Intelligibility, Articulation Rate, Fluency, and Communicative Efficiency in Typically Developing Children

Autor/inn/en	Schölderle, Theresa; Haas, Elisabet; Baumeister, Stefanie; Ziegler, Wolfram
Titel	Intelligibility, Articulation Rate, Fluency, and Communicative Efficiency in Typically Developing Children
Quelle	In: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64 (2021) 7, S.2575-2585 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Schölderle, Theresa) ORCID (Haas, Elisabet) ORCID (Ziegler, Wolfram)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1092-4388
Schlagwörter	Intelligibility; Child Language; Young Children; Articulation (Speech); Communication Skills; Language Fluency; Articulation Impairments; Acoustics; Foreign Countries; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? 'Children''s language'; Kindersprache; Frühe Kindheit; Kommunikationsstil; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Artikulationsstörung; Akustik; Ausland; Deutschland
Abstract	Purpose: This article describes the developmental trajectories of four communication-related parameters (i.e., intelligibility, articulation rate, fluency, and communicative efficiency) in a cross-sectional study of typically developing children between 3 and 9 years. The four target parameters were related to auditory-perceptual parameters of speech function. Method: One hundred forty-four typically developing children (ages 3;0-9;11 [years;months]; 72 girls and 72 boys) participated. Speech samples were collected using the materials of the Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales for Childhood Dysarthria, a German assessment tool for childhood dysarthria, and analyzed following established auditory-perceptual criteria on relevant speech functions. To assess intelligibility, naïve listeners transcribed sentences repeated by the children. Articulation rate and fluency were measured by acoustic analyses; communicative efficiency was determined by multiplying the proportion of correctly transcribed syllables by speech rate. Results: Intelligibility showed a steep developmental trajectory, with the majority of children obtaining a proportion of intelligible syllables close to 1.0 at the age of 5 years. Articulation rate demonstrated a flatter trajectory, with high variability still within the older children. Disfluencies, on the contrary, occurred only in the youngest children. By definition, communicative efficiency shared the characteristics of intelligibility and rate curves. A principal component analysis revealed, among other findings, strong connections between intelligibility and articulation, as well as between communicative efficiency, articulation, and rate measures. Conclusions: While children speak intelligibly, in terms of the applied assessment, at a comparably young age, other communication-relevant parameters show a slower developmental progress. Knowledge on the typical development of communication-related parameters and on their complex relationships with functional speech variables is crucial for the clinical assessment of childhood dysarthria. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: slhr@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.pubs.asha.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01