining the linear algebra with geometry. By using the same projection of related data in time offset set and LQ decomposition, the multiplication operation of projection is achieved and dynamics estimation of the unknown equipment system model is obtained. Consequently, we have solved the problem of biased estimation caused when the open-loop subspace identification algorithm is applied to the closed-loop identification. A simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In final, the practicability of the identification algorithm is verified by hardware test of UAV servo system in real environment.

33 CFR 164.43 - Automatic Identification System Shipborne Equipment-Prince William Sound.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Automatic Identification System Shipborne Equipment-Prince William Sound. 164.43 Section 164.43 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD... Automatic Identification System Shipborne Equipment—Prince William Sound. (a) Until December 31, 2004, each...

Model Updating Nonlinear System Identification Toolbox, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ZONA Technology proposes to develop an enhanced model updating nonlinear system identification (MUNSID) methodology by adopting the flight data with state-of-the-art...

[Measures to prevent patient identification errors in blood collection/physiological function testing utilizing a laboratory information system].

Science.gov (United States)

Shimazu, Chisato; Hoshino, Satoshi; Furukawa, Taiji

2013-08-01

We constructed an integrated personal identification workflow chart using both bar code reading and an all in-one laboratory information system. The information system not only handles test data but also the information needed for patient guidance in the laboratory department. The reception terminals at the entrance, displays for patient guidance and patient identification tools at blood-sampling booths are all controlled by the information system. The number of patient identification errors was greatly reduced by the system. However, identification errors have not been abolished in the ultrasound department. After re-evaluation of the patient identification process in this department, we recognized that the major reason for the errors came from excessive identification workflow. Ordinarily, an ultrasound test requires patient identification 3 times, because 3 different systems are required during the entire test process, i.e. ultrasound modality system, laboratory information system and a system for producing reports. We are trying to connect the 3 different systems to develop a one-time identification workflow, but it is not a simple task and has not been completed yet. Utilization of the laboratory information system is effective, but is not yet perfect for patient identification. The most fundamental procedure for patient identification is to ask a person's name even today. Everyday checks in the ordinary workflow and everyone's participation in safety-management activity are important for the prevention of patient identification errors.

System Identification of a Non-Uniformly Sampled Multi-Rate System in Aluminium Electrolysis Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Håkon Viumdal

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Standard system identification algorithms are usually designed to generate mathematical models with equidistant sampling instants, that are equal for both input variables and output variables. Unfortunately, real industrial data sets are often disrupted by missing samples, variations of sampling rates in the different variables (also known as multi-rate systems, and intermittent measurements. In industries with varying events based maintenance or manual operational measures, intermittent measurements are performed leading to uneven sampling rates. Such is the case with aluminium smelters, where in addition the materials fed into the cell create even more irregularity in sampling. Both measurements and feeding are mostly manually controlled. A simplified simulation of the metal level in an aluminium electrolysis cell is performed based on mass balance considerations. System identification methods based on Prediction Error Methods (PEM such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS, and the sub-space method combined Deterministic and Stochastic system identification and Realization (DSR, and its variants are applied to the model of a single electrolysis cell as found in the aluminium smelters. Aliasing phenomena due to large sampling intervals can be crucial in avoiding unsuitable models, but with knowledge about the system dynamics, it is easier to optimize the sampling performance, and hence achieve successful models. The results based on the simulation studies of molten aluminium height in the cells using the various algorithms give results which tally well with the synthetic data sets used. System identification on a smaller data set from a real plant is also implemented in this work. Finally, some concrete suggestions are made for using these models in the smelters.

Event storm detection and identification in communication systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Albaghdadi, Mouayad; Briley, Bruce; Evens, Martha

2006-01-01

Event storms are the manifestation of an important class of abnormal behaviors in communication systems. They occur when a large number of nodes throughout the system generate a set of events within a small period of time. It is essential for network management systems to detect every event storm and identify its cause, in order to prevent and repair potential system faults. This paper presents a set of techniques for the effective detection and identification of event storms in communication systems. First, we introduce a new algorithm to synchronize events to a single node in the system. Second, the system's event log is modeled as a normally distributed random process. This is achieved by using data analysis techniques to explore and then model the statistical behavior of the event log. Third, event storm detection is proposed using a simple test statistic combined with an exponential smoothing technique to overcome the non-stationary behavior of event logs. Fourth, the system is divided into non-overlapping regions to locate the main contributing regions of a storm. We show that this technique provides us with a method for event storm identification. Finally, experimental results from a commercially deployed multimedia communication system that uses these techniques demonstrate their effectiveness

