June 2024 JASA Cover

The June cover of JASA is now available! Check it out:

The cover image was selected to represent “Evidence for proactive and retroactive temporal pattern analysis in simultaneous masking,” by Bernhard Laback, Hisaaki Tabuchi, and Armin Kohlrausch. JASA Coordinating Editor for Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Emily Buss says, “[This article] describes basic psychoacoustic research into the way listeners use the temporal regularity of background sounds to maximize signal detection. Results speak to the basic mechanisms that listeners use to organize sound into an auditory scene.”

Some other research was also highlighted on the June JASA cover:

All the articles from the cover are free to read for a month after the cover is released, so be sure to check them out! You can find the whole issue at https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/issue/155/6.

JASA Cover art

Diversity in Speech Science: Pride Month Highlights

Pride Month

ASA fosters inclusivity and understanding through groundbreaking research that highlights the unique experiences and voices of the LGBTQ+ community. For Pride Month, we would like to spotlight publications that underscore the intersection of speech science and gender diversity.

First up is “Acoustic Cues to Femininity and Masculinity in Spontaneous Speech” by Fredrik Nylén, Jenny Holmberg, and Maria Södersten. This recently published JASA research unravels the intricate acoustic properties that influence perceptions of gender in speech. The study explores how vocal characteristics can contribute to gender identity and offers critical insights that benefit gender-affirming voice training. With a comprehensive analysis of 132 voices and 121 listener evaluations, the researchers developed models explaining up to 89% of the variance in perceived femininity and masculinity. Their findings emphasize the importance of considering a range of acoustic properties beyond the primary cue of median fundamental frequency (f0).

Next up is “Spectral Analysis of Strident Fricatives in Cisgender and Transfeminine Speakers” by Nichole Houle, Mackenzie P. Lerario, and Susannah V. Levi, also published in the JASA. This research explores the acoustic properties of the sounds /s/ like in ‘said’ and /ʃ/ in ‘shed’, revealing how subtle nuances contribute to the sociophonetic perception of gender. By examining the speech of cisgender men, cisgender women, and transfeminine speakers, the study highlights the complexity and diversity of gender expression in vocal characteristics. It shows that while the spectral features of /s/ and /ʃ/ can signal gender group identification, they do not account for within-gender variation among transfeminine speakers. This nuanced approach moves beyond the binary classification of gender, offering a more inclusive understanding that acknowledges the spectrum of gender identities.

Finally, Melissa Baese-Berk and Paul E. Reed’s JASA article “Addressing Diversity in Speech Science Courses,” underscores the critical need to integrate cultural and linguistic diversity, including LGBTQ+ perspectives, into speech science education. Speech communication, the study of how speech is produced, transmitted, and perceived, is a cornerstone of disciplines like linguistics, communication disorders, cognitive science, and speech technology. Baese-Berk and Reed observe that speech science courses often lag in representing the full spectrum of cultural and linguistic diversity, particularly in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation. Their study argues that linguistic diversity should be a fundamental part of the curriculum, not relegated to a single module or course. By addressing linguistic diversity comprehensively, educators can better reflect the varied social identities of speakers, including those within the LGBTQ+ community.

As we celebrate Pride Month, it’s essential to recognize and honor the contributions of LGBTQ+ researchers and participants within the field of speech science. The studies highlighted here not only advance our scientific understanding but also promote inclusivity and respect for diverse voices. By embracing this research and its implications, we can continue to build a more inclusive and equitable scientific community. Happy Pride Month!

JASA Special Issue on Fish Bioacoustics: Hearing and Sound Communication

The collection for the JASA Special Issue on Fish Bioacoustics: Hearing and Sound Communication is now available online!

The field of fish bioacoustics—encompassing studies of fish hearing, sound production, and acoustic communication—is of increasing importance as investigators, regulators, and others now realize that anthropogenic sounds are likely to have a major impact on fishes, their ecosystems, and on the human food supply. To help better understand fish bioacoustics, this special issue of The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America brings together papers that explore the breadth of the topic, from historical perspectives to the latest findings on the impact of anthropogenic sounds on fishes.

Many thanks to Arthur N. Popper, Clara Amorim, Michael L. Fine, Dennis M. Higgs, Allen F. Mensinger, and Joseph A. Sisneros for serving as Guest Editors for this Special Issue.

Read more on this Special Issue in the Introduction and visit the collection of articles.

 

special issue figure 2

Image credit: Figure 2 from Deng et al (2023).

New Technical Area Picks

Every three months, we ask four Technical Committee (TC) chairs to select one article from the past nine months that they think is a representative of their TC’s published work over that time period. The newest round of Technical Area Picks have been selected, and will be free to read from June 1st to August 31st. Read on to find out which articles the chairs selected, along with a little insight from each chair about why they chose the article they did.

