Seminaires: BLRI, Sonifying handwriting movements, Baboon speak,12 avril 2013, Aix-en-Provence, LPL

[Thierry Hamon]

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:21:54 +0100
From: Nadéra Bureau <nadera.bureau at blri.fr>
Message-ID: <00cc01ce23db$8f4c37f0$ade4a7d0$@bureau at blri.fr>


Vendredi 12 avril 2013

16h Salle de conférences B011, bât. B 

5 avenue Pasteur, Aix-en-Provence LPL

Jérémy DANNA

(BLRI) 

Sonifying handwriting movements for the diagnosis and the rehabilitation
of movement disorders.

Résumé : Except for the slight scratching of the pen, handwriting is a
silent activity. Transforming it into an audible activity might sound
curious. However, because audition is particularly appropriate for the
perception of fine temporal and dynamical differences, using sounds to
gain information about handwriting movements seems judicious. We use the
sonification that consists in adding synthetic sounds to silent
movements in order to provide support for information processing
activities. The idea is to associate a melodious sound, which flows, to
a fluent handwriting, and a dissonant sound, which squeaks, to a jerky
handwriting. By sonifying the relevant variables of handwriting in
dysgraphic children or in Parkinsonian patients, it could be possible to
detect their handwritings troubles 'by ear' only. My talk will be
organized in two parts. First, I will expose an experiment showing that
adding relevant auditory information is sufficient for discriminating
the handwriting of dysgraphic children and the skilled handwriting of
proficient children 'by ear' only. I will also present an experiment in
progress in which real-time auditory feedback are supplied to help
dysgraphic children to improve their handwriting movements. Secondly, I
will present the BLRI project that consists in using computerized
analysis and sonification of handwriting movements for the early
diagnosis of Parkinson Disease.

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Caralyn Kemp 

(BLRI) 

Grunt yak wahoo: baboon speak.

Résumé : Primates vocalise to maintain contact with conspecifics, warn
of predators, alert group members to food and to advertise territory,
sexual availability and size, but we know surprisingly little about how
and why these calls are produced. Can they be varied and is this context
dependent?  Are these calls vocal responses to emotional states or can
they be produced voluntarily? How does the production of these calls
compare to human speech?  Studying these questions not only helps us to
understand what our closest relatives are saying, but also helps us to
understand the evolution of our own speech. As part of a larger study
considering these questions, I am examining the vocalisations of a
captive group of Guinea baboons at the Primate Cognition and Behavior
Platform in Rousset. The main goal of this aspect of the project is to
produce a large-scale database in order to 1) characterise the vocal
repertoire of this baboon species, 2) determine the acoustic features of
the vocalisations, and 3) test the descriptive adequacy of existing
categories. Determining the precise repertoire of baboon vocalisations
will allow us to specify the 'acoustic space' that the vocal track of
baboons can produce and how this compares to human vowel
production. Taking into consideration the social context in which these
vocalisations are produced and how specific situations alter vocal
production, we aim to determine whether the baboons are capable of
producing these calls voluntarily.

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