Production and perception of the voiceless sibilant fricatives in typically developing children with applications for children with cleft palate

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  • March 21, 2019
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  • Mandulak, Kerry Callahan
    • Affiliation: School of Medicine, Department of Allied Health Sciences, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences
Abstract
  • The purpose of this study was to advance the current knowledge base regarding production and perception of the voiceless sibilant fricatives [s] and [sh] in two groups of ten typically developing children each, age 7 and 11. Developmental differences in production and perception were investigated, as well as the relationship between production and perception. A group of five children with repaired cleft lip and palate between 7 and 11 years of age was included in the study to determine if differences exist in perception or production in children with obligatory limitations in early development of speech production and perception skills compared to typically developing children. The findings from the analyses of fricative production indicated that almost all typically developing children (95%) showed non-overlapping productive distinction between the voiceless sibilant fricatives, with varying degrees of token-to-token variability and variability in dynamic patterns of production. Developmental differences in production between the two age groups were found for fricative duration and coefficient of variation for [s] at midpoint. Differences in fricative perception were found between the TD-7 and TD-11 groups, with the older children displaying qualitatively steeper slopes on identification functions, and greater accuracy and less variability on tests of fricative discrimination compared to the younger children. No linear relationship was found between the participant's measures of fricative production and perception in the two age groups. Children with repaired cleft lip and palate showed greater proportion of overlapping fricative production, but like the typically developing children, showed individual speaker variability in dynamic spectral patterns during production. In general, the participants in the CLP group showed monotonic crossovers in identification of the [s] - [sh] continuum despite most speakers showing no productive distinction. Fricative discrimination in the CLP group was similar to the performance of the TD-7 and TD-11 group, with older children in the CLP group demonstrating greater accuracy and less variability compared to the younger children in this group. Similar to the typically developing children, there did not seem to be a relationship between production and perception of the voiceless sibilant fricatives in the participants with repaired cleft lip and palate.
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  • In Copyright
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  • "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Speech and Hearing Sciences in the Department of Allied Health Sciences."
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  • Haley, Katarina L.
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  • Chapel Hill, NC
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  • Open access
Date uploaded
  • March 18, 2013

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