Brain Processing (Auditory Event-Related Potential) of Stressed Versus Unstressed Words in Thai Speech

This study investigated the effect of the stressed word in Thai language on auditory event-related potential (aERP) in unattended conditions. We presented 30 healthy participants with monosyllabic Thai words consisting of either stressed or unstressed words. We instructed them not to attend to the sound stimuli, but rather to watch and memorize the contents of a silent natural documentary without subtitles. The two listening conditions consisted of 20% deviant stimuli (70 stressed and 70 unstressed words, respectively) and 80% standard stimuli (other 280 unstressed words) presented pseudorandomly and binaurally via a pair of earphones. Participants’ aERPs from the two conditions were evaluated by the mismatch negativity (MMN) component of aERP. The mismatch negativity amplitudes in the stressed word condition were significantly higher than those in the unstressed word condition, especially in frontal and left fronto-central brain areas. Therefore, these data show the role of the frontal and left fronto-central brain regions in auditory preattentive processing of stressed word perception among native Thai speakers. This is the first study demonstration that stressed meaningful monosyllable words in tonal language facilitate word perception in this preattentive stage. This result has implications for developing clinical tests evaluating preattentive speech perception.