Speech Production In Children Research Articles

A systematic review of cross-linguistic and multilingual speech and language outcomes for children with hearing loss

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the factors affecting the language, speech intelligibility, speech production, and lexical tone development of children with hearing loss who use spoken languages other than English. Relevant studies of children with hearing loss published between 2000 and 2011 were reviewed with reference to (1) methodologies used, (2) children's outcomes, (3) factors affecting children's outcomes, and (4) publication quality. The review included 117 studies describing 20 languages. Monolingual children were described in 109, and multilingual children were described in 8. Better performance outcomes were frequently associated with earlier age of hearing loss diagnosis, intervention, amplification, and less severe hearing loss – a finding similar to studies of English-speaking children. Studies frequently did not report or include information about participant characteristics, blinding of researchers, and reliability. Cross-linguistic comparison of children's outcomes across studies was not possible due to differences in the outcomes assessed, assessment and analysis methods, and participant characteristics. There is a need for cross-linguistic comparisons of the speech and language outcomes of children with hearing loss, but there is little scope for this using existing published research. Few studies described the outcomes of multilingual children with hearing loss.

Contrasting effects of associates and coordinates in children with and without language impairment: A picture–word interference study

ABSTRACTIn picture naming, semantic context words produce either facilitation or inhibition, depending on their relationship to the target-picture name. This study used the picture–word interference task to examine facilitative effects of associates (the word carrot paired with a picture of rabbit) and inhibitory effects of coordinates (mouse paired with a rabbit) in children and adults. Experiment 1 with adults (N = 44) documented robust associate and coordinate effects with either auditory or visual presentation of interfering words. Experiment 2 used auditory presentation of interfering words with children (N = 44, 6 years, 10 months to 11 years, half with typical development, half with specific language impairment). Children showed significant facilitation from associates but no reliable coordinate interference effect. The strength of the associative priming effect in children was correlated with their language abilities (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals scores). The results indicate the dominant role of association in facilitating word retrieval in speech production in children. In children with specific language impairment, lexical access gains weaker support from networks of associations in semantic memory.

Effects of age, hearing loss, and phonological neighborhood density on children's perceptual confusions

Age, hearing loss, and phonological neighborhood density have been shown to substantially affect the accuracy of productions in a word imitation task [VanDam, et al., 161st ASA Meeting]. Older children (7 years of age) are more accurate than younger children (4 years of age), normal hearing children are more accurate than children with mild- to severe hearing loss, and words from sparse phonological neighborhoods are produced more accurately than are words from dense neighborhoods. In an ongoing series of analyses, we extend these findings by analyzing how patterns of perceptual confusion vary as a function of age, hearing status (normal hearing versus hearing loss), and phonological neighborhood structure. Multilevel cognitive models fit to confusion data provide detailed quantitative descriptions of perceptual space and response bias and enable analysis of between- and within-group variability. Results shed light on the organization of the lexicon in young children with both normal hearing and hearing loss, and add to our understanding of the relationship between speech production and speech perception in children.

A randomized controlled comparison of NAL and DSL prescriptions for young children: Hearing-aid characteristics and performance outcomes at three years of age

Objective: To determine the influence of choice of prescription and other child-, family- and intervention-related factors on speech, language, and functional performance of hearing-impaired children by three years of age. Design and study sample: A randomized controlled design was implemented as part of a population-based, longitudinal study on outcomes of children with hearing impairment (LOCHI) in Australia. Two hundred and eighteen children were randomly assigned to either the NAL or the DSL prescription for first fitting of hearing aids. Their performance outcomes were evaluated. Results: Prescriptive targets were closely matched in children's hearing aids. There were no significant differences in children's language, speech production, or functional performance between prescriptions. Parents’ ratings of children's device usage and loudness discomfort were not significantly different between prescription groups. Functional performance within the first year of fitting together with degree of hearing loss, presence of additional disabilities, and maternal education explained 44% of variation in language ability of children by three years of age. Conclusions: There was no significant association between choice of hearing-aid prescription and variance in children's outcomes at three years of age. In contrast, additional disability, maternal educational level, and early functional performance were significant predictive factors of children's outcomes.

