Feature Channels: Speech & Language

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Some children with autism may develop language skills independently of the joint attention skills usually associated with language learning.

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Using English as the language of instruction in higher education has a marked negative impact on learning outcomes when it is not the students’ first language, according to a new study from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

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A Cornell University committee has released recommendations for how faculty can take generative artificial intelligence into account when considering learning objectives for their students.

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Chulalongkorn University Language Institute (CULI) is delighted to invite all to join the international conference “ELT in the New Era: From Basic to Higher Education”, and log in for online post-conference workshops via Zoom from November 23-25, 2023, at Thailand’s time zone (GMT+7).

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The Speech Accessibility Project is almost halfway through its first phase of gathering voice recordings from people with Parkinson’s. Project participant and Parkinson's advocate Ethan Henderson can comment.

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A Cornell-led team found the algorithm behind Google Ads charged far more to deliver online ads to Spanish speakers about the benefits of SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

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It's that time of year again. For media working on stories about the seasonal return to school, here are the latest features and experts in the Back-To-School channel on Newswise.

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Feathers, fins or fur, all pets can make us feel happier. Now, new research from the University of South Australia shows that pet ownership and pet care can also support communication and wellbeing, especially for people with acquired language difficulties such as aphasia.

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If you have foreign friends, how do you introduce them to Thailand? Thailand has a lot of charms to indulge in, but one of the appeals one cannot deny is the “Thai language” which, in any shape or form, is so melodious and pleasing to the ear.

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Constant Therapy Health, a next generation digital health company, today announced that the organization is empowering Boston University Center for Brain Recovery and The University of Texas at Austin neuroscientists, data engineers and computational scientists with the AI-driven, real-world data needed to bring precision medicine to post-stroke speech, language and cognitive rehabilitation.

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The latest research in psychology and psychiatry on Newswise.

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English serves as a convenient, common language for science. However, this practice poses insurmountable barriers to those whose first language is not English — the majority of people around the world. According to research published on July 18th in the open access journal PLOS Biology.

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Musical rhythms can help children with speech and language processing difficulties in finding their voice by improving their capacity to repeat sentences they just heard, according to a study led by a Western Sydney University researcher and co-authored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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Distinct, though neighboring, areas of the brain are activated when processing music and language, with specific sub-regions engaged for simple melodies versus complex melodies, and for simple versus complex sentences, according to research from UTHealth Houston.

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A new study, led by the University of Portsmouth, suggests young children are more vocal when interacting with toys and household items, highlighting their importance for developing language skills.

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Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a study led by the University of Warwick.

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Laughter and humour are potent tools that can significantly impact our wellbeing, according to research conducted by the University of Warwick.

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The LaundryCares Foundation announces a collaborative initiative with Sonic Suds to address the literacy gap in the Newark community. On Tuesday, June 20, we invite the residents of Newark, New Jersey to Sonic Suds, located at 685 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, for a Free Laundry and Literacy Day event.

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New Voices in Translation Studies journal, produced by the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS) in conjunction with Chalermprakiat Center of Translation and Interpretation, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, has been ranked among the top 10% (Tier 1) of journals with the highest SJR citation value, at 28th out of 982 journals in the Literature and Literary Theory category, and 274th out of 1,159 journals, or in Quartile 1, in the Linguistics and Language category, on the Scopus/SJR database.

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Hackensack Meridian Health and its Bear’s Den program invest in company to help detect potential health problems hinted in speech patterns

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An effective treatment for most stroke victims — even those who, today, are unable to gain access to care within the first few hours.

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For the parents of children who stutter, managing the communication disorder alone can be stressful and isolating. At Saint Louis University’s Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic, one mother discovered a team to help her daughter communicate more confidently at school and home.

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Artificial intelligence-powered writing assistants that autocomplete sentences or offer “smart replies” not only put words into people’s mouths, they also put ideas into their heads, according to new research.

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Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden's new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempt to cross before the measure expires on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must go through.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Get your mental health news here.

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At the 184th ASA Meeting, Yolanda Holt of East Carolina University will describe aspects of the systematic variation between African American English and white American English speech production in children. Holt and her team examined final consonant cluster in 4- and 5-year-olds and using instrumental acoustic phonetic analysis, they discovered that the variation in final consonant production in AAE is likely not a wholesale elimination of word endings but is perhaps a difference in aspects of articulation. Professional understanding of the difference between typical variation and errors is the first step for accurately identifying speech and language disorder.

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At the 184th ASA Meeting, Georgia Zellou and Michelle Cohn of the University of California, Davis will describe experiments to investigate how speech and comprehension change when humans communicate with AI. They examined how people adjust their voice when communicating with an AI system compared to talking with another human and, on the listening side, how what a device sounds like impacts how well listeners will understand it.

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At the 184th ASA Meeting, Emily Sandgren and Joshua Alexander of Purdue University will describe experiments to determine the best hearing aids for listening to music. To test and compare, they took over 200 recordings of music samples as processed by hearing aids from seven popular manufacturers. They asked study participants to rate the sound quality of these recordings and found that the hearing aids had lower ratings for music than their control stimuli. The researchers found bigger differences in music quality between hearing aid brands than between speech and music programs.

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To address the statewide shortage of K-12 credentialed teachers who teach Asian languages, Cal State Fullerton’s College of Education will lead the California State University Asian Language Bilingual Teacher Education Program Consortium.

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Similar to humans, chimpanzees combine vocalizations into larger communicatively meaningful structures. UZH researchers suggest that this ability might be evolutionarily more ancient than previously thought.

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Mutations of a gene called Foxp2 have been linked to a type of speech disorder called apraxia that makes it difficult to produce sequences of sound.

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Author Jamaica Kincaid will receive the 2024 St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Libraries. Kincaid will come to St. Louis next spring to accept the award.

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The Penn State Center for the Protection of Children, in partnership with the Office of Head Start, has launched a Spanish-language version of the iLookOut for Child Abuse (iLookOut) program nationwide.

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The 184th ASA Meeting will include three press conferences on Tuesday, May 9. The in-person presentations will also be livestreamed and recorded. Topics will focus on a wide range of newsworthy sessions, including 3D-printing head simulators, tracking immune cells with ultrasound, investigating the impact of skin color on breast cancer diagnosis, mimicking insects to create miniature microphones, and locating leaks in water networks. Reporters can register for in-person or virtual attendance.

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Bilingual people from cultural backgrounds in which mental health is a particularly taboo topic may be more likely to support treatment when they hear information in their second language.

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Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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UCI Libraries is hosting a reception to celebrate the opening of its newest exhibit, “400 Years of Shakespeare’s First Folio.” The event begins at the Irvine Barclay Theatre with a discussion between Derek Quezada, exhibit curator and rare-books librarian at the University of Southern California, and Eric Rasmussen, Regents Teaching Professor and Foundation Professor of English at the University of Nevada, Reno.