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Courses taught at University of Minnesota
SLHS 1301W The Physics and Biology of Spoken Language
(4 credits; meets physical science and writing requirements)
This course covers the physics and biology of spoken language, from the
talker’s production of sounds and words, to the transmission of sound,
to the listener’s perception of what was said. Computer analysis and
synthesis of speech are incorporated into the course content.
SLHS 3301 Introduction to Acoustics
(3 credits; meets physical science requirement)
This course addresses elements of acoustics necessary to understand
quantitative aspects of speech and hearing science, speech-language
pathology, and audiology. The nature of sound, sound transmission,
simple harmonic motion, sound intensity and pressure, complex waves,
resonance and filtering, and distortion is discussed.
This course is currently reshaped into speech science and acoustics.
Honors Seminar: The Science of Speech: Language and the Brain
(Reserved for Students in the Honors Program)
This seminar is about language, a unique and fascinating product of the
human mind/brain. We will examine human language in all aspects of its
structure and use in comparison with animal communication systems. We
are especially interested in how infants crack the speech code with so
much ease and how early experience alters the brain, thereby affecting
an individual’s future perceptions and actions. Both historical
perspectives and current research will be introduced and discussed.
Students are expected to learn not only the basics of speech acoustics,
speech anatomy and physiology and properties of the auditory system but
also the cutting-edge technology of computer speech synthesis,
automatic speech recognition, and modern brain imaging techniques.
Dominant methods in speech and language research will be compared and
contrasted, especially in tests of special populations involving
infants, bilingual children, autistic children, dyslexics, and
aphasics. A variety of delivery formats will be used, including video
demonstrations, guest lectures, student presentations, debates, and
software package tutorials. Hands-on experiments will be assigned as an
integral component of the discussion, covering digital processing of
speech and music, cross-language comparisons of speech acoustics and
speech perception, brain anatomy tutor, neural activity simulator and
neural network models of linguistic functions.
Graduate Seminar in Speech — Neuroimaging
(Open to anyone who is interested in the topic)
Advanced study and analysis of research in speech/language science and brain imaging.
The course web sites are hosted by the University WebVista system, which is open only to students who are registered for the courses.
Note: Zhang will be on leave in the Fall of 2009. The courses, if offered, will be taught by other professors.
Course Schedule and Registration
Click here to go to UMN course schedule for basic information and online registration.
Questions & Answers
Speech, Music and the Brain
Q: How do I generate the hummed pitch for speech using Praat?
A: Please click here to see the answer in pdf format.
Q: Is there any neural evidence to support the notions of pitch,
timbre, rhythm, and semantics (or emotion) of music and specific
cognitive disorders in perceiving the different aspects of music?
A: I hope the lecture by Professor Griffiths can answer your question satisfactorily.
Click here to view the lecture in .wmv format.
Q: What is amusia? Is it a kind of aphasia for music?
A: Please check out this video discussion by Professor Oliver Sacks.
More related online videos:
Dr. Sacks on Musicophilia
Dr. Tallal on Music training, temporal processing, and language learning
Dr. Kuhl on how babies learning language and how the head-turn technique can test infants' speech discrimination ability
