@article {21, title = {Relationship between segmental speech errors and intelligibility in speakers with acquired dysarthria}, year = {2017}, publisher = {Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fonetische Wetenschappen}, address = {Amsterdam, The Netherlands}, abstract = {

The standard approach to dysarthria assessment involves rating 38 perceptual dimensions of speech on a 7- point severity scale (Darley, 1969). The drawbacks of this method are that it (a) reduces the wide range of pronunciation errors to one perceptual dimension ({\textquotedblleft}articulatory imprecision{\textquotedblright}) and (b) presupposes that the most {\textquotedblleft}severe{\textquotedblright} speech errors are the greatest barrier to intelligibility.

This study aimed to identify prototypical pronunciation errors in Belgian Dutch speakers with dysarthria and to examine the relationship between segmental speech errors and intelligibility in spontaneous speech. Participants included speakers with acquired dysarthria due to stroke or cerebellar disease (n = 11) and age- matched controls (n = 10). A novel intelligibility test was devised consisting of 120 monosyllabic targets and perceptual errors were identified via an orthographic transcription task. Spontaneous speech was analysed using a listening paradigm that generates quantitative measures of intelligibility (Lagerberg et al., 2014). Common consonant errors included devoicing, fronting and cluster formation. The most common vowel distortions were increased height (kent {\textrightarrow} kind) and reduced duration (staart {\textrightarrow} start). Segmental speech errors are discussed with respect to articulatory complexity and functional load. There was only a weak correlation between single-word intelligibility and intelligibility in spontaneous speech.

References:

}, author = {Naomi Miller and Peter Mariën and Jo Verhoeven} } @article {35, title = {Articulatory asymmetries in speech production}, year = {2015}, publisher = {Nederlandse Vereniging voor Fonetische Wetenschappen}, address = {Utrecht, The Netherlands}, abstract = {

This paper presents the results from an investigation of asymmetries in speech articulation on the basis of 1,502 previously published palatograms of a wide variety of speech sounds in a range of languages. For each palatogram, the direction and degree of tongue-palate contact was quantified by means of an index capturing the degree of lateral asymmetry.

The results of this investigation show that lingual asymmetry in the articulation of speech sounds is substantial: 83 \% of the palatograms are asymmetrical. With respect to the direction of the asymmetry it is found that the asymmetry is more often towards the left side of the palate (45 \%) than to the right side (38 \%). Further analysis reveals that there are significant differences in both the direction and the degree of the asymmetry as a function of manner and place of articulation.

}, author = {Jo Verhoeven and Ilke De Clerck and Peter Mariën} }