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Stefano Coretta’s Workshop on Electroglottography (EGG)

Uncategorised

Date: 06/27/2021

Stefano Coretta from the University of Edinburgh has a wide range of knowledge in statistical analyses and research methods in linguistics research. Today we had him walk us through how to operate the EGG machine, apply it in the practical study and process the data.

Anatomy

We firstly started with the anatomy of larynx. 

  1. When making voiced sounds, the vocal cords would contact and dispart over time. 
  2. The frequency of vocal-fold vibration varies between sounds and speakers. For the same sound, if produced in certain distinctive voices, like in creaky or breathy voices, the vocal folds would vibrate differently, which can be measured by the EGG. 

Electroglottography

We learned about the principles of the EGG and got the chance to see how to use the machine.

  1. The principle of EGG is that there are two metal signal-receiving tabs, which would be put against the neck skin. When the two larynges contact each other, the current is allowed to pass, which would be recorded as waveforms. 
  2. The maximum of the EGG signals corresponds to the close phase of the glottis, and the minimum corresponds to the open phase of the glottis.
  3. The EGG can be used to measure
  • Robust estimation of fundamental frequency (f0).
  • Detection of voiced/voiceless intervals.
  • Voice quality via Contact Quotient (CQ): higher CQ = creakier voice, lower CQ = breathier voice.
  • Vocal Folds configuration via complex methods like wavegram.

4. The limitation of the EGG is that it only works when there is vocal fold vibration and shows no information when there is a voiceless interval.

Analysing the EGG signal

There are various ways to analyse the EGG data, which can be processed on different platforms, including Praat, R, Matlab, Python and so on. To process the EGG signal, what usually needs to be done are:

  • Pre-processing

       – Filtering

       – Calculate the first derivative (dEGG)

  • Extract measurements

       – Contact Quotient (ratio between closed phase and glottal cycle)

       – Wavegram (Herbst 2010)

  • Analyse measurements

       – WaveGAMs (Coretta 2019)

Calculate measurements

We can get various measurements with the use of different tools. For example:

In Praat:

  1. Get maxima and minima of the dEGG.
  2. Calculate the glottal period.

In R:

  1. Calculate the Contact Quotient.
  2. Calculate f0.

Reflections from our Research Group

  • Our group has long been exploring different quantitative research methods and data analyses in linguistics. This workshop is very relevant to what we are pursuing.
  • It gave us a clear understanding of using the EGG.
  • This gave us the confidence to look at glottal movements in our research.

Three-minute thesis final

Conferences, Uncategorised, ,

Date: 16th June, 16:00 – 18:00 
Location: Baddiley Clark Seminar Room
Book: https://workshops.ncl.ac.uk/view/book/modal/50275/ Drinks reception and canapés from 16:00  Presentations will begin at 17:00

The finals of the 3-minute thesis are taking place on the 16th of June. One of our members, Carol-Ann McConnellogue, has made it to the final. Carol-Ann is developing an individualised speech therapy programme for children with cerebral palsy and is doing her PhD jointly with ECLS and FMS.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition asks doctoral students to explain their research in just three minutes using only one slide. The explanation should be easily understood by a non-specialist. Originally developed by the University of Queensland, Australia it has been taken up by Universities across the world. The competition offers training then the opportunity to compete in a University final in front of the public. The winner of this final will go forward to compete in the national Vitae 3MT competition in September.

It’s a great opportunity to listen to students from different disciplines talk about their PhD topics in a succinct and non-technical way.

Melissa Baese-Berk’s Talk

Conferences, , ,

Date: 06/12/2021

Prof. Melissa and her colleagues and students are constantly productive in the research of speech processing as well as accent perception and adaptation. In her talk, she walked us through their new work on the adaptation to unfamiliar speech and the perception of non-native speech (see Cheng et al., 2021). 

The main examining issues in their studies include:

  1. The difficulties in communication brought about by linguistics properties of non-native speech, language background of talkers and listeners, and certain cognitive factors (McLaughlin, Baese-Berk, Bent, Borrie & Van Engen 2018)
  2. The conditions under which accent general adaptation might occur (Afghani, Baese-Berk & Waddell, under review at the time when the talk happened)

The main results found by them are:

  1. Listeners may make the most of different resources to facilitate their speech processing; some cognitive factors, like vocabulary and working memory, correlate with listening challenges; the noises from the environment can degrade rhythm perception (McLaughlin et al., 2018).
  2. Incentives may be an answer for a better performance in speech processing, and listeners incentivised can start processing better and learn more quickly than those who are not (Afghani, Baese-Berk, & Waddell, under review at the time of the talk).

