• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.45-55
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• 2021

This study aims to analyze the acoustic characteristics of Korean affricates produced by dysarthric speakers with cerebral palsy. Korean fricatives and affricates are the consonants that are prone to errors in dysarthric speech, but previous studies have focused only on fricatives. For this study, three affricates /tɕ, tɕ^h, ͈tɕ/ appearing at word initial and intervocalic positions produced by six mild-moderate male speakers of spastic dysarthria are selected from a QOLT database constructed in 2014. The parameters representing the acoustic characteristics of Korean affricates were extracted by using Praat: frication duration, closure duration, center of gravity, variance, skewness, kurtosis, and central moment. The results are as follows: 1) frication duration of the intervocalic affricates produced by dysarthric speakers was significantly longer than that of the non-disordered speakers; 2) the closure duration of dysarthric speakers was significantly longer; 3) in the case of the center of gravity, there was no significant difference between the two groups; 4) the skewness of the dysarthric speakers was significantly larger; and 5) the central moment of dysarthric speakers was significantly larger. This study investigated the characteristics of the affricates produced by dysarthric speakers and differences with non-disordered speakers.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2005

This study aimed at investigating the effects of CPAP therapy on hypernasality in flaccid dysarthria. The subject was a flaccid dysarthric patient with hypernasality. An A-B-A experimental research design was used. The therapy program was conducted 16 sessions. During CPAP therapy, the subjects was required to repeat single-word utterances in the form VNCV. The results showed some improvement in decreasing hypernasality.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1E
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• pp.28-33
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• 2005

This study was designed to suggest an assessment tool for analyzing the characteristics of Korean phonetic contrast intelligibility among dysarthric individuals. The intelligibility deficit factors of phonetic contrast in Korean dysarthric patients were analyzed through stepwise regression analysis. The 19 acoustic-phonetic contrasts proposed by Kent et al. (1999) have been claimed to be useful for clinical assessment and research on dysarthria. However, the test cannot be directly applied to Korean patients due to linguistic differences between English and Korean. Thus, it is necessary to devise a Korean word intelligibility test that reflects the distinct characteristics of the Korean language. To identify the speech error characteristics of a Korean dysarthric group, a Korean word list was audio-recorded by 3 spastic, 4 flaccid, and 5 mixed type of dysarthric patients. The word list consisted of monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) real word pairs. Stimulus words included 41 phonemic contrast pairs and six triplets. The results showed that the percentage of errors in final position contrast was higher than in any other position. Unlike the results of previous studies, the initial-position contrasts were crucial in predicting the overall intelligibility among Korean patients.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.694-702
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• 2003

The word intelligibility test for dysarthric speakers was designed to examine phonetic contrasts that are likely (1) to be sensitive to intelligibility impairment and (2) to contribute significantly to speech intelligibility. These phonetically contrasting word pairs were tested and proved to be reliable and to be valid, The results showed that in Korean dysarthric patients, the percentage of error in final position contrast was higher than in any other position. Unlike the results of previous studies, the initial-position contrasts were crucial in predicting the overall intelligibility among Korean patients.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.141-144
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• 2002

The relations between words intelligibility and sentences intelligibility were tested on adults with cerebral palsy(athetoid type). Intelligibility is used as an important evaluation value in the field of diagnosis and therapy of dysarthric patients. In order to develop one syllable phonetic contrast intelligibility test using specific phonetic contrasts, the correlation with sentences intelligibility was tested to find out the validity. Pearson's simple correlation coefficient was .83 that shows a high correlation. Also, comparing the range and standard deviation given by seven evaluators on each subject, it was shown that when evaluating patients of moderate intelligibility, words intelligibility was more reliable than sentences intelligibility.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2015

This study examined whether speech acceptability was changed under various conditions of prosodic manipulations. Both speech rate and voice loudness reportedly are associated with acceptability and intelligibility. Speech samples by twelve speakers with mild dysarthria were recorded. Speech rate and loudness changes were made by digitally manipulating habitual sentences. 3 different loudness levels (70, 75, & 80dB) and 4 different speech rates (normal, 20% rapidly, 20% slowly, & 40% slowly) were presented to 12 SLPs (speech language pathologists). SLPs evaluated sentence acceptability by 7-point Likert scale. Repeated ANOVA were conducted to determine if the prosodic type of resynthesized cue resulted in a significant change in speech acceptability. A faster speech rate (20% rapidly) rather than habitual and slower rates (20%, 40% slowly) resulted in significant improvement in acceptability ratings (p <.001). An increased vocal loudness (up to 80dB) resulted in significant improvement in acceptability ratings (p <.05). Speech rate and loudness changes in the prosodic properties of speech may contribute to improved acceptability.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.39-49
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• 2004

An auditory-perceptual rating scale has long been utilized in an evaluation procedure of Parkinsonian speech. This study attempted to investigate various variables and appropriate equal-interval rating scale for each variable. We collected speech samples from 27 patients with Parkinsonian speech disorders. A total of 25 variables and descriptions for each variable across phonatory, resonatory, and articulatory dimensions were included in the rating scale. The descriptive parts of each variable could increase the objectivity of the rating scale.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.197-206
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• 2006

Perceptual judgement method is frequently used in evaluating dysarthric speech. Although most of speech pathologists and researchers focus on the 38 perceptual features provided by Darley, Aronson & Brown(1969) during evaluation, there are additional characteristics that may be useful to describe dysarthria in literature. We reviewed previous dysarthria literature and selected 46 perceptual characteristics that could be examined at various subsystems of speech production. We also provided explanations and rationale for the rating method for each of the perceptual characteristics. This attempt might aid to offer a basic ground for developing a diagnostic tool of dysarthria.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.221-227
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• 2003

Diadochokinetic (DDK) speech task has been utilized as an evaluating tool for speakers with dysarthria for many years. This study attempted to differently diagnose multiple system atrophy (MSA) from idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) using patients' performance of DDK (i.e., alternate motion rate (AMR)). The subjects included 11 cases of pathologically confirmed MSA and 16 IPD patients who commonly presented with parkinsonian syndrome. The speech sample of each patient was analyzed acoustically using the MSPTM(Motor Speech Profile, a module of CSL). The results showed that the average DDK rate was significantly faster in the IPD than the MSA groups in all three syllables (i.e., /puh/, /tuh/. and /kuh/). We propose the average DDK rate variable as a core clinical trait in differentiating the two pathological conditions.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2006

The primary goal of therapeutic intervention in dysarthric speakers is to increase the speech intelligibility. Decision of critical features to increase the intelligibility is very important in speech therapy. The purpose of this study is to know the effects of pitch increasing training (PIT) on speech of a subject with Parkinson's disease (PD). The PIT program is focused on increasing pitch while a vowel is sustained with the same loudness. The loudness level is somewhat higher than that of the habitual loudness. A 67-year-old female with PD participated in the study. Speech therapy was conducted for 4 sessions (200 minutes) for one week. Before and after the treatment, acoustic, perceptual and speech naturalness evaluation was peformed for data analysis. Speech and voice satisfaction index (SVSI) was obtained after the treatment. Results showed Improvements in voice quality and speech naturalness. In addition, the patient's satisfaction ratings (SVSI) indicated a positive relationship between improved speech production and their (the patient and care-givers) satisfaction.