This thesis discusses theoretical analysis of the origin of speech, introduces applications of speech technologies and explains the contemporary approach to phonetical transcription of speech recordings. Furthermore, it describes the metrics of audio recordings quality assessment, which is split into two discrete classes. The first one groups signal quality metrics, while the other one groups content richness metrics. The first goal of the practical section is to create a statistical model for accuracy prediction of machine transcription of speech recordings based on a measurement of their quality. The second goal is to evaluate which partial metrics are the most essential for accuracy prediction of machine transcription.

This thesis deals with detection of speech disorders. One of the aims of this thesis is choosing suitable parameterization: short-time energy, zero-crossing rate, linear predictive analysis, perceptual linear predictive analysis, RASTA method, cepstral analysis and mel-frequency cepstral coefficient can be chosed for detections. Next aim is construction of detector of speech disorders based on DTW (Dynamic Time Warping) and artificial neuron network. Single detection proceeds on the base of collected tokens from chosen analysis and phonetic transcription of speech. Analyses, detector and phonetic transcription of Czech language are implemented in simulation environment of MATLAB.

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die zugrunde liegende Frage, ob die Sprechapraxie und die aphasisch-phonologische Störung anhand phonetischer Entstellungen und phonematischer Paraphasien bei Diphthongen und Monophthongen voneinander unterschieden werden können. Ergänzend werden messphonetische Daten wie Vokal- und Wortdauern, der erste und zweite Vokalformant und die Voice Onset Time bei stimmlosen Plosiven im Silbenanlaut vergleichend herangezogen. Dazu werden drei Gruppen à vier Probanden untersucht: Gruppe SAX (mit Sprechapraxie), Gruppe APH (mit aphasisch-phonologischer Störung) und Gruppe NOM (sprachgesunde Kontrollgruppe). Es wird ein Nachsprechtest von 104 deutschen, meist monomorphematischen, einsilbigen Nomina, 52 einfache (CVC) und 52 komplexe (CCVC und CVCC) Silben, durchgeführt. Jeder Vokal wird durch acht meist unterschiedliche Wörter überprüft. Die Reaktionen werden mit dem phonetischen Analyseprogramm „Praat“ (Version 5.2.22, Boersma & Weenink, 1992–2011) segmentiert sowie ohren- und messphonetisch analysiert. Die statistische Auswertung erfolgt mit R (R Foundation) und R Studio (Version 0.98.1103, 2009–2014). Die Ergebnisse liefern Hinweise auf störungsspezifische Fehler bzw. Pathomechanismen der Sprechapraxie. Die Gruppe SAX produziert signifikant mehr phonetische Entstellungen bei Monophthongen und Diphthongen sowie signifikant längere Wortdauern als die Gruppe APH. In der Gruppe SAX sind einige Vokale nur teilweise entstellt, wie z. B. initial atypisch behauchte oder gerundete Vokale. Auch zeigen sich die Formantwerte in der Gruppe SAX variabler als in der Gruppe APH und der Gruppe NOM. Die Ergebnisse verweisen auf ein angenommenes Timing-Defizit bei der Planung und Kontrolle sprechmotorischer Bewegungen der Sprechapraxie. / This study analyses the underlying question if it is possible to distinguish apraxia of speech (SAX) and phonemic aphasia (APH) by phonetic distortions and phonological paraphasia of monophthongs and diphthongs. Phonetic measurements like the duration of vowels and words, the Voice Onset Time of voiceless plosives in the onset of syllables and the first and second formant will be analyzed as well. Three groups of four subjects are studied: Group SAX (no/mild aphasia), group APH (without apraxia of speech), group NOM (without any speech disorder). A repetition task comprising 104 German mostly monomorphemic, monosyllabic nouns, 52 simple (CVC) and 52 complex (CCVC and CVCC) syllables, is performed. Each of the vowels is tested in eight mostly different words. The reactions will be segmented, phonetically measured, and analyzed by ear with the help of the program “Praat” (Version 5.2.22, Boersma & Weenink, 1992–2011). The statistical analysis is conducted with R (The R Foundation), within the “R-Studio” software suite (Version 0.98.1103, 2009–2014). The results show some indications of failures and pathological mechanisms of apraxia of speech. Group SAX produces significantly more phonetic distorted monophthongs and diphthongs and significantly longer word durations than group APH. Some vowels are just partly distorted, for example, in form of atypical initial aspirated or rounded monophthongs. Also the formants show greater variability in group SAX than in groups APH and NOM. The results suggest a timing deficit during planning and control of speech movements in apraxia of speech.

