2. Speech Sound Processing in the Brain Mike Kilgard University of Texas at Dallas

3. Hearing and Language

4. Hearingis in the BRAIN.

5. ? ? ? ? What was that sound?

7. OR ? ? ? ?

8. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Seconds 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 kHz High Low 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Seconds 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 kHz High Low

9. Spectrogram - Example Sounds 8000 Hz 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Frequency 0.51.01.52.02.5 Seconds

10. Example Speech Sound - “Bad” 8000 Hz 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Frequency 0.1.2.3.4.5 Seconds

11. “Pad” vs. “Bad” 8000 Hz 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Frequency Time 0.1.2.3.4.5 Seconds

12. Cash Gash Sash Rash Lash

13. I wen t to the bea ch and played in the waves

14. Your brain while hearing words.

15. Kraus and colleagues, Science 1996 Brain Responses Da vs. Ga Normal Learning Impaired

16. Processing Speech in Noise

17. Brain Responses to Speech in Noise

18. How early are differences in brain responses apparent?

19. Infant brain responses may predict reading 8 years later. Molfese, Brain & Language, 2000

20. Can anything be done to improve sound processing?

21. 20±10 vs. 75±20 μV 81±19 vs. 37±20 μV Red Group EnrichedBlue Enriched Environmental Enrichment 22 rats total

22. EnrichedStandard Environment Physically Alters the Brain!

23. Training Improves the Brain

24. Before Training After Training

25. How exactly does the brain process speech sounds?

26. “Pad” vs. “Bad” 8000 Hz 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Frequency Time 0.1.2.3.4.5 Seconds

28. Microelectrode

31. SadDad High Medium Low Time (milliseconds) vs. is Easy.

32. RadLad High Medium Low Time (milliseconds) vs. is Hard. 

33. Dad?Sad?or But rats can’t hear speech. (or can they?)

34. Rat can distinguish most consonants!!!

35. Although rats will never learn to talk or read, this new model is providing new insights into the early stages of speech processing and how they might be improved.

36. Conclusions: 1. Hearing happens in the brain. 2. Fractions of a second matter. 3. The brain doesn’t always do a good job. 5. Our new understanding of neural speech processing may aid development of new therapies. 4. The brain can change. ? ? ? ?

37. Acknowledgements: www.utd.edu/~kilgard Crystal Engineer Claudia Perez Helen Chen