Investigates the perceptual representation of speech by young infants using a modification of the high-amplitude sucking (HAS) procedure. Results demonstrate that the infants' representations preserve detailed information about both the consonantal and vocalic portions of the syllables. (Author/RWB)

The study compared two coarticulation tests--"Coarticulation Assessment in Meaningful Language" (CAML) and "Screening Deep Test of Articulation (SDTA)"--with each other and the standardization data. Results with 46 kindergarteners indicated that, though the CAML yielded more errors, both tests were equally valid. (Author/DB)

Discusses a method of measuring oral proficiency in a foreign language called semi-direct testing which elicits active speech by the examinee through means such as tape recordings, printed test booklets, or other methods rather than face-to-face interviews. Describes a study comparing scores of semi-direct and direct tests of German and Spanish.…

Forty second-graders, 20 good and 20 poor readers, completed a /ba/-/da/ temporal order judgment (TOJ) task. The groups did not differ in TOJ when /ba/ and /da/ were paired with more easily discriminated syllables. Poor readers' difficulties with /ba/-/da/ reflected perceptual confusion between phonetically similar syllables rather than difficulty…

Dysarthria is a common manifestation in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. This study investigated the effects of levodopa on intelligibility in patients with Parkinson's disease. Ten participants were tested during on- and off-states using the Yorkston and Beukelman intelligibility test (1980). Intelligibility as scored by a panel of…

This report presents the results of a research and development effort for SpeechRater? Version 1.0 (v1.0), an automated scoring system for the spontaneous speech of English language learners used operationally in the Test of English as a Foreign Language™ (TOEFL®) Practice Online assessment (TPO). The report includes a summary of the validity…

Using 10 kindergarten children with poor articulation of /s/, this study sought to determine whether modification of speech sounds by the use of an electroacoustic filter improved the children's /s/ articulation, as compared to training of /s/ using non-filtered words. Posttest scores, as measured by "A Deep Test of Articulation," showed…

The Abridged Patton Speech Content Exam is designed to measure achievement and potential achievement in a speaker-audience oriented speech course at the college level. The abridged exam contains 30 test items rather than the 100 items of the unabridged version. The 30 items include questions as follows: 2 on stasis or propositions, 8 pertaining to…

The study examined the stability of vowel articulation for the final vowel in a vowel-consonant-vowel structure by five profoundly deaf and six nonhearing impaired male adults. All deaf subjects showed considerable intra- and interindividual variability. Variability was greatest for center formant frequencies of F1 measured by a Signal Analyzing…

Two tracheoesophageal speakers experienced in use of the tracheostoma valve (TSV) produced speech samples varying with location of contrastive stress, sentence intonation, and use of TSV. Listeners (n=34) found that TSV-use reduced speaker ability to signal suprasegmentals; however, locus of the suprasegmentals, particularly stress placement,…

The monosyllabic adaptive speech test (MAST) procedures were found to be reliable with children as young as 3. The accuracy of the MAST estimate of 50% speech threshold was confirmed in 60 hearing imparied and normal children 3-7 years old. With 10 hearing impaired children, MAST threshold was significantly correlated with pure-tone loss. (CL)

Describes an all-volunteer preschool screening program to identify problems of speech and motor control.'' (Author)

Two studies investigated how components of speaking rate, articulation rate and pause rate, combine to influence processing of the silence-duration cue for the voicing distinction in medial stop consonants. Listeners adjust for both articulation rate and pause rate changes in articulation rate had more effect on phonetic judgments. (Author/RD)

In this study, a new intonation battery, the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems Child Version (PEPS-C) was administered to 18 children with speech and/or language impairments (LI). PEPS-C examines phonetic and functional aspects of intonation in grammar, affect, interaction, and pragmatics. Results support the view that intonation is…