{"title":"Sentences used in the speech-to-song illusion: Comparisons of acoustic vowel space","authors":"Anna Hiemstra, Makiko Sadakata","doi":"10.1177/10298649231224786","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In the speech-to-song illusion, certain spoken sentences start sounding like song when repeated several times. This perceptual transformation does not occur for all stimuli, suggesting that acoustic properties of the stimulus may contribute to the illusion. We investigated the contribution of the acoustic properties of vowels to this phenomenon by analyzing the acoustic vowel-space area bounded by formant frequencies of /i/, /æ/, and / ɔ/ in a dataset of transforming ( illusion) and non-transforming ( non-illusion) stimuli. In general, larger vowel-space areas are associated with more acoustic distinctions between vowel categories. We found that the overall vowel space was larger in non-illusion than illusion stimuli. A possible reason for this difference may be that listeners learn to associate large vowel spaces with speech and small vowel spaces with song through exposure to differences between formant frequencies in spoken and sung vowels. We propose that the shifted vowel spaces in which non-illusion sentences may be associated with speech perception thereby activate speech processing circuitry that inhibits the illusion of their transformation into song.","PeriodicalId":2,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","volume":"11 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10298649231224786","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In the speech-to-song illusion, certain spoken sentences start sounding like song when repeated several times. This perceptual transformation does not occur for all stimuli, suggesting that acoustic properties of the stimulus may contribute to the illusion. We investigated the contribution of the acoustic properties of vowels to this phenomenon by analyzing the acoustic vowel-space area bounded by formant frequencies of /i/, /æ/, and / ɔ/ in a dataset of transforming ( illusion) and non-transforming ( non-illusion) stimuli. In general, larger vowel-space areas are associated with more acoustic distinctions between vowel categories. We found that the overall vowel space was larger in non-illusion than illusion stimuli. A possible reason for this difference may be that listeners learn to associate large vowel spaces with speech and small vowel spaces with song through exposure to differences between formant frequencies in spoken and sung vowels. We propose that the shifted vowel spaces in which non-illusion sentences may be associated with speech perception thereby activate speech processing circuitry that inhibits the illusion of their transformation into song.
期刊介绍:
ACS Applied Bio Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of biomaterials and biointerfaces including and beyond the traditional biosensing, biomedical and therapeutic applications.
The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrates knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, and chemistry into important bio applications. The journal is specifically interested in work that addresses the relationship between structure and function and assesses the stability and degradation of materials under relevant environmental and biological conditions.