Cited by 599Neuroscience and Music PerceptionNeurobiology of Language and BilingualismPhonetics and Phonology Research

Who “Is Saying What”? Brain-based decoding of human voice and speech

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Formisano, Elia, De Martino, Federico, Bonte, Milene, Goebel, Rainer·2008·Science

Abstract

Can we decipher speech content ("what" is being said) and speaker identity ("who" is saying it) from observations of brain activity of a listener? Here, we combine functional magnetic resonance imaging with a data-mining algorithm and retrieve what and whom a person is listening to from the neural fingerprints that speech and voice signals elicit in the listener's auditory cortex. These cortical fingerprints are spatially distributed and insensitive to acoustic variations of the input so as to permit the brain-based recognition of learned speech from unknown speakers and of learned voices from previously unheard utterances. Our findings unravel the detailed cortical layout and computational properties of the neural populations at the basis of human speech recognition and speaker identification.

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Crossref · 10.1126/science.1164318

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Authors
Formisano, E., De Martino, F., Bonte, M., & Goebel, R.
Affiliations
  • Maastricht University (NL)
  • Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, 6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands.
Corresponding author
Formisano, Elia
Venue
Science
Published
2008-11-07
Volume
322
Issue
5903
Pages
970-973
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W1985969995
Cited by
599
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 54 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 36 · 2012: 44
FWCI
17.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
Keywords
speech recognition, speaker identification, voice recognition, auditory cortex, neural decoding, neural fingerprints, functional MRI, data mining
MeSH terms
Adult, Algorithms, Auditory Cortex, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Phonetics, Speech, Speech Perception, Voice, Pattern Recognition, Physiological

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