Hemispheric asymmetries in speech perception: sense, nonsense and modulations
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BACKGROUND: The well-established left hemisphere specialisation for language processing has long been claimed to be based on a low-level auditory specialization for specific acoustic features in speech, particularly regarding 'rapid temporal processing'. METHODOLOGY: A novel analysis/synthesis technique was used to construct a variety of sounds based on simple sentences which could be manipulated in spectro-temporal complexity, and whether they were intelligible or not. All sounds consisted of two noise-excited spectral prominences (based on the lower two formants in the original speech) which could be static or varying in frequency and/or amplitude independently. Dynamically varying both acoustic features based on the same sentence led to intelligible speech but when either or both acoustic features were static, the stimuli were not intelligible. Using the frequency dynamics from one sentence with the amplitude dynamics of another led to unintelligible sounds of comparable spectro-temporal complexity to the intelligible ones. Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to compare which brain regions were active when participants listened to the different sounds. CONCLUSIONS: Neural activity to spectral and amplitude modulations sufficient to support speech intelligibility (without actually being intelligible) was seen bilaterally, with a right temporal lobe dominance. A left dominant response was seen only to intelligible sounds. It thus appears that the left hemisphere specialisation for speech is based on the linguistic properties of utterances, not on particular acoustic features.
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Sine-wave speech is typically unintelligible on first exposure and may not be noticed as being speech-like; once the listener knows that it is potentially intelligible, relatively high levels of comprehension can be achieved.
“SWS is typically unintelligible on first exposure and may not be noticed as being speech-like (often sounding like 'aliens' or birdsong).Once the listener knows that it is potentially intelligible, though, relatively high levels of comprehension can be achieved (Remez et al., 2011;Rosen et al., 2011).”
From Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (2017) · cites this paper as Rosen et al., 2011
Effects of prior knowledge and training on the processing of sine-wave speech and similar stimuli are reflected in the greater involvement of inferior frontal cortex, pre-supplementary motor area, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
“Effects of prior knowledge and training on the processing of SWS and similar stimuli are reflected in the greater involvement of inferior frontal cortex (Davis and Johnsrude, 2003), pre-SMA, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Eisner et al., 2010;Rosen et al., 2011), while posterior temporal cortex appears to track changes in sensory detail (Sohoglu et al., 2012) and predictability (Gagnepain et”
From Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (2017) · cites this paper as Rosen et al., 2011
The general response to intelligibility-and general effects of training with SWS-involved regions consistent with previous research on distorted speech.
“Notwithstanding the small sample size of the present study, it is also important to note that the general response to intelligibility-and general effects of training with SWS-involved regions consistent with previous research on distorted speech.”
From Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (2017) · cites this paper as Rosen et al., 2011
The primarily left-lateralized network seen across both groups is consistent with intelligibility effects using very similar stimuli, as is the involvement of the SMA.
“The primarily left-lateralized network seen across both groups is consistent with intelligibility effects using very similar stimuli (McGettigan et al., 2012), as is the involvement of the SMA (Rosen et al., 2011).”
From Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations (2017) · cites this paper as Rosen et al., 2011
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- [32]Remez RE Rubin PE Pisoni DB Carrell TD 1981 Speech-Perception Without Traditional Speech Cues. Science 212 947 950 7233191
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Distinct processing of ambiguous speech in people with non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations
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- Authors
- Rosen, S., Wise, R. J. S., Chadha, S., Conway, E.-J., & Scott, S. K.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Imperial College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Rosen, Stuart
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2011-09-30
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e24672
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3184092
- OpenAlex
- W2031213508
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (090961, WT074414MA)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Keywords
- hemispheric lateralization, speech perception, left hemisphere dominance, right temporal lobe, speech intelligibility, formant dynamics, amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, auditory cortex, language lateralization, acoustic features
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Acoustics, Adult, Auditory Cortex, Auditory Perception, Brain Mapping, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Female, Humans, Linguistics, Male, Middle Aged, Speech, Speech Intelligibility, Speech Perception, Temporal Lobe, Time Factors, Positron-Emission Tomography, Cerebrum
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