Dawn Behne - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dawn Behne

Research paper thumbnail of Perception of audiovisual infant directed speech

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, Dec 9, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of The position of the amplitude peak as an acoustic correlate of stress in English and French

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, May 1, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of Acoustic characteristics of perceived vowel quantity and quality in English and Norwegian vowels

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Nov 1, 1997

In Norwegian and English, as in many languages, vowels can be characterized in terms of distincti... more In Norwegian and English, as in many languages, vowels can be characterized in terms of distinctive phonological vowel quantity and vowel quality. Norwegian is described as having phonological distinction between long and short vowels, whereas in English vowel quality is generally seen as more distinct. However, both vowel quantity and quality can acoustically be realized in vowel duration and the accompanying characteristic resonance of a vowel. The goal of this project is to examine the perceptual weight of vowel duration and the first two formant frequencies for Norwegians when hearing Norwegian vowels versus English vowels. Six sets of words based on three Norwegian vowel pairs and three English vowel pairs were resynthesized. The words in each set were resynthesized using the members of the pairs as the end points of a matrix with five degrees of vowel duration and five degrees of F1 and F2 adjustment. Based on judgments by native Norwegian listeners, results to date suggest that native listeners of Norwegian will be more perceptive to differences in vowel duration than to spectral characteristics. The results for the English and Norwegian vowels will be compared and discussed in terms of native language influence on vowel perception.

Research paper thumbnail of Changes in infant directed speech in the first six months

Infant and Child Development, 2006

ABSTRACT The Mother–Infant Phonetic Interaction model (MIPhI) predicts that, compared with adult ... more ABSTRACT The Mother–Infant Phonetic Interaction model (MIPhI) predicts that, compared with adult directed speech (ADS), in infant directed speech (IDS) vowels will be overspecified and consonants underspecified during the infants' first 6 months. In a longitudinal natural study, six mothers' ADS and IDS were recorded on 10 occasions during the first 6 months after their infants were born. Acoustic–phonetic measures, including the first two formant frequencies and duration for vowels and the duration of the fricative /s/, were used to test the MIPhI model with differences between IDS and ADS during the infants' first 6 months. Repeated measures analyses showed the fricative /s/ duration was stably longer in IDS, corresponding to an overspecification throughout the 6 months. The unexpected smaller vowel space for IDS than ADS was stably maintained over the six months, suggesting an underspecification of vowels. Vowel duration, which was generally longer in IDS than ADS, however, changed over time, decreasing in difference between IDS and ADS during month 3 and 4. Results invite adjustments to the MIPhI model, in particular related to infants' needs for perceptual enhancement of speech segments, and to the course of infant neurological and communicative development throughout the first 6 months. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Research paper thumbnail of Mouth2audio: Intelligible Audio Synthesis from Videos with Distinctive Vowel Articulation

Social Science Research Network, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of Semantic Context on the Perceptual Learning of Lexical Tone

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Audiovisual Simultaneity in Speech by Musicians and Nonmusicians: Preliminary Behavioral and Event-Related Potential (ERP) Findings

Research paper thumbnail of Does native language temporal experience transfer to audio-visual synchrony perception?

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Sep 1, 2018

The temporal alignment of what we hear and see is fundamental for the cognitive organization of i... more The temporal alignment of what we hear and see is fundamental for the cognitive organization of information from our environment. Research indicates that a perceiver's experience influences sensitivity to audio-visual (AV) synchrony. We theorize that experience that enhances sensitivity to speech sound distinctions in the temporal domain would enhance sensitivity in AV synchrony perception. With this basis, a perceiver whose native language (L1) involves duration-based phonemic distinctions would be expected to be more sensitive to AV synchrony in speech than for an L1 which has less use of temporal cues. In the current study, simultaneity judgment data for the syllable /ba/ were collected with 23 steps of AV alignments: from audio preceding the video (audio-lead) to the audio and video being physically aligned (synchronous) to video preceding the audio (video-lead). Two groups of participants differing in L1 experience with phonemic duration were included: native speakers of Norwegian (binary phonemic quantity distinction) and English (no phonemic quantity distinction). Preliminary results based on measures the audio-lead threshold (ALT) support the hypothesis that native language experience may influence broad mechanisms of timing, such as those moderating AV synchrony perception. Findings contribute to understanding the underpinnings of experience and AV synchrony perception.