Although spoken dialogue systems have greatly improved, they still cannot handle communications involving unknown topics. One of the problems is, that they experience difficulties when they should pronounce unknown words. We will investigate methods that can improve spoken dialogue systems by correcting the pronunciation of unknown words. This is a crucial step to provide a better user experience, since for example mispronounced proper nouns are highly undesirable. Incorrect pronunciation is caused by imperfect phonetic representation of the word. We aim to detect incorrectly pronounced words, use knowledge about the pronunciation and user's feedback and correct the transcriptions accordingly. Furthermore, the learned phonetic transcriptions can be added to the speech recognition module's vocabulary. Thus extracting correct pronunciations benefits both speech recognition and text-to-speech components of the dialogue systems.

According to a recent United Nations report, China's population of 1.4 billion represents 19% of the world's entire population of 7.6 billion. As the distance between east and west contracts in business, so too do the arts. This dissertation focuses on six selected contemporary Chinese art songs composed by Nan-Chang Chien. By providing the references of musical facts, synopsis of the poems, word-for-word translation, IPA transcription, poetic translation, and interpretive and performance guides, singers and pianists will have an overall understanding and detailed directions for learning the Chinese language and Chinese art songs. This dissertation also provides the foundation and model for further exploration and research into Chinese art sing literature by scholars in the west.

Cette thèse vise à caractériser le traitement auditif des informations spectro-temporelles impliquées dans la perception de la parole au cours du développement précoce. Dans ce but, les capacités de discrimination de contrastes phonétiques sont évaluées à l’aide de deux méthodes comportementales chez des enfants âgés de 6 et 10 mois. Les sons de parole sont dégradés par des « vocodeurs » conçus pour réduire sélectivement les modulations spectrales et/ou temporelles des stimuli phonétiquement contrastés.Les trois premières études de cette thèse montrent que les informations spectro-temporelles fines de la parole (les indices de modulation de fréquence et détails spectraux) ne sont pas nécessaires aux enfants français de 6 mois pour percevoir le trait phonétique de voisement et de lieu d’articulation. Comme pour les adultes français, les informations de modulation d’amplitude les plus lentes semblent suffire pour percevoir ces traits phonétiques. Les deux dernières études montrent cependant que les informations spectro-temporelles fines sont requises pour la discrimination de tons lexicaux (variations de hauteur liée au sens de mots monosyllabiques) chez les enfants français et taiwanais de 6 mois. De plus, ces études montrent l’influence de l’expérience linguistique sur le poids perceptif de ces informations de modulations dans la discrimination de la parole chez les jeunes adultes et les enfants français et taiwanais de 10 mois.Ces études montrent que les mécanismes auditifs spectro-temporels sous-tendant la perception de la parole sont efficaces dès l’âge de 6 mois, mais que ceux-ci vont être influencés par l’exposition à l’environnement linguistique dans les mois suivants. Enfin, cette thèse discute les implications de ces résultats vis-à-vis de l’implantation précoce des enfants sourds profonds qui reçoivent des informations de modulations dégradées. / The goal of this doctoral research was to characterize the auditory processing of the spectro-temporal cues involved in speech perception during development. The ability to discriminate phonetic contrasts was evaluated in 6- and 10-month-old infants using two behavioral methods. The speech sounds were processed by “vocoders” designed to reduce selectively the spectro-temporal modulation content of the phonetically contrasting stimuli. The first three studies showed that fine spectro-temporal modulation cues (the frequency-modulation cues and spectral details) are not required for the discrimination of voicing and place of articulation in French-learning 6-month-old infants. As for French adults, 6-month-old infants can discriminate those phonetic features on the sole basis of the slowest amplitude-modulation cues. The last two studies revealed that the fine modulation cues are required for lexical-tone (pitch variations related to the meaning of one-syllable word) discrimination in French- and Mandarin-learning 6-month-old infants. Furthermore, the results showed the influence of linguistic experience on the perceptual weight of these modulation cues in both young adults and 10-month-old infants learning either French or Mandarin.This doctoral research showed that the spectro-temporal auditory mechanisms involved in speech perception are efficient at 6 months of age, but will be influenced by the linguistic environment during the following months. Finally, the present research discusses the implications of these findings for cochlear implantation in profoundly deaf infants who have only access to impoverished speech modulation cues.

