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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1980

Speech-production measures of speech perception: rapid shadowing of VCV syllables.

Five listeners rapidly repeated ("shadowed") a random presentation of the vowel-consonant vowels (VCV's)/aba, apa, ama, aka, aga/. Initial vowel duration was varied to eliminate it as a temporal cue to the occurrence of the consonant. These shadowing, choice reaction times (RT's) were compared to simple RT's obtained when listeners always produced /aba/ or /ba/ to the same syllables. Both /aba/ and shadowing reactions were extremely fast (170 to 240 ms). Latency differences between the two tasks were attributable to differences in the point at which cues sufficient for responding were present. These results suggest that speech-perception decisions in shadowing are directly available to, and are perhaps made to occur at a point comparable to the consonantal release seen for the simple /aba/ responses. This result suggests that the motor organization required for a /ba/ response includes an implicit time interval appropriate for a consonantal closure.

Female↗
PubMed1985

Pressure measurements during speech production using semiconductor miniature pressure transducers: impact on models for speech production.

It appears that temperature instabilities are a major obstacle hindering the use of semiconductor strain gauge pressure transducers in speech research, especially when absolute pressure data are mandatory. In this paper a simple and reliable method for an in vivo calibration of this kind of transducer is described. The most important error source, the drift of the zero pressure level due to temperature changes, is discussed, and an estimation of the measurement accuracy which can be obtained is given. Moreover, some registrations of subglottal, supraglottal, and transglottal pressure are presented. It is shown that the pressure recordings allow us to obtain estimates of the volume flow in the trachea and pharynx. Analysis of those waveforms appears to lead to new insights into the physical processes underlying voice production. Specifically, an independent glottal contribution to the skewing of the glottal flow pulses is identified.

Calibration↗
PubMed2005

Acoustic and aerodynamic measurement of speech production after supracricoid partial laryngectomy.

BACKGROUND: Supracricoid partial laryngectomy (SCPL) results in laryngeal preservation in more than 95% of patients with T2 glottic carcinoma. After surgery, glottis function is characterized by an absence of vocal cords and poor glottis closure. Voice is an important postSCPL quality of life factor. OBJECTIVE: Enhance postSCPL vocal function. Obtain postsurgical acoustic and aerodynamic measurements and correlate multiple objective parameters with perceptual results. METHOD: Continuous speech voice samples from 61 patients who had undergone SCPL more than 1 year before were scored according to the global, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale by a jury of listeners. Acoustic and aerodynamic parameters were recorded: fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, jitter, shimmer, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-noise ratio greater than 1 kHz (SNR>1), oral airflow (OAF), maximum phonation time (MPT), and estimated subglottic pressure (ESGP). Nonparametric tests and logistic regression analysis were used to compare objective measurements and perceptual evaluations. RESULTS: All patients had various degrees of dysphonia: grade 1, 4.9%; grade 2, 55.7%; and grade 3, 39.4%. Correlations between perceptual grades and objective parameters were obtained for jitter, shimmer, SNR, SNR>1, ESGP, and OAF. No correlations were obtained between the different parameters and age, number of arytenoids, and time elapsed since surgery (TESS). Logistic regression analysis of jitter, SNR, ESGP, and OAF parameters revealed 92.6% agreement with the perceptual evaluation results.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship between early speech and later speech and language performance for children with cleft lip and palate.

This study examined the relationship between speech measures at presurgery/9 months and postsurgery/13 months and speech and language performance at 21 months for children with cleft lip and palate and their noncleft peers. Comparisons were also made between the speech and lexical development of children with cleft lip and palate and noncleft children at 21 months of age. The participants included 30 children; 15 with cleft lip and palate and 15 noncleft children. Results revealed differences between the groups for several measures of speech and lexical development at 21 months. For the children with cleft palate, correlational analyses suggested that true stop production, both immediately before and after palatal surgery, was positively correlated with a majority of the speech production measures at 21 months. At postsurgery/13 months, true stop production was related to later vocabulary development, and size of true consonant inventory was related to all measure of speech production and one measure of lexical development at 21 months. For the noncleft group, true canonical babbling ratio at 13 months was the only measure that was significantly correlated with any of the speech and/or language measures at 21 months. The impact of clefting on prelinguistic and later speech and language skills is discussed.