Speech perception and production in children with inner ear malformations after cochlear implantation

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the speech perception and speech intelligibility outcome after cochlear implantation in children with malformed inner ear and to compare them with a group of congenitally deaf children implantees without inner ear malformation. MethodsSix deaf children (five boys and one girl) with inner ear malformations who were implanted and followed in our clinic were included. These children were matched with six implanted children with normal cochlea for age at implantation and duration of cochlear implant use. All subjects were tested with the internationally used battery tests of listening progress profile (LiP), capacity of auditory performance (CAP), and speech intelligibility rating (SIR). A closed and open set word perception test adapted to the Modern Greek language was also used. In the dysplastic group, two children suffered from CHARGE syndrome, another two from mental retardation, and two children grew up in bilingual homes. ResultsAt least two years after switch-on, the dysplastic group scored mean LiP 62%, CAP 3.8, SIR 2.1, closed-set 61%, and open-set 49%. The children without inner ear dysplasia achieved significantly better scores, except for CAP which this difference was marginally statistically significant (p=0.009 for LiP, p=0.080 for CAP, p=0.041 for SIR, p=0.011 for closed-set, and p=0.006 for open-set tests). ConclusionAll of the implanted children with malformed inner ear showed benefit of auditory perception and speech production. However, the children with inner ear malformation performed less well compared with the children without inner ear dysplasia. This was possibly due to the high proportion of disabilities detected in the dysplastic group, such as CHARGE syndrome and mental retardation. Bilingualism could also be considered as a factor which possibly affects the outcome of implanted children. Therefore, children with malformed inner ear should be preoperatively evaluated for cognitive and developmental delay. In this case, counseling for the parents is mandatory in order to explain the possible impact of the diagnosed disabilities on performance and habilitation.

Nonlinear development of speaking rate in child-directed speech

This study investigates the role of child-directed speech (CDS) in language acquisition by re-evaluating the old claim that mothers adapt their speech over the course of child language development. The specific hypothesis tested is that there may be quantal changes in certain properties of CDS such as speaking rate around the time children reach major linguistic milestones. The developmental path of CDS speaking rate was analyzed in 25 mother–child pairs from longitudinal corpora in CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000). A parallel analysis was also made on the development of speaking rate in the child as well as the mean length of utterance (MLU) in mother and child. The total number of utterances analyzed approximates one million. The findings reveal that CDS speaking rate changes nonlinearly with a shift occurring early in the multiword stage. There is also some indication that another breakpoint might be present around the onset of child speech production. A parallel pattern of nonlinearity is also observed in the speaking rate of the child and the MLU of both mother and child. The results support the notion that CDS is adapted to the changing needs of the language-learning child, which could reflect its facilitative role in child language acquisition.

Random Versus Blocked Practice in Treatment for Childhood Apraxia of Speech

To compare the relative effects of random vs. blocked practice schedules in treatment for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Although there have been repeated suggestions in the literature to use random practice in CAS treatment, no systematic studies exist that have directly compared random with blocked practice in this population. Using an alternating treatments single-subject design with multiple baselines across behaviors, the authors compared random and blocked practice in 4 children diagnosed with CAS in terms of retention and transfer. Random and blocked practice were implemented in the context of a version of Dynamic Temporal and Tactile *Cueing treatment (Strand, Stoeckel, & Baas, 2006). Perceptual accuracy of target utterances was scored, and effect sizes were calculated to quantify the magnitude of treatment effects. Findings were mixed, with 2 children showing a blocked practice advantage, 1 child showing a random practice advantage, and 1 child showing no clear improvement in either condition. These findings suggest that the random practice advantage observed in the nonspeech motor learning literature may not extend to treatment for CAS. Furthermore, the findings add to the small body of literature indicating that integral stimulation treatment can lead to improvements in speech production for children with CAS.

The development of acoustic cues to coda contrasts in young children learning American English.

