Interpretable Assessment of Speech Intelligibility Using Deep Learning: A Case Study on Speech Disorders Due to Head and Neck Cancers

Sondes Abderrazek, Corinne Fredouille, Alain Ghio, Muriel Lalain, Christine Meunier, Mathieu Balaguer, Virginie Woisard


Abstract
This paper sheds light on a relatively unexplored area which is deep learning interpretability for speech disorder assessment and characterization. Building upon a state-of-the-art methodology for the explainability and interpretability of hidden representation inside a deep-learning speech model, we provide a deeper understanding and interpretation of the final intelligibility assessment of patients experiencing speech disorders due to Head and Neck Cancers (HNC). Promising results have been obtained regarding the prediction of speech intelligibility and severity of HNC patients while giving relevant interpretations of the final assessment both at the phonemes and phonetic feature levels. The potential of this approach becomes evident as clinicians can acquire more valuable insights for speech therapy. Indeed, this can help identify the specific linguistic units that affect intelligibility from an acoustic point of view and enable the development of tailored rehabilitation protocols to improve the patient’s ability to communicate effectively, and thus, the patient’s quality of life.
Anthology ID:
2024.lrec-main.803
Volume:
Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024)
Month:
May
Year:
2024
Address:
Torino, Italia
Editors:
Nicoletta Calzolari, Min-Yen Kan, Veronique Hoste, Alessandro Lenci, Sakriani Sakti, Nianwen Xue
Venues:
LREC | COLING
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA and ICCL
Note:
Pages:
9170–9179
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.lrec-main.803
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Sondes Abderrazek, Corinne Fredouille, Alain Ghio, Muriel Lalain, Christine Meunier, Mathieu Balaguer, and Virginie Woisard. 2024. Interpretable Assessment of Speech Intelligibility Using Deep Learning: A Case Study on Speech Disorders Due to Head and Neck Cancers. In Proceedings of the 2024 Joint International Conference on Computational Linguistics, Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC-COLING 2024), pages 9170–9179, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
Cite (Informal):
Interpretable Assessment of Speech Intelligibility Using Deep Learning: A Case Study on Speech Disorders Due to Head and Neck Cancers (Abderrazek et al., LREC-COLING 2024)
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PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/nschneid-patch-4/2024.lrec-main.803.pdf