Background: A review of literature shows that cochlear implant (CI) users face difficulties in terms of music interpretation when compared to regular hearing (RH) counterparts. The electrically pulsing nature of the CI acts differently than sound waves in a normally functioning ear, leading to different interpretations of musical concepts such as pitch or timbre. An exceptional case however has been observed in a university-level violinist with bimodal hearing (congenitally deaf in the right ear, and with very minimal residual hearing in the left; they use one CI and one hearing aid) at the University of Ottawa. Objective: This study will compare the pitch recognition, timbre preference and audiation (linked to pitch and rhythmic perception) abilities between an exceptional CI user and case-control RH violinists. Data has previously been collected on CI users not playing the violin due to CI technology's limitations in pitch processing. Since the violin is considered a pitch-heavy instrument to play, it is expected that the study participant has exceptional pitch recognition skills when compared to other CI users (and perhaps RH peers), while still demonstrating comparable timbre preference and rhythmic audiation abilities to an RH comparison group. Method: Three tests were administered relating to pitch recognition on a violin-like interface, timbre preference between two heard tones, and an Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) test for general musical knowledge in pitch and rhythm-based melodic discrimination. Results were compared between the critical case-study with CIs and RH control participants to quantify a basis in pitch perception, timbre preference and melodic audiation (applied to pitch and rhythm) skills. Implications: The study participant demonstrated comparable timbre preference and rhythmic discrimination skills to an RH comparison group. The study participant demonstrated pitch perception skills higher than previously tested CI users, despite being lower than the RH comparison group. The CI-using study participant would have developed these higher-than- average pitch perception skills through rigorous early-age training, and passion and persistence of music training on a pitch-heavy instrument despite known recommendations. This sheds light on the CI's technology not necessarily limiting users' choice of instrument due to its pitch processing, despite previous recommendations.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Natural user interfaces, including verbal vocal interactions like speech processing, are ubiquitous and commonly used in both industry and academic settings. However, this field is limited by the speech and language components. Non-verbal vocal interaction (NVVI) provides further opportunities for people to use their vocals as an input modality. Despite the many possibilities of NVVI input modalities, such as whistling, humming, and tongue clicking, the field is niche and literature is few and far between. This work attempts to address these gaps, as well as the small sample sizes of performed studies of prior work. The problem definition is defined as to perform a large-scale study exploring a pitch-based NVVI modality that uses a relative pitch interaction technique to offer a continuous mode of one-dimensional interaction. A user study is outlined and performed via an ecosystem comprising of Amazon Mechanical Turk for recruitment and study access, a modularized study website, and a secure server that stores the study results, tasks users with controlling a slider with the NVVI technique by humming and whistling, in addition to using the computer mouse to perform these tasks as a baseline. In total, 72 participants' results are considered for analysis. Results show that the pitch based NVVI technique used in this study does not follow Fitts' Law, is not as performant as the computer mouse, humming is a more performant modality with the NVVI technique than whistling, and that participants experienced a significantly higher task workload using the NVVI technique than the computer mouse. Using the results of this study and from reviewed literature, an NVVI framework is developed and implemented as a contribution of this work. / Master of Science

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of pitch contours in directing infant attention to adult speech. Several studies have shown that infants from a few days old to 9 months of age prefer infant-directed (ID) over adult-directed (AD) speech. Moreover, 4-month-olds have been shown to prefer pitch contours that simulate ID speech, suggesting that the exaggerated pitch contours are necessary for infant attention. The current study investigated this attentional preference utilizing ID and AD pitch contours in a fixation-based preference procedure. Results from the first experiment failed to show a similar preference for the ID pitch contours. Because a lack of preference could have been due to a failure to discriminate, a habituation study was also conducted. The results from the second experiment showed that 4-month-olds can discriminate the ID and AD pitch contours. From these results, it is argued that the pitch contour may be but one of many possible prosodic characteristics that attract infant attention and this attention may occur only within a language context. It is suggested that future studies investigate ID speech using a more context-dependent procedure, where natural or more complete speech samples are utilized. / Master of Science

Voice perception is an integral component to social connection and communication. Using the sound of a voice we infer information about a speaker’s physical, psychological, and emotional characteristics. These impressions that are formed have the potential to influence behavioural responses to others. This thesis examines some of the fundamental assumptions of voice perception by replicating and extending their findings. In chapter 2, the assumption that exposure to voices alters how attractive voices are was tested. We did not find evidence that increased exposure to high- or low- pitched voices affected attractiveness judgements. Given that exposure to voices did not alter their perceived attractiveness, we were curious to explore if attractiveness judgements were part of first impressions people formed from voices. In chapter 3, we explored what people consciously thought about when listening to voices. We then used machine learning to organize and analyse free form descriptions of participant impressions of voices. A diverse set of topics were used when talking about voices including gender, accent, and social traits. We also confirmed that valence, dominance, and attractiveness were all important social dimensions even when participants were not prompted by researchers to evaluate traits on those domains. We followed these results by testing if the same model of dominance, trust, attractiveness, and competence applied in a practical setting. We had participants judge the voices of doctors and nurses. Low-pitched female voices were perceived as more competent sounding than male voices when they were labelled as belonging to doctors. Low-pitched voices were judged as more dominant regardless of voice sex and profession and high-pitched female voices and low-pitched male voices were judged as most attractive regardless of profession. We replicated previous findings for attractiveness and dominance perceptions and extended the work by applying it to a novel context. Our findings challenge and expand on existing assumptions of voice perception. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis takes a multi-layered approach to examine and challenge existing assumptions regarding the influence of the perception of voice on social judgements. We evaluated whether listening to high- or low-pitched voices during an adaptation condition influenced attractiveness judgements in a similar fashion to what has been found previously in normality judgments. We explored the complexity of social voice judgements based on existing social perception models and first impressions people form from listening to voices. Finally, we addressed how those perceptions might influence person judgements in a novel setting. This work provides a glance into the cognitive, social, and evolutionary complexity of voice impressions but also how those perceptions are used in commonplace interactions.