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Interaction between auditory and speech processing during early development| old_uid | 18956 |
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| title | Interaction between auditory and speech processing during early development |
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| start_date | 2021/03/29 |
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| schedule | 11h-12h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | Learning a language requires to identify the acoustic properties of the speech signal that have a functional role. The signal of speech is a highly complex acoustic signal, whose spectral and temporal properties convey linguistic information: phonetic information such as consonants and vowels, and melody, like intonation and rhythm.
Despite the long maturation of the auditory structures, infants show a remarkable capacity to rapidly and efficiently learn what acoustic information is important for their native language(s). How is such an immature auditory system able to process such highly complex acoustic information in speech?
We are now fully aware that during the first year of life perceptual mechanisms for speech evolve under the influence of the environmental language. However, the nature of these mechanisms that are shaped by the exposure to a language is still undetermined. In a series of experimental studies, we explored the role of the auditory mechanisms in this perceptual attunement for the native language.
For this purpose, we used a psychoacoustic model describing how the auditory system extracts the spectral and temporal modulation components of the speech signal. Using this auditory approach, we explored how infants rely on the spectro-temporal modulations of speech to make phonetic distinctions.
We used behavioural techniques between 6 months and 10 months of age to investigate how exposure to the native language influences this processing. We also used neuroimaging techniques, combining electroencephalography and optical imaging, with neonates to explore how the brain is processing the spectro-temporal components of speech when infants have yet limited experience with the auditory world.
Investigating speech perceptual organization from an auditory perspective will add to our understanding of how the auditory system analyses and organizes the acoustic information of speech sounds during development. |
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| responsibles | Agulhon |
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