Toward Measuring How Well Hearing-Impaired Children Speak

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall B. Monsen

Average intelligibility scores for a group of 37 hearing-impaired and two normally hearing adolescents were determined by 50 normal listeners and were compared with nine acoustically measured speech variables. These nine variables included measurements of consonant production, vowel production, and prosody. Regression analysis of the variables showed that three of the speech variables bore a multiple correlation of 0.85 with measured intelligibility scores. Two variables alone, the mean voice-onset-time difference between /t/ and /d/ and the mean second-formant difference between /i/ and /ɔ/, accounted for about 70% of the variance in the intelligibility scores. To cross-validate the reliability of these correlations, intelligibility scores were subsequently predicted for another group of 30 hearing-impaired adolescents and then compared with intelligibility scores as determined by another group of normal listeners. For this second group, the correlation between measured intelligibility scores and predicted scores was 0.86, which indicates that the reliability of the predicting variables is high. Five of the nine variables correlated more highly with measured speech intelligibility than did pure-tone audiometric thresholds. The average speech intelligibility of all 67 hearing-impaired subjects was 76%.

1994 ◽  
Vol 95 (5) ◽  
pp. 3012-3012
Author(s):  
Marios Fourakis ◽  
Ann E. Geers ◽  
Emily A. Tobey

1985 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Evan Metz ◽  
Vincent J. Samar ◽  
Nicholas Schiavetti ◽  
Ronald W. Sitler ◽  
Robert L. Whitehead

Regression and principal components analyses were employed to study the relationship between three measures of speech intelligibility and 12 segmental, prosodic, and hearing ability parameters in 20 severely to profoundly hearing-impaired speakers. Regression analyses on the original 12 parameters revealed that cognate pair voice onset time differences and mean sentence duration strongly predicted speech intelligibility based on readings of isolated word and contextual speech material. A principal components analysis derived four factors that accounted for the majority of the variance in the original 12 parameters. Subsequent regression analyses using the four factors as predictor variables revealed two factors with strong relationships to the speech intelligibility measures. One factor primarily reflected segmental production processes related to the temporal and spatial differentiation of phonemes, whereas the other factor reflected prosodic features and production stability. These results are consistent with prior research that suggests independent primary and secondary roles for segmental and prosodic speech characteristics, respectively, in determining intelligibility in severely to profoundly hearing-impaired speakers.


Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Lisa Kornder ◽  
Ineke Mennen

The purpose of this investigation was to trace first (L1) and second language (L2) segmental speech development in the Austrian German–English late bilingual Arnold Schwarzenegger over a period of 40 years, which makes it the first study to examine a bilingual’s speech development over several decades in both their languages. To this end, acoustic measurements of voice onset time (VOT) durations of word-initial plosives (Study 1) and formant frequencies of the first and second formant of Austrian German and English monophthongs (Study 2) were conducted using speech samples collected from broadcast interviews. The results of Study 1 showed a merging of Schwarzenegger’s German and English voiceless plosives in his late productions as manifested in a significant lengthening of VOT duration in his German plosives, and a shortening of VOT duration in his English plosives, closer to L1 production norms. Similar findings were evidenced in Study 2, revealing that some of Schwarzenegger’s L1 and L2 vowel categories had moved closer together in the course of L2 immersion. These findings suggest that both a bilingual’s first and second language accent is likely to develop and reorganize over time due to dynamic interactions between the first and second language system.


1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randall B. Monsen

Although it is well known that the speech produced by the deaf is generally of low intelligibility, the sources of this low speech intelligibility have generally been ascribed either to aberrant articulation of phonemes or inappropriate prosody. This study was designed to determine to what extent a nonsegmental aspect of speech, formant transitions, may differ in the speech of the deaf and of the normal hearing. The initial second formant transitions of the vowels /i/ and /u/ after labial and alveolar consonants (/b, d, f/) were compared in the speech of six normal-hearing and six hearing-impaired adolescents. In the speech of the hearing-impaired subjects, the second formant transitions may be reduced both in time and in frequency. At its onset, the second formant may be nearer to its eventual target frequency than in the speech of the normal subjects. Since formant transitions are important acoustic cues for the adjacent consonants, reduced F 2 transitions may be an important factor in the low intelligibility of the speech of the deaf.


