communication

Speech Emerges In Children On The Autism Spectrum With Severe Language Delay At Greater Rate Than Previously Thought
03/04/2013 - 10:30

New findings published in Pediatrics (Epub ahead of print) by the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight. This suggests that more children presenting with ASD and severe language delay at age four can be expected to make notable language gains than was previously thought. Abnormalities in communication and language are a defining feature of ASD, yet prior research into the factors predicting the age and quality of speech attainment has been limited.

 

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Secrets of Human Speech Uncovered
02/22/2013 - 15:16

A team of researchers at UC San Francisco has uncovered the neurological basis of speech motor control, the complex coordinated activity of tiny brain regions that controls our lips, jaw, tongue and larynx as we speak. Described this week in the journal Nature, the work has potential implications for developing computer-brain interfaces for artificial speech communication and for the treatment of speech disorders. It also sheds light on an ability that is unique to humans among living creatures but poorly understood.

 

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'Standard Quantum Limit' Smashed, Could Mean Better Fiber-Optic Comms
01/10/2013 - 13:54

Communicating with light may soon get a lot easier, hints recent research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland's Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), where scientists have potentially found a way to overcome a longstanding barrier to cleaner signals.

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New communication systems would allow vehicles to 'talk' with roadways
11/05/2012 - 10:44

Someday, your auto and the roadway will be in constant communication and able to suggest route changes to avoid accidents, construction, and congestion; coordinate your vehicle with signal lights, other vehicles, and lane markers; and let you know where you can park. Right now, a fleet of instrumented vehicles are testing these systems on two instrumented test beds – one in Northern Virginia and one in Southwestern Virginia.

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Bats use the sound of copulating flies as a cue for foraging
07/24/2012 - 13:13

Mating at night does not necessarily lead to offspring, at least in flies: males produce a buzzing sound with their wings that can be perceived by bats. Stefan Greif from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, and colleagues, observed this in a long-term study on wild Natterer’s bats that eat the copulating flies in a double-sized meal. Flies that were just sitting or walking on the ceiling did not elicit a predatory response by the bats. This is the first experimental evidence how mating itself can be risky.

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Caltech biologists locate brain's processing point for acoustic signals essential to human communication
03/08/2012 - 11:24

In both animals and humans, vocal signals used for communication contain a wide array of different sounds that are determined by the vibrational frequencies of vocal cords. For example, the pitch of someone's voice, and how it changes as they are speaking, depends on a complex series of varying frequencies. Knowing how the brain sorts out these different frequencies—which are called frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps—is believed to be essential to understanding many hearing-related behaviors, like speech. Now, a pair of biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has identified how and where the brain processes this type of sound signal.

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