The use of automatic speech recognition showing the influence of nasality on speech intelligibility

Speech assessment following microsurgical soft palate repair

The aim of this study was to analyze speech intelligibility of children, who had undergone microsurgical soft palate repair according to Sommerlad. Cleft palate patients were treated by closure of the soft palate according to Sommerlad at about 6 months of age. At the age of 11, their speech was evaluated through automatic speech recognition. Word recognition rate (WR) was used as the outcome parameter of automatic speech recognition. To validate automatic speech results, an institute for speech therapy evaluated the speech samples for perceptual intelligibility. The results of this study group were compared to an age-matched control group. A total of 61 children were evaluated in this study, 29 in the study group and 32 in the control group. Study group patients had a lower word recognition rate (mean 43.03, SD 12.31) compared to the control group (mean 49.98, SD 12.54, p = 0.033). The magnitude of the difference was considered small (95% CI of the difference 0.6-13.3). The study group patients received significantly lower scores in the perceptual evaluation (mean 1.82, SD 0.58) compared to the control group mean (mean 1.51, SD 0.48, p = 0.028). Again, the magnitude of the difference was small (95% CI of the difference 0.03-0.57). Within the limitations of the study it seems that microsurgical soft palate repair according to Sommerlad at the age of 6 months might be a relevant alternative to other well established surgical techniques.

Automatic speech recognition: A primer for speech-language pathology researchers

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is increasingly becoming an integral component of our daily lives. This trend is in large part due to recent advances in machine learning, and specifically in deep learning, that have led to accurate ASR across numerous tasks. This has led to renewed interest in providing technological support to populations whose speech patterns are atypical, including identifying the presence of a specific pathology and its severity, comparing speech characteristics before and after a surgery and enhancing the quality of life of individuals with speech pathologies. The purpose of this primer is to bring readers with relatively little technical background up to speed on fundamentals and recent advances in ASR. It presents a detailed account of the anatomy of modern ASR, with examples of how it has been used in speech-language pathology research.

Speech Production Quality of Cochlear Implant Users with Respect to Duration and Onset of Hearing Loss

PURPOSE

To assess whether postlingual onset and shorter duration of deafness before cochlear implant (CI) provision predict higher speech intelligibility results of CI users.

METHODS

For an objective judgement of speech intelligibility, we used an automatic speech recognition system computing the word recognition rate (WR) of 50 adult CI users and 50 age-matched control individuals. All subjects were recorded reading a standardized text. Subjects were divided into three groups: pre- or perilingual deafness (A), both >2 years before implantation, postlingual deafness <2 years before implantation (B), or postlingual deafness >2 years before implantation (C).

RESULTS

CI users with short duration of postlingual deafness (B) had a significantly higher WR (median 74%) than CI users with long duration of postlingual deafness (C; 68%, p < 0.001) or pre-/perilingual onset (A; 56%, p < 0.001). Compared to their control groups only CI users with short duration of postlingual deafness reached similar WR, others showed significantly lower WR. Other factors such as hearing loss onset, duration of CI use, or duration of amplified hearing showed no consistent influence on speech quality.

CONCLUSIONS

The speech production quality of adult CI users shows dependencies on the onset and duration of deafness. These features need to be considered while planning rehabilitation.