Development of panel loudspeaker system: design, evaluation and enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, M R; Huang, T

2001-06-01

Panel speakers are investigated in terms of structural vibration and acoustic radiation. A panel speaker primarily consists of a panel and an inertia exciter. Contrary to conventional speakers, flexural resonance is encouraged such that the panel vibrates as randomly as possible. Simulation tools are developed to facilitate system integration of panel speakers. In particular, electro-mechanical analogy, finite element analysis, and fast Fourier transform are employed to predict panel vibration and the acoustic radiation. Design procedures are also summarized. In order to compare the panel speakers with the conventional speakers, experimental investigations were undertaken to evaluate frequency response, directional response, sensitivity, efficiency, and harmonic distortion of both speakers. The results revealed that the panel speakers suffered from a problem of sensitivity and efficiency. To alleviate the problem, a woofer using electronic compensation based on H2 model matching principle is utilized to supplement the bass response. As indicated in the result, significant improvement over the panel speaker alone was achieved by using the combined panel-woofer system.

IDENTIFICATION ASPECT OF METHODOLOGY DESIGN OF CONTROL SYSTEM TIME-VARIANT PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. Blagoveshchenskaia

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Summary. Specificity of a food manufacture demands perfection of automatic control systems of processes in devices, units and installations. Creation of an adaptive control system by technological process of a food on the basis of model of control object it is necessary to carry out the additional analysis for choice algorithm of identification on real enough to representative sample of input data and output signal/data. In article on the basis of simulation it is analyzed over 53 algorithms of recurrent identification plus the basic modifications of these algorithms by 47 criteria for time-varying multivariable linear dynamic objects. On the basis of this analysis for engineering practice for a considered class of objects some algorithms are recommended. Possibilities of the software suite having for today the fullest set of parametrical identification algorithms are discussed. For given specific conditions of comparison in the package identification algorithms for identification of stationary coefficients in the equation object of the most effective were: Yzerman-1, Kaczmarz, Nagumo-Noda, Rastrigin, Kalman filter, the forgetting factor, Zipkin. When pointwise object - Kaczmarz, Nagumo-Noda, Kalman filter; showed the best result identification algorithm-Nagumo Noda.

Revisiting the role of language in spatial cognition: Categorical perception of spatial relations in English and Korean speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Kevin J; Moty, Kelsey; Regier, Terry

2017-12-01

The spatial relation of support has been regarded as universally privileged in nonlinguistic cognition and immune to the influence of language. English, but not Korean, obligatorily distinguishes support from nonsupport via basic spatial terms. Despite this linguistic difference, previous research suggests that English and Korean speakers show comparable nonlinguistic sensitivity to the support/nonsupport distinction. Here, using a paradigm previously found to elicit cross-language differences in color discrimination, we provide evidence for a difference in sensitivity to support/nonsupport between native English speakers and native Korean speakers who were late English learners and tested in a context that privileged Korean. Whereas the former group showed categorical perception (CP) when discriminating spatial scenes capturing the support/nonsupport distinction, the latter did not. An additional group of native Korean speakers-relatively early English learners tested in an English-salient context-patterned with the native English speakers in showing CP for support/nonsupport. These findings suggest that obligatory marking of support/nonsupport in one's native language can affect nonlinguistic sensitivity to this distinction, contra earlier findings, but that such sensitivity may also depend on aspects of language background and the immediate linguistic context.

QUANTITATIVE REDUCTION OF VOWEL GRAPHS “A” AND “O” POSITIONED AFTER THE HARD CONSONANTS IN THE SPEECH OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE RUSSIAN SPEAKERS IN LITHUANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danutė Balšaitytė

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the absolute duration (ms of stressed Russian vowels /a/, /o/ (graphs: “a”, “o” and their allophones in unstressed positions after the hard consonants in the pronunciation of native and non-native Russian speakers in Lithuania. The results of the conducted spectral analysis reveal the specificities of quantitative reduction in the speech of the Russian speakers in Lithuania and the Lithuanian speakers that are learning the Russian language. These specificities are influenced by the two phonetic systems interaction. The speakers of both languages by the realisation of “a” and “o” violates the relation of unstressed vowel duration that is peculiar to the contemporary Russian language: the post-stressed vowels in closed syllables are shorter than the pre-stressed vowels; the first pre-stressed syllable differs from the second pre-stressed and post-stressed syllables by a longer voice duration. Both Russians and Lithuanians pronounce vowels longer in post-stressed syllables than in the pre-stressed syllables. This corresponds to the qualitative reduction of the Lithuanian language vowels /a:/ and /o:/. There are certain differences between the pronunciation of qualitative vowels “a” and “o” reduction among the native and non-native Russian speakers in Lithuania. The Russian speakers in Lithuania pronounce the second pre-stressed vowel longer than the first pre-stressed vowel; this corresponds to the degree of reduction of pre-stressed vowels “a” and “o” in the standardised Russian language. These degrees of quantitative reduction in the Lithuanian pronunciation are peculiar only for “a” in the Russian language. According to the duration ratio, the unstressed allophones “a” and “o” in the Russian language are closer to the unstressed /a:/ and /o:/ in the Lithuanian language in the pronunciation of Russian-Lithuanian bilinguals than in the pronunciation Lithuanian speakers.

