AN ARTICULATORY-ACOUSTIC INVESTIGATION OF TIMING AND COORDINATION IN THE FLUENT SPEECH OF PEOPLE WHO STAMMER

This thesis investigates Wingate’s Fault-Line hypothesis (1988) which suggests that disfluencies in people who stammer (PWS) result from a deficit in transition from consonant to vowel (CV) thereby implying that stammering as a motor-control disorder would affect transitions even when not perceptually salient. To test this proposal, we explored the perceptually fluent speech of PWS using instrumental analysis (ultrasound and acoustic) to determine the underlying pervasiveness of disfluencies in this group as compared to people who do not stammer (PNS). Following fluency screening of recorded utterances, we applied acoustic and articulatory analysis techniques to perceptually fluent utterances of 9 PWS and 9 typical speakers in order to identify indicators of disfluency in the transition from syllable onsets to the following vowel. Measures of acoustic duration, locus equation and formant slope offer insights into timing and degree of coarticulation. The articulatory ultrasound tongue imaging technique moreover provides kinematic information of the tongue. A novel technique was applied to dynamically analyse and quantify the tongue kinematics in transition. This allowed us to treat the perceptually fluent speech of PWS as an ongoing time-situated process. Both acoustic and articulatory findings indicate by-group differences in timing, whereby PWS are overall slower and more variable in the execution of CV transitions when compared to typical speakers (PNS). The findings from both instrumental approaches also indicate differences in coordination, suggesting that PWS coarticulate to a lesser extent than PNS. Overall, these findings suggest that PWS exhibit a global deficit in CV transition that can be observed in perceptually fluent as well as stammered speech. This is in keeping with the predictions of Wingate’s Fault-Line hypothesis. iv The fact that the conclusions from the acoustic and articulatory measures are coherent, shows that acoustic measures may be sufficient to act as a proxy for articulatory measures

How fluent is the fluent speech of people who stutter? A new approach to measuring kinematics with ultrasound

AM deposited 2020-06-22We present a new approach to the investigation of dynamic ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) data, applied here to analyse the subtle aspects of the fluency of people who stutter (PWS). Fluent productions of CV syllables (C = /k/; V = /, i, /) from three PWS and three control speakers (PNS) were analysed for duration and peak velocity relative to articulatory movement towards (onset) and away from (offset) the consonantal closure. The objective was to apply a replicable methodology for kinematic investigation to speech of PWS in order to test Wingate's Fault-Line hypothesis. As was hypothesised, results show comparable onset behaviours for both groups. Regarding offsets, groups differ in peak velocity. Results suggest that PWS do not struggle initiating consonantal closure (onset). In transition from consonantal closure into the vowel, however, groups appear to employ different strategies expressed in increased variation (PNS) versus decreased mean peak velocity (PWS).casl30pub4219pub3-

UltraPhonix : learning new articulations with ultrasound

Ultrasound Tongue Imaging (UTI) is gaining popularity as a visual biofeedback tool that is cost-effective and non-invasive. The evidence for Ultrasound visual biofeedback (U-VBF) therapy is small but promising, with around 20 case or small group studies. However, most studies originate from the USA and Canada, and focus on the remediation of delayed/disordered /r/ production (for example McAllister et al., 2014). While ultrasound is ideal for visualising /r/ productions, it also offers the ability to visualise a much larger range of consonants and all vowels, for example Cleland et al. (2015) report success in treating persistent velar fronting and post-alveolar fronting of /ʃ/. Moreover, most studies use hand-held ultrasound devices, making it difficult to collect and compare ultrasound images across the therapy process. This is important because ultrasound offers additional insights into auditorily imperceptible tongue movements which may give clues as to why persistent speech sound disorders fail to remediate with traditional approaches. This paper will report on a new project, “UltraPhonix” designed to test the effectiveness of U-VBF and record high-speed ultrasound during both assessments and therapy. Twenty children aged 6 to 15 with persistent speech sound disorders affecting vowels and/or lingual consonants in the absence of structural abnormalities took part in the project. We use a single-subject, multiple baseline design, with different wordlists (untreated probes) utilised in accordance with each child’s presenting speech error. We use a high-speed Ultrasonix SonixRP machine running Articulate Assistant Advanced software (Articulate Instruments, 2012) at 121 frames per second allowing us to capture and review dynamic information about the children’s speech errors for diagnostic purposes. Each child received 10 sessions of U-VBF therapy, preceded by three baseline probes, and followed by two maintenance measures. Therapy is based on the principles of motor learning, with each child required to perform at 80% accuracy at each level of performance before moving on to a motorically harder level (for example, from single syllable words to multisyllabic words). By gating the therapy process in this way we are able to report how many sessions on average are required to a. learn a new articulation and b. apply that new articulation. Results from the first cohort of participants show rapid acquisition of new articulations in the first few sessions (mode: session 2) but slower generalisation to untreated words. Ongoing ultrasound analysis suggests a range of abnormal tongue shapes (for example undifferentiated lingual gestures) suggesting a motoric cause of persistent speech sound disorders, even in children with pre-existing diagnoses of “phonological disorder”. Results of both the effectiveness of therapy and the underlying causes of speech sound disorders as evidenced by ultrasound will be discussed

