Sensori-motor development of speech: feedback perturbations

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The overarching long-term objective of my research program is to investigate the development of speech production-perception relationships in children. In the last five decades, it has been claimed that multiple sources of sensory feedback are used to monitor the speech articulators, the most important of which is auditory feedback. From a developmental perspective, auditory feedback is crucial to acquire the appropriate articulatory positions related to vowels and consonants. Although many studies have been conducted on the role of feedback in speech production, none has addressed this issue in children, using original data on articulatory movements, acoustic parameters, and perceptual measures. For the next five years, the global objective of my research program is to study the role of auditory feedback in speech production using the sensory perturbation paradigm in preschool- and school-aged children. To this end, the three specific objectives of this proposal are (a) to study the development of perceptual auditory acuity in relation with the produced vowel categories, (b) to study the articulatory and acoustic strategies children and adults use to adapt to altered auditory feedback within and across vowel categories, and (c) to determine which adaptation strategies are the most perceptually relevant. To achieve these objectives, we propose to make kinematic and acoustic recordings of speech sequences produced by typically developing children and by adults. Perceptual tests will also be conducted and the results will be compared to the produced data. The innovative nature of this research program resides primarily in the problem addressed: while the impact of sensory perception on the development of speech has been the subject of numerous studies, none has focused on an integrated articulatory and acoustic analysis of strategies to compensate for altered auditory feedback, taking into account the individual's global vowel space. Furthermore, our proposed method, combining infrared motion capture and ultrasound imaging, is unique. Our research program will lead to groundbreaking advances in the area of sensorimotor development in speech, and will contribute to the development of innovative technological tools. Indeed, by providing original data on the interaction of sound categories and speech perception in children, our program will allow us to consolidate and expand our collaborations with vocal technology companies to develop virtual growing talking heads designed to improve second language learning. Our proposed research program will also create a research environment conducive to the training of highly qualified personnel (undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) in the area of oral language processing.