scholarly journals Air Pressure Responses to Sudden Vocal Tract Pressure Bleeds During Production of Stop Consonants

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 784-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Zajac ◽  
Mark C. Weissler
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Air Pressure ◽  
Stop Consonants ◽  
Oral Pressure ◽  
The Face ◽  
Computer Controlled ◽  
Linear Manner ◽  
Respiratory Reflexes

Two studies were conducted to evaluate short-latency vocal tract air pressure responses to sudden pressure bleeds during production of voiceless bilabial stop consonants. It was hypothesized that the occurrence of respiratory reflexes would be indicated by distinct patterns of responses as a function of bleed magnitude. In Study 1, 19 adults produced syllable trains of /pʌ/ using a mouthpiece coupled to a computer-controlled perturbator. The device randomly created bleed apertures that ranged from 0 to 40 mm 2 during production of the 2nd or 4th syllable of an utterance. Although peak oral air pressure dropped in a linear manner across bleed apertures, it averaged 2 to 3 cm H 2 O at the largest bleed. While slope of oral pressure also decreased in a linear trend, duration of the oral pressure pulse remained relatively constant. The patterns suggest that respiratory reflexes, if present, have little effect on oral air pressure levels. In Study 2, both oral and subglottal air pressure responses were monitored in 2 adults while bleed apertures of 20 and 40 mm 2 were randomly created. For 1 participant, peak oral air pressure dropped across bleed apertures, as in Study 1. Subglottal air pressure and slope, however, remained relatively stable. These patterns provide some support for the occurrence of respiratory reflexes to regulate subglottal air pressure. Overall, the studies indicate that the inherent physiologic processes of the respiratory system, which may involve reflexes, and passive aeromechanical resistance of the upper airway are capable of developing oral air pressure in the face of substantial pressure bleeds. Implications for understanding speech production and the characteristics of individuals with velopharyngeal dysfunction are discussed. KEY WORDS: stop consonants, oral air pressure, subglottal air pressure, respiratory reflexes, velopharyngeal dysfunction

Vocal Tract Steadiness

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Zwirner ◽  
Gary J. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Subject Group ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
The Relationship

Acoustic analyses of upper airway and phonatory stability were conducted on samples of sustained phonation to evaluate the relation between laryngeal and articulomotor stability for 31 patients with dysarthria and 12 non-dysarthric control subjects. Significantly higher values were found for the variability in fundamental frequency and formant frequency of patients who have Huntington’s disease compared with normal subjects and patients with Parkinson’s disease. No significant correlations were found between formant frequency variability and the variability of the fundamental frequency for any subject group. These findings are discussed as they pertain to the relationship between phonatory and upper airway subsystems and the evaluation of vocal tract motor control impairments in dysarthria.

Direct Perception of Speech

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Direct Perception ◽  
Lexical Knowledge ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
The Face ◽  
Invariance Problem ◽  
Speech Information ◽  
Perceptual Systems ◽  
Made In

The theory of speech perception as direct derives from a general direct-realist account of perception. A realist stance on perception is that perceiving enables occupants of an ecological niche to know its component layouts, objects, animals, and events. “Direct” perception means that perceivers are in unmediated contact with their niche (mediated neither by internally generated representations of the environment nor by inferences made on the basis of fragmentary input to the perceptual systems). Direct perception is possible because energy arrays that have been causally structured by niche components and that are available to perceivers specify (i.e., stand in 1:1 relation to) components of the niche. Typically, perception is multi-modal; that is, perception of the environment depends on specifying information present in, or even spanning, multiple energy arrays. Applied to speech perception, the theory begins with the observation that speech perception involves the same perceptual systems that, in a direct-realist theory, enable direct perception of the environment. Most notably, the auditory system supports speech perception, but also the visual system, and sometimes other perceptual systems. Perception of language forms (consonants, vowels, word forms) can be direct if the forms lawfully cause specifying patterning in the energy arrays available to perceivers. In Articulatory Phonology, the primitive language forms (constituting consonants and vowels) are linguistically significant gestures of the vocal tract, which cause patterning in air and on the face. Descriptions are provided of informational patterning in acoustic and other energy arrays. Evidence is next reviewed that speech perceivers make use of acoustic and cross modal information about the phonetic gestures constituting consonants and vowels to perceive the gestures. Significant problems arise for the viability of a theory of direct perception of speech. One is the “inverse problem,” the difficulty of recovering vocal tract shapes or actions from acoustic input. Two other problems arise because speakers coarticulate when they speak. That is, they temporally overlap production of serially nearby consonants and vowels so that there are no discrete segments in the acoustic signal corresponding to the discrete consonants and vowels that talkers intend to convey (the “segmentation problem”), and there is massive context-sensitivity in acoustic (and optical and other modalities) patterning (the “invariance problem”). The present article suggests solutions to these problems. The article also reviews signatures of a direct mode of speech perception, including that perceivers use cross-modal speech information when it is available and exhibit various indications of perception-production linkages, such as rapid imitation and a disposition to converge in dialect with interlocutors. An underdeveloped domain within the theory concerns the very important role of longer- and shorter-term learning in speech perception. Infants develop language-specific modes of attention to acoustic speech signals (and optical information for speech), and adult listeners attune to novel dialects or foreign accents. Moreover, listeners make use of lexical knowledge and statistical properties of the language in speech perception. Some progress has been made in incorporating infant learning into a theory of direct perception of speech, but much less progress has been made in the other areas.

