Orientador: Stelamaris Rolla Bertoli / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T20:04:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bottazzini_MarceloCarvalho_D.pdf: 7067379 bytes, checksum: 25c6c33f4af8469aace1f36661e78ce2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A constituição do Concílio Vaticano II promoveu profundas reformas na Igreja Católica. Sobre a liturgia da missa trouxe várias modificações, onde se destaca o uso da língua nacional e não mais da língua latina. Esta alteração somada a crescente participação dos fiéis nas celebrações foram responsáveis pelas mudanças nos costumes e conseqüentemente no uso destes ambientes, tanto no que se refere à execução de músicas como na prática da oratória. Inúmeras reclamações têm sido relatadas por padre e fiéis sobre as condições de audibilidade destes espaços. Estas questões somadas aos constantes problemas acústicos relatados pelos usuários e as dificuldades encontradas por profissionais na obtenção de subsídios para a adequação acústica desses ambientes, motivaram a elaboração desta pesquisa. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar a influência das características arquitetônicas de nove igrejas barrocas construídas no século XVIII no Estado de Minas Gerais verificando as suas interferências na qualidade acústica, e ao mesmo tempo, produzir um documento que possa atender a demanda profissional por informações técnicas, especificamente elaboradas. As igrejas devem atender à dupla finalidade, isto é, servir tanto para uso da palavra falada quanto para a execução de músicas. Dada a importância artística e histórica das igrejas barrocas e a dupla finalidade a que elas atendem, elas foram escolhidas como objetos deste estudo. A inteligibilidade da fala foi analisada por meio do parâmetro STI (Speech Transmission Index). Também foram obtidos parâmetros acústicos tais como: clareza (C80), definição (D50), tempo de reverberação (TR). Esses parâmetros foram obtidos por meio da técnica da resposta impulsiva, utilizando o programa de avaliação acústica de salas Dirac da Bruel&Kjaer. Os resultados mostraram que a inteligibilidade da fala, e da música são bastante específicas para esse tipo de construção e a qualidade acústica é fortemente influenciada pelas características arquitetônicas desses ambientes / Abstract: The Vatican Council II constitution promoted deep changes in Catholic Church and the mass liturgy, in which one can highlight the use of the national language instead of Latin. This transformation together with the growing participation followers in the celebrations was responsible for changes in habits and consequently use of these places concerning acoustic quality for music and speech. Innumerable complaints have been reported by priest and followers about audibility in such spaces. These points added to the constant acoustic problems related by users and troubles found by professionals in obtaining the subsidy necessary to the acoustic adaptation in these environments motivated this research. This work has as main target to gather architectural characteristics of nine baroque churches built during the XVIII century in Minas Gerais state and verify interferences in their acoustic quality, and at the same time create a document to provide specif technical information. Baroque churches were chosen as study object for their artistic and historical importance and for serving the double of adequately accomodating both spoken words and music performance. Speech intelligibility was analysed using the STI parameter (Speech Transmission Index). Other acoustic parameters (clarity (C80), definition (D50), reverberation time (RT)) were also obtained through impulsive response technique using the Dirac rooms evaluation program by Bruel&Kjaer. Results showed that music and speech intelligibility are very specific to this kind of construction and the acoustic quality is strongly influenced by architectural characteristics / Doutorado / Arquitetura e Construção / Doutor em Engenharia Civil