1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman P. Erber

A recorded list of 25 spondaic words was administered monaurally through earphones to 72 hearing-impaired children to evaluate their comprehension of “easy” speech material. The subjects ranged in age from eight to 16 years, and their average pure-tone thresholds (500-1000-2000 Hz) ranged in level from 52 to 127 dB (ANSI, 1969). Most spondee-recognition scores either were high (70 to 100* correct) or low (0 to 30% correct). The degree of overlap in thresholds between the high-scoring and the low-scoring groups differed as a function of the method used to describe the audiogram. The pure-tone average of 500-1000-2000 Hz was a good, but not perfect, predictor of spondee-recognition ability. In general, children with average pure-tone thresholds better than about 85 dB HTL (ANSI, 1969) scored high, and those with thresholds poorer than about 100 dB scored low. Spondee-recognition scores, however, could not be predicted with accuracy for children whose audiograms fell between 85 and 100 dB HTL.


1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Ryalls ◽  
Annie Larouche

Ten normally hearing and 10 age-matched subjects with moderate-to-severe hearing impairment were recorded producing a protocol of 18 basic syllables [/pi/,/pa/,/pu/; /bi/,/ba/,/bu/; /ti/,/ta/,/tu/; /di/,/da/,/du/; /ki/,/ka/,/ku/; /gi/,/ga/,/gu/] repeated five times. The resulting 90 syllables were digitized and measured for (a) total duration; (b) voice-onset time (VOT) of the initial consonant; (c) fundamental frequency (F 0 ) at midpoint of vowel; and (d) formant frequencies (F 1 , F 2 , F 3 ), also measured at midpoint of vowel. Statistical comparisons were conducted on (a) average values for each syllable, and (b) standard deviations. Although there were numerical differences between normally hearing and hearing-impaired groups, few differences were statistically significant.


1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Bamford ◽  
I. M. Wilson ◽  
D. Atkinson ◽  
R. J. Bench

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria S. McKenna ◽  
Jennifer A. Hylkema ◽  
Monique C. Tardif ◽  
Cara E. Stepp

Purpose This study examined vocal hyperfunction (VH) using voice onset time (VOT). We hypothesized that speakers with VH would produce shorter VOTs, indicating increased laryngeal tension, and more variable VOTs, indicating disordered vocal motor control. Method We enrolled 32 adult women with VH (aged 20–74 years) and 32 age- and sex-matched controls. All were speakers of American English. Participants produced vowel–consonant–vowel combinations that varied by vowel (ɑ/u) and plosive (p/b, t/d, k/g). VOT—measured at the release of the plosive to the initiation of voicing—was averaged over three repetitions of each vowel–consonant–vowel combination. The coefficient of variation (CoV), a measure of VOT variability, was also computed for each combination. Results The mean VOTs were not significantly different between the two groups; however, the CoVs were significantly greater in speakers with VH compared to controls. Voiceless CoV values were moderately correlated with clinical ratings of dysphonia ( r = .58) in speakers with VH. Conclusion Speakers with VH exhibited greater variability in phonemic voicing targets compared to vocally healthy speakers, supporting the hypothesis for disordered vocal motor control in VH. We suggest future work incorporate VOT measures when assessing auditory discrimination and auditory–motor integration deficits in VH.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Κωνσταντίνα Κολούτσου

