• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.281-293
• /
• 2014

This study is to help fine some factors of how the Initial food consumption ability affects articulation production and intelligibility in children at aged 4-15 with cerebral palsy. According to the factor analysis of articulation production, here are some positive articulation productions; the ability of mumbling and swallowing food, biting and swallowing and liquid diet, the experience of food consumption therapy, the use of specific methods or tools for food consumption, the behavior-problem during a meal and the beginning of the neck control. Therefore, the study finds that the Initial food consumption ability in children with spastic cerebral palsy may affect articulation production and intelligibility.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.3
• /
• pp.167-176
• /
• 1998

Conventional time-scale modification methods have the problem that as the modification rate gets higher the time-scale modified speech signal becomes less intelligible, because they ignore the effect of articulation rate on speech characteristics. Results of research on speech perception show that the timing information of transient portions of a speech signal plays an important role in discriminating among different speech sounds. Inspired by this fact, we propose a novel scheme for modifying the time-scale of speech. In the proposed scheme, the timing information of the transient portions of speech is preserved, while the steady portions of speech are compressed or expanded somewhat excessively for maintaining overall time-scale change. In order to identify the transient and steady portions of a speech signal, we employ a simple method using LPC cepstral distance between neighboring frames. The result of the subjective preference test indicates that the proposed method produces performance superior to that of the conventional SOLA method, especially for very fast playback case.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.72-76
• /
• 2008

Purpose: Authors evaluated results of palatoplasty by speech analysis in bilateral, unilateral complete, and unilateral incomplete and submucous cleft palate patients. Methods: The speech outcomes were studied in 15 bilateral, 28 unilateral complete, and 46 unilateral incomplete and submucous cleft palate patients who underwent push-back palatoplasties from January 1998 to July 2004. The patients were divided into 2 groups as 3 to 6, 7 to 10-year-old and compared with 20 normal children(control groups were divided into 10 children on each side). Nasal emission test, hypernasality test, and articulation test were done by speech evaluation table which was composed of 39 different words. Results: In all speech evaluation tests, the group of bilateral cleft palate patients got the worst score. And 7 to 10-year-old groups got better score when compared to the same type cleft palate. Conclusion: Bilateral cleft palate patients have many more speech problems than other patients. In cleft palate patients, the speech problem was improved with ages, postoperatively. And the speech therapy can improve the operative outcomes.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.37-41
• /
• 2002

In this paper, we made shorter EDT(early decay time) of room reverberation curve using multiple-channel. The speech signal was processed inverse filtering with full-band and sub-band in the basis MINT, and then the multiple-channel adaptive filters were used LMS (Least Mean Square) and NLMS (Normalized Least Mean Square) algorithm. Experimental results, we could get 1/3 of time reduction at 20dB level in the reverberation curve using full-band NLMS when two microphones were used. Also, it is shown that the speech articulation was improved 80% from the test listeners with the speech, which was to shorten EDT by MINT in the subjective assessments using real room impulse response.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.139-149
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was to propose a preliminary norm for 'Korean-Test of Articulation for Children(K-TAC)'. The K-TAC was designed to test 19 Korean consonants in various phonetic contexts through 37 words. We collected the data of 220 normally developing children aged 2;6(years;months) to 6;5. We analyzed the mean percentage of consonants correct and the age of acquisition for K-TAC. The results were as follows: first, The mean percentage was over 60% at late 2 years of age, over 80% at th age of 3, and over 90% after the age of 4. There were significant differences among age groups. Second, based on the criterion of correct production by 75% of children, Korean children acquired stops and nasals except for SF velars, glottal fricative, SF liquid and affricates by late 2 or 3 years of age. After that they acquired SF velars at the age of 4 and SI liquid at the age of 5. However, they could not acquire alveolar fricatives by the age of late 6. Third, if the distorted sounds were scored as correct, they acquired SI liquid at 4 years of age and alveolar fricatives at 5 years of age.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.103-116
• /
• 2008

Cerebral palsy children represent abnormal vocalization pattern caused by respiration problem and paralyzed oral motor muscle that are the basics of speech production. Thus, this study examined the effect of respiration and articulator training programs on the basic ability of speech production in CP children. The subjects of this study were 4 children with 3 of spastic CP and 1 of ataxia CP. The respiration and articulator program was conducted in 30 sessions for 30 minutes each. Pre-test was administered twice before the program, ongoing test was administered every 5 session during the period of experiment, and post-test was administered twice. The program included speech production such as respiration training, lips, jaw, cheek, and tongue exercise, and velopharyngeal training, and related articulator training. The following results were obtained. First, all subject children were less than 5 seconds in maximum phonation time before the experiment and 2 were improved by more than 4$\sim$5 seconds during the experiment, but 2 had relatively low rising width. Second, while children with less than 30dB before the experiment became bigger in strength during the experiment, children with more than 35dB before the experiment showed a minor change. Subject child 4 had lower vocal strength in the post-test period. Finally, although each subject had individual difference in syllable diadochokinetic ability, the function was improved and the number of repetition in one respiration was also increased.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.89-99
• /
• 2005

