Low Frequency Perception of Rhythm and Intonation Speech Patterns by Normal Hearing Adults

This study tested normal hearing adults' auditory perception of rhythm and intonation patterns, with low-frequency speech energy. The results showed that the narrow-band low-frequency zones of 125, 250, or 500 Hz provided the same important rhythm and intonation cues as did the wide-band condition. This suggested that an auditory training strategy that uses low-frequency filters would be effective for structuring or re-structuring the perception of rhythm and intonation patterns. These filters force the client to focus on these patterns, because the speech intelligibility is drastically reduced. This strategy can be used with both normal-hearing and hearing impaired children and adults with poor listening skills, and possibly poor speech intelligibility.