Age of acquisition and naming performance in Frisian-Dutch bilingual speakers with dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Veenstra, Wencke S; Huisman, Mark; Miller, Nick

2014-01-01

Age of acquisition (AoA) of words is a recognised variable affecting language processing in speakers with and without language disorders. For bi- and multilingual speakers their languages can be differentially affected in neurological illness. Study of language loss in bilingual speakers with dementia has been relatively neglected. We investigated whether AoA of words was associated with level of naming impairment in bilingual speakers with probable Alzheimer's dementia within and across their languages. Twenty-six Frisian-Dutch bilinguals with mild to moderate dementia named 90 pictures in each language, employing items with rated AoA and other word variable measures matched across languages. Quantitative (totals correct) and qualitative (error types and (in)appropriate switching) aspects were measured. Impaired retrieval occurred in Frisian (Language 1) and Dutch (Language 2), with a significant effect of AoA on naming in both languages. Earlier acquired words were better preserved and retrieved. Performance was identical across languages, but better in Dutch when controlling for covariates. However, participants demonstrated more inappropriate code switching within the Frisian test setting. On qualitative analysis, no differences in overall error distribution were found between languages for early or late acquired words. There existed a significantly higher percentage of semantically than visually-related errors. These findings have implications for understanding problems in lexical retrieval among bilingual individuals with dementia and its relation to decline in other cognitive functions which may play a role in inappropriate code switching. We discuss the findings in the light of the close relationship between Frisian and Dutch and the pattern of usage across the life-span.

Structural System Identification with Extended Kalman Filter and Orthogonal Decomposition of Excitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Ding

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Both the structural parameter and external excitation have coupling influence on structural response. A new system identification method in time domain is proposed to simultaneously evaluate structural parameter and external excitation. The method can be used for linear and hysteresis nonlinear structural condition assessment based on incomplete structural responses. In this method, the structural excitation is decomposed by orthogonal approximation. With this approximation, the strongly time-variant excitation identification is transformed to gentle time-variant, even constant parameters identification. Then the extended Kalman filter is applied to simultaneously identify state vector including the structural parameters and excitation orthogonal parameters in state space based on incomplete measurements. The proposed method is validated numerically with the simulation of three-story linear and nonlinear structures subject to external force. The external force on the top floor and the structural parameters are simultaneously identified with the proposed system identification method. Results from both simulations indicate that the proposed method is capable of identifing the dynamic load and structural parameters fairly accurately with contaminated incomplete measurement for both of the linear and nonlinear structural systems.

Advanced 3D Object Identification System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Optra will build an Advanced 3D Object Identification System utilizing three or more high resolution imagers spaced around a launch platform. Data from each imager...

Speaker-sensitive emotion recognition via ranking: Studies on acted and spontaneous speech☆

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Houwei; Verma, Ragini; Nenkova, Ani

2015-01-01

We introduce a ranking approach for emotion recognition which naturally incorporates information about the general expressivity of speakers. We demonstrate that our approach leads to substantial gains in accuracy compared to conventional approaches. We train ranking SVMs for individual emotions, treating the data from each speaker as a separate query, and combine the predictions from all rankers to perform multi-class prediction. The ranking method provides two natural benefits. It captures speaker specific information even in speaker-independent training/testing conditions. It also incorporates the intuition that each utterance can express a mix of possible emotion and that considering the degree to which each emotion is expressed can be productively exploited to identify the dominant emotion. We compare the performance of the rankers and their combination to standard SVM classification approaches on two publicly available datasets of acted emotional speech, Berlin and LDC, as well as on spontaneous emotional data from the FAU Aibo dataset. On acted data, ranking approaches exhibit significantly better performance compared to SVM classification both in distinguishing a specific emotion from all others and in multi-class prediction. On the spontaneous data, which contains mostly neutral utterances with a relatively small portion of less intense emotional utterances, ranking-based classifiers again achieve much higher precision in identifying emotional utterances than conventional SVM classifiers. In addition, we discuss the complementarity of conventional SVM and ranking-based classifiers. On all three datasets we find dramatically higher accuracy for the test items on whose prediction the two methods agree compared to the accuracy of individual methods. Furthermore on the spontaneous data the ranking and standard classification are complementary and we obtain marked improvement when we combine the two classifiers by late-stage fusion.

