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Journal of Biomedical Informatics Aug 2023This study aims to explore speech as an alternative modality for human activity recognition (HAR) in medical settings. While current HAR technologies rely on video and...
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to explore speech as an alternative modality for human activity recognition (HAR) in medical settings. While current HAR technologies rely on video and sensory modalities, they are often unsuitable for the medical environment due to interference from medical personnel, privacy concerns, and environmental limitations. Therefore, we propose an end-to-end, fully automatic objective checklist validation framework that utilizes medical personnel's uttered speech to recognize and document the executed actions in a checklist format.
METHODS
Our framework records, processes, and analyzes medical personnel's speech to extract valuable information about performed actions. This information is then used to fill the corresponding rubrics in the checklist automatically.
RESULTS
Our approach to activity recognition outperformed the online expert examiner, achieving an F1 score of 0.869 on verbal tasks and an ICC score of 0.822 with an offline examiner. Furthermore, the framework successfully identified communication failures and medical errors made by physicians and nurses.
CONCLUSION
Implementing a speech-based framework in medical settings, such as the emergency room and operation room, holds promise for improving care delivery and enabling the development of automated assistive technologies in various medical domains. By leveraging speech as a modality for HAR, we can overcome the limitations of existing technologies and enhance workflow efficiency and patient safety.
Topics: Humans; Speech; Communication; Physicians; Checklist; Patient Safety
PubMed: 37467836
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2023.104446 -
Nature Reviews. Neuroscience Jul 2024Loss of speech after paralysis is devastating, but circumventing motor-pathway injury by directly decoding speech from intact cortical activity has the potential to... (Review)
Review
Loss of speech after paralysis is devastating, but circumventing motor-pathway injury by directly decoding speech from intact cortical activity has the potential to restore natural communication and self-expression. Recent discoveries have defined how key features of speech production are facilitated by the coordinated activity of vocal-tract articulatory and motor-planning cortical representations. In this Review, we highlight such progress and how it has led to successful speech decoding, first in individuals implanted with intracranial electrodes for clinical epilepsy monitoring and subsequently in individuals with paralysis as part of early feasibility clinical trials to restore speech. We discuss high-spatiotemporal-resolution neural interfaces and the adaptation of state-of-the-art speech computational algorithms that have driven rapid and substantial progress in decoding neural activity into text, audible speech, and facial movements. Although restoring natural speech is a long-term goal, speech neuroprostheses already have performance levels that surpass communication rates offered by current assistive-communication technology. Given this accelerated rate of progress in the field, we propose key evaluation metrics for speed and accuracy, among others, to help standardize across studies. We finish by highlighting several directions to more fully explore the multidimensional feature space of speech and language, which will continue to accelerate progress towards a clinically viable speech neuroprosthesis.
Topics: Humans; Speech; Brain-Computer Interfaces; Neural Prostheses; Animals
PubMed: 38745103
DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00819-9 -
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics Apr 2024
Topics: Humans; Speech; Language Disorders; Stuttering; Communication Disorders; Speech Disorders
PubMed: 38631031
DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2023.2277122 -
Seminars in Speech and Language Aug 2023The purpose of this article is to (1) define the diagnostic characteristics of ankyloglossia, (2) identify potential problems associated with ankyloglossia, and (3)... (Review)
Review
The purpose of this article is to (1) define the diagnostic characteristics of ankyloglossia, (2) identify potential problems associated with ankyloglossia, and (3) discuss treatment options, when treatment is appropriate. This article is based on a review of the literature, including recent systematic reviews, and the author's experience as a cleft and orofacial specialist. Ankyloglossia is a common congenital condition characterized by an anterior attachment of the lingual frenulum on the tongue. This causes difficulty elevating and/or protruding the tongue tip. As such, ankyloglossia has been thought to affect neonatal feeding, speech, and other functions. Although systematic reviews have concluded that most infants with ankyloglossia can be fed normally, a small percentage of affected infants will show improved efficiency of feeding post-frenotomy. They also concluded that frenotomy may relieve nipple pain in the breastfeeding mothers of affected infants. Regarding speech, the systematic reviews concluded that there is no evidence that ankyloglossia causes speech disorders. This may be because simple compensations will result in normal acoustics of the sounds. Therefore, frenotomy should be recommended sparingly for newborn infants, and it should rarely, if ever, be recommended for speech disorders.