Cleft Lip↗
PubMed2002

Receptive and expressive language skills of 106 children with a minimum of 2 years' experience in hearing with a cochlear implant.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the speech development of children with at least 2 years' hearing experience with a cochlear implant (CI). METHODS: One hundred and six children were tested, all of whom had used the CI for at least 2 years. Receptive and expressive language development were tested using the scales of early communication skills for hearing-impaired children after Geers and Moog and the Reynell developmental language scales III. In addition, free-field audiometry was performed. Pre-postoperative measurements were compared statistically, and a linear regression analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Clear improvements in the gain in functional hearing 2 years after receiving the CI as well as clear improvements in both speech perception and speech production were ascertained. All deviations were statistically highly significant (P<0.000). The receptive and expressive speech test results correlate positively to a great extent. The results of logistic regressive analysis indicate that the speech production measured depends decisively on age at implantation, age at time of test, speech production before implantation, and additional handicaps. CONCLUSION: Based on the conception of the WHO, a statistically significant improvement of both impairment and disability can be confirmed. In the present study, the regression analysis established the age at implantation as the most important prognostic factor. While the percentage of children with good speech development is larger with early implanted children than with late implanted children, some of the children among the early implanted group show unsatisfactory speech development of unknown origin. Improvements in speech development are likely to be achieved when more children are diagnosed and implanted early. This finding urgently requires the introduction of a general newborn screening program. Thorough anamnesis and assessment during parent counseling of the manifold factors described are a prerequisite for the precise estimation of the difficulties to be met and the expected effectiveness of the implant in each individual case.

Audiometry↗
PubMed2005

The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance.

A group of 21 hard-of-hearing and deaf children attending primary school were trained by their teachers on the production of selected consonants and on the meanings of selected words. Speech production, vocabulary knowledge, reading aloud, and speech perception measures were obtained before and after each type of training. The speech production training produced a small but significant improvement in the percentage of consonants correctly produced in words. The vocabulary training improved knowledge of word meanings substantially. Performance on speech perception and reading aloud were significantly improved by both types of training. These results were in accord with the predictions of a mathematical model put forward to describe the relationships between speech perception, speech production, and language measures in children (Paatsch, Blamey, Sarant, Martin, & Bow, 2004). These training data demonstrate that the relationships between the measures are causal. In other words, improvements in speech production and vocabulary performance produced by training will carry over into predictable improvements in speech perception and reading scores. Furthermore, the model will help educators identify the most effective methods of improving receptive and expressive spoken language for individual children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Child↗
PubMed1991

Speech production performance in children with multichannel cochlear implants.

The purpose of this study is to report on five speech production protocols collected as part of the Food and Drug Administration's Clinical Trials for the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant. Sixty-one children, ranging in age from 2.4 years to 17.8 years, participated. Speech measures included nonsegmental and segmental portions of the Phonetic Level Speech Evaluation, the Phonologic Level Speech Evaluation, speech intelligibility, and an experimental condition examining speech produced with the device turned on versus off. Seventy-seven percent of the children improved on at least one-third of the speech production measures. Significant improvements in the ability to imitate prosodic characteristics were observed for 31.1 percent of the children. Improvements in the ability to imitate speech sounds were found for 66.7 percent of the children. Examination of phonologic skills acquired during spontaneous speaking improved for 55.6 percent of the children. Speech intelligibility improved in 62.9 percent of the children after implantation. More centralized second formant frequencies were observed in vowels produced with the speech processor turned off, as opposed to on, in all 13 of the children tested on this protocol. Data from this study suggest a multichannel cochlear implant may assist many children in developing better speech.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Tolerable hearing aid delays. II. Estimation of limits imposed during speech production.

OBJECTIVE: We used real-time processing in a wearable digital hearing aid to examine the effect of processing delay on normal-hearing participants while speaking. Objective and subjective data were recorded so as to permit analysis of both the production and perception of speech read aloud from a script. We also asked participants to rate the disturbance of the echo introduced by the delay. DESIGN: Thirty-two (16M, 16F) participants were fitted binaurally with behind-the-ear (BTE) aids connected to a digital processor. A 4 mm Libby horn, surrounded by an expanding foam earplug, conducted processed sound into each ear canal. The processor provided either linear processing or three-channel, fast-acting wide dynamic range compression, independently to each ear. Insertion gains were set, using a KEMAR manikin, to be 0 dB over a wide frequency range, for frontally presented speech with a free field level of 65 dB SPL. Additionally, the aids introduced one of four selectable delays (7 to 43 msec) between the BTE microphone and receiver. After a short period of acclimatization, each participant read 16 prose passages of about 500 words in length in each of two similar-sized rooms with markedly different acoustics: reverberant and nonreverberant. For each passage, a subjective rating of the level of disturbance of the perceived echo was recorded, as well as simultaneous recordings from a microphone and a Laryngograph, which directly records glottal pulses. RESULTS: Disturbance ratings generally increased monotonically with increasing delay. Averaged results show that a delay between 25 and 30 msec is rated as "disturbing." Measures were also taken of word production rate, speech level and range of level as well as fundamental frequency and range of fundamental frequency. For these measures of speech production, there was no significant effect until the delay exceeded 30 msec. There was little effect of acoustic environment or aid processing (linear or compression). CONCLUSIONS: The acceptability of delays introduced by digital hearing aids is primarily determined by aspects of the perception of self-generated speech. Speech production, on average, is hardly affected unless the processing delay exceeds 30 msec. The permissible limit of 20 to 30 msec is smaller than the delays at which audio-visual integration is disrupted.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Use of the speech pattern audiometer and the electropalatograph to explore the speech production/perception relationship in a profoundly deaf child.

