Purpose: Sign language, like spoken language, incorporates phonological and articulatory (or motor) processing components. Thus, the learning of novel signs, like novel spoken word forms, may be problematic for children with developmental language disorder (DLD). In the present work, we hypothesize that phonological and articulatory deficits in…

Purpose: Hypernasality and atypical voice characteristics are common features of dysarthric speech due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Existing acoustic measures have been developed to primarily target either hypernasality or voice impairment, and the effects of co-occurring hypernasality-voice problems on these measures are unknown. This…

Purpose: Auditory training has been shown to reduce rater variability in perceptual voice assessment. Because rater variability is also a central issue in the auditory-perceptual assessment of dysarthria, this study sought to determine if training produces a meaningful change in rater reliability, criterion validity, and scaling magnitude of four…

Purpose: This study investigated the criterion (analytical and clinical) and construct (divergent) validity of a novel, acoustic-based framework composed of five key components of motor control: Coordination, Consistency, Speed, Precision, and Rate. Method: Acoustic and kinematic analyses were performed on audio recordings from 22 subjects with…

Clinical Question: In speech intervention via telepractice for preschool and school-age children with speech sound disorders (SSD), is treatment intensity similar to or different from that of traditional in-person therapy for optimal treatment results? Method: Systematic Review. Study Sources: PubMed, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC),…

Purpose: Despite the import of conversational entrainment to successful spoken dialogue, the systematic characterization of this behavioral syncing phenomenon represents a critical gap in the field of speech pathology. The goal of this study was to acoustically characterize conversational entrainment in the context of dysarthria using a…

This study investigates phonological characteristics of Korean monolingual children with phonological disorders (PD), using data from 13 children aged 3.6 to 5.9, and compares the analyses of single-word productions (SW) to those of conversational speech (CS). Phonological analyses include overall percentage of consonants correct (PCC), individual…

Purpose: Oral diadochokinesis (DDK) is a standard dysarthria assessment task. To extract automatic and semi-automatic DDK measurements, numerous DDK analysis algorithms based on acoustic signal processing are available, including amplitude based, spectral based, and hybrid. However, these algorithms have been predominantly validated in individuals…

Clinical Question: When assessing children's speech using a standardised speech assessment, is face-to-face better than telepractice to determine the presence and the nature of speech sound disorder? Method: Systematic Review. Study Sources: PsycInfo®, CINAHL, Scopus, PubMed, ERIC. Search Terms: telehealth OR telepractice OR telemedicine AND child…

Purpose: Automatic speech analysis (ASA) and automatic speech recognition systems are increasingly being used in the treatment of speech sound disorders (SSDs). When utilized as a home practice tool or in the absence of the clinician, the ASA system has the potential to facilitate treatment gains. However, the feedback accuracy of such systems…

Purpose: Reduced stress commonly occurs in talkers with Parkinson's disease (PD), whereas excessive and equal stress is frequently associated with dysarthria of talkers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS). This study sought to identify articulatory impairment patterns that underlie these two impaired stress…

Purpose: This article describes the developmental trajectories of four communication-related parameters (i.e., intelligibility, articulation rate, fluency, and communicative efficiency) in a cross-sectional study of typically developing children between 3 and 9 years. The four target parameters were related to auditory-perceptual parameters of…

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of different approaches for estimating the articulation rates in connected speech of Parkinsonian patients with different stages of neurodegeneration compared to healthy controls. Method: Monologues and reading passages were obtained from 25 patients with idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep…

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate whether long-term averaged spectrum (LTAS) descriptors for reading and monologue are suitable to detect worsening of dysarthria in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) treated with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) with potential effect of ON and OFF stimulation conditions and types of…

Purpose: Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a multivariate motor speech disorder that requires a motor-based intervention approach. There is limited treatment research on young children with CAS, reflecting a critical gap in the literature given that features of CAS are often in full expression early in development. Dynamic Temporal and Tactile…