Σκοπός: Σκοπός αυτής της μελέτης ήταν η ανάπτυξη της Δοκιμασίας -Τέστ, το G-SEBSAT τέστ, στην ακουστική ομιλία βασισμένο σε προτάσεις για παιδιά με προβλήματα ακοής.Μέθοδοι: Προσλήφθηκαν εβδομήντα έξι παιδιά κατόπιν έγκρισης από την τοπική επιτροπή δεοντολογίας και κατόπιν ενημέρωσης από τους γονείς τους. Η συλλογή του λεξιλογίου βασίστηκε στην προβολή εικόνων που επιλέχθηκαν από δημοφιλείς αναγνωστικές ύλες στα ελληνικά στα παιδιά με προβλήματα ακοής (Hearing Impaired-ΗΙ). Εκπονήθηκε μια γραμματική ανάλυση περιεχομένου για να προσδιοριστούν οι μέσες συντακτικές και μορφολογικές δομές των φράσεων που χρησιμοποιούνται από τα παιδιά της ΗΙ ομάδας . Δέκα λίστες που σχετίζονται με αντοίστοιχες εικόνες, δημιουργήθηκαν με βάση το λεξιλόγιο και τη γραμματική ανάλυση και καταγράφηκαν από έναν άνδρα ομιλητή με μητρική του γλώσσα την σύγχρονη ελληνική. Οι δέκα λίστες παρουσιάστηκαν σε παιδιά με κανονική ακοή (Normal Hearing-NH) και σε παιδιά με HI, ενώ και στις δύο ομάδες καταγράφηκε το μέσο όριο απόκρισης ομιλίας (Speech Reception Threshold-SRT) καθώς και η κλίση της καμπύλης SRT στο επίπεδο SRT των 50% σωστών αποκρίσεων (S50). Οι κατάλογοι καταγγελιών επικυρώθηκαν σε σχέση με τη μεταβλητότητα της δυσκολίας τους σε κάθε ομάδα, καθώς και με τη μεταβλητότητα δοκιμής-επανεξέτασης των αντίστοιχων βαθμολογιών SRT.Αποτελέσματα: Το μέσο όριο απόκρισης ομιλίας (SRT) σε όλες τις λίστες για παιδιά με ΗΙ ήταν 65,27 dB και η κλίση της καμπύλης SRT στο επίπεδο SRT των 50% των σωστών αποκρίσεων ήταν 3,11% / dB. Τα αντίστοιχα αποτελέσματα σε όλους τους καταλόγους για τα παιδιά με NH ήταν 17,66 dB και 9,7% / dB αντίστοιχα. Τα SRT των παιδιών με ΗΙ συσχετίστηκαν έντονα θετικά, με στατιστικά σημαντικό τρόπο με την μέτρηση ακουστικού τόνου (Pure Tone Audiometry-ΡΤΑ) τόσο στις δοκιμασίες όσο και στις δοκιμαστικές συνεδρίες (δοκιμασία: r = 0.750, Ρ <0.0005, επανέλεγχος: r = 0.753, Ρ <0.0005). Η συσχέτιση Spearman των βαθμολογιών των τιμών SRT και των τιμών κλίσης ήταν 0.998 και 0.997 αντίστοιχα για το ΗΙ και 0.939 και 0.88 για την ομάδα με ΝΗ, υποδεικνύοντας πολύ χαμηλή μεταβλητότητα σε όλες τις συνεδρίες δοκιμής και επανεξέτασης. Επιπλέον, η ανάλυση της διακύμανσης (ANOVA) του μέσου SRT στα παιδιά με NH και τα υπολείμματα SRT στην ομάδα με HI έδειξε ότι οι διαφορετικές προτάσεις ήταν της ίδιας δυσκολίας σε κάθε ομάδα. ((F (9,81) = 0,401, ρ = 0,930 και (F (9,93) = 2,241, ρ = 0,025 αντίστοιχα).Συμπεράσματα: Για πρώτη φορά δημιουργήθηκε στην ελληνική γλώσσα επικυρωμένη δοκιμή ομιλίας ακουστικής φωνής. Οι τιμές SRT και S50 και για τα παιδιά με NH και με HI είναι συγκρίσιμες με παρόμοιες δοκιμές που αναπτύχθηκαν σε άλλες γλώσσες.


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