• 음성과학
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.55-64
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• 2004

This study was to determine the effects of a massage and oro-facial exercise program on spastic dysarthric patients' lip muscle function using an electromyogram (EMG). Three subjects with Spastic Dysarthria participated in the study. The surface electrodes were positioned on the Levator Labii Superior Muscle (LLSM), Depressor Labii Inferior Muscle (DLIM), and Orbicularis Oris Muscle (OOM). To examine lip muscle function improvement, the EMG signals were analyzed in terms of RMS (Root Mean Square) values and Median Frequency. In addition, the diadochokinetic movements and the rate of sentence reading were measured. The results revealed that the RMS values were decreased and the Median Frequency moved to a high frequency area. Diadochokinesis and sentence reading rates were improved.

• 음성과학
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.29-41
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese speakers realize Korean prosodic phrases in the reading of Korean texts. Prosodic phrase, in this study, is defined as basic unit of spoken language which can be perceived as purely separate phonetic unit by both hearer and speaker, and is realized with a coherent intonational configuration. Prosodic phrase plays an important role in both speech production and perception. In the second language acquisition, prosody influences the accuracy and fluency of spoken language. The main purpose of this study is to describe the aspect of syntagmatic operation of prosody that produces prosodic phrases. We have specifically examined the relations between the prosodic phrase's boundary and its syntactic status. Furthermore, we examined internal syntactic structure of each prosodic phrase. And the results of each analysis were compared to the aspects of prosodic phrases' formation produced by native Korean speakers. The results show that Chinese speakers tend to coincide the prosodic phrases with syntactic structure more than native Korean speakers.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제2권4호
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• pp.39-49
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• 2010

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese speakers realize Korean intonation phrase (IP) boundary tones in the reading of a Korean text. Korean IP boundary tones play various roles in speech communication. They indicate prosodic constituents' boundaries while simultaneously performing pragmatic and grammatical functions. In order to express and understand Korean utterances correctly, it is necessary to understand the Korean IP boundary tone system. To investigate the IP boundary tone produced by Chinese speakers, we have specifically examined the type of boundary tones, the degree of internal pitch modulation of boundary tones, and the pitch difference between penultimate syllables and boundary tones. The results of each analysis were compared to the IP boundary tones produced by Korean native speakers. The results show that IP boundary tones were realized higher than penultimate syllables.

• 한국HCI학회논문지
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.57-64
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• 2012

최근 독서 장애인을 위한 국제 디지털 음성 도서 표준인 DAISY를 통해 장애인의 고등 교육을 위한 연구가 활성화되고 있으나 그림이나 수식과 같은 특수요소는 음성도서에서 독음해주기 힘들다. 이를 위해, 본 연구에서는 중학교 및 고등학교 1학년 교과과정에 포함된 수식을 토대로 Contents MathML에 대한 한글 독음 규칙을 정의하였다. 또한, 정의한 한글 독음 규칙에 따라 Contents MathML로 표현된 수식을 독음해주기 위한 프로그램을 XSLT로 구현하였다. 본 연구에서 구현한 프로그램을 검증하기 위해 사용성을 검토하였다.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제4권1호
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• pp.111-118
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to characterize and determine variances of speaking fundamental frequency and vocal intensity depending on gender and three utterance conditions (spontaneous speech, reading, and counting). A total of 65 undergraduate students (32 male students, 33 female students) attending universities in Daegu, South Korea participated in this study. The subjects were all in their 20s. This study used KayPENTAX's Visi-Pitch IV (Model 3950) to measure the variances of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF0) and vocal intensity (VI). As a result, this study came to the following conclusions. First, it was found that both males and females showed no significant difference in SFF0 and vocal intensity among three utterance conditions. Second, this study sought to analyze differences in the variances of SFF0 between males and females. As a result, it was found that females showed significantly higher levels of four measured variances (SFF0 $SD^{**}$, SFF0 $range^{***}$, Min $SFF0^{***}$ and Max $SFF0^{***}$) than males on spontaneous speech. However, it was found that there was no significant difference between males and females in SFF0 range on reading or in SFF0 SD and SFF0 range on counting. It was found that there was no significant difference between males and females in the level of measured variances of vocal intensity depending on utterance conditions. Finally, this study made a comparison and analysis on differences in the variances of SFF0 and vocal intensity among utterance conditions. As a result, it was found that all the measured variances of SFF0 in males were most significantly reduced depending upon spontaneous speech which was followed by reading and counting respectively (SFF0 SD: p<.001, SFF0 range: p<.05, Max SFF0: p<.05). Females however, show no significant difference in the measured variances of SFF0 depending upon three utterance conditions. It was also found that the measured variances of vocal intensity in females were most significantly reduced depending on spontaneous speech that was followed by reading and counting (VI SD: p<.001, VI range: p<.001, Min VI: p<.01 Max VI: p<.05), while males showed no significant difference in the measured variances of vocal intensity depending on three utterance conditions. In sum, these findings suggest that variances of SFF0 in males are affected by three utterance conditions, while variances of vocal intensity in females are affected by three utterance conditions.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.143-149
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the speech rate of an esophageal speech group that is capable of vocalization after surgery. The subjects in this experiment were 10 male esophageal speakers and 10 male laryngeal speakers. Each group read a reading passage that was recorded by a DAT recorder (Rolando, EDIROL R-09). These records were analyzed by using CSL (Computerized Speech Lab, model 4150). The results were as follows: (1) the overall speech rate of esophageal speech was 2.50 SPS (syllable per second) while the overall speech rate of laryngeal speech was 4.23 SPS. (2) The articulatory rate of esophageal speech was 3.14 SPS (syllable per second) while the articulatory rate of laryngeal speech was 4.75 SPS. Speech rates as well as articulatory rates of esophageal speech were significantly lower than laryngeal speech. These differences between the two groups may be due to reduced efficiency of airflows across the pharyngeal-esophageal segment for esophageal speakers when compared to airflow through the glottis for laryngeal speakers. These results would provide a guideline in speech rates for esophageal speakers in clinical settings.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.61-68
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• 2018

