Comparing the Informativeness of Single-Word Samples and Connected Speech Samples in Assessing Speech Sound Disorders

Purpose Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are faced with the challenge of quickly and accurately identifying children who present with speech sound disorders (SSD) compared to typically developing (TD) children. The goal of this study was to compare the clinical relevance of two speech sampling methods (single-word vs. connected speech samples) in how sensitive they are in detecting atypical speech sound development in children, and to know whether the information obtained from single-word samples is representative enough of children's overall speech sound performance. Method We compared the speech sound performance of 37 preschool children with SSD ( M age = 4;11 years) and 37 age-sex-matched typically developing children ( M age = 5;0 years) by eliciting their speech in two ways: (a) a picture-naming task to elicit single words, and (b) a story-retelling task to elicit connected speech. Four speech measures were compared across sample type (single words vs. connected speech) and across groups (SSD vs. TD): intelligibility, speech accuracy, phonemic inventory, and phonological patterns. Results Interaction effects were found between sample type and group on several speech sound performance measures. Single-word speech samples were found to differentiate the SSD group from the TD group, and were more sensitive than connected speech samples across various measures. The effect size of single-word samples was consistently higher than connected speech samples for three measures: intelligibility, speech accuracy, and phonemic inventory. The gap in sample type informativeness may be attributed to salience and avoidance effects, given that children tend to avoid producing unfamiliar phonemes in connected speech. The number of phonological patterns produced was the only measure that revealed no gap between two sampling types for both groups. Conclusions On measures of intelligibility, speech accuracy, and phonemic inventory, obtaining a single-word sample proved to be a more informative method of differentiating children with SSD from TD children than connected speech samples. This finding may guide SLPs in their choice of sampling type when they are under time pressure. We discuss how children's performance on the connected speech sample may be biased by salience and avoidance effects and/or task design, and may, therefore, not necessarily reveal a poorer performance than single-word samples, particularly in intelligibility, speech accuracy, and the number of phonological patterns, if these task limitations are circumvented. Our findings show that the performance gap, typically observed between the two sampling types, largely depends on which performance measures are evaluated with the speech sample. Our study is the first to address sampling type differences in SSD versus TD children and has significant clinical implications for SLPs looking for sampling types and measures that reliably identify SSD in preschool-aged children.

Cognitive and Physiological Measures of Listening Effort During Degraded Speech Perception: Relating Dual-Task and Pupillometry Paradigms

Purpose Listening effort is quickly becoming an important metric for assessing speech perception in less-than-ideal situations. However, the relationship between the construct of listening effort and the measures used to assess it remains unclear. We compared two measures of listening effort: a cognitive dual task and a physiological pupillometry task. We sought to investigate the relationship between these measures of effort and whether engaging effort impacts speech accuracy. Method In Experiment 1, 30 participants completed a dual task and a pupillometry task that were carefully matched in stimuli and design. The dual task consisted of a spoken word recognition task and a visual match-to-sample task. In the pupillometry task, pupil size was monitored while participants completed a spoken word recognition task. Both tasks presented words at three levels of listening difficulty (unmodified, eight-channel vocoding, and four-channel vocoding) and provided response feedback on every trial. We refined the pupillometry task in Experiment 2 ( n = 31); crucially, participants no longer received response feedback. Finally, we ran a new group of subjects on both tasks in Experiment 3 ( n = 30). Results In Experiment 1, accuracy in the visual task decreased with increased signal degradation in the dual task, but pupil size was sensitive to accuracy and not vocoding condition. After removing feedback in Experiment 2, changes in pupil size were predicted by listening condition, suggesting the task was now sensitive to engaged effort. Both tasks were sensitive to listening difficulty in Experiment 3, but there was no relationship between the tasks and neither task predicted speech accuracy. Conclusions Consistent with previous work, we found little evidence for a relationship between different measures of listening effort. We also found no evidence that effort predicts speech accuracy, suggesting that engaging more effort does not lead to improved speech recognition. Cognitive and physiological measures of listening effort are likely sensitive to different aspects of the construct of listening effort. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16455900

Clarifying the Relationship Between Early Speech-Sound Production Abilities and Subsequent Reading Outcomes

Purpose: Learning to read is a complex, multi-faceted process that relies on several speech and language-related subskills. Individual differences in word reading outcomes are indicated among children with inaccurate speech-sound productions, with inconsistent reports as to whether phonological deficits and/or weaknesses in oral language explain subsequent reading difficulties. Thus, it remains unclear how variability in speech production accuracy in early childhood may impact reading development. Therefore, the present longitudinal study seeks to clarify the relationship between speech-sound production accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes with a focus on additional potential mediating factors.Method: Speech accuracy, core pre-literacy skills (phonological awareness, rapid naming, letter-name knowledge) and additional potential mediators (oral language, nonverbal cognitive abilities, and socioeconomic status (SES) were characterized at the start of formal reading instruction. Word reading, decoding, reading fluency and comprehension were assessed at the end of second grade. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine factors that mediate the relationship between speech accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes.Results: Speech-sound production accuracy uniquely contributed to the prediction of word reading; whereas full mediation effects of core pre-literacy skills and SES were identified for decoding and fluency. For reading comprehension, full effects of pre-literacy and vocabulary skills were observed. Hierarchical regression models further revealed the relative contributions of each factor to respective reading outcomes.Conclusions: Findings carry implications for the importance of monitoring emergent literacy abilities among children with speech delays and assessing speech-sound production accuracy in multifactorial approaches to early identification of risk for reading difficulties.

