Rhythm Over Alphabet: Why Babies Need Nursery Rhymes for Language Mastery
Babies don’t begin to process phonetic information reliably until seven months old – which researchers say is too late to form the foundation of language….
Speech News
Loud and Clear: The Neurological Secrets Behind Hearing in Noisy Surroundings
Columbia University scientists have found that the brain encodes speech differently based on its clarity and our focus on it. This discovery, involving distinct processing…
Language Impairments Unraveled: How Mutations in a Language Gene Produce Speech Deficits
Faulty versions of the Foxp2 gene disrupt neurons’ ability to form synapses in brain regions involved in speech, a new study shows. Mutations of a…
AI Can Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer’s in Speech Patterns – Before Symptoms Begin To Show
O’Donnell Brain Institute researcher says findings may lead to a simple screening test for early detection of cognitive impairment. New technologies that can capture subtle…
How Left Brain Asymmetry Is Related to Reading Ability – Two “Opposing” Theories Are Both Correct
Different ways of looking at structural asymmetry show parallel effects on processing of speech sounds related to dyslexia. Researchers led by Mark Eckert at the…
Brain Region Responsible for Making Sure People Pronounce Words As Intended
Findings Could Help Treat Speech Problems A region crossing the folded surface of the top of the brain, called the dorsal precentral gyrus, plays an…
Neuroimaging Is Leading to Much Better Understanding of Brain Function During Speech and How Stuttering Arises
Stuttering starts at speech initiation, not due to impaired motor skills. Theory suggests anomalies in the brain’s initiation circuit cause stuttering. About one in 20…
What Makes a Voice Attractive? Researchers Find Surprising Differences Between Genders
Voices of reason? Study links acoustic correlations, gender to vocal appeal. What makes a voice attractive? The question is the subject of broad interest, with…
How the Brain Distinguishes Speech From Noise: New Neural Circuit Identified
Researchers provide the first physiological evidence that a foundational center of the brain influences how sound is processed, identify a previously unknown neural circuit. For…
Learning of Foreign Language Sounds Boosted by Non-invasive Nerve Stimulation
New research by neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh and University of California San Francisco (UCSF) revealed that a simple, earbud-like device developed at UCSF…
Speech Processing Hierarchy in the Dog Brain – Exciting Similarities With Humans
The study reveals exciting speech processing similarities between us and a speechless species. Dog brains, just as human brains, process speech hierarchically: intonations at lower,…
Researchers Show That a Hyperactive Network Causes Stuttering
Roughly, one in a hundred adults has problems with speaking fluently. Not much is known about the causes of persistent developmental stuttering, which is the…
New Research Shows Vocalizing Birds Could Tell Us More About Speech Disorders
New genomics research from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory suggests vocalizing birds could tell us more about speech disorders. Think that sparrow whistling…
Captive Beluga Whale Was Able to Mimic Speech
When a beluga’s caretakers heard noises that sounded like garbled phrases emanating from its enclosure, they realized that the whale might be imitating the voices…
“Area X” of Zebra Finch May Provide Insights to Human Speech Disorders
The male zebra finch has some 2,000 genes in a region of the brain known as “Area X” that are significantly linked to singing and…
Study Finds Goats Adjust Their Vocalizations to Surroundings
The sounds that animals make are determined by their genes, but a new study published in the journal Animal Behaviour shows that pygmy goats (Capra…
Neuroscientists Decode Correlation Between Sound and Brain Activity
UC Berkeley neuroscientists are hoping to be able to hear the unsaid words of patients in the near future. While conducting their research, they were…