Phonological awareness, or consciousness of speech sounds and operational skill with them, develops in the order word > syllable > phoneme, over the ages of four to seven. Among the various types of phonological awareness tasks, the deletion task has a higher level of difficulty because it requires operation and deletion of sounds within words. This task also has a high correlation with reading proficiency. This study utilized a deletion task with 20 questions to see how operational development depended on age and gender. The deletion task, with 20 questions, was tested on four- to six-year old children developing normally (N = 90). The results showed that phonological awareness performance improved with age. This age effect was not accompanied by a gender effect; age and gender interacted. The study confirmed the development of phonological awareness in four- to six-year-old children who were developing normally. The deletion task can be used to effectively detect the risk of difficulties with phonological awareness in preschoolers with speech, language, and reading problems.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.137-142
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of the multiple-choice name matching test (MC-NMT) in adults with aphasia by comparing the Korean version of the Boston Naming Test (K-BNT) and subsets of the Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery (K-WAB). Thirty-nine patients who suffer from aphasia participated in the study. All patients were examined by the K-BNT, MC-NMT and K-WAB. The MC-NMT consisted of the 30 original BNT object stimuli which were presented with four response choices (written words) with similar frequency, including one correct and three incorrect responses. Cards containing the drawings were presented to the patient one at time. An item was passed if the patient chose the correct response within 10 seconds. We subdivided two groups into a total group and a low K-BNT group (at and below 15 points). We evaluated the correlation between the K-BNT, MC-NMT score and production, naming, repetition, comprehension, reading and writing scores in subsets of the K-WAB. There was a highly positive correlation between the K-BNT score and naming score of the K-WAB in total patients. However, the MC-NMT was highly correlated with reading scores in the K-WAB. In low score K-BNT patients, the K-BNT strongly correlated with production, naming and repetition scores of the K-WAB. These findings mean that K-BNT reflects motor language function. However, the MC-NMT was strong correlated comprehension, reading and writing of the K-WAB. This finding reflects sensory language function. We suggest that the combination of K-BNT and newly developed MC-NMT will be useful to evaluate speech functions in aphasic patients.

• 말소리와 음성과학
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• 제7권1호
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• pp.139-150
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• 2015

The data accumulated in this database will be used to develop a speaker identification system. This may also be applied towards, but not limited to, fields of phonetic studies, sociolinguistics, and language pathology. We plan to supplement the large-scale speech corpus next year, in terms of research methodology and content, to better answer the needs of diverse fields. The purpose of this study is to develop a speech corpus for standard Korean speech. For the samples to viably represent the state of spoken Korean, demographic factors were considered to modulate a balanced spread of age, gender, and dialects. Nine separate regional dialects were categorized, and five age groups were established from individuals in their 20s to 60s. A speech-sample collection protocol was developed for the purpose of this study where each speaker performs five tasks: two reading tasks, two semi-spontaneous speech tasks, and one spontaneous speech task. This particular configuration of sample data collection accommodates gathering of rich and well-balanced speech-samples across various speech types, and is expected to improve the utility of the speech corpus developed in this study. Samples from 639 individuals were collected using the protocol. Speech samples were collected also from other sources, for a combined total of samples from 1,012 individuals.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제64권10호
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• pp.497-503
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• 2021

Reading disability (dyslexia) refers to an unexpected difficulty with reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader. Dyslexia is most commonly caused by a difficulty in phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. In this paper, I describe reading disabilities by focusing on their underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Neurobiological studies using functional brain imaging have uncovered the reading pathways, brain regions involved in reading, and neurobiological abnormalities of dyslexia. The reading pathway is in the order of visual analysis, letter recognition, word recognition, meaning (semantics), phonological processing, and speech production. According to functional neuroimaging studies, the important areas of the brain related to reading include the inferior frontal cortex (Broca's area), the midtemporal lobe region, the inferior parieto-temporal area, and the left occipitotemporal region (visual word form area). Interventions for dyslexia can affect reading ability by causing changes in brain function and structure. An accurate diagnosis and timely specialized intervention are important in children with dyslexia. In cases in which national infant development screening tests have been conducted, as in Korea, if language developmental delay and early predictors of dyslexia are detected, careful observation of the progression to dyslexia and early intervention should be made.