O aspecto temporal da fala é um dos fatores que interferem na inteligibilidade de fala, assim, o presente estudo teve como objetivo estudar a percepção das vogais do português brasileiro (PB) em diferentes taxas de elocução por meio de análise acústica e metodologia psicofísica. Na análise acústica foi averiguado a duração das frases contendo as vogais alvo e, posteriormente, apenas as vogais. No experimento I - a ANOVA mostrou que existe diferença significativa apenas entre a duração das frases nas duas taxas de elocução normal e rápida, enquanto na análise da duração das vogais há diferença estatística entre as taxas de elocução e também entre as vogais. No experimento II- o resultado da ANOVA mostrou que as frases são estatisticamente diferentes em relação a taxa de elocução, normal e mais rápida, mas não difere quanto as diferentes vogais alvo das frases, entretanto, o resultado das vogais na taxa de elocução mais rápida mostrou que há diferença entre as mesmas. A análise dos três conjuntos de vogais dos dois experimentos anteriores, mostrou que há diferença estatisticamente significativa nas taxas de elocução e também nas 7 vogais do PB. O julgamento psicofísico da fala comprimida foi realizado por meio de 28 frases aleatorizadas quanto as 7 vogais do PB, duas taxas de locução (normal e rápida) e duas apresentações para fidedignidade do teste. A amostra foi composta de 32 sujeitos, distribuídos em dois experimentos. No experimento I (n=16) os sujeitos não perceberam qualquer dificuldade na inteligibilidade de fala. No segundo experimento (n=16) a taxa de elocução das frases rápidas foi modificada em torno de 30% da taxa normal. O resultado mostrou que os sujeitos perceberam diminuição na inteligibilidade de fala devido a taxa de elocução, entretanto não encontraram qualquer dificuldades devido as vogais. Os resultados sugerem a taxa de elocução interfere na inteligibilidade de fala. / The temporal aspect of speech is one of the factors that affect the intelligibility of speech. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the perception of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels in different speech rates through acoustic analysis and psychophysical tests. In the acoustic analysis, we investigated the sentences duration containing target vowels and, subsequently, only the vowels. In Experiment I, there was a significant difference between the duration of sentences in both speech rates (normal and fast), and in the duration of the vowels there was a significant difference between the speech rates and between the vowels. In Experiments II, the results showed differences between the sentences concerning the speed rate, normal and 'faster', but not between the target vowels in the sentences. However, in the 'faster' speech rate showed difference between the vowels. The analyses of the 3 sets of vowels in both experiments revealed a significant difference in speed rates as well as in the 7 vowels of the BP. The psychophysical judgment of compressed speech was done using 28 randomized sentences with 7 BP vowels, 2 speed rates (normal and fast) and 2 repetitions (test and retest) to evaluate the test reliability. The sample was composed by 32 subjects distributed in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1 (n=16) the subjects did not have difficulty in the speech intelligibility In Experiment II (n=16) the speed rate of 'faster' sentences was increased in 30% in relation to the normal rate. The results showed that the subjects noticed that there was a decrease in the speech intelligibility due to the speed; however, they did not find difficulties due to the vowels. Taken together, our results suggest that the speech rate interferes in the speech intelligibility.

O objetivo principal deste estudo foi avaliar a influência da adaptação da prótese rebaixadora de palato na inteligibilidade e na ressonância de fala, e nas características acústicas espectrográficas dos três primeiros formantes das vogais orais do português brasileiro de pacientes submetidos à glossectomia. Participaram 36 pacientes, 33 do sexo masculino e 3 do sexo feminino, com idades entre 30 e 80 anos (Média=53,91±10,53 anos), sendo 14 submetidos à glossectomia total, 12 à glossectomia total e mandibulectomia parcial, 6 à hemiglossectomia e, 4 à glossectomia subtotal. Amostras de fala (conversa espontânea e repetição de 18 sílabas) de pacientes com e sem prótese foram randomizadas e a ressonância e inteligibilidade de fala foram julgadas por 2 fonoaudiólogos. Também foi realizada a análise espectrográfica dos formantes das 7 vogais do português brasileiro com e sem prótese, extraindo-se as médias dos três primeiros formantes. Houve melhora significante na inteligibilidade de fala e de sílabas após adaptação da prótese rebaixadora de palato (p < 0,001). Não houve diferença estatística nos julgamentos da ressonância com e sem prótese. Existiu diferença significante na situação com e sem prótese para o primeiro