Architectural Acoustics
“The acoustical characterization of clay pots in Ottoman architecture through experimental and numerical analysis,” by Gülnihan Atay, Zühre Sü Gül, and Onursal Önen.

TC Chair David S. Woolworth says, “Finding a representative paper for architectural acoustics over the last months is not realistic to due to the diversity of content; however, this paper combines numerous techniques used in AA to analyze an archeological acoustics question of acoustic intention.  I invite you to explore all of the AA papers over the last months and the diversity of topics from properties of surfaces to virtual environments.”

Architectural picks

Noise
“Perception of noise from unmanned aircraft systems: Efficacy of metrics for indoor and outdoor listener positions,” by Nathan Green, Antonio J. Torija, and Carlos Ramos-Romero

TC Chair Alexandra Loubeau says, “This paper describes an investigation of annoyance to noise from a new class of small, unmanned aircraft. Results from the listening experiment were used to better understand the effect of listening environment and different aircraft operational modes, and sound quality metrics were used to identify factors that affect perception beyond the loudness level.”

Noise picks

Signal Processing
“Remote passive acoustic signal detection using multi-scale correlation networks and network spectrum distance in marine environment,” by Hongwei Zhang, Haiyan Wang, Xuanming Liang, Yongsheng Yan, and Xiaohong Shen

TC Chair Geoffrey Edelmann says, “Massive amounts are being recorded in almost every aspect our lives. The data are complex and interconnected in such a way that does not lend themselves to standard tools. Graphs are a tool to model complex interactions among data. Graph signal processing (GSP) is the field of analyzing the products of classical tools such as Fourier transforms, filtering, and correlations in a highly structured methodology; as distances and interactions of data residing on graphs. Thus, different nodes (or signal types) reside as on different representational networks. This paper applies these high concepts to target detection, by comparing the spectra of two such networks. The GSP quantifies their similarity or dissimilarity of multi-scale correlation networks constructed from different time series data and tracking changes in nonlinear dynamics over time. Detection was shown even in low SNR regimes.”

Signal Processing picks

Speech Communication
“Assessing accuracy of resonances obtained with reassigned spectrograms from the ‘ground truth’ of physical vocal tract models,” by Christine H. Shadle, Sean A. Fulop, Wei-Rong Chen, and D. H. Whalen.

TC Chair Benjamin Tucker says, “In the domain of speech communication spectrograms have been a crucial part of speech research. Recently, reassigned spectrograms have been shown to be an effective way to infer vocal tract resonances. Shadle et al. use three-dimensional printed physical tube models excited with white noise to validate the usefulness of reassigned spectrograms in identifying vocal tract resonances. The continual development of these methods could provide speech research with a solution to the long-standing challenge of identifying vocal tract resonances.”

Speech picks

Congratulations to all the authors whose work has been highlighted by the TC chairs!

Celebrating Pride Month with Across Acoustics: Speech Research and Gender-Diverse Speakers

Happy Pride Month, everyone! This is a time to celebrate and uplift the voices of the LGBTQ+ community, and what better way to do so than by diving into some fascinating research that explores the intersections of speech, perception, and gender diversity? In the Across Acoustics episode, “Speech Research Methods and Gender-Diverse Speakers,” Brandon Merritt discusses the article, “Auditory Free Classification of Gender-Diverse Speakers,” published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) with co-authors Tessa Bent, Rowan Kilgore, and Cameron Eads. Their research sheds light on how listeners perceive and classify the gender of speakers, moving beyond the traditional binary notions of gender.

Understanding how we perceive gender in speech has profound implications for communication and inclusivity. By exploring the acoustic and perceptual characteristics that influence gender attribution, Merritt’s research helps to create a more nuanced understanding of gender diversity. This is particularly important for supporting the representation and recognition of transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming individuals in both academic research and everyday interactions.

Brandon Merritt’s contributions to the field of speech and gender perception extend beyond this podcast episode. Here are a couple more publications that you should check out:

“Speech Beyond the Binary: Some Acoustic-Phonetic and Auditory-Perceptual Characteristics of Non-Binary Speakers” (JASA Express Letters, March 2023): This paper explores the acoustic and perceptual features of non-binary speakers, providing insights into how non-binary identities are expressed and perceived through speech.

“Revisiting the Acoustics of Speaker Gender Perception: A Gender Expansive Perspective” (JASA, January 2022): This work revisits traditional models of gender perception in speech, incorporating a broader range of gender identities and offering a more inclusive perspective.

As we celebrate Pride Month, it’s crucial to recognize and support research that honors and explores the diversity of human experience. Brandon Merritt’s work exemplifies this commitment by pushing the boundaries of how we understand and categorize gender through speech. So, take a moment to listen to the podcast, read Merritt’s publications, and reflect on the importance of inclusivity in research and beyond.

Happy Pride Month, and here’s to celebrating the vibrant diversity that makes our world a richer, more understanding place!