Presented by: Kristen Mitchell

1. Brainstem responses to voice pitch in chinese newborns to four different mandarin chinese tones Presented by: Kristen Mitchell

2. Introduction: Voice Pitch • Voice pitch is an auditory perception that reflects the brain’s ability to discriminate between the different characteristics of pitch in speech • The different pitches of your voice can have different lexical meanings depending on which linguistic environment you are in • Tonal language • Mandarin Chinese • yi¹ vs. yi² vs. yi³ vs. yi4

3. Introduction: Innate Ability • According to Eimaset al. (1971) • Newborns have the ability to differentiate between the different adult phonemes • According to Kuhl (2010) • Without having any prior experience in a specific linguistic environment, newborns and young infants have the ability to discriminate between nonnative speech sounds

4. Introduction: Frequency-Following response • FFR is a scalp-recorded, electrophysiological measure that can be used to provide information about pitch coding at the level of the brainstem • Objective response • Non-invasive • Produced when low-frequency acoustic stimuli is presented to the auditory system • Synchronous electrical activity in each wave corresponds to the acoustic signal Gardi et al., (1979); Krishnan (2002); Jeng et al., (2010); Jeng et al., (2011)

5. Introduction: Why is FFR important? • Determine the neural plasticity of the pitch processing mechanisms at the level of the brainstem • Help make direct comparisons with adults • Help identify individuals with deficits in pitch processing • Autism spectrum disorders • Hearing impairment • Specific language impairment • Language-based learning problems Russo et al., (2008); Chandrasekaran et al., (2009); Jeng et al., (2010)

6. Introduction: Current Study • Aims • Determine if we can record the FFR of newborns to voice pitch using four different Mandarin Chinese tones • Hypothesis • We will be able to record the FFR of newborns to voice pitch using four different Mandarin Chinese tones • The responses to the four different Mandarin Chinese tones will be the same in the Chinese newborns • There will be no differences between the four tones

7. Methods: Participants • Forty-four participants • Chinese newborns • 18 females • 26 males • Normal hearing • Assessed by an automated auditory brainstem response screening tool • Free of any neurological disorders or newborn hearing risk factors through self-report

8. Methods: stimuli • Four different Mandarin Chinese tones that mimic the English vowel /i/ Flat pitch Rising pitch Falling-rising Falling pitch pitch

9. Methods: parameters • Recorded by a male Mandarin speaker • Neuroscan Acquire v4.5 software • Silent interval: 45 msec between onset and offset • Repetition rate: 3.39/second

10. Methods: parameters • Presentation • Stimulus to either the right or left ear • Using an ER-3A transducer and an ER3-14D2 infant ear tip • Intensity • 60 dB SPL • Polarity • Alternating polarity

11. Methods: Recording parameters • Recording took place at the hospital in Taiwan • Resting or fast asleep • Three gold-plated electrodes • Impedance < 3 kΩ • Amplified, filter and digitized

12. Methods: Data Analysis • Data analyzed using MATLAB • Band-passed filtered • Segmented into 295 msec in length • Sweep were rejected if voltages were >25μV • 4,001 sweeps collected for each infant • Frequency spectrogram • Used to estimate the f0 contours of the recordings

13. Methods: Data Analysis • Objective measures • Frequency error • Slope error • Tracking accuracy • Spectral amplitude • Pitch strength • RMS amplitude

14. Results: Frequency spectrograms/time waveforms

15. Results: FFR indices Frequency error (top left), p = 0.170; Slope error (top middle), p = 0.000; Tracking accuracy (top right), p = 0.152; Spectral amplitude (bottom left), p = 0.005; Pitch strength (bottom middle), p = 0.001 and RMS amplitude (bottom right), p = 0.176. There were significant differences in slope error, spectral amplitude and pitch strength for all four tones.

16. conclusion • FFR is recordable in newborn infants that are less than three days old to four different Mandarin Chinese tones • The human brainstem has the ability to follow the f0 contours of the recordings • Supports the possibility that we are born with the ability to identify and track changes in voice pitch • Innate processing • There are significant differences in the FFR between the four different Mandarin Chinese tones • Future goals • Continue collecting more data • Compare English vs. Chinese

17. References • Aiken, S. J., & Picton, T. W. (2006). Envelope following responses to natural vowels. AudiolNeurootol, 11, 213-232. • Bryner, J. (2009, November 11). Human Speech Gene Found. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/7973-human-speech-gene.html. • Carral, V., Huotilainen, M., Ruusuvirta, T., et al. (2005). A kind of auditory ‘primitive intelligence’ already present at birth. Eur J Neurosci, 21, 3201–3204. • Chandrasekaran, B., Hornickel, J., Skoe, E., et al. (2009). Context-Dependent Encoding in the Human Auditory Brainstem Relates to Hearing Speech in Noise: Implications for Developmental Dyslexia. Neuron, 64, 311-319. • Chamberlain, D. (2013). Windows to the Womb: Revealing the Conscious Baby from Conception to Birth. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books. • Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P., et al. (1971). Speech perception in infants. Science, 171, 303–306. • Faure, M. & Richardson, A. (2002). Baby Sense. New York, NY: Citadel Press Books. • Gardi, J., Salamy, A., Mendelson, T. (1979). Scalp-recorded frequency-following responses in neonates. Audiology, 18, 494–506. • Jeng, F.-C., Hu, J., Dickman, B., et al. (2011). Evaluation of two algorithms for detecting human frequency following responses to voice pitch. Int J Audiol, 50, 14–26. • Jeng, F.-C., Schnabel, E. A., Dickman, B. M., et al. (2010). Early maturation of frequency-following responses to voice pitch in infants with normal hearing. Percept Mot Skills, 111, 765–784. • Krishnan, A. (2002). Human frequency-following responses: Representation of steady-state synthetic vowels. Hear Res, 166, 192–201.

18. references • Krishnan, A., Xu, Y., Gandour, J., et al. (2004). Human frequency-following response: Representation of pitch contours in Chinese tones. Hear Res, 189, 1–12. • Krishnan, A., Xu, Y., Gandour, J., et al. (2005). Encoding of pitch in the human brainstem is sensitive to language experience. Cogn Brain Res, 25, 161–168. • Kuhl, P. K. (2010). Brain mechanisms in early language acquisition. Neuron, 67, 713–727. • Kuhl, P. K., Stevens, E., Hayashi, A., et al. (2006). Infants show a facilitation effect for native language phonetic perception between 6 and12 months. Dev Sci, 9, F13–F21. • LiveScience Staff. (2012, July 11). 5 Useless Body Parts. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/21513-vestigial-organs.html. • Moore, B. (1995). Hearing. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc. • Russo, N. M., Nicol, T. G., Zecker, S. G., et al. (2005). Auditory training improves neural timing in the human brainstem. Behav Brain Res, 156, 95–103. • Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (1984). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behav Dev, 7, 49–63.

19. acknowledgments • A BIG THANK YOU TO: • Dr. Jeng • My Labmates • My Classmates • My Family & Friends

20. questions