Speech Pattern Recognition Processes with Normal and Cochlear-Implant Produced Hearing

人工耳蜗的发展是最近医疗技术的一项重大进展。这是一种通过手术连接到耳蜗或内耳上的装置，将电极连接到耳蜗神经上。佩戴者在体外携带一个类似无线电的小型装置，该装置将声音转换成电脉冲，通过电极直接传输到耳蜗神经，而这些电脉冲以佩戴者能够理解的方式被大脑“听到”。对于某些耳聋的人来说，人工耳蜗已经大大提高了他们理解语言的能力，通常是与唇读结合在一起，但有时甚至在没有视觉提示的情况下。人工耳蜗植入的日益成功对语音感知科学提出了有趣的挑战，因为声信号中只有一小部分信息实际上被转化为电脉冲。在某种程度上，用户能够准确地解释贫困信号，这表明其中包含了关键的感知信息，从而为语音感知的基本问题提供了新的视角：决定准确感知的语音声学特性是什么？这个研究项目是一个系统的探索由人工耳蜗植入者接收到的信号的性质，以及他们对它的感知。这项研究将集中在新开发的“澳大利亚核”植入物的佩戴者身上，这种植入物是一种多通道设备，比早期的模型携带更多的信息。研究人员将检查植入者的语言感知，他们的语言模式随时间的变化，以及正常听众对语音信号的反应，这些信号是由植入设备为其使用者扭曲的。该项目的主要研究目标是识别失真信号的成分，使其能够正确感知。一个成功的结果将是对语言科学的重要贡献，同时也提供了进一步改进人工耳蜗设计的可能性。

A significant recent advance in medical technology has been the development of the cochlear implant. This is a device which is surgically attached to the cochlea, or inner ear, connecting electrodes to cochlear nerves. The wearer carries a small radio- like device outside the body which translates sounds into elec- trical impulses transmitted directly to cochlear nerves via the electrodes, and the impulses are "heard" by the brain in a way which the wearer is able to interpret. For people with certain kinds of deafness, cochlear implants have already provided significant enhancements in their ability to understand speech, most usually in conjunction with lip reading but sometimes even in the absence of visual cues. The growing success of cochlear implantation presents interesting challenges to the science of speech perception, since only a fraction of the information in the acoustical signal is actually translated into electrical impulses. To the extent that the user is able to interpret the impoverished signal accurately, this shows that key perceptual information is included in it, thus affording a new perspective on the fundamental problem of speech perception: what are the acoustic properties of speech which determine accurate perception? This research project is a systematic exploration of the nature of the signal received by cochlear implantees, and their perception of it. The research will focus on wearers of the newly developed "Australian nucleus" implant, which is a multi- channel device and carries much more information than earlier models. The researcher will examine the speech perception of implantees, the changes in their speech patterns over time, and the reactions of normal listeners to speech signals distorted in the ways which the implant device distorts them for its users. The principal research aim of the project is to identify the components of the distorted signal which enable correct percep- tion. A successful outcome will be an important contribution to speech science, as well as offering the possibility of further improvements in the design of cochlear implants.