Research on children's speech perception and production suggests that consonant voicing and place contrasts may be acquired early in life, at least in word-onset position. However, little is known about the development of the acoustic correlates of later-acquired, word-final coda contrasts. This is of particular interest in languages like English where many grammatical morphemes are realized as codas. This study therefore examined how various non-spectral acoustic cues vary as a function of stop coda voicing (voiced vs. voiceless) and place (alveolar vs. velar) in the spontaneous speech of 6 American-English-speaking mother-child dyads. The results indicate that children as young as 1;6 exhibited many adult-like acoustic cues to voicing and place contrasts, including longer vowels and more frequent use of voice bar with voiced codas, and a greater number of bursts and longer post-release noise for velar codas. However, 1;6-year-olds overall exhibited longer durations and more frequent occurrence of these cues compared to mothers, with decreasing values by 2;6. Thus, English-speaking 1;6-year-olds already exhibit adult-like use of some of the cues to coda voicing and place, though implementation is not yet fully adult-like. Physiological and contextual correlates of these findings are discussed.

The mathematical abilities of children with cochlear implants

Research has shown that cochlear implants give rise to improvements in speech recognition and production in children with profound hearing loss but very few studies have explored mathematical abilities in these children. The current study compared the mathematical abilities of 24 children with cochlear implants (mean age 10 years 1 month) to a control group of 22 hearing children (mean age 9 years 8 months). The math questions were categorized into questions that tapped into arithmetic or geometrical reasoning. It was predicted that the cochlear implant group would perform below the hearing group on the arithmetic questions but not the geometrical reasoning questions. Unexpectedly, the results showed that the cochlear implant group performed significantly below the hearing group on both types of math questions, but that this difference was mediated by language skill as assessed by vocabulary knowledge. The clinical implications of these results and possible future research results are considered.

The auditory and speech performance of children with intellectual disability after cochlear implantation

Conclusion: The results revealed that children with intellectual disability (ID) who underwent cochlear implantation (CI) showed gradual progress in their auditory perception and speech development. ID in children should not be considered a contraindication for CI, because they are able to obtain a chance to develop oral communication skills following CI. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the auditory and speech performance of 14 young deaf children with ID after CI. Methods: Fourteen children with ID who underwent CI between December 2002 and February 2010 were included. Improvement in auditory perception and speech production over time was evaluated longitudinally with the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) score and Korean version of Ling's stages (K-Ling). The results were compared with those of age- and gender-matched implanted controls without additional disabilities. All tests were performed four times in each patient: before implantation and at 3, 6, and 12 months after implantation. Preoperative and postoperative communication modes were also assessed and compared between the two groups. Results: Auditory perception and speech production of deaf children with an ID improved consistently after CI. In addition, the communication mode also took a favorable turn from nonverbal to vocalizations or oral communication or from vocalizations to oral communication.

The effect of early loss of anterior primary tooth on speech production in preschool children

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a progressive dental caries in children that may cause premature loss of the anterior primary teeth. In this study, the aim was to investigate the effects of primary anterior tooth loss and removable dentures on the speech of children with ECC. Materials and methods: Included in the study were 15 patients with ECC who required extraction of the primary anterior teeth and needed dentures (case group), and 15 healthy children (control group). The articulation of the control group was evaluated once and that of the case group was evaluated before and after extraction, before and after dentures, and at the follow-up exam. The errors of both groups and those among the case group for 5 periods were compared statistically. Results: It was found that tooth loss did not influence articulation. However, dentures temporarily effected articulation of the [s], [\int], and [z] speech sounds. Conclusion: It was concluded that although dentures may cause articulation disorders, children have an ability to compensate for the differences and articulate speech sounds correctly.

