Purpose: This study aims to help researchers design observational measurement systems that yield sufficiently stable scores for estimating caregiver talk among caregivers of infant siblings of autistic and non-autistic children. Stable estimates minimize error introduced by facets of the measurement system, such as variability between coders or…

Background: Children born with cleft palate ± lip (CP ± L) are at risk of speech sound disorder (SSD). Up to 40% continue to have SSD at age 5-6 years. These difficulties are typically described as articulatory in nature and often include cleft speech characteristics (CSC) hypothesized to result from structural differences. In non-CP ± L SSD…

Purpose: To determine the concurrent validity of the Conditioned Assessment of Speech Production (CASP; Ertmer & Stoel-Gammon, 2008) and data obtained from speech samples recorded at the same intervals. Method: Nineteen children who are deaf who received cochlear implants before their 3rd birthdays participated in the study. Speech samples and…

Although generally accepted as an important part of aphasia assessment, detailed analysis of spontaneous speech is rarely carried out in clinical practice mostly due to time limitations. The Aachener Sprachanalyse (ASPA; Aachen Speech Analysis) is a computer-assisted method for the quantitative analysis of German spontaneous speech that allows for…

Background: Newborn hearing screening, early intervention programs, and advancements in cochlear implant and hearing aid technology have greatly increased opportunities for children with hearing loss to become intelligible talkers. Optimizing speech intelligibility requires that progress be monitored closely. Although direct assessment of…

The research had as its objectives: (1) To develop acoustic measures of the voice to provide a useful monitor of the behavioral and emotional state of a speaker who is using a voice communication channel, (2) To explore and develop computer programs for a pattern recognition of complex acoustic data to enable rapid processing, feedback of results,…

Participants of stuttering treatment programs provide an opportunity to evaluate persons who stutter as they demonstrate varying levels of fluency. Identifying physiologic correlates of altered fluency levels may lead to insights about mechanisms of speech disfluency. This study examined respiratory, orofacial kinematic and acoustic measures in 35…

Twenty-five normal young adult speakers tracked sinusoidal and unpredictable target signals using lower lip and jaw movement and fundamental frequency modulation. Tracking accuracy varied as a function of target frequency and articulator used to track. Results show the potential of visuomotor tracking tasks in the assessment of speech articulatory…

A study into the reasons why certain dialects become standard. (CH)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of training and proficiency in public speaking on the dimensionality of speech evaluation. Dimensionality was defined in terms of the content and number of factors derived from statistical analysis. Approximately 4800 students representing eight universities yielded more than 14,000…

The purpose of this research was to determine if various modes of positive reinforcement can result in the improvement of the beginning speaker's speaking skill. Nine drill sections of a beginning speech course were compared via nonparametric analysis of variance routines. Improvement in gestural skill was ascertained by measuring the differences…

Questions of reference, which occur in those situations in which the function or meaning of a name or description is at issue, cannot be answered by a purely semantic theory but need to be supported by aspects of a theory of pragmatics. This report investigates the implications of direct and indirect reference in language, concludes that a…

To establish normative standards against which to contrast the speaking performance of aphasia patients, a sample of 54 adults representing a broad range of age and education were administered the picture cards of the Thematic Apperception Test to stimulate speech. The stories thus elicited were tape recorded. Each word spoken was grammatically…

The syntactic maturity of spontaneous speech was tested, along with imitated language, in 52 severely and profoundly hearing impaired children (ages 4-15 years) by means of two language measures designed for normal-hearing children: the Developmental Sentence Analysis and the Carrow Elicited Language Inventory. (Author)