• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

This study examined the effects of phonetic complexity and articulatory severity on Percentage of Correct Consonant (PCC) and speech intelligibility in adults with dysarthria. Speech samples of thirty-two words from APAC (Assessment of Phonology and Articulation of Children) were collected from 38 dysarthric speakers with one of two different levels of articulatory severities (mild or mild-moderate). A PCC and speech intelligibility score was calculated by the 4 levels of phonetic complexity. Two-way mixed ANOVA analysis revealed: (1) the group with mild severity showed significantly higher PCC and speech intelligibility scores than the mild-moderate articulatory severity group, (2) PCC at the phonetic complexity level 4 was significantly lower than those at the other levels and (3) an interaction effect of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity was observed only on the PCC. Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated the degree of correlation between PCC and speech intelligibility varied depending on the level of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity. The clinical implications of the findings were discussed.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.02a
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• pp.9-22
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• 1996

Among the various dysarthric subtypes, diagnosis of ataxic dysarthria is rendered when the speech characteristics include imprecise and irregular articulatory breakdowns, marked degree of speech rate impairment, overall monopitch and monoloudness, and respiratory-articulatory incoordination. Traditionally, speech pathologists have relied only upon their ‘ears’ to describe and evaluate the dysarthric speech. A statement of percentage of correct words identified by a listener do not provide so much more than an index of severity. Within the same perceptual dimension, a carefully constructed speech intelligibility test can specify patterns of errors. The patterns can contain a diagnostic value as well as Provide strategies for remediation. The phonetically transcribed texts on single words and a standard passage, 'kail' produced by an ataxic dysarthria are presented in this report, with an emphasis of the articulatory error analysis. Furthermore,, acoustic tools [e.g., spectrography to measure formant transitions, segment durations, consonant spectra, etc.] are utilized to serve as basic measures that objectively document patients' speech intelligibility, Finally, the treatment methods [e.g., spectrography as a visual feedback, gestural reorganization using pacing method, DAF (Delayed Auditory Feedback)] to modify the dysarthric behaviors are presented.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.173-177
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• 2018

Purpose: The primary goal of this study was to discover whether the articulatory diadochokinesis (sequential motionrate, SMR) collected using the Motor Speech Disorder Assessment (MSDA) software module can diagnose dysarthria and determine its severity. Methods: Two subject groups, one with spastic dysarthria (n=26) and a control group of speakers (n=30) without neurological disease, were set up. From both groups, the SMR was collected by MSDA at a time, and then analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: For the parameters of syllable rate, jitter, and the mean syllable length (MSL) at the front and back, the control group displayed better results than the dysarthria patients. Conclusions: At the level of articulatory diadochokinesis, the results showed that the use of MSDA software in clinical practice was generally suitable for quickly recording the parameters of syllable rate, jitter, and mean syllable length.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.193-212
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• 2010

The purpose of our study was to provide effective speech evaluation items examining the variables of speech that successfully predict the speech intelligibility in CP children. The subjects were 55 children with spastic type cerebral palsy. As for the speech evaluation, we performed a speech subsystem evaluation and a speech intelligibility test. The results of the study are as follows. The evaluation task for the speech subsystems consisted of 48 task items within an observational evaluation stage and three levels of severity. The levels showed correlations with gross motor functions, fine motor functions, and age. Second, the evaluation items for the speech subsystems were rearranged into seven factors. Third, 34 out of 48 task items that positively correlated with the syllable intelligibility rating were as follows. There were four items in the observational evaluation stage. Among the nonverbal articulatory function evaluation items, there were 11 items in level one. There were 12 items in level two. In level three there were eight items. Fourth, there were 23 items among the 48 evaluation tasks that correlated with the sentence intelligibility rating. There was one item in the observational evaluation stage which was in the articulatory structure evaluation task. In level one there were six items. In level two, there were eight items. In level three, there was a total number of eight items. Fifth, there was a total number of 14 items that influenced the syllable intelligibility rating. Sixth, there was a total number of 13 items that influenced the syllable intelligibility rating. According to the results above, the variables that influenced the speech intelligibility of CP children among the articulatory function tasks were in the respiratory function task, phonatory function task, and lip and chin related tasks. We did not find any correlation for the tongue function. The results of our study could be applied to speech evaluation, setting therapy goals, and evaluating the degree of progression in children with CP. We only studied children with the spastic type of cerebral palsy, and there were a small number of severe degree CP children compared to those with a moderate degree of CP. Therefore, when evaluating children with other degrees of severity, we may have to take their characteristics more into account. Further study on speech evaluation variables in relation to the severity of the speech intelligibility and different types of cerebral palsy may be necessary.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.57-66
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• 2021

This study focuses on the issue of automatic severity classification of dysarthric speakers based on speech intelligibility. Speech intelligibility is a complex measure that is affected by the features of multiple speech dimensions. However, most previous studies are restricted to using features from a single speech dimension. To effectively capture the characteristics of the speech disorder, we extracted features of multiple speech dimensions: voice quality, prosody, and pronunciation. Voice quality consists of jitter, shimmer, Harmonic to Noise Ratio (HNR), number of voice breaks, and degree of voice breaks. Prosody includes speech rate (total duration, speech duration, speaking rate, articulation rate), pitch (F0 mean/std/min/max/med/25quartile/75 quartile), and rhythm (%V, deltas, Varcos, rPVIs, nPVIs). Pronunciation contains Percentage of Correct Phonemes (Percentage of Correct Consonants/Vowels/Total phonemes) and degree of vowel distortion (Vowel Space Area, Formant Centralized Ratio, Vowel Articulatory Index, F2-Ratio). Experiments were conducted using various feature combinations. The experimental results indicate that using features from all three speech dimensions gives the best result, with a 80.15 F1-score, compared to using features from just one or two speech dimensions. The result implies voice quality, prosody, and pronunciation features should all be considered in automatic severity classification of dysarthria.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 2000

Motor aphasia is an affection frequently caused by insult of the left middle cerebral artery and usually accompanied by a large lesion involving the Broca's area and the adjacent motor and premotor areas. Therefore, a patient with motor aphasia commonly shows articulatory disturbances due to failure of the motor programing of speech sound. Objective assessment and treatment of phonologic programing is one of the important aspects of speech therapy in aphasic patients. We analyzed the speech disorders acompanied with motor aphasia in a 45-year-old man using a computerized sound spectrograph, Visi-$Pitch{\circledR}$, and Multi-Dimensional Voice $Program{\circledR}$. We concluded that a computerized speech analysis system is a useful tool to visualize and quantitatively analyse the severity and progression of dysarthria, and the effect of speech therapy.