No abstract

Findings suggest that a dysphonic speaker's voice may force the child to allocate capacity to the processing of the voice signal at the expense of comprehension. The findings have implications for clinical and research settings where standardized language tests are used.

The slower the better: Does the speaker' speech rate influence children' performance on a language comprehension test?, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2013. 16(2), pp.181-190. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2013 The aim of this study was to examine the effects of speech rate on children's performance on a widely used language comprehension test, the Test for Reception of Grammar, version 2 (TROG-2), and to explore how test performance interacts with task difficulty and with the child's working memory capacity. Participants were 102 typically developing Swedishspeaking children randomly assigned to one of the three conditions; the TROG-2 sentences spoken by a speech-language pathologist with slow, normal or fast speech rate. Resultsshowed that the fast speech rate had a negative effect on the TROG-2 scores and that slow rate was more beneficial in general. However, for more difficult tasks the beneficial effect of slow speech was only pronounced for children with better scores on a working memory task.Our interpretation is that slow speech is particularly helpful when children do not yet fully master a task but are just about to grasp it. Our results emphasise the necessity of careful considerations of the role dynamic aspects of examiner's speech might play in test administration and favour digitalised procedures in standardised language comprehension assessment.

Abstract. Speaker age is a speaker characteristic which is always present in speech. Previous studies have found numerous acoustic features which correlate with speaker age. However, few attempts have been made to establish their relative importance. This study automatically extracted 161 acoustic features from six words produced by 527 speakers of both genders, and used normalised means to directly compare the features. Segment duration and sound pressure level (SPL) range were identified as the most important acoustic correlates of speaker age.

This study examined variability of lip movements across repetitions of the same utterance as a function of age in Swedish speakers. The specific purpose was to extend earlier findings by examining variability in both phase and amplitude. Subjects were 50 typically developed native Swedish children and adults (28 females, 22 males, aged 5 to 31 yr). Lip movements were recorded during 15 to 20 repetitions of a short Swedish phrase using three-dimensional articulography. After correction for head movements, the kinematic records were expressed in a maxilla-based coordinate system. Movement onset and offset of the utterance were identified using kinematic landmarks. The Euclidean distance between receivers on the upper and lower lips was calculated and subjected to functional data analysis to assess both phase and amplitude variability. Results show a decrease in both indices as a function of age, with a greater reduction of amplitude variability. There was no difference between males and females for either index. The two indices were moderately correlated with each other, suggesting that they capture different aspects of speech production. Utterance duration also decreased with age, but variability was unrelated to duration. The standard deviation of utterance duration also decreased with age. The present results thus suggest that age related changes in speech motor control continue up until 30 years of age.

No abstract

This study investigates domestic cat meows in different contexts and mental states. Measures of fundamental frequency (f0) and duration as well as f0 contours of 780 meows from 40 cats were analysed. We found significant effects of recording context and of mental state on f0 and duration. Moreover, positive (e.g. affiliative) contexts and mental states tended to have rising f0 contours while meows produced in negative (e.g. stressed) contexts and mental states had predominantly falling f0 contours. Our results suggest that cats use biological codes and paralinguistic information to signal mental state.

14This study investigates domestic cat meows in different contexts and mental states. Measures of 15 fundamental frequency (f0) and duration as well as f0 contours of 780 meows from 40 cats were 16 analysed. We found significant effects of recording context and of mental state on f0 and 17 duration. Moreover, positive (e.g. affiliative) contexts and mental states tended to have rising f0 18 contours while meows produced in negative (e.g. stressed) contexts and mental states had 19 predominantly falling f0 contours. Our results suggest that cats use biological codes and 20 paralinguistic information to signal mental state. 21 22 29