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Acoustic characteristics of Motherese

  • Shim, Hee-Jeong (Graduate Program in Speech and Language Pathology, Hallym University) ;
  • Lee, GeonJae (Graduate Program in Speech and Language Pathology, Hallym University) ;
  • Hwang, JinKyung (Graduate Program in Speech and Language Pathology, Hallym University) ;
  • Ko, Do-Heung (Division of Speech Pathology & Audiology, Hallym University)
  • Received : 2014.11.14
  • Accepted : 2014.12.19
  • Published : 2014.12.31

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the speech rate, the length of a pause, habitual pitch, and voice intensity of motherese. Subjects and Methods: The research participants comprised 20 mothers (mean age 33 years). Speech data were collected and analyzed using the Real-time Pitch software (KayPENTAX(R)). Results: The average speech rate was 5.33 syllables per second without their infant present and 4.26 syllables per second with their infant present. The average pause length was 1.09 s without their infant present and 1.56 s with their infant present. The average habitual pitch was 199.79 Hz without their infant present and 227.15 Hz with their infant present. The average voice loudness was 61.09 dB without their infant present and 64.49 dB with their infant present. Conclusion: This study presented clinical information for efficiently managing the speech therapy issues of infants and children. This includes proper acoustic and phonological information to recommend to main caregivers.

Keywords

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