The use of electropalatography (EPG) in the teaching of new speech skills to deaf speakers, is not widely researched. Whether these skills can be maintained, or whether they can become fully automatic, without enough speech perception to enable auditory self-monitoring is therefore unclear. Most approaches to increasing speech intelligibility in deaf speakers, rightly, place an emphasis on maximizing residual hearing and listening skills. However, a small amount of evidence exists which suggests that speech production can aid speech perception. This research aimed to measure change in speech perception, through use of the speech pattern audiometer (SPA), whilst working on speech production with the electropalatograph. Intervention took place over a year. The issues of maintenance and generalization are discussed.

Audiometry, Speech↗
PubMed2002

Developmental change in variability of lip muscle activity during speech.

Compared to adults, children's speech production measures sometimes show higher trial-to-trial variability in both kinematic and acoustic analyses. A reasonable hypothesis is that this variability reflects variations in neural drive to muscles as the developing system explores different solutions to achieving vocal tract goals. We investigated that hypothesis in the present study by analyzing EMG waveforms produced across repetitions of a phrase spoken by 7-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and young adults. The EMG waveforms recorded via surface electrodes at upper lip sites were clearly modulated in a consistent manner corresponding to lip closure for the bilabial consonants in the utterance. Thus we were able to analyze the amplitude envelope of the rectified EMG with a phrase-level variability index previously used with kinematic data. Both the 7- and 12-year-old children were significantly more variable on repeated productions than the young adults. These results support the idea that children are using varying combinations of muscle activity to achieve phonetic goals. Even at age 12 years, these children were not adult-like in their performance. These and earlier kinematic studies of the oral motor system suggest that children retain their flexibility, employing more degrees of freedom than adults, to dynamically control lip aperture during speech. This strategy is adaptive given the many neurophysiological and biomechanical changes that occur during the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Tracheoesophageal speech: with and without tracheostoma valve.

The tracheostoma valve, developed by Blom and Singer combines the advantages of pulmonary air for phonation with hands-free speech. Patients have anecdotally reported "more normal speech" with the use of the valve. This study was designed to objectively determine if speech acoustic and temporal measures existed between tracheoesophageal puncture using the valve, and those without the valve prosthesis, during speech production among the same subjects. The speech samples of nine male laryngectomees were recorded with and without the valve. Six speech acoustic and temporal measures were calculated and compared under both speaking conditions. No statistically significant differences were found between the two speaking conditions for the six tasks measured. However, other advantages and disadvantages were observed and reported under the valve condition.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

The distinctness of speakers' productions of vowel contrasts is related to their discrimination of the contrasts.

This study addresses the hypothesis that the more accurately a speaker discriminates a vowel contrast, the more distinctly the speaker produces that contrast. Measures of speech production and perception were collected from 19 young adult speakers of American English. In the production experiment, speakers repeated the words cod, cud, who'd, and hood in a carrier phrase at normal, clear, and fast rates. Articulatory movements and the associated acoustic signal were recorded, yielding measures of contrast distance between /a/ and /[see text for symbol]/ and between /u/ and /[see text for symbol]/. In the discrimination experiment, sets of seven natural-sounding stimuli ranging from cod to cud and who'd to hood were synthesized, based on productions by one male and one female speaker. The continua were then presented to each of the 19 speakers in labeling and discrimination tasks. Consistent with the hypothesis, speakers with discrimination scores above the median produced greater acoustic contrasts than speakers with discrimination scores at or below the median. Such a relation between speech production and perception is compatible with a model of speech production in which articulatory movements for vowels are planned primarily in auditory space.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The percentage of consonants correct (PCC) metric: extensions and reliability data.

Research in normal and disordered phonology requires measures of speech production that are biolinguistically appropriate and psychometrically robust. Their conceptual and numeric properties must be well characterized, particularly because speech measures are increasingly appearing in large-scale epidemiologic, genetic, and other descriptive-explanatory database studies. This work provides a rationale for extensions to an articulation competence metric titled the Percentage of Consonants Correct [PCC; Shriberg & Kwiatkowski, 1982; Shriberg, Kwiatkowski, Best, Hengst, & Terselic-Weber, 1986], which is computed from a 5- to 10-minute conversational speech sample. Reliability and standard error of measurement estimates are provided for 9 of a set of 10 speech metric including the PCC. Discussion includes rationale for selecting one or more of the 10 metrics for specific clinical and research needs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Acoustic and perceptual characteristics of esophageal and tracheoesophageal speech production.

