Tag Archive for 'Human speech'

Global distribution of MSIs across 9,179 language varieties from the ASJP database. Color of dots represents the MSI of the language, with redder dots indicating higher and bluer dots indicating lower indices. The fill color of land areas represents the mean annual temperature. Image credit: Wang et al., doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad384.

Climate Plays Role in Shaping Evolution of Human Languages, New Study Reveals

Dec 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Sounds of human languages can be affected by various factors of the natural environment. One such factor is the mean annual temperature. In new research,...

EchoSpeech requires just a few minutes of user training data before it will recognize commands and can be run on a smartphone. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1145/3544548.3580801.

EchoSpeech: Artificial Intelligence-Equipped Eyeglasses Can Read Silent Speech

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

EchoSpeech, developed by Cornell University researchers, uses speakers and microphones mounted on a glass-frame and emits inaudible sound waves towards...

Cats can discriminate speech specifically addressed to them from speech addressed to adult humans. Image credit: D.L. JackieLou.

Cats Know When Their Owners are Talking to Them, Study Suggests

Oct 25, 2022 by News Staff

A study performed on a cohort of 16 companion cats suggests that cats can discriminate speech specifically addressed to them from speech addressed to adult...

The larynx is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. Image credit: OpenStax College / CC BY 3.0.

Simplified Voice Box Enabled Complex Humans Speech, New Research Suggests

Aug 12, 2022 by News Staff

Human speech and language are highly complex, consisting of a large number of sounds. The human larynx (voice box) has acquired the capability to create...

Mother-pup pair of the greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata) in their daytime roost. The pup (dark fur color) is holding on to the mother’s belly (light fur color). Image credit: Michael Stifter.

Bat Pups Babble Like Human Infants, Researchers Find

Aug 20, 2021 by News Staff

Babbling is a production milestone in infant speech development. Evidence for babbling in non-human mammals is scarce. In a new study, researchers from...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Study: Neanderthals Had Capacity to Produce Human-Like Speech

Mar 2, 2021 by News Staff

Neanderthals evolved the auditory capacities to support a vocal communication system as efficient as modern human speech, according to new research led...

Root-Gutteridge et al show that the ability to spontaneously recognize both the same phonemes across different speakers, and cues to identity across speech utterances from unfamiliar speakers, is present in domestic dogs and thus not a uniquely human trait. Image credit: Anja Gh.

Dogs Understand Spoken Words Better than We Thought

Dec 9, 2019 by News Staff

Dogs are able to listen to different people saying the same word and recognize it as the same word, ignoring the differences between speakers, and can...

A group of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) on sands at Stiffkey, Norfolk, UK. Image credit: Duncan Harris / CC BY 2.0.

Study: Gray Seals Can Copy Human Speech and Songs

Jun 25, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Current Biology, gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) can copy human speech and songs using the same sound...

Paleolithic edge-to-edge bite (top) and a modern overbite/overjet bite (bottom) and how ‘f’ sounds are produced in a biomechanical model. Image credit: Timea Bodogan / Scott Moisik.

Post-Neolithic Diet-Induced Dental Changes Led to Introduction of ‘F’ and ‘V’ Sounds

Mar 18, 2019 by News Staff

A class of speech sounds that is now present in nearly half of the world’s languages — labiodentals, produced by positioning the lower lip against...

Newborns have innate skills needed to pick out words. Image credit: Cheryl Holt.

Study: Newborn Babies Have Innate Skills to Pick Out Individual Words

Jan 31, 2019 by News Staff

Humans are born with operational language processing and memory capacities and can use at least two types of cues to segment otherwise continuous speech,...

Romeo et al suggest talking with children from early age could promote language skills regardless of socioeconomic status. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.

Study: Adult-Child Conversations Strengthen Language Regions of Developing Brain

Aug 22, 2018 by News Staff

Children who are regularly engaged in conversation by adults may have stronger connections between Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas — brain regions...

Dr. Dunn and Dr. Smaers report a positive correlation between vocal repertoire size and the relative size of cortical association areas in non-human primates. Image credit: Herbert Aust.

Primate Study Offers Important Insight into Evolution of Human Speech

Aug 14, 2018 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience has found a link between vocal repertoire and relative size of key regions of the brain. Dr....

Mouse song system anatomy and syllable types: (A) proposed anatomy of the rudimentary mouse forebrain vocal communication circuit; (B) comparison with human; (C) comparison with songbird; (D) sonograms of examples syllables of the four syllable categories quantified from a C57 male mouse USV song, labeled according to pitch jumps. Anatomical abbreviations: ADSt - anterior dorsal striatum; Amb - nucleus ambiguous; ASt - anterior striatum; aT - anterior thalamus; Av - nucleus avalanche; HVC - a letter-based name; LArea X - lateral Area X; LMO - lateral mesopallium oval nucleus; LMAN - lateral magnocellular nucleus of the nidopallium; LMC - laryngeal motor cortex; LSC - laryngeal somatosensory cortex; M1 - primary motor cortex; M2 - secondary motor cortex; NIf - interfacial nucleus of the nidopallium; PAG - periaqueductal gray; RA - robust nucleus of the arcopallium; T - thalamus; VL - ventral lateral nucleus of the thalamus; XIIts - 12th vocal motor nucleus, tracheosyringeal part. Image credit: Jonathan Chabout et al, doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00197.

Study: Gene Implicated in Human Language Affects Vocal Communication in Mice

Nov 18, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, ultrasonic vocal communication in adult mice is affected by the...

Trained dogs around fMRI scanner. Image credit: Eniko Kubinyi.

Dogs Understand Words and Intonation of Human Speech, New Study Finds

Aug 31, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study led by Dr. Attila Andics of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, dogs use the left hemisphere to process words and...

Indianapolis Zoo’s Orangutan Mimics Human Speech

Jul 28, 2016 by News Staff

Rocky, an eleven-year-old male orangutan living at Indianapolis Zoo, offers clues to how human speech evolved, according to new research led by Durham...

A family group of geladas (Dave Watts / CC BY 2.0)

Geladas’ Lip-Smacking Resembles Human Speech, Says U.S. Researcher

Apr 9, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

According to a study published in the journal Current Biology, the vocal lip-smacks that wild gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada) use in friendly encounters...