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The diploma thesis deals with the issue of phonological abilities of children with dyslalia in preschool age. The main goal of the thesis lies therefore in the analysis of the phonological abilities of the stated target group. Based on the main goal, partial objectives and research questions were defined. A method of qualitative research strategy - a case study was used to fulfil the objectives of the thesis. To gather the data, test methods and analysis of the available documents were used. To create a comprehensive picture of the monitored children, the methods mentioned above were supplemented with an interview with a clinical speech therapist. The thesis is divided into two parts, the theoretical part and the empirical part. The theoretical part consists of three chapters. The first chapter deals with the definition of key terms such as communication, communication skills, as well as the development of speech, language and communication. In this chapter, attention is paid also to a preschool child. The second chapter describes the issue of phonological abilities, which are presented in the context of the phonetic- phonological language level. The last chapter looks into the issue of dyslalia. The empirical part is then devoted to the description of the whole process of the research survey....

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Chong Ka Yan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-75). / Abstract in English and Chinese. / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / Chapter CHAPTER I: --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Phonological Awareness as a Predictor of English Reading and Spelling --- p.1 / Levels of Phonological Awareness --- p.4 / Factors Affecting the Development of Phonological Awareness --- p.6 / oral language experience --- p.6 / orthographic experience --- p.8 / phonological training --- p.8 / Transfer of Phonological Awareness in Bilingual Studies --- p.9 / factors affecting the transfer of phonological awareness --- p.11 / Introduction to Hanyu Pinyin --- p.13 / The Present Study --- p.14 / Chapter CHAPTER II: --- STUDY1 --- p.18 / Method --- p.18 / Design --- p.18 / Participants --- p.19 / Procedures --- p.20 / Tasks --- p.20 / Results --- p.25 / Group differences on Phonological Awareness and English measures Relationship between Phonological Awareness and Pinyin --- p.25 / Performance on English Reading and Spelling --- p.28 / Relationship between Phonological Awareness of different Languages --- p.33 / Discussion --- p.34 / Chapter CHPAPTER III: --- STUDY2 --- p.36 / Method --- p.36 / Design --- p.36 / Participants --- p.37 / Procedures --- p.38 / Tasks --- p.39 / Results --- p.42 / Effect of Pinyin training on Phonological Awareness --- p.48 / Transfer of Phonological Awareness --- p.50 / Effect of Pinyin Training on English Reading and Spelling --- p.52 / Decomposing the Effect of Pinyin Training on English Reading and Spelling --- p.53 / Discussion --- p.59 / Chapter CHPATER IV: --- GENERAL DISCUSSION --- p.65 / Limitations --- p.67 / Conclusion --- p.69 / REFERENCES --- p.70 / APPENDIX A: ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEST (STUDY 1) --- p.76 / APPENDIX B: NONWORD SPELLING TASK ITEMS (STUDY 1) --- p.77 / APPENDIX C: PSEUDOWORD READING ITEMS (STUDY1) --- p.78 / APPENDIX D: PHONEMIC ONSET DELETION TASK (CANTONESE) --- p.79 / APPENDIX E: PHONEMIC ONSET DELETION TASK (MANDARIN) --- p.80 / APPENDIX F: PHONEMIC ONSET DELETION TASK (ENGLISH) --- p.81 / APPENDIX G: NONWORD SPELLING TASK ITEMS (STUDY 2) --- p.82 / APPENDIX H: PSEUDOWORD READING ITEMS (STUDY2) --- p.83 / APPENDIX J: PINYIN TEST (STUDY 2) --- p.84 / APPENDIX K: MANDARIN ORAL TEST (STUDY 2) --- p.85