Measures of Sleep Deprivation from Speech Articulation

描述(申请人提供)：睡眠不足，以及由睡眠不足引起的健康问题，是公共健康和安全的重大问题。有效的睡眠健康研究的一个关键组成部分是客观跟踪和测量由于睡眠不足而导致的表现下降的能力。这项申请是对NIH PA-05-046《睡眠和睡眠障碍研究》的响应，该申请征集应用程序，以进行睡眠和嗜睡测量的新方法的研究。在对一小部分受试者的初步研究中，我们发现，从声谱中自动提取的细微发音模式可以区分休息的人和睡眠不足的人的语音发音。这个探索性项目的直接目的是检验这一假设，即在睡眠不足的情况下，语音清晰度会以可靠的方式发生变化。目前，关于睡眠与语言或言语相互作用的信息很少。特别是，很少有关于语言和言语产生的科学调查。因此，这个项目的第一个具体目标是在一个更大、更多样的数据语料库上测试我们的发现的有效性和一致性。我们最近安排了在仔细进行睡眠剥夺研究的过程中，每隔一段时间收集三组大的语音记录数据。我们将分析这些数据，寻找“新鲜”和“睡眠不足”条件下语音清晰度变化的证据。第二个具体目标是开发我们的分析工具，作为一种潜在的方法，用于客观测量睡眠剥夺下的性能下降。该项目的第三个重点将是描述与“新鲜”和“睡眠不足”讲话相关的模式的不同。这个项目将导致一个研究计划，该计划将详细调查生物和社会驱动的说话条件对言语产生的运动控制的影响。这项研究对人类健康的实际影响可能包括更好地监测工作效率和更好地理解对睡眠剥夺的行为反应。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Lack of sleep, and the health problems that are caused by lack of sleep, are significant problems for public health and safety. One key component of effective research on sleep health is the ability to objectively track and measure degradation in performance due to sleep deprivation. This application is in response to NIH PA-05-046, "Research in Sleep and Sleep Disorders", which solicits applications to conduct research on novel methods for measurement of sleep and sleepiness. In preliminary work with a small set of subjects, we have found that subtle articulatory patterns automatically extractable from the acoustic spectrum can differentiate the speech articulation of rested individuals from that of sleep-deprived individuals. The immediate aim of this exploratory project is to test the hypothesis that speech articulation changes under sleep deprivation conditions in a reliable way. At present time, there is sparse information regarding the interaction of sleep and language or speech. In particular, there has been little scientific investigation of language and speech production. Thus, the first specific aim of this project is to test the validity and consistency of our findings over a larger and more varied corpus of data. We have recently arranged to acquire three large sets of speech recording data collected at intervals in the course of carefully conducted sleep deprivation studies. We will analyze these data for evidence of changes in speech articulation across "fresh" and "sleep-deprived" conditions. A second specific aim is to develop our analysis tool as a potential method for objective measurement of performance degradation under sleep deprivation. A third focus of the project will be to characterize the difference in patterns associated with "fresh" vs. "sleep deprived" speech. This project will lead to a research program that will investigate in detail the impact of biologically and socially driven speaking conditions on motor control for speech production. Practical human health implications of this research may include better monitoring of performance effectiveness and better understanding of behavioral responses to sleep deprivation.