Individual differences in selective attention predict speech identification at a cocktail party

Science.gov (United States)

Oberfeld, Daniel; Klöckner-Nowotny, Felicitas

2016-01-01

Listeners with normal hearing show considerable individual differences in speech understanding when competing speakers are present, as in a crowded restaurant. Here, we show that one source of this variance are individual differences in the ability to focus selective attention on a target stimulus in the presence of distractors. In 50 young normal-hearing listeners, the performance in tasks measuring auditory and visual selective attention was associated with sentence identification in the presence of spatially separated competing speakers. Together, the measures of selective attention explained a similar proportion of variance as the binaural sensitivity for the acoustic temporal fine structure. Working memory span, age, and audiometric thresholds showed no significant association with speech understanding. These results suggest that a reduced ability to focus attention on a target is one reason why some listeners with normal hearing sensitivity have difficulty communicating in situations with background noise. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16747.001 PMID:27580272

Why reference to the past is difficult for agrammatic speakers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bastiaanse, Roelien

Many studies have shown that verb inflections are difficult to produce for agrammatic aphasic speakers: they are frequently omitted and substituted. The present article gives an overview of our search to understanding why this is the case. The hypothesis is that grammatical morphology referring to

Identification of systems with distributed parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moret, J.M.

1990-10-01

The problem of finding a model for the dynamical response of a system with distributed parameters based on measured data is addressed. First a mathematical formalism is developed in order to obtain the specific properties of such a system. Then a linear iterative identification algorithm is proposed that includes these properties, and that produces better results than usual non linear minimisation techniques. This algorithm is further improved by an original data decimation that allow to artificially increase the sampling period without losing between sample information. These algorithms are tested with real laboratory data

Improving the Effectiveness of Speaker Verification Domain Adaptation With Inadequate In-Domain Data

Science.gov (United States)

2017-08-20

M speakers. We seek a probabilistic solution to domain adap- tation, and so we encode knowledge of the out-of-domain data in prior distributions...the VB solution from (16)-(21) becomes: µ =αȳ + (1− α)µout, (24) Σa =α ( 1 NT NT∑ n=1 〈ynyTn 〉 − ȳȳT ) + (1− α) Σouta (25) + α (1− α) ( ȳ − µout...non- English languages and from unseen channels. An inadequate in-domain set was provided, which consisted of 2272 samples from 1164 speakers, and

A network identity authentication system based on Fingerprint identification technology

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Hong-Bin; Xu, Wen-Bo; Liu, Yuan

2005-10-01

Fingerprint verification is one of the most reliable personal identification methods. However, most of the automatic fingerprint identification system (AFIS) is not run via Internet/Intranet environment to meet today's increasing Electric commerce requirements. This paper describes the design and implementation of the archetype system of identity authentication based on fingerprint biometrics technology, and the system can run via Internet environment. And in our system the COM and ASP technology are used to integrate Fingerprint technology with Web database technology, The Fingerprint image preprocessing algorithms are programmed into COM, which deployed on the internet information server. The system's design and structure are proposed, and the key points are discussed. The prototype system of identity authentication based on Fingerprint have been successfully tested and evaluated on our university's distant education applications in an internet environment.

78 FR 58785 - Unique Device Identification System

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-24

... the UDI system because they are controlled in the supply chain by the kit rather than by constituent... reduce existing obstacles to the adequate identification of medical devices used in the United States. By... stated, ``We support FDA's objective to substantially reduce existing obstacles to the adequate...

Time-Delay System Identification Using Genetic Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhenyu; Seested, Glen Thane

2013-01-01

problem through an identification approach using the real coded Genetic Algorithm (GA). The desired FOPDT/SOPDT model is directly identified based on the measured system's input and output data. In order to evaluate the quality and performance of this GA-based approach, the proposed method is compared...

Infants' Understanding of False Labeling Events: The Referential Roles of Words and the Speakers Who Use Them.

Science.gov (United States)

Koenig, Melissa A.; Echols, Catharine H.