Topics: Infant; Infant, Newborn; Humans; Ankyloglossia; Tongue; Speech; Speech Disorders
PubMed: 37748489
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1772598 -
CoDAS 2023Evaluate the performance in the Semantic and Phonemic Verbal Fluency tests in relation to the cognitive components of clustering and switching and explore the changes in...
PURPOSE
Evaluate the performance in the Semantic and Phonemic Verbal Fluency tests in relation to the cognitive components of clustering and switching and explore the changes in development in elementary school.
METHODS
Participants were 68 children from the 2nd to 5th grade of elementary school of a public school in the municipality of Santo André, divided into two groups, Learning Difficulty (LD) and Typical Development (TD).
RESULTS
The Verbal Fluency tests were compared for the number of clusters, mean size of the clusters, and number of switches. All variables compared showed a statistically significant higher score for Semantic Verbal Fluency. Means and standard deviations of the same variables for year and group effect were realized in both Verbal Fluency tests. A statistically significant difference was observed only for the total number of clusters in the Semantic Verbal Fluency test for group effect, with the best performance of the TD group. A high correlation was observed between the total number of correct answers with the total number of clusters and number of switches in both Verbal Fluency tests. In addition, a correlation was observed between the total number of correct answers and the mean size of the clusters only in the Phonemic Verbal Fluency. Linear regression analysis showed greater variance for the total number of clusters, making it more predictable for performance in both verbal fluency tests.
CONCLUSION
Verbal Fluency tests may be sensitive and predictive for the identification of possible differences in school performance associated with reading.
Topics: Humans; Child; Semantics; Cognition; Schools; Educational Status; Cluster Analysis; Verbal Behavior; Neuropsychological Tests
PubMed: 37820096
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20232022003pt -
Neuropsychology Review Dec 2023Verbal fluency tests are easy and quick to use in neuropsychological assessments, so they have been counted among the most classical tools in this context. To date,... (Review)
Review
Verbal fluency tests are easy and quick to use in neuropsychological assessments, so they have been counted among the most classical tools in this context. To date, several normative data for verbal fluency tests have been provided in different languages and countries. A systematic review was carried out with studies that provide normative data for verbal fluency tests. Studies were collected from Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science. 183 studies were retrieved from the database search, of which 73 finally met the inclusion criteria. An analysis of the risk of bias regarding samples selection/characterization and procedure/results reports is conducted for each article. Finally, a full description of the normative data characteristics, considering country and language, verbal fluency task characteristics (type of task) and sample characteristics (number of subjects, gender, age, education) is included. The current systematic review provides an overview and analysis of internationally published normative data that might help clinicians in their search for valid and useful norms on verbal fluency tasks, as well as updated information about qualitative aspects of the different options currently available.
Topics: Humans; Verbal Behavior; Language; Neuropsychological Tests; Educational Status
PubMed: 36098929
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-022-09549-0 -
Cognitive Science Feb 2024People are not as fast or as strong as many other creatures that evolved around us. What gives us an evolutionary advantage is working together to achieve common aims....
