Languages differ in the importance of acoustic dimensions for speech categorization. This poses a potential challenge for second language (L2) learners, and the extent to which adult L2 learners can acquire new perceptual strategies for speech categorization remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of extensive English L2 immersion on…

Mental training has been employed successfully by experienced musicians, but rarely explored with younger learners. Considering its benefits, however, including the use and development of predictive, feedforward processes, identified in neuroscience as being central to playing a musical instrument, this mixed qualitative-quantitative study…

Purpose: Understanding speech often involves processing input from multiple modalities. The availability of visual information may make auditory input less critical for comprehension. This study examines whether the auditory system is sensitive to the presence of complementary sources of input when exerting top-down control over the amplification…

Mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a growing interest in the functional impact of masks on speech and communication. Prior work has shown that masks dampen sound, impede visual communication cues, and reduce intelligibility. However, more work is needed to understand how speakers change their speech while wearing a mask and to…

The Hindi consonant inventory, which includes the cross-linguistically rare retroflex place of articulation and four-way laryngeal contrasts, is known to pose difficulties for native English speakers. Hindi language textbooks address this challenge, in part, by providing various articulatory and acoustic descriptions of Hindi consonants, typically…

Second language (L2) learners often have difficulty perceiving L2 sound contrasts when the first-language (L1) and L2 sounds are acoustically similar and these similar L2 sounds correspond to an existing L1 sound (Flege, 1995). To improve L2 learners' perception of sound contrasts, researchers have used high-variability phonetic training (HVPT)…

Purpose: This study examined auditory deficits and symptom reporting in individuals with long-term postconcussion symptoms following a single mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) compared to age- and gender-matched controls without a history of mTBI. Method: Case history interviews, symptom questionnaires, and a battery of central auditory and…

Purpose: We review and interpret our recent series of studies investigating motor-to-auditory influences during speech movement planning in fluent speakers and speakers who stutter. In those studies, we recorded auditory evoked potentials in response to probe tones presented immediately prior to speaking or at the equivalent time in no-speaking…

Purpose: Three experiments were carried out to evaluate the low-frequency pitch perception of adults with unilateral hearing loss who received a cochlear implant (CI). Method: Participants were recruited from a cohort of CI users with unilateral hearing loss and normal hearing in the contralateral ear. First, low-frequency pitch perception was…

Purpose: Previous studies of speech articulation have shown that individuals who can perceive smaller differences between similar-sounding phonemes showed larger contrasts in their productions of those phonemes. Here, a similar relationship was examined between the perception and production of breathy voice quality. Method: Twenty females with…

Joint engagement--the sharing of events during social interactions--is an important context for early learning. To date, sharing topics that are only heard has not been systematically documented. To describe the development of auditory joint engagement, 48 child-parent dyads were observed 5 times from 12 to 30 months during seminaturalistic play.…

Despite early differences in orienting to sounds, no study to date has investigated whether children with ASD demonstrate impairments in attentional disengagement in the auditory modality. Twenty-one 9-15-year-old children with ASD and 20 age- and IQ-matched TD children were presented with an auditory gap-overlap paradigm. Evidence of impaired…

The perception of subsecond durations in adults with autism spectrum disorder (hereafter 'autism'; n = 25 Experiment 1, n = 21 Experiment 2) and matched typical adults (n = 24 Experiment 1, n = 22 Experiment 2) was examined by requiring participants to perform an action in time with auditory (Experiment 1) or visual (Experiment 2) events.…

This research study is an experimental study focusing on auditory perception. The objectives of this research are (1) to evaluate acoustical characteristics of the classroom (2) to assess acoustical perceptions of students with different educational backgrounds. The subjects of this study consisted of 54 science students and 53 art students. The…

Purpose: For listeners with single-sided deafness, a cochlear implant (CI) can improve speech understanding by giving the listener access to the ear with the better target-to-masker ratio (TMR; head shadow) or by providing interaural difference cues to facilitate the perceptual separation of concurrent talkers (squelch). CI simulations presented…