Computer mediated speech assessment in aphasia and AOS

描述（由申请人提供）：很少有工具可用于对失语症和其他语言障碍患者的言语参与进行客观和灵敏的量化。这种情况限制了对语言产生的理论研究和与左半球病理相关的语言障碍的临床管理。感知后果和参与程度的评估是特别具有挑战性的个人谁目前与共存的言语失用症（AOS）。拟议的研究的目的是开发交互式和定制的启发，记录和测试程序的感知和基本的声学评估语音在这个人口。预期有用的应用程序，以及在其他通信障碍的语音评价。第一年将致力于软件开发。该计划将包括五个组成部分：（1）选择和准备的目标话语;（2）引发和记录的语音样本;（3）持续时间测量和编辑的记录信号;（4）感知测试;和（5）样本存储和数据管理。最初的规划将以系统的最大灵活性和效率为目标。初步测试将确定需要改进的领域，并对软件进行相应修改。在第二年和第三年，一系列的实验将评估程序对失语症和AOS患者的适用性。将包括具有一系列言语和语言严重性的发言者。将收集评估方案关键组成部分的数据，包括程序效率、成功完成步骤、观察员和重测可靠性以及参与者对方案的看法。将在替代给药程序之间进行比较，以便进一步开发工具和具体建议，以最大限度地提高可靠性、效率和灵敏度。最后，将评价该程序作为严重度指标的有效性。将检查持续时间测量值和程序生成的语言清晰度评分以及发音严重程度的其他测量值之间的对应关系。这些将包括临床医生和日常听众的语音严重程度，估计说话速度，和频率的错误确定广泛的语音转录。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Few tools are available for objective and sensitive quantification of speech involvement in persons with aphasia and other language disorders. This situation limits both the pursuit of theoretically motivated research on speech production and the clinical management of speech disorders associated with left hemisphere pathology. The assessment of perceptual consequences and magnitude of involvement are particularly challenging in individuals who present with coexisting apraxia of speech (AOS). The purpose of the proposed research is to develop interactive and customized elicitation, recording, and testing procedures for perceptual and basic acoustic assessment of speech in this population. Useful applications are anticipated to the evaluation of speech in other communication disorders as well. The first year will be devoted to software development. The program will include five components: (1) selection and preparation of target utterances; (2) elicitation and recording of a speech sample; (3) duration measurement and editing of the recorded signal; (4) perceptual testing; and (5) sample storage and data management. Initial programming will target maximal flexibility and efficiency of the system. Preliminary testing will identify areas for improvement and the software will be modified accordingly. During the second and third years, a series of experiments will assess the suitability of the procedures for persons with aphasia and AOS. Speakers with a range of speech and language severity will be included. Data will be collected for critical components of the assessment protocol with regard to procedural efficiency, successful step completion, observer and test-retest reliability, and participants' perception of the protocol. Comparisons will be made between and among alternate administration procedures to allow further development of the tool and specific recommendations to maximize reliability, efficiency, and sensitivity. Finally, the validity of the procedure as a severity indicator will be evaluated. The correspondence among the duration measures and speech intelligibility scores generated by the procedure and other measures of articulatory severity will be examined. These will include clinicians' and everyday listeners' ratings of speech severity, estimation of speaking rate, and frequency of errors identified on broad phonetic transcription.