• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5936-5954
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• 2018

Eight out of the top ten the largest technology companies in the world are involved in some way with the coming mobile VR revolution since Facebook acquired Oculus. This trend has allowed the technology related with mobile VR to achieve remarkable growth in both academic and industry. Therefore, the importance of reproducing the acoustic expression for users to experience more realistic is increasing because auditory cues can enhance the perception of the complicated surrounding environment without the visual system in VR. This paper presents a audio downmixing system for auralization based on hardware, a stage of sound rendering pipelines that can reproduce realiy-like sound but requires high computation costs. The proposed system is verified through an FPGA platform with the special focus on hardware architectural designs for low power and real-time. The results show that the proposed system on an FPGA can downmix maximum 5 sources in real-time rate (52 FPS), with 382 mW low power consumptions. Furthermore, the generated 3D sound with the proposed system was verified with satisfactory results of sound quality via the user evaluation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.9-17
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• 2020

Changes in the first language (L1) sound system as a result of acquiring a second language (L2) (i.e., phonetic drift) have received considerable attention from a variety of speakers, settings, and environments. Less attention has been given to phonetic drift in adult speakers' L2 learning as their length of residence in America (LOR) increases. This study examines the effects of LOR on voice onset time (VOT) in L1 Korean stops. Three different groups of Korean adult learners of L2 English were compared to assess how malleable their L1 representations are in terms of LOR and whether there is any relationship between L1 change and L2 acquisition. The results showed that the effect of LOR was linguistically unimportant in the production of Korean stops. However, VOT merger as evidence of sound change in Korean stops were robust in the speech production of most of the female speakers across the groups. The results suggest that L2 English may not be the primary cause of L1 sound change. For generalizability, further study is necessary to see whether other acoustic cues show a similar pattern.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.35-43
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to compare spatio-temporal parameters during walking between patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease and a control group matched for age, height, and weight. Thirty-three subjects were included in this study. Fifteen normal subjects (age, $63.3{\pm}5.8$ yrs; height, $164.1{\pm}8.7$ cm; weight, $60.7{\pm}17.5$ kg) and eighteen patients (age, $64.0{\pm}7.7$ yrs; height, $164.7{\pm}7.3$ cm; weight, $63.6{\pm}7.7$ kg) participated in the study. The Vicon 512 Motion analysis system was used for gait analysis in each group during walking, with and without an obstacle. The measured spatio-temporal parameters were cadence, walking speed, stride time, step time, single limb support time, double limb support time, stride length, and step length. Results in stride length and step length, when walking without an obstacle, showed a significantly greater decrease in the patient group compared to the control group. During walking with an obstacle, the patient group showed a significantly greater decrease in the step length as compared to the control group. For the control group, there were significant decreases in parameters of cadence and walking speed and increases in parameters of stride time, step time, and single limb support time when walking with an obstacle. The patient group had lower cadence and walking speed and higher stride time, step time, and single limb support time during walking with an obstacle than in walking without an obstacle. These results suggest that patients with Parkinson's disease who walk over an obstacle can decrease cadence, stride length, and step length. Further study is needed, performed with more obstacles and combined with other external cues, such as visual or acoustic guides.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.13-26
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• 2015