Speech perception is more difficult when it is:

  • Dysarthric speech
  • Speech-in-noise
  • Time-compressed speech
  • Synthetic speech

However, practice listening in these conditions may improve speech processing for listeners.

The issues to be looked at next:

  1. The role of memory in comprehension
  2. The similarities / difference between the adaptation to a talker and to an accent
  3. The interaction between adaptation and physical and linguistics context

Reflections from our Research Group:

  • This is a very relevant topic to what is currently being discussed in our research group around accent and social justice. Our group is hosting an event in Spring 2022 which will discuss some of the topics addressed. 
  • It directed us to other literature surrounding the topic.
  • A good way to network with others interested in the topic.
  • I found it very interesting that incentivising participants can make a significant difference in how they process speech.

Melissa’s Twitter: @uospplab 

Job: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

Job Vacancies, ,

For current researchers in this area at the university you can see the Phonetics & Phonology research groups people page.
Posted date: 06-Dec-2021
Closing date: 10-Jan-2022

More Information

Full job description can be found at here.

The Role

The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) is seeking to appoint a member of staff at Lecturer/Senior Lecturer level in Phonetics and Phonology. The successful applicant will be part of a diverse and collegiate team of academics, clinicians, researchers and professional support staff delivering high quality teaching and research in Speech and Language Sciences. You will have a strong background in phonetics and phonology and a strong research profile in this area. You will have expertise in practical phonetics (ear training), laboratory-based methodologies and quantitative analysis of phonetic data. You will make a significant contribution to teaching and supervision within the Speech and Language Sciences (SLS) section across both undergraduate and post graduate pre-registration speech and language therapy Health and Care Professions Council approved programmes, as well the IPhD in Phonetics and Phonology. You will carry out high quality research in the area of phonetics and/or laboratory phonology, contribute to the profile and to the research culture of the Phonetics and Phonology Research Group, the School and the relevant research centres and institutes across campus. You will, where appropriate, make a contribution to administration within the School.

Qualifications

Essential:  
PhD in linguistics, speech and language sciences or related discipline, with focus on phonetics and phonology

Desirable:
Recognised HE teaching qualification

The University and the Department

Newcastle University is committed to being a fully inclusive Global University which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from everybody, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, as well as being open to flexible working practices.

The University holds a silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. The University also holds the HR Excellence in Research award for our work to support the career development of our researchers, and is a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) is an inter-disciplinary school with staff and students working in the fields of Speech and Language Sciences, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Communication and Education. Researchers in the school employ a variety of experimental methods including audio-visual, acoustic, and articulatory speech analysis, eye tracking, psycholinguistic experiments, and language learning paradigms and platforms.

Contact

Any informal enquiries should be directed to Dr Janet Webster, Head of Speech and Language Sciences (janet.webster@ncl.ac.uk), or Professor Ghada Khattab (ghada.khattab@ncl.ac.uk). 

Job: Research Assistant (Laboratory Manager)

Job Vacancies, , , ,

For current researchers in this area at the university you can see the Phonetics & Phonology research groups people page.
Posted date: 23-Nov-2021
Closing date: 7-Dec-2021

More Information

Full job description can be found at here.

The Role

The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) seeks you for the position of Research Assistant (Laboratory Manager). You will support the research of academic staff and students in experimental and laboratory projects which take place in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences and across the faculty. This includes support for one of more of the following co-located labs:

  1. A psycholinguistics lab with an eyetracker and a range of software programs for behavioural experiments and audio-visual transcription and editing facilities (e.g. EyeLink, Eprime, Labvanced, Gorilla, Adobe Editing Suite, ELAN, PRAAT etc.)
  2. A phonetics lab with:
    • audio-visual recording facilities, including an anechoic chamber, edirol recorders for high quality auditory recordings for acoustic analysis and camcorders for video recordings.
    • articulatory recording facilities, including ultrasound tongue imaging, electropalatography, electro-glottography, and nasometry.

The University and the Department

Newcastle University is committed to being a fully inclusive Global University which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from everybody, regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, as well as being open to flexible working practices.

The University holds a silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. The University also holds the HR Excellence in Research award for our work to support the career development of our researchers, and is a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

The School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences (ECLS) is an inter-disciplinary school with staff and students working in the fields of Speech and Language Sciences, Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and Communication and Education. Researchers in the school employ a variety of experimental methods including audio-visual, acoustic, and articulatory speech analysis, eye tracking, psycholinguistic experiments, and language learning paradigms and platforms.

Contact

Please apply from the university website. For informal enquires, please contact professor Ghada Khattab ghada.khattab@newcastle.ac.uk.