formante nas vogais /a/, /e/, /u/ (p < 0,001) e tendência estatística na vogal /o/ (p = 0,09); para segundo formante nas vogais /o/, / /, /u/ (p < 0,001), e tendência estatística nas vogais /e/ (p = 0,058) e /i/ (p = 0,080) e para o terceiro formante nas vogais /a/ e / / (p < 0,001). A prótese rebaixadora de palato melhorou a inteligibilidade da fala espontânea e das sílabas dos pacientes glossectomizados. Também aumentou os valores de F2 e F3 para todas as vogais e, de F1 para as vogais /o/, / /, /u/. Isto gerou uma aproximação dos valores dos formantes da maioria das vogais junto aos valores de normalidade. / The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of the palatal augmentation prostheses on speech intelligibility, ressonance and acoustic spectrographic characteristics of the first three formants of oral vowels in Brazilian Portuguese, in patients submitted to glossectomy. Thirty-six (33 men and 3 women), aged 30 to 80 years (mean = 53.9 ±10.5 years) underwent glossectomy (14 = total glossectomy; 12 = total glossectomy associated partial mandibulectomy; 6=hemiglossectomy, and 4 = subtotal glossectomy) constituted the study sample. Speech samples (spontaneous conversation and repetition of 18 syllables) from the patients with and without prosthesis were randomly distributed and the resonance and speech intelligibility were judged by 2 speech language pathologist. A spectrographic assessment of formants of the 7 vowels of Brazilian Portuguese, with and without prosthesis, was performed. The mean values of the first three formants were extracted. There was a statistically significant improvement of the spontaneous speech intelligibility and of the average number of correctly identified syllables with the use of the prosthesis (p<0.05). The speech resonance results have not demonstrated a significant reduction in hypernasality with the palatal augmentation prostheses in place. Statistically significant differences occurred in F1 values for the vowels /a/, /e/, /u/, for F2, there was a significant difference in the vowels /o/, / /, /u/; and for F3, there was a significant difference in the vowels /a/, / / (p < 0.001). Palatal augmentation prosthesis improved intelligibility of spontaneous speech and syllables in glossectomized patients. It also increased F2 and F3 values for all vowels and F1 values for the vowels /o/, / /, /u/. This effect has brought the values of many vowel formants closer to normality.

Orientador: Stelamaris Rolla Bertoli / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Civil, Arquitetura e Urbanismo / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T11:37:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cunha_IaraBatista_M.pdf: 6288212 bytes, checksum: 6312c88b95bfe2f47d5d98532d33f1ce (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Nas práticas litúrgicas da Igreja Católica, fala e música compõem as principais atividades, portanto, a qualidade acústica nas igrejas é essencial. Atualmente, do ponto de vista acústico, a compreensão da palavra é a necessidade mais relevante dos ritos católicos. Os sistemas de reforço sonoro (SRS) são utilizados como auxílio na resolução de alguns problemas recorrentes nestes espaços que atingem a qualidade da compreensão da fala, como a dificuldade do alcance da voz humana a grandes distâncias ou a interferência de ruídos urbanos no ambiente interno. Esta pesquisa se propõe a investigar o uso destes sistemas e sua influência na resposta acústica das igrejas, com ênfase na inteligibilidade da palavra. Para isso, três igrejas católicas de diferentes volumes situadas na cidade de Campinas, SP foram avaliadas segundo os parâmetros acústicos Tempo de Reverberação (TR), Tempo de Decaimento Inicial (EDT) e Definição (D50), em bandas de oitava entre 125Hz e 4kHz, além do Índice de Transmissão da Fala (STI) e da Perda de Articulação de Consoantes (ALcons). As medições foram feitas pelo método de resposta impulsiva, em duas situações: com o sinal ligado no SRS e com o sinal ligado na fonte padrão omnidirecional. Desta forma, caracteriza-se cada ambiente nas condições "com" e "sem" o sistema de sonorização, permitindo a comparação de dados entre estas duas situações. Em todos os casos sem o uso do SRS, os edifícios apresentaram condições acústicas desfavoráveis para a compreensão da fala. O SRS mostrou diferenças favoráveis para inteligibilidade na maior parte dos resultados. No entanto, quando a resposta acústica do edifício não proporciona uma qualidade positiva, o SRS