UltraPhonix: das Erlernen von artikulatorischen Gesten mit Ultraschall-Biofeedback

Item also deposited in University of Strathclyde (Strathprints) repository on 23 June 2017, available at: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/61081In einer Interventionsstudie mit 20 Kindern wird die Effektivität von visuellem Ultraschall-Biofeedback in der Therapie verschiedener Sprechstörungen untersucht. Die Studie umfasst mehrere standardisierte Tests, um die Sprach- und Sprechfähigkeiten der Kinder vor, während und nach der sprachtherapeutischen Intervention (in multiplen Baselineerhebungen) zu erheben. Alle Teilnehmer waren zum Zeitpunkt der ersten Aufnahme zwischen 6 und 15 Jahren alt und wiesen Sprachentwicklungsstörungen mit einer persistierenden Symptomatik auf der phonologisch-phonetischen Ebene auf, die sich in einer Vielzahl von Konsonant- und Vokalfehlern widerspiegelten. Die Produktion der Ziellaute wurde an Übungsitems trainiert und deren Genauigkeit anhand von ungeübten Wörtern (Kontrollitems) beobachtet und ausgewertet. Klinisch bedeutende Verbesserungen direkt im Anschluss und drei Monate nach Beendigung der Ultraschall-Biofeedback-Therapie werden im Vergleich zur den Aufnahmen vor Therapiebeginn vorgestellt.https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/39701casl10pub4751pu

Enabling new articulatory gestures in children with persistent speech sound disorders using ultrasound visual biofeedback

Deposited in University of Strathclyde (Strathprints) repository on 26 September 2018 at: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/65547Purpose: This study evaluated ultrasound visual biofeedback treatment for teaching new articulations to children with a wide variety of Speech Sound Disorders. It was hypothesized that motor-based intervention incorporating ultrasound would lead to rapid acquisition of a range of target lingual gestures with generalization to untreated words. Method: Twenty children aged 6-15 with a range of mild to severe speech disorders affecting a variety of lingual targets enrolled in a case series with replication. Of these, fifteen children completed the intervention. All of the children presented with a variety of errors. We therefore employed a target selection strategy to treat the most frequent lingual error. These individual speech targets were treated using ultrasound visual biofeedback as part of 10 to 12 one hour intervention sessions. The primary outcome measure was percentage target segment correct in untreated wordlists. Results: Six children were treated for velar fronting; three for post-alveolar fronting; two for backing alveolars to pharyngeal or glottal place; one for debuccalisation (production of all onsets as [h]); one for vowel merger; and two for lateralised sibilants. Ten achieved the new articulation in the first or second session of intervention despite no children being readily stimulable for their target articulation before intervention. In terms of generalization, effect sizes for percentage target segments correct ranged from no effect (five children); small effect (one child); medium effect (four children) and large effect (five children). Conclusion: Ultrasound visual biofeedback can be used to treat a wide range of lingual errors in children with various speech sound disorders, from mild to severe. Visual feedback may be useful for establishing new articulations; however, generalization is more variable.Funding: This study was supported by a grant from the Chief Scientist Office of Scotland (ETM/402) awarded to James M. Scobbie and Joanne Cleland.62pubpub

