Measures of Sleep Deprivation from Speech Articulation

描述（由申请人提供）：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。对睡眠健康进行有效研究的一个关键组成部分是客观地跟踪和测量由于睡眠剥夺而导致的性能下降的能力。该申请是对NIH PA-05-046“睡眠和睡眠障碍研究”的响应，该申请征集对测量睡眠和嗜睡的新方法进行研究的申请。在一小组受试者的初步工作中，我们发现，从声谱中自动提取的微妙的发音模式可以区分休息的个体与睡眠不足的个体的语音清晰度。这个探索性项目的直接目的是以可靠的方式测试睡眠剥夺条件下言语清晰度变化的假设。目前，关于睡眠和语言或言语的相互作用的信息很少。特别是，对语言和言语产生的科学研究很少。因此，本项目的第一个具体目标是在更大和更多样化的数据库中测试我们发现的有效性和一致性。我们最近安排获得三个大组的语音记录数据收集在仔细进行的睡眠剥夺研究的过程中的间隔。我们将分析这些数据，以寻找“新鲜”和“睡眠剥夺”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，作为客观测量睡眠剥夺下性能下降的潜在方法。该项目的第三个重点将是表征与“新鲜”与“睡眠剥夺”言语相关的模式差异。这个项目将导致一个研究计划，将详细调查生物和社会驱动的说话条件对运动控制的影响，为语音生产。这项研究对人类健康的实际影响可能包括更好地监测性能有效性和更好地理解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.