Initial voicing contrast acquisition in normal and phonologically disordered children

1991 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann A. Tyler ◽  
John H. Saxman
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Voicing Contrast ◽  
Children's Speech

ABSTRACTSpeech sound production changes that occurred during acquisition of the initial voicing contrast induced through treatment in phonologically disordered children were compared to those that occurred during normal acquisition of the contrast. Target stop productions from three normally developing children and six phonologically disordered children were analyzed acoustically along the temporal measure of VOT. The phonologically disordered subjects displayed different patterns of voicing contrast acquisition, none of which replicated the normally developing children's pattern. The phonologically disordered children's patterns of acquisition were characterized by larger and more variable VOT values in comparison to those of the normally developing children. Different patterns of voicing contrast acquisition observed in VOTs are discussed with regard to the nature of linguistic change and the source of breakdown in children's speech sound errors.

scholarly journals Speech Sound Production in 2-Year-Olds Who Are Hard of Hearing

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie E. Ambrose ◽  
Lauren M. Unflat Berry ◽  
Elizabeth A. Walker ◽  
Melody Harrison ◽  
Jacob Oleson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Severe Hearing Loss ◽  
Children's Speech

Purpose The purpose of the study was to (a) compare the speech sound production abilities of 2-year-old children who are hard of hearing (HH) to children with normal hearing (NH), (b) identify sources of risk for individual children who are HH, and (c) determine whether speech sound production skills at age 2 were predictive of speech sound production skills at age 3. Method Seventy children with bilateral, mild-to-severe hearing loss who use hearing aids and 37 age- and socioeconomic status–matched children with NH participated. Children's speech sound production abilities were assessed at 2 and 3 years of age. Results At age 2, the HH group demonstrated vowel production abilities on par with their NH peers but weaker consonant production abilities. Within the HH group, better outcomes were associated with hearing aid fittings by 6 months of age, hearing loss of less than 45 dB HL, stronger vocabulary scores, and being female. Positive relationships existed between children's speech sound production abilities at 2 and 3 years of age. Conclusion Assessment of early speech sound production abilities in combination with demographic, audiologic, and linguistic variables may be useful in identifying HH children who are at risk for delays in speech sound production.

Psychometric Characteristics of Single-Word Tests of Children's Speech Sound Production

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Flipsen ◽  
Diane A. Ogiela
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
Review Article ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Psychometric Characteristics ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Selection Decisions ◽  
Children's Speech

Purpose Our understanding of test construction has improved since the now-classic review by McCauley and Swisher (1984). The current review article examines the psychometric characteristics of current single-word tests of speech sound production in an attempt to determine whether our tests have improved since then. It also provides a resource that clinicians may use to help them make test selection decisions for their particular client populations. Method Ten tests published since 1990 were reviewed to determine whether they met the 10 criteria set out by McCauley and Swisher (1984), as well as 7 additional criteria. Results All of the tests reviewed met at least 3 of McCauley and Swisher's (1984) original criteria, and 9 of 10 tests met at least 5 of them. Most of the tests met some of the additional criteria as well. Conclusions The state of the art for single-word tests of speech sound production in children appears to have improved in the last 30 years. There remains, however, room for improvement.

scholarly journals Maternal Cultural Orientation and Speech Sound Production in Spanish/English Dual Language Preschoolers

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Simona Montanari ◽  
Robert Mayr ◽  
Kaveri Subrahmanyam
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Education ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Cultural Orientation ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Mexican Culture ◽  
The Status ◽  
Children's Speech

Empirical work has shown that maternal education is related to children’s language outcomes, especially in the societal language, among Spanish-English bilingual children growing up in the U.S. However, no study thus far has assessed the links between maternal cultural orientation and children’s speech sound production. This paper explores whether mothers’ orientation to American (acculturation) and Mexican culture (enculturation) and overall linear acculturation are related to children’s accuracy of production of consonants, of different sound classes, and of phonemes shared and unshared between languages in both English and Spanish at age 4;6 (4 years and 6 months). The results reveal a link between maternal acculturation and children’s segmental accuracy in English, but no relation was found between mothers’ enculturation and children’s speech sound production in Spanish. We interpreted the results in English as suggesting that more American-oriented mothers may have been using more English with their children, boosting their English production abilities and promoting English speech sound development. At the same time, we speculate that the results in Spanish were possibly due to the high and homogeneous levels of Mexican orientation among mothers, to language input differences attributable to distinct cultural practices, or to the status of Spanish as a minority language.

Stimulus Characteristics of Single-Word Tests of Children's Speech Sound Production

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Macrae
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
American English ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Significance Testing ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Standard American English ◽  
Word Position ◽  
Final Cluster ◽  
Children's Speech

Purpose This clinical focus article provides readers with a description of the stimulus characteristics of 12 popular tests of speech sound production. Method Using significance testing and descriptive analyses, stimulus items were compared in terms of the number of opportunities for production of all consonant singletons, clusters, and rhotic and nonrhotic vowels of Standard American English; phonetic/phonological and structural complexity; and the presence of bound morphemes. Results The tests varied widely in terms of the number of opportunities for production of consonant singletons, clusters, and rhotic and nonrhotic vowels. Most of the tests included only 1 opportunity, scored or unscored, to produce a majority of the consonant singletons in each word position. Only 3 of the tests included stimulus items with 3-element clusters. The majority contained limited opportunities to produce 3- or 4-syllable stimulus items. The tests provided sufficient opportunities for production of most vowels, although most did not score vowels. The tests differed significantly in the complexity of their stimulus items. Most, however, contained a negligible number of items that, with the addition of a bound morpheme, resulted in a word-final cluster. Conclusion Most of the tests elicit an inadequate sample with which to conduct a comprehensive phonological analysis.