The Effects of Music Therapy Incorporated with Applied Behavior Analysis Verbal Behavior Approach for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This study compared a common form of Applied Behavior Analysis Verbal Behavior (ABA VB) approach and music incorporated with ABA VB method as part of developmental speech-language training in the speech production of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study explored how the perception of musical patterns incorporated in ABA VB operants impacted the production of speech in children with ASD. Participants were 22 children with ASD, age range 3 to 5 years, who were verbal or pre verbal with presence of immediate echolalia. They were randomly assigned a set of target words for each of the 3 training conditions: (a) music incorporated ABA VB, (b) speech (ABA VB) and (c) no-training. Results showed both music and speech trainings were effective for production of the four ABA verbal operants; however, the difference between music and speech training was not statistically different. Results also indicated that music incorporated ABA VB training was most effective in echoic production, and speech training was most effective in tact production. Music can be incorporated into the ABA VB training method, and musical stimuli can be used as successfully as ABA VB speech training to enhance the functional verbal production in children with ASD.

The Speed of Articulatory Movements Involved in Speech Production in Children With Dyslexia

A group of children with dyslexia (mean ages 9 and 14 years) was studied, together with group of children without dyslexia matched for age. Participants were monolingual native speakers of the Bosnian language with transparent orthography. In total, the diagnostic tests were performed with 41 children with dyslexia and 41 nondyslexic children. The participants were asked to produce monosyllables, /pa/, /ta/, and /ka/, and the trisyllable /pataka/, as fast as possible. Analysis was undertaken in four ways: (1) time of occlusion duration for plosives (duration of stop), (2) voice onset time for plosives, (3) diadochokinetic rate—articulators rate measured by pronunciation of monosyllables and the trisyllable, and (4) time of moving articulators from one gesture to another—time of interval length (from the explosion of one plosive to the start of the explosion of another plosive). The results suggest that children with dyslexia have significant problems with the speed of articulatory movements involved in speech production.

Nonlinear development of speaking rate in child-directed speech

The current study investigated if the speaking rate in Child-Directed Speech (CDS) changes over the course of child language development, and, if so, what the nature of that change is. The developmental path of CDS speaking rate was analyzed in 25 mother-child pairs from longitudinal corpora in CHILDES database. The results were then compared with the developmental pattern of speaking rate in child-produced speech. A parallel analysis was made on the development of mean length of utterance (MLU) in mother and child. The findings suggest that CDS speaking rate dynamically changes with shifts occurring around the onset of child speech production and again during the multiword stage. A parallel pattern of nonlinearity was also observed in the speaking rate of the child and the MLU of both mother and child. Phonological precision effects in CDS (e.g. exaggerated VOT) are explained as a by-product of varying speaking rate. Implications of the findings for studies of language acquisition are discussed.

C083 Preverbal speech production in children with cochlear implants

C083 Preverbal speech production in children with cochlear implants

Instrumental Assessment of Velopharyngeal Closure for Speech

The presence of a palatal cleft at birth should not prevent good speech production in most children provided they have (1) appropriate surgical intervention to close the palate at or around the child's first birthday, (2) careful monitoring of speech development throughout childhood, (3) speech therapy when needed, and (4) secondary surgical or speech-prosthetic intervention when needed. When managed carefully by an experienced, well-prepared multidisciplinary team that applies the criteria listed above, ~70% of children with nonsyndromic palatal clefts will have no significant difficulties with speech intelligibility or speech quality due to velopharyngeal insufficiency by the time they enter elementary school. Speech assessment is the first step toward comprehensive team management of children with cleft palate. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the use of instrumentation in the evaluation of speech of children with palatal clefts, within the context of a multidisciplinary team. The focus of this article is on instruments that are used to supplement the perceptual assessment to document current speech status and plan management strategies.

A new measurement tool for speech development based on Ling's stages of speech acquisition in pediatric cochlear implant recipients

