Computer-aided speech evaluation and speech training for the deaf

Abstract

A system built around a minicomputer has been used in a remedial speech-training program on problems of pitch and intonation, timing and rhythm, velar control, voice quality, and articulation. Training is done both by means of tutorial sessions in which a speech teacher coaches a student with the help of several types of visual displays generated by the machine, and through self-instructional sessions in which a student works with the displays by himself. The system is organized in a way that permits display selection, storage and replay of displays produced by teacher and by student, and measurement of display parameters with a simple array of pushbuttons and knobs under the control of teacher or student. Data have been collected to document the students' progress, and the results to date suggest that speech-training procedures utilizing the displays are useful in teaching children to obtain specific measurable objectives relating to each of the problems mentioned above. They also demonstrate, however, the importance of further research on the question of the relative importance of various speech deficiencies for speech intelligibility, and on the design of more effective speech-training procedures that can capitalize on the objective evaluations provided by visual displays. [Research supported by the U. S. Office of Education, Media Services and Captioned Films Branch of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped.]