People are not as fast or as strong as many other creatures that evolved around us. What gives us an evolutionary advantage is working together to achieve common aims. Coordinating joint action begins at a tender age with such cooperative activities as alternating babbling and clapping games. Adult joint activities are far more complex and use multiple means of coordination. Joint action has attracted qualitative analyses by sociolinguists, cognitive scientists, and philosophers as well as empirical analyses and theories by cognitive scientists. Here, we analyze how joint action is spontaneously coordinated from start to finish in a novel complex real-life joint activity, assembling a piece of furniture, a task that captures the essentials of joint action, collaborators, things in the world, and communicative devices. Pairs of strangers assembled a TV cart from a stack of parts and a photo of the completed cart. Coordination prior to each assembly action was coded as explicit, using speech or gesture, or implicit, actions that both advanced the task and communicated the next step. Initial planning relied on explicit communication about structure, but not action nor division of labor, which were improvised. That served to establish a joint representation of the goal that informed actions and monitored progress. As assembly progressed, coordination was increasingly implicit, through actions alone. Joint action is a dynamic interplay of explicit and implicit signaling with respect to things in the world to coordinate ongoing progress, guided by a shared representation of the goal.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Cooperative Behavior; Psychomotor Performance; Communication; Speech; Biological Evolution
PubMed: 38303504
DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13405 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Sep 2023Natural human interaction requires us to produce and process many different signals, including speech, hand and head gestures, and facial expressions. These... (Review)
Review
Natural human interaction requires us to produce and process many different signals, including speech, hand and head gestures, and facial expressions. These communicative signals, which occur in a variety of temporal relations with each other (e.g., parallel or temporally misaligned), must be rapidly processed as a coherent message by the receiver. In this contribution, we introduce the notion of interactionally embedded, affordance-driven gestalt perception as a framework that can explain how this rapid processing of multimodal signals is achieved as efficiently as it is. We discuss empirical evidence showing how basic principles of gestalt perception can explain some aspects of unimodal phenomena such as verbal language processing and visual scene perception but require additional features to explain multimodal human communication. We propose a framework in which high-level gestalt predictions are continuously updated by incoming sensory input, such as unfolding speech and visual signals. We outline the constituent processes that shape high-level gestalt perception and their role in perceiving relevance and . Finally, we provide testable predictions that arise from this multimodal interactionally embedded gestalt-perception framework. This review and framework therefore provide a theoretically motivated account of how we may understand the highly complex, multimodal behaviors inherent in natural social interaction.
Topics: Humans; Communication; Language; Visual Perception; Speech
PubMed: 36634318
DOI: 10.1177/17456916221141422 -
Language and Speech Jun 2024The paper introduces the Special Issue on , which originates from the conference Phonetics and Phonology in Europe (PaPE) held at the University of Lecce, Italy, in...
The paper introduces the Special Issue on , which originates from the conference Phonetics and Phonology in Europe (PaPE) held at the University of Lecce, Italy, in 2019. It discusses the topics of language contact and speaker accommodation, summarizing the contributions included in the Special Issue, and arguing explicitly in favour of a unitary view of how both temporary and stable changes happen in (part of) the linguistic systems. Accommodation is seen as the same gradual and non-homogeneous process at play in different contact settings. In the introductory sections, a discussion is offered on various situations in which linguistic systems are in contact and on the main factors that may be at play; the following sections offer an overview of the papers included in the Special Issue, which focus on accommodation in L2 and heritage speakers as well as on the time dimension of dialect or language societal contact. Finally, accommodation is discussed as the same process that is at work in any interaction, that may modify temporarily or long-term the system of L2 learners and bilinguals (e.g., immigrants), that usually affects in the long-term the heritage speakers' system, and that only in the long term can lead to language changes involving entire communities.
Topics: Humans; Multilingualism; Language; Phonetics; Speech
PubMed: 38756046
DOI: 10.1177/00238309241246200 -
The Laryngoscope Nov 2023To identify the most frequently asked questions regarding "laryngectomy" through an assessment of online search data.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the most frequently asked questions regarding "laryngectomy" through an assessment of online search data.
METHODS
Google Search data based on the search term "laryngectomy" were analyzed using Google Trends and Search Response. The most common People Also Ask (PAA) questions were identified and classified by the concept. Each website linked to its respective PAA question was rated for understandability, ease of reading, and reading grade level.
RESULTS
Search popularity for the term "laryngectomy" remained stable between 2017 and 2022. The most popular PAA themes were post-laryngectomy speech, laryngectomy comparison to tracheostomy, stoma and stoma care, survival/recurrence, and post-laryngectomy eating. Of the 32 websites linked to the top 50 PAA's, eleven (34%) were at or below an 8 grade reading level.
CONCLUSION
Post-laryngectomy speech, eating, survival, the stoma, and the difference between laryngectomy and tracheostomy are the most common topics searched online in relation to "laryngectomy." These are important areas for both patient and healthcare provider education.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
N/A Laryngoscope, 133:2971-2976, 2023.
Topics: Humans; Laryngectomy; Comprehension; Tracheostomy; Speech; Internet
PubMed: 36883665
DOI: 10.1002/lary.30643