This study comprehensively compared the speech of laryngeal speakers (L), tracheoesophageal speakers (TE), good esophageal speakers (GE), and moderate esophageal speakers (ME) to determine the consequences of TE versus E speech rehabilitation. Twenty speakers (five in each group) were each recorded while reading 16 sentences, and their recordings were analyzed acoustically and perceptually. Acoustic analysis included duration, intensity, fundamental frequency (F0), intonation, and voice onset time measurements. Perceptual analysis included intelligibility and acceptability judgments by naive listeners. The main acoustic results showed that L speakers differ significantly from all alaryngeal speakers in F0 and intonation production. Moderate esophageal speakers differed significantly from all other groups in duration measures. Perceptual results revealed that L speakers were most intelligible and acceptable, whereas ME speakers were least so. Tracheoesophageal speakers were more acceptable than GE speakers but not more intelligible. Significant correlations emerged between F0, duration measures, and acceptability, and between F0 and intelligibility. Also, a significant correlation emerged between acceptability and intelligibility. Findings emphasized the importance of categorizing esophageal speakers into groups based on their speech proficiency level.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Assessment of AOS for treatment planning.

Assessment of speech involves profiling a disorder, possibly at multiple levels, as well as interpreting that information to determine direction for treatment. Assessment of perceptual, acoustic, and physiological characteristics of apraxic speech is discussed, identifying the specific information that is contributed at each level. A combination of methods is advocated because each level of analysis provides the clinician with unique information. Perceptual analyses identify deviations from normal-sounding speech, whereas acoustic and physiological analyses can help provide insight into the underlying cause of perceptual abnormality. The latter can also identify abnormality that may not be detected perceptually but may be interfering with performance. Applications of the different assessment levels and methods to developing treatments and measuring outcome are addressed.

Apraxias↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Conversational discourse analysis as a method for evaluating progress in aphasia: a case report.

The gains made by a woman with Broca's aphasia as documented by traditional measures were paralleled by changes in conversation, including increased verbal output and efficiency, and changes in conversation repair patterns. Her conversational partner decreased her verbal output, as predicted. The progress documented with conversational discourse analysis was not observable from other test measures. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Aphasia, Broca↗
PubMed1996

Pre- and posttreatment comparison of the kinematics of the fluent speech of persons who stutter.

This study reports changes in acoustic, respiratory, laryngeal, and articulatory kinematics of 3 males who stutter, following participation in a version of the Hollins Precision Fluency Shaping Program. Two nonstuttering controls received no treatment. Subjects repeated phrases of the form "He see CVC again" at self-selected slow, normal, and fast speaking rates. For experimental subjects, acoustic duration of the phrases increased significantly in 7 out of 9 comparisons of before- and after-treatment conditions, whereas controls decreased the duration of the phrases in 4 out of 6 comparisons of measurements made over approximately the time interval during which the experimental group received treatment. The experimental group increased inspiratory volume for 7 out of 9 conditions and average expiratory flow significantly for all conditions, whereas the controls decreased both. The experimental group prolonged laryngeal opening in 6 of 7 comparisons, but only 3 of the increases were significant. Lip and jaw movements for consonants were significantly reduced in amplitude for the experimental group for 30 of 36 measures. The direction of change for laryngeal and upper articulator measures was mixed for controls. These results show that behavioral treatment can produce significant changes in the fluent speech of persons who stutter with respect to respiration, laryngeal valving, and articulation. Possible relationships between the observed changes in speech production and the increased fluency of the subjects are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Issues in perceptual speech analysis in cleft palate and related disorders: a review.

BACKGROUND: Perceptual speech assessment is central to the evaluation of speech outcomes associated with cleft palate and velopharyngeal dysfunction. However, the complexity of this process is perhaps sometimes underestimated. AIMS: To draw together the many different strands in the complex process of perceptual speech assessment and analysis, and make recommendations for practice. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: This review examines issues such as data sampling, data collection/recording, archiving, the advantages and disadvantages of lay and specialist listeners, approaches to data analysis, reliability, and data interpretation. CONCLUSIONS: The need to capture meaningfully the sound of speech based on detailed phonetic analysis is argued. Also described are some of the differences in measuring speech for clinical, audit and research activities. Blind independent analysis of speech data by specialist therapists is recommended as the gold standard methodological approach when reporting audit and research outcomes. The requirement for ongoing training in listening skills for specialist therapists is advocated. The limitations of an impairment-based-only approach to measurement are also illustrated, indicating the need to develop outcome measures that incorporate more functional issues that affect quality of life.

Cleft Palate↗