The link between speaker-specific accuracy in speech production and listener-specific acuity in speech perception: From subphonemic cue-weighting to prosodic categories

语音产生涉及产生声学语音输出的发音机制，而语音感知则研究发音设置和声音变化的差异如何有助于稳健的感知结构。然而，目前关于说话者的发音准确性与听者的语音感知敏锐度之间的直接联系的研究很少。******对这种产生-感知的联系进行更仔细的研究，产生了许多有趣的研究问题：(1)对于个别说话者/听者来说，是否也能找到准确性/敏切度的联系，也就是说，说话者产生更准确和更少变化的语音产生目标，是否也与提高语音感知技能的听者一致？反之亦然，(2)具有明确而狭窄的感知边界的听者也具有较少变化和更精确的发音位置的说话者吗？如果从个体的角度考察说话者/听者之间的差异，(3)某些个体的人格特征和频谱差异是否会影响发音的准确性和/或区分语音的感知敏锐度？最后，如果从跨人口或跨语言的角度来看，(4)我们是否可以定义特定的说话者/听众群体，他们在生产和感知策略中只使用某些声音线索或不同线索的组合，或者在不同的人口/语言中存在单一的主要策略来实现某种生产/感知对比？******本项目的总体目标是阐明不同语言和不同人群的语音产生和语音感知如何通过其边界条件联系起来，即(1)产生语音的发音要求和(2)这些发音要求的声学后果。这一目标将通过检查语音中发现的不同声学线索来实现，并将这些发现与跨越几个语音片段（如音节或单词）的线索进行对比，以得出以下结论：(1)语音产生的准确性提高也会导致感知敏锐度的提高；(2)声学差异在产生强大的感知对比中起什么作用，换句话说：是什么形成了语音/语音类别？******这项工作将促进我们理解语音产生和感知是如何联系在一起的，即哪种声音线索和/或发音设置的配置会产生最佳的感知输出。这项工作的潜在应用是优化发音和/或声学设置的超声视频，帮助语言治疗师找到针对特定语音障碍的最佳治疗方法。此外，该程序的输出将有助于优化人工耳蜗，从而使听障患者受益

Speech production is concerned with the articulatory mechanisms to produce an acoustic speech output, whereas speech perception examines how differences in articulatory settings and acoustic variation contribute to a robust perceptual construct. However, currently there is sparse research on the direct connection between the articulatory accuracy of a speaker on the one hand and the acuity of speech perception of a listener, on the other hand. ******A number of interesting research questions arise from a closer examination of this production-perception link: (1) can an accuracy/acuity link be found for individual speakers/listeners as well, i.e. is a speaker that produces more accurate and less variable speech production targets also coincides also a listener with improved speech perception skills? And vice versa, (2) are listeners with well-defined and narrow perception boundaries also speakers with less variable and more precise places of articulation? And if examining differences between speakers/listeners from an individual point of view, (3) do certain individual personality traits and spectrum differences influence production accuracy and/or the perceptual acuity to distinguish speech sounds? Finally, if seen from a cross-population or cross-linguistic perspective, (4) can we define certain groups of speakers/listeners who would use only certain acoustic cues or a combination of different cues in their production and perception strategies, or is there rather a single major strategy across different populations/languages to achieve a certain production/perception contrast? ******The overarching goal of this project is to elucidate how speech production and speech perception in different languages and different populations are linked through their boundary conditions, namely (1) the articulatory requirements to produce speech and (2) the acoustic consequences of these articulatory requirements. This goal will be reached by examining different acoustic cues found within speech sounds and contrast these findings with cues that span several speech segments like syllables or words to elicit if (1) increased accuracy in the production of speech also leads to increased perceptual acuity and (2) what role acoustic variance plays for the generation of robust perceptual contrasts, in other words: what forms a phonetic/phonological category? ******This work will advance our understanding how speech production and perception are linked, i.e. which configuration of acoustic cues and/or articulatory settings results in an optimal perceptual output. Potential applications of this work are ultrasound videos with optimized articulatory and/or acoustic settings that help Speech-Language therapists to find the best therapy approach for a given speech sound disorder. Furthermore, the output of this program will help optimizing cochlear implants and thus benefit hearing-impaired patients.**