how human speech is shaped
Haskins Laboratories, an independent research institute in New Haven affiliated with Yale, has been awarded $3.4 million by the National Institutes of Health to continue the study of links between production and perception in speech.
"We usually hear speech, so it is natural to think of it as sounds, but a long line of research suggests that we are actually hearing moving mouths," says Douglas H. Whalen, vice president of research at Haskins. "The mouth shapes the sound created by our vocal folds, and our brain unravels this shaping to figure out the linguistic message."
The experiments in this five-year project will explore how this link is made, using such tools as speech synthesis, ultrasound, optical tracking and perceptual assessment -- or just plain listening. "Whether we perceive sounds or movements has consequences for how we rehabilitate stroke patients or help misarticulating children," says Whalen.
One line of research will test mathematical ways of allowing machines to automatically extract movements -- to mimic the way it is believed that humans do it. Another line of study will look carefully at the English "r" sound, which has important implications for speech rehabilitation.
Other studies will show how imitation works with foreign sounds, which will help illuminate how children begin to learn their own language, as well as the importance of knowing the speakers' resting posture, vocal tract shape and usual speaking pitch -- and what happens when these links break down.
"Together, the results will enhance our understanding of the basic processes of speech and how we might fix them when they break down," says Whalen.
Haskins Laboratories was founded in 1935 by the late Dr. Caryl P. Haskins with a primary research focus on the science of the spoken and written word. This independent research institute has been in New Haven since 1970 when it formalized affiliations with Yale and the University of Connecticut. Further information is available at www.haskins.yale.edu.
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