não foi suficiente para elevar a avaliação qualitativa da inteligibilidade para resultados ideais / Abstract: During Catholic services, speech and music are the main activities, thus, acoustical quality in the churches is essential. Currently, from the acoustic view, the understanding of words is the most important need of Catholic rites. The sound reinforcement systems (SRS) are used as a support in solving some recurring problems in these buildings, such as the difficulty for human voice to reach great distances or due to interference from urban noise in the indoor environment. This research intends to investigate the use of these systems and their influence on the acoustic response of the churches, with an emphasis on speech intelligibility. For this, three Catholic churches with different volumes, located in the city of Campinas, SP, were evaluated according to the acoustic parameters Reverberation Time (RT), Early Decay Time (EDT) and Definition (D50), in octave bands between 125 Hz and 4 kHz, and the Speech Transmission Index (STI) and Articulation Loss of Consonants (ALcons). Measurements were made by the impulse response method, through two different situations: with the test signal injected directly on the sound system and using the omnidirectional sound source. In all cases, without the use of SRS, the buildings showed unfavorable conditions for the acoustic speech understanding. The SRS revealed positive differences for intelligibility in most of the results. However, when the acoustic response of the building itself does not provide a good quality for speech understanding, the SRS was not sufficient to raise the quality of intelligibility for optimal results / Mestrado / Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade / Mestra em Arquitetura, Tecnologia e Cidade

The purpose of this report was to investigate the sound environments in lecture halls at Umeå University and to assess to whether the sound environments in these lecture halls are satisfactory and whether have good speech intelligibility or not. Based on a web survey, a number of lecture halls were selected for this investigation, namely Hörsal A, Hörsal C, N280, KB.F3.01, Ma121, KB.E3.01, N340 and N335. Assessing room acoustics includes many relevant parameters, therefore a delimitation has been made. Only installation noise, reverberation time and speech intelligibility have been investigated. The methods followed established Swedish standards i.e SS-EN ISO 16032:2004 for installation noise,” integrated impulse response method” SS-EN ISO 3382:2:2008/AC:2009 for reverberation time and direct FULL STI (speech transmission index) IEC 60268-16:2011 for speech intelligibility. An ocular inspection was carried out of all the selected lecture halls. The result from the STI test showed that all the lecture halls except for Hörsal A have a good speech intelligibility, if the audience has normal hearing and they are listening to a lecture in their native language. In Hörsal A there are three measuring positions that fails to achieve the threshold for good speech intelligibility. The conclusion for all of the measurements that has been made are that Ma121 and KB.E3.01 has a satisfactory sound environment and that Hörsal A, Hörsal C, N280, KB.F3.01, N340 and N335 need actions to improve their sound environment so they can fulfil the benchmarks in Swedish public health authority regulations in FoHMFS 2014:13 and/or SS 25268:2007.

This study aimed to identify some of the strategies students used when pronouncing unfamiliar words. Questionnaires were handed out to 94 students in the 9th grade in a medium-sized Swedish town. In addition, two teachers and 13 students were interviewed. The results indicate that the students had acquired some basic knowledge about the English sound system from phonetic training in their past education. However, there seemed to be a tendency among the students to use the trial-and-error strategy to a larger extent than using tools such as phonetic transcription in order to figure out the pronunciation of a word. The results also show that the teachers did not teach planned lessons on pronunciation, but instead it was more common that they responded to errors made by students. In conclusion, the results show that the students' knowledge in pronunciation in general was limited. In addition, there seemed to be a connection between the way the students and the teachers approached pronunciation and the student's ability to solve pronunciation issues.

