Speech utterances in a given language are known to be less intelligible to second-language (L2) listeners than to native listeners. This study is aimed at quantifying the reduction of speech intelligibility due to non-nativeness of the listener. Two types of experiments were carried out: Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) experiments for obtaining a quantitative measure of speech intelligibility,...

Exaggerated and redundant prosodic cue use has been noted among adults with dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy (CP) (Patel, 2004; van Doorn & Sheard, 2001). A possible explanation may be that speakers heighten prosodic contrasts to increase intelligibility. The current work examined whether children with dysarthria due to CP also produce exaggerated prosodic contours and if so, how prosodic...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the long-term speech perception and speech intelligibility of congenitally and prelingually deaf children after cochlear implantation. It was a longitudinal study following 63 congenitally or prelingually deaf children up to 5 years after implantation. They each received a nucleus multichannel cochlear implant before they were 10 years old. METHODS Perce...

Recent studies on binary masking techniques make the assumption that each time-frequency (T-F) unit contributes an equal amount to the overall intelligibility of speech. The present study demonstrated that the importance of each T-F unit to speech intelligibility varies in accordance with speech content. Specifically, T-F units are categorized into two classes, speech-present T-F units and spee...

Speech intelligibility is an essential though complex construct for evaluating dysarthric speech. Various procedures can be used to measure speech intelligibility, most of which are based on subjective ratings assigned by experts. Since these and laborious, automatic recognition (ASR) has been proposed obtain objective metrics intelligibility. Although promising results have reported, ASR gener...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of reduced vowel working space on dysarthric talkers' speech intelligibility using both acoustic and perceptual approaches. In experiment 1, the acoustic-perceptual relationship between vowel working space area and speech intelligibility was examined in Mandarin-speaking young adults with cerebral palsy. Subjects read aloud 18 bisyllabic words...

Talkers modify the way they speak in the presence of noise. As well as increases in voice level and fundamental frequency (F0), a flattening of spectral tilt is observed. The resulting ‘‘Lombard speech” is typically more intelligible than speech produced in quiet, even when level differences are removed. What is the cause of the enhanced intelligibility of Lombard speech? The current study expl...

BACKGROUND/AIMS This study examined the spectral characteristics of American English vowels in dysarthria associated with cerebral palsy (CP), and investigated the relationship between a speaker's overall speech intelligibility and vowel contrast. METHODS The data were collected from 12 American English native speakers (9 speakers with a diagnosis of CP and 3 controls). Primary measures were ...