Causes of Slip in a Continuously Variable Transmission

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songho Kim ◽  
Michael Peshkin ◽  
J. Edward Colgate
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Velocity Ratio ◽  
Continuously Variable Transmission ◽  
Lateral Loads ◽  
Measured Velocity ◽  
Traction Drive ◽  
The Face ◽  
Variable Transmission ◽  
Computer Controlled ◽  
The Ideal

Rotational CVTs (continuously varible transmissions) constrain the velocities of two rotational joints to a computer-controlled ratio. CVTs traction drive mechanisms that rely on the support of traction forces across rolling contracts. When called upon to transmit loads, CVTs produce a velocity ratio that departs from the ideal transmission ratio. This paper reports on the results of our analysis in pursuit of understanding the mechanics of the rotational CVT. We present the measured velocity ratios in the face of lateral loads at various transmission settings. In addition, wer present our model that closely fits the empirical data.

scholarly journals New concept for uvula manipulation to treat puberphonia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-95
Author(s):  
M Kumaresan ◽  
Navin Bharath
Keyword(s):  
Nasal Cavity ◽  
Soft Palate ◽  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Hard Palate ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Large Series ◽  
Air Pressure ◽  
Sound Waves ◽  
Manipulation Therapy

Speech organs or articulators produce the sounds of language. The organs used for speech include the lips, teeth, alveolar bridge, hard palate, velum (soft palate), uvula, glottis, nasal cavity, pharynx and various parts of tongue. The vocal fold, in the larynx vibrates creating fluctuation in air pressure known as sound waves. The resonators of the mouth create formant regions and so different qualities sonorant (voiced) sound. We have a large series of vocal track vibrating endoscopic movie bank. We have created by treating 600 cases of puberphonia. We are able to record the change in the shape of the vocal tract and vibrating power of the airflow in the vocal tract. We are able to deduct and distinguish the different shape of the uvula and how airflow directed to the mouth by uvula. We are doing only uvula manipulation in treating puberphonia which gives immediate and persistent result. We are trying to bring out the importance of uvula in speech productions. The study concludes that the pharyngeal/uvula resonance manipulation therapy may be considered as an essential mode of treatment for puberphonia. Yet we like to inform that uvula is the structure in our body so little understood, so often abused and maligned.

Hypercapnic duty cycle is an intermediate physiological phenotype linked to mouse chromosome 5

2003 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Schneider ◽  
S. P. Patil ◽  
S. Canisius ◽  
E. A. Gladmon ◽  
A. R. Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mouse Chromosome ◽  
Duty Cycle ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Inbred Strains ◽  
Chromosome 5 ◽  
Airway Patency ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Neuromuscular Response ◽  
The Face ◽  
First And Second Generation

We hypothesized that upper airway obstruction (UAO) leads to a compensatory increase in the duty cycle [ratio of inspiratory time to respiratory cycle length (Ti/Tt)], which is determined by genetic factors. We examined the compensatory Ti/Tt responses to 1) UAO and hypercapnia among normal individuals and 2) hypercapnia in different inbred strains, C3H/HeJ (C3) and C57BL/6J (B6), and their first- and second-generation (F2) offspring. 3) We then used the compensatory Ti/Tt response in the F2 to determine genetic linkage to the mouse genome. First, normal individuals exhibited a similar increase in the Ti/Tt during periods of hypercapnia (0.11 ± 0.07) and UAO (0.09 ± 0.06) compared with unobstructed breathing ( P < 0.01). Second, the F2 offspring of C3 and B6 progenitors showed an average Ti/Tt response to 3% CO2 (0.42 ± 0.005%) that was significantly ( P < 0.01) greater than that of the two progenitors. Third, with a peak log of the odds ratio score of 4.4, Ti/Tt responses of F2 offspring are genetically linked to an interval between 58 and 64 centimorgans (cM) on mouse chromosome 5. One gene in the interval, Dagk4 at 57 cM, is polymorphic for C3 and B6 mice. Two other genes, Adrbk2 at 60 cM and Nos1 at 65 cM, have biological plausibility in mechanisms of upper airway patency and chemosensitivity, respectively. In summary, Ti/Tt may serve as an intermediate physiological phenotype for compensatory neuromuscular response mechanisms for maintaining ventilation in the face of UAO and hypoventilation and to help target specific candidate genes that may play a role in the expression of sleep-disordered breathing.

scholarly journals ACE inhibitor-induced small bowel angioedema, mimicking an acute abdomen

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela Parreira ◽  
Rui Amaral ◽  
Luís Amaral ◽  
Teresa Elói ◽  
Maria Inês Leite ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acute Abdomen ◽  
Ace Inhibitor ◽  
Clinical Presentation ◽  
Upper Airway ◽  
Clinical Findings ◽  
White Female ◽  
Wall Thickening ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
The Face ◽  
Jejunal Wall

ABSTRACT Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are the leading cause of drug-induced angioedema, being the face, tongue, lips and upper airway the most affected ones. We describe a case of a 32-year-old white female with angioedema of small intestine after 1 month of perindopril therapy. The patient presented severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Laboratory analyses revealed mild leukocytosis and abdominal computed tomography (CT) showed unspecific findings, including segmental jejunal wall thickening without obstruction and ascites. Regarding the clinical findings, similar to an acute abdomen with no clear cause, the patient underwent an emergency laparoscopy that excluded other pathological features. The symptoms recurred 1 month after and the CT scan revealed the same pattern. Perindopril was stopped and the patient improved, concluding that ACE inhibitor-induced visceral angioedema was responsible for this clinical presentation.

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