Ce travail de thèse vise à proposer un modèle pouvant prédire l’intelligibilité d’une voix cible masquée par des sources concurrentes dans les salles. Un modèle a déjà été développé par Lavandier et Culling (2010) et est capable de prédire l’intelligibilité d’une cible en champ proche perturbée par plusieurs sources de bruit. Le travail présenté ici traite des nouvelles implémentations et expérimentations nécessaires pour étendre le modèle au cas de cibles distantes et au cas de voix concurrentes, qui présentent des propriétés acoustiques différentes des bruits stationnaires (fluctuation d’enveloppe, fréquence fondamentale, modulations de fréquence fondamentale). L’effet nuisible de la réverbération sur la parole cible a été implémenté avec succès. Cette nouvelle version du modèle permet une interprétation unifiée de plusieurs effetsperceptifs observés dans la littérature mais il présente une dépendance de la salle, ce qui limite son aspect prédictif. Des travaux expérimentaux ont été menés pour déterminer comment le modèle pourrait prendre en compte le cas de sources cibles et masquantes avec des spectres différents ainsi que le cas où plusieurs mécanismes auditifs opèrent simultanément (ségrégation par F0, démasquage spatialet écoute dans les creux de modulation). / This PhD work aims to propose a model predicting the perceived intelligibility of a target speech masked by competing sources in rooms. An existing model developed by Lavandier and Culling (2010) is already able to predict speech intelligibility of a near-field target in the presence of multiple noise sources. The present work deals with new implementations and experimental work needed to extend the model tothe case of a distant target and to the case of masking voices, which present different acoustical properties than noises (envelope fluctuations, fundamental frequency, modulations of fundamental frequency). The detrimental effect of reverberation on the target speech has been successfully implemented. This new version of the model provides a unified interpretation of several perceptual effects previously observed in the literature but it presents a room dependency which limits its predictive power. Experimental work has been conducted to determine how the model could account for sources presenting different spectra, and to account for several auditory mechanisms operating simultaneously (F0 segregation, spatial unmasking and temporal dip listening).

This diploma thesis deals with the role of rhoticity in English pronunciation teaching. The theoretical part focuses on the characterisation of rhoticity as a distinctive feature of English accents. It describes and compares approaches to pronunciation teaching and the factors which influence the choice of pronunciation models in English language teaching. It also introduces the development of English as a lingua franca and its impact on pronunciation. Finally, it characterises the processes of speech perception. The practical part describes the creation and implementation of research which aimed at the discovery of the degree of intelligibility and comprehensibility of rhotic and non-rhotic samples of speech. The results imply that Czech learners of English find non-rhotic speech less intelligible and more difficult to understand. Key words rhoticity, non-rhoticity, pronunciation teaching, speech perception, intelligibility, comprehensibility

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative neurological condition which affects motor control, in almost all cases involving speech, and is frequently of many years duration. Much is known about speech production but less of the psychosocial consequences of the speech impairment (dysarthria). Accounts of people with dysarthria have shown that its impact on quality of social participation can be varied and profound. However, level of participation has not been investigated. Reduction in social activity and social networks has been found following onset of other neurogenic communication disorders. In Parkinson's disease there is some evidence of social activity reduction but this has not been studied in relation to severity of dysarthria. Social anxiety has been found to be raised in speakers with other speech production impairments and this may be a contributor to reduction in social engagement. Investigation of social variables is of importance in understanding relationships within a biopsychosocial model of health which underpins intervention for therapies for communication disorders. Aims The study aimed to investigate the impact of dysarthria on social participation and whether presence of dysarthria in Parkinson's disease (PD) resulted in changes to social anxiety, social networks and social activity. It further sought to investigate whether severity of dysarthria resulted in changes to the same variables. Method A group of 43 mild-moderately dysarthric speakers with PD were recruited. Exclusion criteria were applied to control for cognitive impairment, depression, apathy, movement disability and co-occurring neurological and communication impairment. A group of 30 non-neurologically impaired participants were recruited matched for age, sex, socioeconomic status and educational attainment. Participants with PD were further grouped using measures of sentence intelligibility and motor speech impairment into higher and lower functioning groups. All participants completed a social anxiety questionnaire, a social activity checklist and detailed their social network. Group data were compared to address the research questions. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with all participants to explore change to social life and perceptions of causes of change. Results Participants reported a range of changes to interaction and social engagement arising from speech and other impairments and also from intra and interpersonal contextual factors. Quantitative data showed that presence of dysarthria was associated with social anxiety and avoidance but not changes to social activity level or social network size. Greater severity of dysarthria was associated with deterioration in social activities and social network. There was wide individual variation on these variables. Outcomes Impact of dysarthria may be significant and unrelated to severity of impairment and satisfaction with level of activity is low in dysarthric speakers. Mild - moderately dysarthric speakers with PD may experience social anxiety in particular types of social situation. Moderately dysarthric speakers may experience loss of social capital in terms of quantitative changes in social networks and social activities. Motor speech impairment was a better predictor of social functioning than intelligibility in this sample. It is possible that a threshold for change lies at a more severe level of speech involvement. How speakers with PD perceive and experience their social interactions is discussed and limitations to the research are considered. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the ICF framework and the concept of social capital.