Covert contrast and covert errors in persistent velar fronting

Special Issue on Covert ContrastsThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics on 09/09/2016, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2016.1209788Acoustic and articulatory studies demonstrate covert contrast in perceptually neutralised phonemic contrasts in both typical children and children with speech disorders. These covert contrasts are thought to be relatively common and symptomatic of phonetic speech disorders. However, clinicians in the speech therapy clinic have had no easy way of identifying this covertness. This study uses ultrasound tongue imaging to compare tongue contours for /t/and /k/in seven children with persistent velar fronting. We present a method of overlaying tongue contours to identify covert contrast at the articulatory level. Results show that all seven children, contrary to expectations, produced both /t/and /k/with near-identical tongue shapes showing no evidence of covert contrast. However, further analysis of one of the participants showed highly variable tongue shapes for /t/and /k/, including retroflex productions of both. Although not phonologically conditioned, this covert error is evidence of speech disorder at the phonetic level.This work was funded by grants EP/I027696/1(Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK) and ETM/402 (Chief Scientist Office, Scotland).casl31pub4523pub

Regionale Standards: Ausgabe 2013

"Die 'Regionalen Standards' gehen zurück auf die Initiative eines gemeinsamen Arbeitskreises, bestehend aus Vertretern des Statistischen Bundesamtes, der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher Institute e.V. (ASI) und des ADM Arbeitskreis Deutscher Markt- und Sozialforschungsinstitute e.V. Sie stellen ein Angebot für die Forschung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland dar. Die 'Regionalen Standards' beschreiben Gebietsabgrenzungen und Instrumente zur Typisierung von Regionen, wie sie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von der amtlichen Statistik und/oder der Markt- und Sozialforschung in gewisser Regelmäßigkeit eingesetzt werden. Zusätzlich werden Datensätze aus unterschiedlichen Quellen vorgestellt, die für die Regionalisierung von Bevölkerungsumfragen genutzt werden können und für die Forschung (teils jedoch mit Einschränkungen) zur Verfügung stehen. Ergänzt werden die 'Regionalen Standards' durch eine jährlich aktualisierte Tabellenanalyse aus dem Mikrozensus, zu beziehen über die Internetseiten www.destatis.de, www.gesis.org und www.adm-ev.de." (Autorenreferat

UltraPhonix : Learning new articulations with ultrasound tongue imaging

Effectiveness of ultrasound visual biofeedback was evaluated using a single subject multiple baseline design in 20 children aged 6-15 with persistent speech sound disorders. The children presented with a variety of consonant and vowel errors. We report clinically significant improvements in accuracy of untreated words from baseline to post-therapy

Ultraphonix : using ultrasound visual biofeedback to teach children with special speech sound disorders new articulations

Background: Ultrasound Visual Biofeedback (U-VBF) provides learners with “knowledge of performance” (Maas et al., 2008) that enables them to establish new, more accurate motor programmes for previously in-error speech sounds. The evidence for U-VBF is promising, with around 30 small studies. Although more recent studies differentiate acquisition, retention and generalisation of target articulations (see Sjolie et al., 2016) no studies report in detail when children who begin intervention not stimulable for a particular sound are first able to produce that new articulation. This is an important issue for establishing the dosage of U-VBF. The current study is an investigation of the effectiveness of U-VBF, with particular attention paid to when and how children acquire new articulations. Participants: Fifteen children aged 6 to 15 with SSDs affecting vowels and/or lingual consonants in the absence of structural abnormalities. Method: Single-subject multiple (3) baseline design, with untreated wordlists. Ultrasound was recorded synchronously with audio and used to review dynamic information about the children’s speech errors for diagnostic purposes. Each child received 10-12 sessions of U-VBF with each child required to perform at 80% accuracy at each level of performance before moving on to a motorically more demanding level (for example, from single syllable words to disyllabic words). Analysis: Narrow transcription of wordlists was undertaken and percentage targeted segments correct calculated. Prior to intervention the ultrasound data was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively to identify errors. Results: Six children were treated for velar fronting; three for post-alveolar fronting; three for the unusual pattern of backing to pharyngeal or glottal; one for production of all syllable onsets as [h]; one for vowel merger and one for lateralised sibilants. Most children (10/15) achieved the new articulation in the first or second session. Four children took until the 6th to 9th session to achieve the new articulation and one never did. Those children who acquired the new articulation earlier in the therapeutic process were able to integrate that new articulation into words and sentences more quickly and generalise to untreated words more successfully. 13/15 children made improvements of more than 20 percentage points increase in the accuracy of targeted segments in untreated wordlists. One child made no improvement and one moved towards a phonetically closer approximation of the target

