A multimodal approach combining acoustics, intelligibility ratings, articulography and surface electromyography was used to examine the characteristics of dysarthria due to cerebral palsy (CP). CV syllables were studied by obtaining the slope of F2 transition during the diphthong, tongue-jaw kinematics during the release of the onset consonant,…

This article presents a case study of speech production in a 14-year-old Amharic-speaking boy. The boy had developed secondary macroglossia, related to a disturbance of growth hormones, following a history of normal speech development. Perceptual analysis combined with acoustic analysis and static palatography is used to investigate the specific…

This article compares the claims of rule- and constraint-based accounts of three seemingly distinct error patterns, namely, Deaffrication, Consonant Harmony and Assibilation, in the sound system of a child with a phonological delay. It is argued that these error patterns are not separate problems, but rather are symptoms of a larger conspiracy to…

Articulatory kinematics were investigated using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) in four dysarthric speakers with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Specifically, tongue-tip and tongue-back movements were recorded by the AG-200 EMA system during production of the consonants t and k as produced within a sentence utterance and during a rapid syllable…

Studies investigating voicing onset time (VOT) production by speakers with aphasia have shown that nonfluent aphasics show a deficit in the articulatory programming of speech sounds based on the range of VOT values produced by aphasic individuals. If the VOT value lies between the normal range of VOT for the voiced and voiceless categories, then…

In this article, we discuss the relationship between instrumental and perceptual phonetic analyses. Using data drawn from typical and atypical speech production, we argue that the use of two-tier transcriptions, which can compare and contrast perceptual and instrumental information, is valuable both for our general understanding of the mechanisms…

Multidimensional analysis involves moving away from one-dimensional analyses such as most articulation tests to comprehensive analyses involving levels of phonological information from the word level down to segments. This article outlines one such approach that looks at four levels from words to segments, using nine phonological measures. It also…

This study proposes an automatic method for the detection of pauses and identification of pause types in conversational speech for the purpose of measuring the effects of Friedreich's Ataxia (FRDA) on speech. Speech samples of [approximately] 3 minutes were recorded from 13 speakers with FRDA and 18 healthy controls. Pauses were measured from the…

A recurring difficulty for researchers using electropalatography (EPG) is the wide variation in spatial patterns that occurs between speakers. High inter-speaker variability, combined with small numbers of participants, makes it problematic (1) to identify differences in tongue-palate contact across groups of speakers and (2) to define "normal"…

Many studies have pointed to impaired speech intelligibility in young people with Down's syndrome (DS). Some have attributed these problems to delayed phonological development, while others have identified disordered speech patterns, which could be related to a dyspraxic element in their speech. This study uses electropalatography (EPG) to examine…

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects speech in the majority of patients. Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is particularly effective in reducing tremor and rigidity. However, its effect on speech is variable. The aim of this pilot study was to quantify the effects of bilateral STN-DBS and medication on articulation, using…

We describe an analysis of speech errors on a confrontation naming task in a man with progressive speech degeneration of 10-year duration from Pick's disease. C.S. had a progressive non-fluent aphasia together with a motor speech impairment and early assessment indicated some naming impairments. There was also an absence of significant…

Some children with cerebral palsy have articulation disorders that are resistant to conventional speech therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the visual feedback method of electropalatography (EPG) could be an effective tool for treating five children (mean age of 9.4 years) with dysarthria and cerebral palsy and to explore…

This paper analyses consonant articulation errors in dysarthric speech produced by seven American-English native speakers with cerebral palsy. Twenty-three consonant phonemes were transcribed with diacritics as necessary in order to represent non-phoneme misarticulations. Error frequencies were examined with respect to six variables: articulatory…

Phonological awareness has been claimed to play an important role in the development of language skills, and it is essential that the child's phonological skills be assessed accurately in order to predict and to take early measures to help those that may encounter problems. Although the mora has attracted much attention in the discussion of…