Il est aujourd’hui accepté que le bruit de parole représente la principale source de gêne pour les employés des bureaux ouverts. L’objectif de ce travail est d’évaluer les effets psychophysiologiques de la parole intelligible sur les salariés effectuant une ou plusieurs tâches. Pour répondre à cet objectif, deux expériences ont été réalisées. La première a pour but d’évaluer le décrément de performance (DP) lors d’une tâche de sériation pour de fortes valeurs d’intelligibilité. L’indicateur acoustique choisi est le STI (« Speech Transmission Index »). Les résultats de l’étude menée auprès de cinquante-cinq participants montrent un effet du STI sur le DP. Cependant, cette expérience a une validité écologique réduite puisqu’elle est de courte durée et qu’elle est limitée à une tâche très spécifique. La deuxième expérience a donc pour but d’élaborer des tests en laboratoire plus proches des conditions de travail en bureau ouvert et d’étudier l’effet de la parole intelligible sur des indicateurs psychologiques. Trente-neuf participants ont participé à cette expérimentation. Plusieurs mesures telles que la fatigue psychologique, la gêne sonore et la charge mentale de travail ont été réalisées. Les participants ont été soumis à trois conditions sonores différentes (bruit stationnaire, bruit modulé et parole) durant trois journées. Chaque jour, les participants ont réalisé leur travail en étant exposés à la même condition sonore pendant 6h45min. Les résultats montrent un effet de la parole sur l’état psychologique des participants. La parole semble être la source de bruit la plus fatigante et la plus gênante. Elle entraine également une charge mentale supplémentaire. Au-delà des résultats de ces expériences, les modèles psychologiques mobilisés lors de cette thèse peuvent être adaptés pour mener des enquêtes in-situ afin d’évaluer et prévenir les risques psychologiques liés aux bruits dans les bureaux ouverts. / It seems now accepted that speech noise in open-plan offices is the main source of annoyance for employees. This work aims to evaluate the psychophysiological effects of intelligible speech on the employees performing one or multiple tasks. For this purpose, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment evaluates the decrease in performance (DP) during a serial recall task for high values of speech intelligibility. The chosen acoustical indicator is the Speech Transmission Index (STI). Fifty-five subjects participated during this experiment. The results show a significant effect of the STI on the DP. However, this experiment does not reflect the reality of an open-plan office because of the specificity of the task performed during a brief period of time. The second experiment aims to elaborate on laboratory tests which are closer to work conditions in an open-plan office and to evaluate the effect of intelligible speech on the psychological indicators. Thirty-nine subjects participated to the experiment. Different measurements such as psychological fatigue, sound annoyance and the cognitive workload were performed. The subjects were subdued to three different sound conditions (stationary noise, ‘speech-like’ amplitude-modulated noise and intelligible speech) during three days. For each day, the subjects did their work while being exposed to the same sound condition during six hours and forty-five minutes. The results show a significant effect of the speech condition on the psychological state of the subjects. The speech seems to be the most tiring and the most annoying sound source out of the three conditions. It also induces a supplementary cognitive workload. Hereafter the results of these two experiments, the psychological models applied during this thesis could be adopted to conduct in-situ surveys for purposes of preventing the psychological hazards due to noise in open-plan offices.