• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association among articulation rate, speech intelligibility and working memory in children with dysarthria. Two subject groups of 11 spastic and 11 flaccid dysarthria, respectively, aged between 8 and 17 years of age participated in this study. All participants were administered the following tests: K-WISC III PIQ test, speech intelligibility, working memory and articulation rate. Group differences were compared by an independent t-test. Pearson correlation were computed between all measures. The results of this study are as follows: First, articulation rate and intelligibility were significantly lower for the spastic dysarthria than for the flaccid dysarthria. Second, there was a significant correlation between articulation rate and intelligibility in children with flaccid dysarthria. Lastly, there was no significant correlation between articulation rate and working memory in both groups. The results suggest that articulation rate is not necessarily accompanied by working memory capacity in children with dysarthria, and there are differences in the effect of articulation rate on intelligibility depending on the type of dysarthria.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics B
• /
• v.29B no.1
• /
• pp.43-49
• /
• 1992

As a result of recent progress in speech synthesis techniques, the those new services using new techniques are going to introduce into the telephone communication system. In setting standards, voice quality is obviously an important criterion. It is very important to develope a quality evaluation method of synthesized speech for the diagnostic assessment of system algorithm, and fair comparison of assessment values. This paper has described several basic concepts and criterions for quality assessment (intelligibility) of synthesized speech by rule, and then a word selection method and the word list to be used in word intelligibility test were proposed. Finally, a test method for word intelligibility is described.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.125-135
• /
• 2017

The current study examines PCC (percentage of correct consonant), speech intelligibility, and oral motor function between the group of typically developing children and the group of children with Down's syndrome. To 15 children with Down's syndrome (mean CA: 9;7) and 15 typically developing children on receptive language age, the following tests were administered: K-WPPSI (2001), Picture Vocabulary Test (Kim et al., 1995), Oral and Speech Motor Control Protocol for total oral functional score (Robbins et al., 1987), DDK and Assessment of Phonology and Articulation for Children (APAC, Kim et al., 2007) for PCC and speech intelligibility. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the total oral functional score, PCC and DDK of each group. The statistical analysis showed that there is no significant difference in total functional score and DDK when IQ was controlled. There was a significant correlation between total oral functional score and PCC in the Down's syndrome group and a significant correlation between total oral functional score and intelligibility in the Down's syndrome group whether IQ was controlled or not. The findings suggest that both cognitive ability and overall oral motor function need to be considered for the intervention to enhance PCC or speech intelligibility of children with Down's syndrome.

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

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
• /
• 2002.11a
• /
• pp.141-144
• /
• 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
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relations between phonetic differences among Korean learners' production of English front vowels, pronunciation intelligibility and speaking proficiency test score. To do so, thirty Korean university students were asked (1) to read English text book paragraphs and (2) describe a picture. Two English native raters and one Korean rater evaluated Korean subjects' English pronunciation intelligibility and speaking. In addition, subjects' English vowel productions were acoustically analyzed(F0, F1, F2, vowel duration, intensity). The results of the study show that the vowel quality and pitch of the unstressed vowels and lax vowel are related to the pronunciation intelligibility. In addition, the scores of pronunciation intelligibility and speaking are highly related.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.8-15
• /
• 2007

Speech intelligibility of the eavesdropping sound is investigated on a acoustic cavity - glass window coupled system. Using MLS (Maximum Length Sequency) signal as a sound source, acceleration and velocity responses of the glass window are measured by accelerometer and laser doppler vibrometer. MTF (Modulation Transfer Function) is used to identify tile speech transmission characteristics of the cavity and window system. STI (Speech Transmission Index) based upon MTF is calculated and speech intelligibility of the vibration sound of the glass window is estimated. Speech intelligibilities by the acceleration signal and the velocity signal are compared. Finally, intelligibility of the conversation sound is confirmed by the subjective test.

• Speech Sciences
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.139-156
• /
• 2001

Speech intelligibility in patients with complete dentures is an important clinical problem depending on the material used. The objective of this study was to investigate the speech of two edentulous subjects fitted with a complete maxillary prosthesis made of two different palatal materials: chrome-cobalt alloy and acrylic resin. Three patients with complete dentures in the experiment group and ten people in the controls groups participated in the experiment. CSL, Visi-Pitch were used to measure speech characteristics. The test words consisted of a simple vowel /e/, meaningless three syllabic words containing fricative, affricated and stops sounds, and sustained fricative sounds /s/ and /$\int$/. The analysis speech parameters were vowel and lateral formants, VOT, sound durations, sound pressure level and fricative frequency. Data analysis was conducted by a series of paired T-test. The findings like the following: (1) Vowel formant one of patients with complete denture is higher than that of the control group (p<0.05), while lateral formant three of patients with complete denture is lower than that of the control group (p<0.0l). (2) Patients with complete denture produced lower speech intelligibility with low fricative frequency (/$\int$/) than control group (p<0.0). The speech intelligibility of patients with metal prosthesis was higher than that of those with resin prosthesis (p<0.05). (3) Fricative, lateral and stop sound durations of patients with complete denture were longer than those of the control group (p<0.01 and p<0.05), respectively. Total sound durations of patients with metal prosthesis were similar to that of the control group (p<0.05), while those with resin prosthesis had a shorter duration (p<0.01). This implied that those with metal prosthesis had higher speech intelligibility than those with resin prosthesis. (4) Patients with complete denture had higher sound pressure levels /t/ and /c/ than the control group (p<0.01). However, sound pressure levels for /c/ of patients with metal prosthesis or resin prosthesis was similar to the control group (p<0.05). (5) Patients with complete denture had higher fundamental frequency than the control group (p<0.01).

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.85-92
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to know the differences in perceptual judgement for speech intelligibility in monosyllables by inexperienced listeners and vowel space area according to different dysarthric severity. Three dysarthric speakers with different severity(mild, moderate and severe) screened by 3 clinicians' screening tests before the experiment were conducted. Corner vowels (i, u, ae, a) in monosyllable level (CVC, 'p_p') and carrier phrases ('종이에_써') were chosen and analyzed for vowel space. Inexperience listeners (n=20) performed the intelligibility test for spoken syllables and carrier phrases by dysarthric speakers. The results show that there is a significant differences in both F1 and F2 values among 4 corner vowels. Vowel space area in the data of mildly impaired speakers was significantly higher than two others. In the scores of speech intelligibility judged by inexperienced listeners, the scores by a moderately impaired speaker were more higher than two other speakers. The discrepancy between perceptual judgement by inexperienced listeners and vowel space area will be discussed in this area.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.125-132
• /
• 2018

This study was to investigate the speech sound production characteristics and evaluation aspects of preschool children through word test and connected speech test. For this, the authors conducted Assessment of Phonology and Articulation for Children(APAC) to 72 normal children(24 three-, four-, and five-year-olds each) and analyzed difference in percent of correct consonant(PCC) and intelligibility according to age and sex, correlation between PCC and intelligibility, and speech sound error patterns. PCC and intelligibility increased with age but there was no difference according to sex. The correlation was statistically significant in 5-year-old group. Speech sound error patterns were different in the two tests. This study showed that children's speech sound production varied according to language unit. Therefore, both types of tests should be done to grasp their speech sound production ability properly. This suggests that current standard to identify language impairment only by PCC of word level requires review and further studies.