Research paper thumbnail of Visual field advantage in the perception of audiovisual speech segments

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived nativeness and sensitivity to temporal adjustments in speech

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Apr 1, 2005

Native Mandarin Chinese speakers productions of English consonant-vowel (CV) syllables have shown... more Native Mandarin Chinese speakers productions of English consonant-vowel (CV) syllables have shown syllable-internal temporal adjustments in the direction of native (English)-like CVs (Wang and Behne, 2004). The current study presents two experiments investigating whether these temporal adjustments affect perceived nativeness. For three production types (native-English, Chinese productions of English, native-Chinese), three syllable-internal timing patterns (English-like, Chinese-English-like, Chinese-like) were applied, resulting in nine stimuli types. Native English listeners judged how English-like each stimulus was on a 7-point scale. In the first experiment, production-types and timing patterns were randomized. Results show that listeners can reliably identify nativeness of the three productions, with Chinese productions of English perceived as intermediate to the native Chinese and native American English productions. Listeners also showed a tendency toward using timing within the CV to identify nativeness. In the second experiment the same materials were therefore blocked by production type. Results reveal the perceptual saliency of the temporal adjustments in nonnative productions. These findings support a view of L2 acquisition as a gradual process toward the target L2 (e.g., Caramazza et al., 1973). The current study extends this view, showing evidence that listeners can perceive the inter-language system, bearing the nature of both L1 and L2.

Research paper thumbnail of Identification of Swedish vowel quantity by pre‐adults

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, May 1, 2001

Research on the perception of Swedish vowel quantity by adult native listeners shows that vowel d... more Research on the perception of Swedish vowel quantity by adult native listeners shows that vowel duration is a primary cue for identifying vowel quantity. However, when a vowel has a relatively long duration (e.g., due to its inherent duration, or its context), adult listeners may make use of both duration and spectra to identify vowel quantity. Use of the vowel spectrum in these special cases might be seen as the result of perceptual fine tuning to improve the processing efficiency in vowel identification. If so, we would expect a developmental change in how children use vowel duration and spectra to identify vowel quantity, with the use of vowel spectra as a cue coming relatively late. This investigation examines how young native listeners, from 9 to 15 years old, use vowel duration and F1-F2 to identify Swedish vowel quantities. For each of three vowel types, 100 /kVt/ words were resynthesized with ten degrees of vowel duration and ten degrees of F1 and F2 adjustment. Each child responded to a subset of these in a rhyming task. Results show a late developing ability to identify vowel quantity and trace the use of vowel duration and F1-F2 as perceptual cues to vowel quantity.

Research paper thumbnail of Experience-Based Probabilities Modulate Expectations in a Gender-Coded Artificial Language

Frontiers in Psychology, Aug 23, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Swedish vowel quantity: effects of postvocalic consonant duration

Page 1. PERCEIVED SWEDISH VOWEL QUANTITY: EFFECTS OF POSTVOCALIC CONSONANT DURATION Dawn M. Behne... more Page 1. PERCEIVED SWEDISH VOWEL QUANTITY: EFFECTS OF POSTVOCALIC CONSONANT DURATION Dawn M. Behne†, Peter E. Czigler‡ and Kirk PH Sullivan‡ †Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N ...

Research paper thumbnail of Do gender differences in audio-visual benefit and visual influence in audio-visual speech perception emerge with age?

Frontiers in Psychology, Jul 16, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Audio-visual identification of place of articulation and voicing in white and babble noise

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Jul 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of native language phonetic system on audio-visual speech perception

Journal of Phonetics, Jul 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Linguistic experience and audio-visual perception of non-native fricatives

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Sep 1, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Infant Directed Speech in Natural Interaction—Norwegian Vowel Quantity and Quality

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, May 1, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of native language experience on audio-visual perception of English fricatives by Korean and Mandarin natives

Research paper thumbnail of Temporal effects on successive consonants in Swedish

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Oct 1, 1996

The duration of phonetic components in a syllable is known to be affected by the syllable’s relat... more The duration of phonetic components in a syllable is known to be affected by the syllable’s relative prominence, along with the number and articulatory nature of phonological segments in a word. This study addresses the durational effect of these factors on successive segments in Swedish consonant clusters. Ten native Swedish speakers were recorded producing monosyllabic and disyllabic target words which were either focused or not focused in a carrier phrase. Each word contained an /s/+stop cluster or stop+/s/ cluster in which the stop was /p,t/ or /k/. The durations of the /s/ frication and stop closure were measured. Results indicate that focus consistently increases the duration of a cluster and its constituents. In addition, little difference in closure duration was observed among /p,t,k/. Within disyllabic words, the cluster’s first segment, whether a stop or an /s/, was systematically longer than the second segment in both nonfocal and focal conditions. The reverse tendency was found for monosyllabic words; the cluster’s second segment was generally longer than the first segment in the focal condition, and no difference due to position in the cluster was observed for the nonfocal condition. These results are discussed in terms of the relative timing of successive consonants within clusters.