Speech production studies have suggested that bilinguals who are L2-dominant are the most likely to suppress the influence of the first language (L1) on the second language (L2). The voice onset times (VOTs) and fundamental frequencies (f0s) of monolingual and bilingual speakers of English and Korean were examined to address the question whether cross language influences occur particularly in L2 predominant bilinguals and to compare their outcomes with those of L2 proficient bilinguals and monolinguals. A total of 28 speakers participated in this experiment and they produced English and Korean stops in the carrier sentence. In English, for voiceless aspirated and unaspirated stops, L2 predominant bilingual speakers produced VOTs that were significantly shorter than those of monolingual English speakers. The outcome was analogous in Korean speech. For aspirated and lax stops, they produced shorter Korean VOTs than monolingual speakers. The results of f0s were slightly different from those of VOTs. In English, L2 predominant bilinguals produced f0s that were not significantly different from those of monolingual English speakers. In Korean, however, they produced f0s that were significantly different from those of monolingual Korean speakers. Taken VOT and f0 into consideration together, the overall results suggest that, although they tend to show a corresponding pattern of monolinguals, L2 predominant bilinguals had cross language phonetic influences between L1 and L2, similar to L2 proficient bilinguals. Between the two acoustic cues, f0 seemed to be a more reliable cue than VOT to examine the influences.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: The Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) test is a clinically effective measure of the integrity of the central auditory nervous system. The GIN procedure can be applied to a pediatric population above 7 years of age. The present study conducted the GIN test to compare the abilities of auditory temporal resolution among typically developing children, children with speech sound disorder (SSD), and children with cognitive difficulty (CD). Subjects and Methods: Children aged 8 to 11 years-(total n=30) participated in this study. There were 10 children in each of the following three groups: typically developing children, children with SSD, and children with CD. The Urimal Test of Articulation and Phonology was conducted as a clinical assessment of the children's articulation and phonology. The Korean version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (K-WISC-III) was administered as a screening test for general cognitive function. According to the procedure of Musiek, the pre-recorded stimuli of the GIN test were presented at 50 dB SL. The results were scored by the approximated threshold and the overall percent correct score (%). Results: All the typically developing children had normal auditory temporal resolution based on the clinical cutoff criteria of the GIN test. The children with SSD or CD had significantly reduced gap detection performance compared to age-matched typically developing children. The children's intelligence score measured by the K-WISC-III test explained 37% of the variance in the percent-correct score. Conclusions: Children with SSD or CD exhibited poorer ability to resolve rapid temporal acoustic cues over time compared to the age-matched typically developing children. The ability to detect a brief temporal gap embedded in a stimulus may be related to the general cognitive ability or phonological processing.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.133-139
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: The Gaps-In-Noise (GIN) test is a clinically effective measure of the integrity of the central auditory nervous system. The GIN procedure can be applied to a pediatric population above 7 years of age. The present study conducted the GIN test to compare the abilities of auditory temporal resolution among typically developing children, children with speech sound disorder (SSD), and children with cognitive difficulty (CD). Subjects and Methods: Children aged 8 to 11 years-(total n=30) participated in this study. There were 10 children in each of the following three groups: typically developing children, children with SSD, and children with CD. The Urimal Test of Articulation and Phonology was conducted as a clinical assessment of the children's articulation and phonology. The Korean version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (K-WISC-III) was administered as a screening test for general cognitive function. According to the procedure of Musiek, the pre-recorded stimuli of the GIN test were presented at 50 dB SL. The results were scored by the approximated threshold and the overall percent correct score (%). Results: All the typically developing children had normal auditory temporal resolution based on the clinical cutoff criteria of the GIN test. The children with SSD or CD had significantly reduced gap detection performance compared to age-matched typically developing children. The children's intelligence score measured by the K-WISC-III test explained 37% of the variance in the percent-correct score. Conclusions: Children with SSD or CD exhibited poorer ability to resolve rapid temporal acoustic cues over time compared to the age-matched typically developing children. The ability to detect a brief temporal gap embedded in a stimulus may be related to the general cognitive ability or phonological processing.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.17-26
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• 2023

This study aimed to reveal how Vietnamese adult learners at three different proficiency levels perceive Korean word-initial obstruents and whether errors can be corrected through perceptual training. To this end, 105 Vietnamese beginner, intermediate, and advanced learners were given perceptual training on Korean word-initial. The training materials were created by actively utilizing Korean minimal pairs as natural stimuli recorded by native speakers. Learners in the experimental group performed five 20-40 minute self-directed perceptual training sessions over a period of approximately two weeks, while learners in the control group only participated in the pretest and posttest. The results showed a significant improvement in the perception of sounds that were difficult to distinguish before training, and both beginners and advanced learners benefited from the training. This study confirmed that large-scale perceptual training can play an important role in helping Vietnamese learners learn the appropriate acoustic cues to distinguish different sounds in Korean.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

Tohoku Japanese is known to have voiced stops without pre-voicing in word-initial position, whereas traditional or conservative Japanese has voiced stops with pre-voicing in the same position. One problem with this devoicing of voiced stops is that it affects the distinction between voiced and voiceless stops because their voice onset time (VOT) values overlap. Previous studies have confirmed that Tohoku speakers use post-stop fundamental frequency (F0) as an acoustic cue along with VOT to avoid overlap. However, the role of post-stop F0 as a perceptual cue in this region has barely been investigated. Therefore, this study explored the role of post-stop F0 in stop voicing perception along with VOT. Several perception tests were conducted using resynthesized stimuli, which were manipulated along a VOT continuum orthogonal to an F0 continuum. The results showed no significant regional difference (Tohoku vs. Chubu) for nonsense words (/ta-da/). However, for meaningful words (/pari/ 'Paris' vs. /bari/ 'Bali,' /piza/ 'pizza' vs. /biza/ 'visa'), a significant word effect was found, and it was confirmed that some listeners utilized the post-stop F0 more consistently and steadily than others. Based on these results, we discuss innovative listeners who may lead the change in the perception of stop voicing.