Using ultrasound to treat vowel disorders: A single case study

Children acquiring English will demonstrate vowel errors mostly between age 1;6 and 2;0 (Hare, 1983; Paschall, 1983) and will have developed an almost complete vowel system (93.3%) by age three (Ball & Gibbon, 2013). Vowel acquisition can be problematic for some children leading to vowel error patterns, such as lowering and fronting. This can result in a perceptual collapse in vowel contrast; context sensitive processes where surrounding consonants influence the vowel; and more unusual idiosyncratic systems (Reynolds, 1990; Reynolds, 2013; Pollock, 2013; Bates, Watson, & Scobbie, 2013). Robb, Beleile, and Lee (1993) and Speake, Stackhouse, and Pascoe (2012) provide encouragement that both vowel-focused and unfocused speech and language therapy can increase vowel inventory and accuracy of production. Ultrasound Visual Bio-Feedback (U-VBF) Therapy has become increasingly popular for the remediation of persistent speech sound disorders (SSDs), however there are few studies investigating the use of U-VBF therapy for the remediation of vowel disorders. Current evidence for the remediation of vowels is within the hearing impairment population, showing limited evidence of improvement (Klajman et al., 1988; Wein et al., 1991; Bacsfalvi et al., 2007). The UltraPhonix Project aims to investigate the effectiveness of ultrasound therapy for 20 children aged six to 16 with persistent SSDs. This study uses a single-subject multiple baseline design with Michael (pseudonym),aged 6;5 years, presenting with a vowel disorder. Our research questions were: 1. Does a course of ultrasound visual biofeedback treatment improve accuracy of the targeted phoneme(s) in a. Words/pseudo-words and phrases trained during the therapy (treated word lists)? b. Words/pseudo-words and phrases not trained during the therapy (untreated wordlists)? 2. Are listeners able to perceive a difference in the production of /ɛ/pre- and post-therapy tokens? 3. Does acoustic and instrumental data provide evidence of covert errors/contrasts? Repeated measures of the Phonology subtest of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) (Dodd et al, 2002) and an untreated wordlist containing X tokens of /ɪ ɛ a ɑ/ were undertaken across three baseline assessments. Michael received 10 therapy sessions using ultrasound visual biofeedback (U-VBF) targeting /ɛ/. Assessments were repeated mid-therapy and will be repeated post therapy and at a maintenance session three months post-therapy to test for generalisation. Ultrasound datawas aquired using an Ultrasonix® SonixRP machine remotely controlled via Ethernet from a PC running Articulate Assistant Advanced™ (AAA) software (Articulate Instruments 2010). A probe stabilising headset is being used, to ensure accurate measurements are gathered. To ensure that headset movement is accounted for, a video from a headset-mounted micro-camera is being used, which also captures lip data. A headset-mounted microphone is also being used to record audio data. Therapy is currently on-going. We will present a fine phonetic analysis of Michael’s vowel system including perceptual and instrumental findings to investigate possible covert errors or contrasts. Outcome measures will be based on auditory judgements by trained and untrained listeners (phonetic transcription and perceptual evaluation or pre- and post-therapy measures), acoustic analysis (formant analysis) and articulatory data (tongue surface shape analysis)