Research paper thumbnail of Perception of audiovisual infant directed speech

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, Dec 9, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of The position of the amplitude peak as an acoustic correlate of stress in English and French

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, May 1, 1990

Research paper thumbnail of Acoustic characteristics of perceived vowel quantity and quality in English and Norwegian vowels

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Nov 1, 1997

In Norwegian and English, as in many languages, vowels can be characterized in terms of distincti... more In Norwegian and English, as in many languages, vowels can be characterized in terms of distinctive phonological vowel quantity and vowel quality. Norwegian is described as having phonological distinction between long and short vowels, whereas in English vowel quality is generally seen as more distinct. However, both vowel quantity and quality can acoustically be realized in vowel duration and the accompanying characteristic resonance of a vowel. The goal of this project is to examine the perceptual weight of vowel duration and the first two formant frequencies for Norwegians when hearing Norwegian vowels versus English vowels. Six sets of words based on three Norwegian vowel pairs and three English vowel pairs were resynthesized. The words in each set were resynthesized using the members of the pairs as the end points of a matrix with five degrees of vowel duration and five degrees of F1 and F2 adjustment. Based on judgments by native Norwegian listeners, results to date suggest that native listeners of Norwegian will be more perceptive to differences in vowel duration than to spectral characteristics. The results for the English and Norwegian vowels will be compared and discussed in terms of native language influence on vowel perception.

Research paper thumbnail of Changes in infant directed speech in the first six months

Infant and Child Development, 2006

ABSTRACT The Mother–Infant Phonetic Interaction model (MIPhI) predicts that, compared with adult ... more ABSTRACT The Mother–Infant Phonetic Interaction model (MIPhI) predicts that, compared with adult directed speech (ADS), in infant directed speech (IDS) vowels will be overspecified and consonants underspecified during the infants' first 6 months. In a longitudinal natural study, six mothers' ADS and IDS were recorded on 10 occasions during the first 6 months after their infants were born. Acoustic–phonetic measures, including the first two formant frequencies and duration for vowels and the duration of the fricative /s/, were used to test the MIPhI model with differences between IDS and ADS during the infants' first 6 months. Repeated measures analyses showed the fricative /s/ duration was stably longer in IDS, corresponding to an overspecification throughout the 6 months. The unexpected smaller vowel space for IDS than ADS was stably maintained over the six months, suggesting an underspecification of vowels. Vowel duration, which was generally longer in IDS than ADS, however, changed over time, decreasing in difference between IDS and ADS during month 3 and 4. Results invite adjustments to the MIPhI model, in particular related to infants' needs for perceptual enhancement of speech segments, and to the course of infant neurological and communicative development throughout the first 6 months. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Research paper thumbnail of Mouth2audio: Intelligible Audio Synthesis from Videos with Distinctive Vowel Articulation

Social Science Research Network, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of Semantic Context on the Perceptual Learning of Lexical Tone

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Audiovisual Simultaneity in Speech by Musicians and Nonmusicians: Preliminary Behavioral and Event-Related Potential (ERP) Findings

Research paper thumbnail of Does native language temporal experience transfer to audio-visual synchrony perception?

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Sep 1, 2018

The temporal alignment of what we hear and see is fundamental for the cognitive organization of i... more The temporal alignment of what we hear and see is fundamental for the cognitive organization of information from our environment. Research indicates that a perceiver's experience influences sensitivity to audio-visual (AV) synchrony. We theorize that experience that enhances sensitivity to speech sound distinctions in the temporal domain would enhance sensitivity in AV synchrony perception. With this basis, a perceiver whose native language (L1) involves duration-based phonemic distinctions would be expected to be more sensitive to AV synchrony in speech than for an L1 which has less use of temporal cues. In the current study, simultaneity judgment data for the syllable /ba/ were collected with 23 steps of AV alignments: from audio preceding the video (audio-lead) to the audio and video being physically aligned (synchronous) to video preceding the audio (video-lead). Two groups of participants differing in L1 experience with phonemic duration were included: native speakers of Norwegian (binary phonemic quantity distinction) and English (no phonemic quantity distinction). Preliminary results based on measures the audio-lead threshold (ALT) support the hypothesis that native language experience may influence broad mechanisms of timing, such as those moderating AV synchrony perception. Findings contribute to understanding the underpinnings of experience and AV synchrony perception.