The purpose of the present study were (1) to assess differences in tongue performances and speech intelligibility between normal and dysarthric speakers; and (2) to analyze the possible interrelationships between tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility in dysarthric patients. In order to measure maximum strength of anterior and lateral tongue strength, a force transducer has been designed. And a ruler was used for guaging range of motion. 'Word intelligibility test' was administered to each group. The results were analyzed by a quantitative statistical method(t test, Pearson product- moment correlation, and one-way ANOVA). The results were as follows; (1) dysarthric speakers showed significantly poorer performance than the normal in the tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility tasks; (2) the correlation between speech intelligibility and instrumental tongue performance was high in the dysarthric group; and (3) instrumental assessment was coincide with perceptual judgement of dysarthric tongue performance. The present investigation demonstrated that tongue weakness is causally related to articulation deficits in dysarthric. The clinical use of the force transducer would help a speech pathologist to quantify the degree of tongue weakness.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.181-186
• /
• 2019

Background and Objectives: This study compared the perception of mono-syllabic and bisyllabic words in Tamil by young normal hearing adults in the presence of multi-talker speech babble at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Further for this comparison, a speech perception in noise test was constructed using existing mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic word lists in Tamil. Subjects and Methods: A total of 30 participants with normal hearing in the age range of 18 to 25 years participated in the study. Speech-in-noise test in Tamil (SPIN-T) constructed using mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words in Tamil was used as stimuli. The stimuli were presented in the background of multi-talker speech babble at two SNRs (0 dB and +10 dB SNR). Results: The effect of noise on SPIN-T varied with SNR. All the participants performed better at +10 dB SNR, the higher of the two SNRs considered. Additionally, at +10 dB SNR performance did not vary significantly for neither mono-syllabic or bi-syllabic words. However, a significant difference existed at 0 dB SNR. Conclusions: The current study indicated that higher SNR leads to better performance. In addition, bi-syllabic words were identified with minimal errors compared to mono-syllabic words. Spectral cues were the most affected in the presence of noise leading to more of place of articulation errors for both mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.181-186
• /
• 2019

Background and Objectives: This study compared the perception of mono-syllabic and bisyllabic words in Tamil by young normal hearing adults in the presence of multi-talker speech babble at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Further for this comparison, a speech perception in noise test was constructed using existing mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic word lists in Tamil. Subjects and Methods: A total of 30 participants with normal hearing in the age range of 18 to 25 years participated in the study. Speech-in-noise test in Tamil (SPIN-T) constructed using mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words in Tamil was used as stimuli. The stimuli were presented in the background of multi-talker speech babble at two SNRs (0 dB and +10 dB SNR). Results: The effect of noise on SPIN-T varied with SNR. All the participants performed better at +10 dB SNR, the higher of the two SNRs considered. Additionally, at +10 dB SNR performance did not vary significantly for neither mono-syllabic or bi-syllabic words. However, a significant difference existed at 0 dB SNR. Conclusions: The current study indicated that higher SNR leads to better performance. In addition, bi-syllabic words were identified with minimal errors compared to mono-syllabic words. Spectral cues were the most affected in the presence of noise leading to more of place of articulation errors for both mono-syllabic and bi-syllabic words.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.67-74
• /
• 2017

An increase in speech intelligibility has been found in Clear Speech compared to conversational speech. Clear Speech is defined by decreased articulation rates and increased frequency and length of pauses. The objective of the present study was to investigate improvement in immediate speech intelligibility in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease (age range: 46 to 75 years) using Clear Speech. This experiment has been performed using the Phonatory Aerodynamic System 6600 after the participants read the first sentence of a Sanchaek passage and the "List for Adults 1" in the Sentence Recognition Test (SRT) using casual speech and Clear Speech. Acoustic and aerodynamic parameters that affect speech intelligibility were measured, including mean F0, F0 range, intensity, speaking rate, mean airflow rate, and respiratory rate. In the Sanchaek passage, use of Clear Speech resulted in significant differences in mean F0, F0 range, speaking rate, and respiratory rate, compared with the use of casual speech. In the SRT list, significant differences were seen in mean F0, F0 range, and speaking rate. Based on these findings, it is claimed that speech intelligibility can be affected by adjusting breathing and tone in Clear Speech. Future studies should identify the benefits of Clear Speech through auditory-perceptual studies and evaluate programs that use Clear Speech to increase intelligibility.