Auditory-motor learning in speech development

儿童生命的最初几年的特点是说话能力的显著提高，通常在4岁时从简单的牙牙学语发展到可理解的语言。 虽然言语输出的这些发展变化已经有了很好的记录，但它们所基于的感觉和运动过程仍然知之甚少。 在目前的言语发展模型中，假定儿童对自己的声学输出（听觉反馈）的感知通过提供用于改善口头言语运动规划的言语结果的信息来发挥关键作用。 令人惊讶的是，很少有研究直接调查儿童在言语产生过程中使用听觉反馈，部分原因是现有研究方法的局限性。 利用最近开发的技术，在实时操作的听觉反馈，拟议的研究计划将探讨听觉反馈在儿童的语音发展中的作用，直接关注其在语音运动学习的作用。 一系列的研究将首次检验不同年龄的儿童在多大程度上依赖听觉反馈来提高他们的言语产出质量，以及这种能力如何与更基本的听觉感知技能（如检测细微声学变化的能力）的发展联系起来。 建议的研究计划的重点是听觉反馈和言语运动学习之间的联系，这不仅有助于我们理解驱动言语运动发展的感觉运动过程，而且还加强了我们对认知-知觉缺陷如何导致言语产生障碍的理解（语音或发音障碍）-一种在学龄儿童中普遍存在的疾病，会影响以后的语言和阅读发展。

The first several years of a child's life are characterized by dramatic improvements in speaking ability, typically progressing from simple babble to intelligible speech by age 4. While these developmental changes in speech output have been well documented, the sensory and motor processes upon which they are based remain poorly understood. In current models of speech development, a child's perception of their own acoustic output (auditory feedback) is presumed to play a critical role by providing information about speech outcomes that is used to improve the planning of oral speech movements. Surprisingly, few studies have directly investigated children's use of auditory feedback during speech production, in part because of limitations in available research methods. Utilizing recently developed techniques for the manipulation of auditory feedback in real-time, the proposed research program will explore the role of auditory feedback in children's speech development by focusing directly on its role in speech motor learning. A series of studies will examine, for the first time, the extent to which children of different ages rely on auditory-feedback to improve the quality of their speech production, and how this capacity may be tied to the development of more basic auditory perceptual skills (such as the ability to detect fine acoustic changes). The focus of the proposed research program on the links between auditory feedback and speech motor learning will not only contribute to our understanding of the sensorimotor processes driving speech motor development, but also strengthen our understanding of how auditory-perceptual deficits may contribute to speech production disorders (phonological or articulation disorder) --- a prevalent condition among young school-aged children that can impact later language and reading development.