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Evaluating acoustic representations and normalization for rhoticity classification in children with speech sound disorders.

Nina R BenwayJonathan L PrestonAsif SalekinElaine HitchcockTara McAllister
Published in: JASA express letters (2024)
The effects of different acoustic representations and normalizations were compared for classifiers predicting perception of children's rhotic versus derhotic /ɹ/. Formant and Mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) representations for 350 speakers were z-standardized, either relative to values in the same utterance or age-and-sex data for typical /ɹ/. Statistical modeling indicated age-and-sex normalization significantly increased classifier performances. Clinically interpretable formants performed similarly to MFCCs and were endorsed for deep neural network engineering, achieving mean test-participant-specific F1-score = 0.81 after personalization and replication (σx = 0.10, med = 0.83, n = 48). Shapley additive explanations analysis indicated the third formant most influenced fully rhotic predictions.
Keyphrases
  • working memory
  • neural network
  • young adults
  • machine learning
  • deep learning
  • electronic health record
  • computed tomography
  • big data
  • magnetic resonance imaging