2003-01-01

Four studies examined whether 16-month-olds' responses to true/false utterances interacted with their knowledge of human agents. Findings suggested that infants are developing a critical conception of human speakers as truthful communicators and that infants understand that human speakers may provide uniquely useful information when a word fails…

Teaching the Native English Speaker How to Teach English

Science.gov (United States)

Odhuu, Kelli

2014-01-01

This article speaks to teachers who have been paired with native speakers (NSs) who have never taught before, and the feelings of frustration, discouragement, and nervousness on the teacher's behalf that can occur as a result. In order to effectively tackle this situation, teachers need to work together with the NSs. Teachers in this scenario…

Stability Analysis of Neural Networks-Based System Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Talel Korkobi

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This paper treats some problems related to nonlinear systems identification. A stability analysis neural network model for identifying nonlinear dynamic systems is presented. A constrained adaptive stable backpropagation updating law is presented and used in the proposed identification approach. The proposed backpropagation training algorithm is modified to obtain an adaptive learning rate guarantying convergence stability. The proposed learning rule is the backpropagation algorithm under the condition that the learning rate belongs to a specified range defining the stability domain. Satisfying such condition, unstable phenomena during the learning process are avoided. A Lyapunov analysis leads to the computation of the expression of a convenient adaptive learning rate verifying the convergence stability criteria. Finally, the elaborated training algorithm is applied in several simulations. The results confirm the effectiveness of the CSBP algorithm.

Fieldable Nuclear Material Identification System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radle, James E.; Archer, Daniel E.; Carter, Robert J.; Mullens, James Allen; Mihalczo, John T.; Britton, Charles L. Jr.; Lind, Randall F.; Wright, Michael C.

2010-01-01

The Fieldable Nuclear Material Identification System (FNMIS), funded by the NA-241 Office of Dismantlement and Transparency, provides information to determine the material attributes and identity of heavily shielded nuclear objects. This information will provide future treaty participants with verifiable information required by the treaty regime. The neutron interrogation technology uses a combination of information from induced fission neutron radiation and transmitted neutron imaging information to provide high confidence that the shielded item is consistent with the host's declaration. The combination of material identification information and the shape and configuration of the item are very difficult to spoof. When used at various points in the warhead dismantlement sequence, the information complimented by tags and seals can be used to track subassembly and piece part information as the disassembly occurs. The neutron transmission imaging has been developed during the last seven years and the signature analysis over the last several decades. The FNMIS is the culmination of the effort to put the technology in a usable configuration for potential treaty verification purposes.

Reduced Complexity Volterra Models for Nonlinear System Identification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hacıoğlu Rıfat

2001-01-01

Full Text Available A broad class of nonlinear systems and filters can be modeled by the Volterra series representation. However, its practical use in nonlinear system identification is sometimes limited due to the large number of parameters associated with the Volterra filter′s structure. The parametric complexity also complicates design procedures based upon such a model. This limitation for system identification is addressed in this paper using a Fixed Pole Expansion Technique (FPET within the Volterra model structure. The FPET approach employs orthonormal basis functions derived from fixed (real or complex pole locations to expand the Volterra kernels and reduce the number of estimated parameters. That the performance of FPET can considerably reduce the number of estimated parameters is demonstrated by a digital satellite channel example in which we use the proposed method to identify the channel dynamics. Furthermore, a gradient-descent procedure that adaptively selects the pole locations in the FPET structure is developed in the paper.

Phraseology and Frequency of Occurrence on the Web: Native Speakers' Perceptions of Google-Informed Second Language Writing

Science.gov (United States)

Geluso, Joe

2013-01-01

Usage-based theories of language learning suggest that native speakers of a language are acutely aware of formulaic language due in large part to frequency effects. Corpora and data-driven learning can offer useful insights into frequent patterns of naturally occurring language to second/foreign language learners who, unlike native speakers, are…

Comparing Different Fault Identification Algorithms in Distributed Power System

Science.gov (United States)

Alkaabi, Salim

A power system is a huge complex system that delivers the electrical power from the generation units to the consumers. As the demand for electrical power increases, distributed power generation was introduced to the power system. Faults may occur in the power system at any time in different locations. These faults cause a huge damage to the system as they might lead to full failure of the power system. Using distributed generation in the power system made it even harder to identify the location of the faults in the system. The main objective of this work is to test the different fault location identification algorithms while tested on a power system with the different amount of power injected using distributed generators. As faults may lead the system to full failure, this is an important area for research. In this thesis different fault location identification algorithms have been tested and compared while the different amount of power is injected from distributed generators. The algorithms were tested on IEEE 34 node test feeder using MATLAB and the results were compared to find when these algorithms might fail and the reliability of these methods.

Parameters identification of hydraulic turbine governing system using improved gravitational search algorithm

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