Perceptual Learning and Production Practice Differentially Affect How Children Produce Novel Words

Purpose Perceptual learning and production practice are basic mechanisms that children depend on to acquire adult levels of speech accuracy. In this study, we examined perceptual learning and production practice as they contributed to changes in speech accuracy in 3- and 4-year-old children. Our primary focus was manipulating the order of perceptual learning and production practice to better understand when and how these learning mechanisms interact. Method Sixty-five typically developing children between the ages of 3 and 4 years were included in the study. Children were asked to produce CVCCVC (C = consonant, V = vowel) nonwords like /bozjəm/ and /tʌvtʃəp/ that were described as the names of make-believe animals. All children completed two separate experimental blocks: a control block in which participants heard each nonword once and repeated it, and a test block in which the perceptual input frequency of each nonword varied between 1 and 10. Half of the participants completed a control–test order; half completed a test–control order. Results Greater accuracy was observed for nonwords produced in the second experimental block, reflecting a production practice effect. Perceptual learning resulted in greater accuracy during the test for nonwords that participants heard 3 times or more. However, perceptual learning did not carry over to control productions in the test–control design, suggesting that it reflects a kind of temporary priming. Finally, a post hoc analysis suggested that the size of the production practice effect depended on the age of acquisition of the consonants that comprised the nonwords. Conclusions The study provides new details about how perceptual learning and production practice interact with each other and with phonological aspects of the nonwords, resulting in complex effects on speech accuracy and learning of form-referent pairs. These findings may ultimately help speech-language pathologists maximize their clients' improvement in therapy. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12971411

Predicting Intelligibility: An Investigation of Speech Sound Accuracy in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Background: Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a pediatric speech disorder that significantly affects communication and life participation. Most CAS treatment research uses speech accuracy as primary outcome measure, on the assumption that accuracy predicts communicative success. However, this relationship has not yet been examined in this population, limiting our understanding of the impact of available treatments. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between speech accuracy and intelligibility in children with CAS. Intelligibility is defined here as the proportion of words correctly understood by an unfamiliar listener. Methods: Adult listeners, who were unfamiliar with children with CAS, listened to recordings of children with CAS producing single words, and typed what they heard the child say. Separately, and prior to the listening experiment, the children’s words were scored for accuracy using various measures, including the percent phonemes (sounds) correct (PPC), percent consonants correct (PCC), and percent vowels correct (PVC). The relationship between these accuracy measures and intelligibility were examined descriptively. Results: Preliminary findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between intelligibility and PPC and PCC in children with CAS. Conclusions: Implications of these findings for clinical practice as well as future treatment research are discussed.

Order Effects in the Perception and Production of New Words

Purpose: Perceptual learning and production practice are basic mechanisms that children depend on to acquire adult levels of speech accuracy. In this study, we examined perceptual learning and production practice as they contributed to changes in speech accuracy in three- and four-year-old children. Our primary focus was manipulating the order of perceptual learning and baseline production practice to better understand when and how these learning mechanisms interact. Method: Sixty-five typically-developing children between the ages of three and four were included in the study. Children were asked to produce CVCCVC nonwords like /bozjəm/ and /tʌvtʃəp/ that were described as the names of make-believe animals. All children completed two separate experimental blocks: a baseline block in which participants heard each nonword once and repeated it, and a test block in which the perceptual input frequency of each nonword varied between 1 and 10. Half of the participants completed a baseline-test order; half completed a test-baseline order. Results: Greater accuracy was observed for nonwords produced in the second experimental block, reflecting a production practice effect. Perceptual learning resulted in greater accuracy during the test for nonwords that participants heard 3 or more times. However, perceptual learning did not carry over to baseline productions in the test-baseline design, suggesting that it reflects a kind of temporary priming. Finally, a post hoc analysis suggested that the size of the production practice effect depended on the age of acquisition of the consonants that comprised the nonwords. Conclusions: The study provides new details about how perceptual learning and production practice interact with each other and with phonological aspects of the nonwords, resulting in complex effects on speech accuracy and learning of form-referent pairs. These findings may ultimately help speech-language pathologists maximize their clients’ improvement in therapy.

University Rhetoric as Cognitive Means of Liberalization of Mathematical Thinking

The article deals with the understanding of mathematics lectures on the methodology of university rhetoric. It discusses private rhetoric, or rather university rhetoric, related to the sphere of “increased speech responsibility” of teaching mathematics as a cognitive tool for improving mathematical thinking in the pedagogy of university mathematical education. From the point of view of practical demand of rhetoric in lectures on the higher mathematics course, the article highlights the section of the eloquence theory that deals with the rhythm of speech, accuracy and restraint in the presentation of material, while avoiding unnecessary multiple words. In this context, university rhetoric is seen in the article as a cognitive means of liberating students’ mathematical thinking. In fact, it is good to “think” in classes in higher mathematics — it means to perform in mind a variety of intellectual actions with complex mathematical abstractions already at a new conceptual level, where the means of expression are given a methodologically sound and even leading role when affecting the recipient of the lecture.

The effects of hybrid online planning and L2 proficiency on video-based speaking task performance

This study investigated L2 speaking performance under three different types of task-related time pressure, with a control (Control) group narrating a video at normal playing rate, an online planning (OP) group narrating the video at a slowed playing rate, and a hybrid online planning (HOP) group which combined online planning (a slowed playing rate) with content preparedness (through prewatching the video). The results show that the HOP group outperformed the Control group regarding speech accuracy and complexity, suggesting that this form of online planning, with content preparedness, helps improve speech accuracy and complexity. In addition, L2 proficiency significantly predicted speech accuracy, specifically, among all other performance measures. The implications of these findings for language teaching and learning are discussed, particularly their relevance for the way a Conceptualiser-Formulator balance is important, and for the way proficiency can best be mobilised within task performance.