Cue Integration With Categories: Weighting Acoustic Cues in Speech Using Unsupervised Learning and Distributional Statistics

Joseph C TOSCANO; Bob MCMURRAY

doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01077.x

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Cue Integration With Categories: Weighting Acoustic Cues in Speech Using Unsupervised Learning and Distributional Statistics

Journal article

Open access

Cue Integration With Categories: Weighting Acoustic Cues in Speech Using Unsupervised Learning and Distributional Statistics

Joseph C TOSCANO and Bob MCMURRAY

Cognitive science, Vol.34(3), pp.434-464

2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01077.x

PMCID: PMC3039883

PMID: 21339861

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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01077.xView

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Abstract

During speech perception, listeners make judgments about the phonological category of sounds by taking advantage of multiple acoustic cues for each phonological contrast. Perceptual experiments have shown that listeners weight these cues differently. How do listeners weight and combine acoustic cues to arrive at an overall estimate of the category for a speech sound? Here, we present several simulations using mixture of Gaussians (MOG) models that learn cue weights and combine cues on the basis of their distributional statistics. We show that a cue-weighting metric in which cues receive weight as a function of their reliability at distinguishing the phonological categories provides a good fit to the perceptual data obtained from human listeners, but only when these weights emerge through the dynamics of learning. These results suggest that cue weights can be readily extracted from the speech signal through unsupervised learning processes.

Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology

Biological and medical sciences

Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry

Production and perception of spoken language

Language

Psychology. Psychophysiology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Cue Integration With Categories: Weighting Acoustic Cues in Speech Using Unsupervised Learning and Distributional Statistics
Creators: Joseph C TOSCANO - Department of Psychology and Delta Center, University of Iowa, United States
Bob MCMURRAY - Department of Psychology and Delta Center, University of Iowa, United States
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Cognitive science, Vol.34(3), pp.434-464
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; Hoboken, NJ
DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01077.x
PMID: 21339861
PMCID: PMC3039883
ISSN: 0364-0213
eISSN: 1551-6709
Language: English
Date published: 2010
Academic Unit: Communication Sciences and Disorders; Linguistics; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Otolaryngology
Record Identifier: 9984070243202771

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