Frank Guenther

Frank Guenther

 

 

 

 

Title

Using Neural Modeling to Better Understand Speech Disorders

Abstract

This talk will provide an overview of the DIVA/GODIVA modeling framework, which provides a quantitative account of the neural computations underlying speech motor control (the DIVA model) and multisyllabic sequencing (the GODIVA model). The models are formulated as artificial neural networks, with model nodes associated with specific brain locations, and they learn to control movements of a simulated vocal tract through babbling and imitation phases. In addition to accounting for a wide range of neural and behavioral data concerning typical speech, the models provide a framework for studying speech disorders, including apraxia of speech, stuttering, hypokinetic dysarthria, and locked-in syndrome. Examples of such studies will be presented.  

 

 

Bio

Frank Guenther is a Professor of Speech Language, & Hearing Sciences and Biomedical Engineering at Boston University and a research scientist at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT.  Prof. Guenther’s research combines theoretical modeling with behavioral and neuroimaging experiments to characterize the neural computations underlying speech. He is the originator of the DIVA model, which provides a quantitative and neuroanatomically precise account of the computations underlying speech and their breakdown in communication disorders, and the GODIVA model, which accounts for the neural mechanisms responsible for buffering and sequencing phonological content for an upcoming or ongoing utterance. He has also developed brain-machine interface technology aimed at restoring speech communication to severely paralyzed individuals.  Prof. Guenther is an author of over 100 journal articles and book chapters on speech mechanisms, as well as a book published by MIT Press in 2016 entitled Neural Control of Speech. He is also a recipient of the Willard R. Zemlin Award, one of the top honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and the Curt von Euler Award for Speech Research, awarded by Stockholm University and the Karolinska Institute.