A Review of 30 Speech Assessments in 19 Languages Other Than English

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 708-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharynne McLeod ◽  
Sarah Verdon
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Criterion Referenced ◽  
Children's Speech

Purpose In this study, the authors aimed to evaluate instruments designed to assess children's speech production in languages other than English. Method Ninety-eight speech assessments in languages other than English were identified: 62 were commercially published, 17 published within journal articles, and 19 informal assessments. A review was undertaken of 30 commercially published assessments that could be obtained. Results The 30 instruments assessed 19 languages: Cantonese, Danish, Finnish, German, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Maltese-English, Norwegian, Pakistani-heritage languages (Mirpuri, Punjabi, Urdu), Portuguese, Putonghua (Mandarin), Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish. The majority (70.0%) assessed speech sound production in monolingual speakers, 20.0% assessed one language of bilingual speakers, and 10.0% assessed both languages of bilingual speakers. All used single-word picture elicitation. Approximately half (53.3%) were norm-referenced, and the number of children in the normative samples ranged between 145 and 2,568. The remaining assessments were criterion-referenced (50.0%) (one fitted both categories). The assessments with English manuals met many of the psychometric criteria for operationalization; however, only 2 provided sensitivity and specificity data. Conclusions Despite the varying countries of origin, there were many similarities between speech assessments in languages other than English. Few were designed for use with multilingual children, so validation is required for use in English-speaking contexts.

Five Reasons Why Nonspeech Oral Motor Exercises (NSOME) Do Not Work

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 109-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory L. Lof ◽  
Maggie Watson
Keyword(s):  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Therapeutic Technique ◽  
Oral Motor ◽  
Oral Motor Exercises ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Production Problems

Abstract Nonspeech oral motor exercises (NSOME) are used often by speech-language pathologists to help children improve their speech sound productions. However, the phonology, articulation, and motor speech development and disorders literature does not support their use. This article presents five reasons (four theoretical, one empirical) why NSOME are not an appropriate therapeutic technique for treating children's speech sound production problems.

Reading Risk in Children With Speech Sound Disorder: Prevalence, Persistence, and Predictors

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3714-3726
Author(s):  
Sherine R. Tambyraja ◽  
Kelly Farquharson ◽  
Laura Justice
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Reading Difficulties ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Speech Sound Disorder ◽  
Word Decoding ◽  
School Year ◽  
School Based

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which school-age children with speech sound disorder (SSD) exhibit concomitant reading difficulties and examine the extent to which phonological processing and speech production abilities are associated with increased likelihood of reading risks. Method Data were obtained from 120 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade children who were in receipt of school-based speech therapy services. Children were categorized as being “at risk” for reading difficulties if standardized scores on a word decoding measure were 1 SD or more from the mean. The selected predictors of reading risk included children's rapid automatized naming ability, phonological awareness (PA), and accuracy of speech sound production. Results Descriptive results indicated that just over 25% of children receiving school-based speech therapy for an SSD exhibited concomitant deficits in word decoding and that those exhibiting risk at the beginning of the school year were likely to continue to be at risk at the end of the school year. Results from a hierarchical logistic regression suggested that, after accounting for children's age, general language abilities, and socioeconomic status, both PA and speech sound production abilities were significantly associated with the likelihood of being classified as at risk. Conclusions School-age children with SSD are at increased risk for reading difficulties that are likely to persist throughout an academic year. The severity of phonological deficits, reflected by PA and speech output, may be important indicators of subsequent reading problems.

Une nouvelle méthode de mesure de la fonction d'aire du conduit vocal : cas des voyelles

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (7) ◽  
pp. 721-737
Author(s):  
H Teffahi ◽  
B Guerin ◽  
A Djeradi
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Method ◽  
Cross Correlation ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Linear Prediction ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Random Sequence ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
External Excitation ◽  
White Noise Excitation

Knowledge of vocal tract area functions is important for the understanding of phenomena occurring during speech production. We present here a new measurement method based on the external excitation of the vocal tract with a known pseudo-random sequence, where the area function is obtained by a linear prediction analysis applied to the cross-correlation between the sequence and the signal measured at the lips. The advantages of this method over methods based on sweep-tones or white noise excitation are (1) a much shorter measurement time (about 100 ms) and (2) the possibility of speech sound production during the measurement. This method has been checked against classical methods through systematic comparisons on a small corpus of vowels. Moreover, it has been verified that simultaneous speech sound production does not perturb significantly the measurements. This method should thus be a very helpful tool for the investigation of the acoustic properties of the vocal tract in various cases for vowels.

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