Research paper thumbnail of Visual field advantage in the perception of audiovisual speech segments

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived nativeness and sensitivity to temporal adjustments in speech

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Apr 1, 2005

Native Mandarin Chinese speakers productions of English consonant-vowel (CV) syllables have shown... more Native Mandarin Chinese speakers productions of English consonant-vowel (CV) syllables have shown syllable-internal temporal adjustments in the direction of native (English)-like CVs (Wang and Behne, 2004). The current study presents two experiments investigating whether these temporal adjustments affect perceived nativeness. For three production types (native-English, Chinese productions of English, native-Chinese), three syllable-internal timing patterns (English-like, Chinese-English-like, Chinese-like) were applied, resulting in nine stimuli types. Native English listeners judged how English-like each stimulus was on a 7-point scale. In the first experiment, production-types and timing patterns were randomized. Results show that listeners can reliably identify nativeness of the three productions, with Chinese productions of English perceived as intermediate to the native Chinese and native American English productions. Listeners also showed a tendency toward using timing within the CV to identify nativeness. In the second experiment the same materials were therefore blocked by production type. Results reveal the perceptual saliency of the temporal adjustments in nonnative productions. These findings support a view of L2 acquisition as a gradual process toward the target L2 (e.g., Caramazza et al., 1973). The current study extends this view, showing evidence that listeners can perceive the inter-language system, bearing the nature of both L1 and L2.

Research paper thumbnail of Identification of Swedish vowel quantity by pre‐adults

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, May 1, 2001

Research on the perception of Swedish vowel quantity by adult native listeners shows that vowel d... more Research on the perception of Swedish vowel quantity by adult native listeners shows that vowel duration is a primary cue for identifying vowel quantity. However, when a vowel has a relatively long duration (e.g., due to its inherent duration, or its context), adult listeners may make use of both duration and spectra to identify vowel quantity. Use of the vowel spectrum in these special cases might be seen as the result of perceptual fine tuning to improve the processing efficiency in vowel identification. If so, we would expect a developmental change in how children use vowel duration and spectra to identify vowel quantity, with the use of vowel spectra as a cue coming relatively late. This investigation examines how young native listeners, from 9 to 15 years old, use vowel duration and F1-F2 to identify Swedish vowel quantities. For each of three vowel types, 100 /kVt/ words were resynthesized with ten degrees of vowel duration and ten degrees of F1 and F2 adjustment. Each child responded to a subset of these in a rhyming task. Results show a late developing ability to identify vowel quantity and trace the use of vowel duration and F1-F2 as perceptual cues to vowel quantity.

Research paper thumbnail of Experience-Based Probabilities Modulate Expectations in a Gender-Coded Artificial Language

Frontiers in Psychology, Aug 23, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Perceived Swedish vowel quantity: effects of postvocalic consonant duration

Page 1. PERCEIVED SWEDISH VOWEL QUANTITY: EFFECTS OF POSTVOCALIC CONSONANT DURATION Dawn M. Behne... more Page 1. PERCEIVED SWEDISH VOWEL QUANTITY: EFFECTS OF POSTVOCALIC CONSONANT DURATION Dawn M. Behne†, Peter E. Czigler‡ and Kirk PH Sullivan‡ †Norwegian University of Science and Technology, N ...

Research paper thumbnail of Do gender differences in audio-visual benefit and visual influence in audio-visual speech perception emerge with age?

Frontiers in Psychology, Jul 16, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Audio-visual identification of place of articulation and voicing in white and babble noise

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Jul 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of native language phonetic system on audio-visual speech perception

Journal of Phonetics, Jul 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Linguistic experience and audio-visual perception of non-native fricatives

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Sep 1, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Infant Directed Speech in Natural Interaction—Norwegian Vowel Quantity and Quality

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, May 1, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of native language experience on audio-visual perception of English fricatives by Korean and Mandarin natives

Research paper thumbnail of Temporal effects on successive consonants in Swedish

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Oct 1, 1996

The duration of phonetic components in a syllable is known to be affected by the syllable’s relat... more The duration of phonetic components in a syllable is known to be affected by the syllable’s relative prominence, along with the number and articulatory nature of phonological segments in a word. This study addresses the durational effect of these factors on successive segments in Swedish consonant clusters. Ten native Swedish speakers were recorded producing monosyllabic and disyllabic target words which were either focused or not focused in a carrier phrase. Each word contained an /s/+stop cluster or stop+/s/ cluster in which the stop was /p,t/ or /k/. The durations of the /s/ frication and stop closure were measured. Results indicate that focus consistently increases the duration of a cluster and its constituents. In addition, little difference in closure duration was observed among /p,t,k/. Within disyllabic words, the cluster’s first segment, whether a stop or an /s/, was systematically longer than the second segment in both nonfocal and focal conditions. The reverse tendency was found for monosyllabic words; the cluster’s second segment was generally longer than the first segment in the focal condition, and no difference due to position in the cluster was observed for the nonfocal condition. These results are discussed in terms of the relative timing of successive consonants within clusters.