ObjectivesWith the rapid increase of pediatric cochlear implantation (CI), there exists a need for a standardized assessment tool regarding speech and communication skills in children with CI. However, the current testing tools are not appropriate for the longitudinal evaluation of young children after CI. The aims of this study were to describe a progressive testing tool developed for the evaluation of speech acquisition and production in young children who have undergone CI and to examine its validity. MethodsSixty children younger than six years of age with CI participated in this study. A Korean version of Ling's stages (K-Ling) was developed based on the Ling speech teaching model to longitudinally assess phonologic and phonetic developments in young children after CI. The K-Ling, the Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP), and the Sequenced Language Scale for Infants (SELSI) were performed in the children with CI preoperatively and three, six, and 12 months postoperatively. Correlations among these three testing tools were analyzed. ResultsAuditory, language, and speech skills assessed using the CAP, SELSI, and K-Ling improved continuously for 12 months in young children following CI. Strong correlations were obtained among K-Ling's level, CAP scores, and the equivalent age of SELSI; correlation indices ranged from 0.540 to 0.800. ConclusionsThe K-Ling was a valid evaluation tool regarding speech development in young children who are using CI and who are in the early stages of speech development. Longitudinal assessments of phonetic and phonologic developments may be attainable in young children using the K-Ling.

Prevalence of GJB2-associated deafness and outcomes of cochlear implantation in Iran

To investigate the prevalence of mutations in the coding exon of the GJB2 gene in Iranian children with cochlear implants, and to compare the outcomes of auditory perception and speech production in cochlear-implanted children with and without GJB2 mutation. One hundred and sixty-six prelingually deaf children who had undergone cochlear implantation at the Iranian Cochlear Implant Center, Tehran, were selected from a pool of 428 implanted children. The prevalence of GJB2 gene mutations was assessed using nested polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing. To enable comparisons, we also identified 36 implanted children with non-GJB2 deafness. Patients' speech perception and speech production were assessed using the Categorization of Auditory Performance and Speech Intelligibility Rating scales. Thirty-three of 166 probands (19.9 per cent) were found to have GJB2 deafness-causing allele variants and were diagnosed with DFNB1 deafness. Results also indicated a significant improvement in speech perception and production scores in both GJB2 and non-GJB2 patients over time. Children with GJB2-related deafness benefit from cochlear implantation to the same extent as those with non-GJB2-related deafness.

Contrastes e contrastes encobertos na produção da fala de crianças

Speech acoustics. To acoustically analyze the substitution between /t/ and /k/ in the speech production of children with typical and deviant acquisition process in order to identify and quantify the presence of covert contrast. The experiment involved the repetition of words that combined /t/ and /k/ with /a/ and /u/ in stressed position. Participants were 9 children divided in three groups: children in the acquisition process of the phonological contrast (G1); children with phonological disorder (G2); and children with typical productions (G3). The speech productions were analyzed and edited using software Praat. The acoustic parameters adopted were: burst spectral characteristics; CV transition and durational characteristics. Duration parameters were analyzed by Friedman ANOVA while the other parameters were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Hierarchical Linear Modeling. The adopted statistical significance level was of 0.05. Acoustic analysis indicated the presence of covert contrast in the productions of children in G1 and G2 (80% and 57.14% of substitutions respectively). In addition, acoustic analysis revealed differences in how well the children differentiated the two occlusives and which acoustic parameters were used to differentiate them. A lot of the substitutions presented in the speech of children in typical and deviant acquisition process are in fact covert contrasts. Moreover, the acoustic analyses allowed the detection of differences in the fine phonetic detail of children's speech production.

Auditory processing and speech production in children with typical development and developmental phonological disorders.

The purpose of the study is to compare auditory processing of non‐speech and speech sounds in children with developmental phonological disorders (DPDs) and children who are typically developing (TD). Basic auditory processing capacities of frequency selectivity, temporal processing, and speech perception for TD, and DPD children 4–6 years of age, were measured. Auditory filter bandwidth was examined at 4 kHz using the notch‐noise method, and psychometric functions for gap detection and /b‐p/ identification were measured. Preliminary results showed that DPD children had higher boundaries and shallower slopes in the psychometric functions of gap detection and /b‐p/ identification than TD children, indicating that DPD children needed longer duration gaps for detection and longer voiced onset time for voiceless stop identification than TD children. There was no significant difference in auditory filter bandwidth between the two groups of children, although DPD children showed slightly higher detection thresholds than TD children. These results suggest that frequency selectivity was comparable between TD and DPD children, although DPD children have a lower central auditory processing efficiency. The relationship between auditory perception and speech intelligibility will also be discussed.