The importance of sound identification training in phonological intervention.

Little is known about the relevance of sound identification training in phonological intervention. Some treatment approaches incorporate sound identification training; others do not. The purpose of the present study was to compare articulatory improvement following treatment with and without sound identification training. Nine preschool children with severe phonological disorders were randomly assigned to 2 groups for the treatment of stimulable sound errors: (a) mixed training with concurrent production and sound identification training and (b) production-only training. Articulatory improvement was evaluated as a function of treatment type and pretraining sound identification scores. No overall difference was found between the 2 treatment types except for sounds that had been poorly identified. Articulatory errors with low identification scores made greater progress after receiving mixed training with both production and sound identification training. For error sounds receiving production training, significant relationships were found between both pre- and posttraining identification scores and articulatory improvement, suggesting (a) that perception of error sounds prior to treatment may affect degree of improvement and (b) that production training may improve perception of error sounds. Different views exist with regard to the targeting of stimulable error sounds for treatment. Results of the present study suggest that sound identification in addition to stimulability may be an important consideration in target selection as well as treatment mode.

The effect of clinical experience on cue trading for the /r-w/ contrast.

Although the ability of clinicians to perceptually process speech sound productions is a key ingredient in the evaluation and remediation of articulatory disorders, very little attention has been given to this important skill. This study explored the potential of a perceptual task, known as cue trading, to assess perceptual skill among students with varying clinical experience. A cue-trading paradigm for the /r-w/ contrast was used in which a temporal-spectral cue on F2 was balanced against a spectral cue on F3. Results indicated a trading relationship for all students. However, students without clinical experience demonstrated reduced sensitivity to the acoustic cues for /w/ and identification functions that were less clearly separated compared to students with clinical experience. Furthermore, the magnitude of the difference between functions (the trading relationship) was significantly smaller for students without practicum experience: They showed weaker phonetic percepts for /r/ and /w/ than did the students with practicum experience. Preliminary results suggest that a task based on cue trading could be useful in assessing perceptual sensitivity to the acoustic cues representative of misarticulated /r/.

Vocal parameters of aerobic instructors with and without voice problems.

Aerobic instructors frequently experience vocal fatigue and are at risk for the development of vocal fold pathology. Six female aerobic instructors, three with self-reported voice problems and three without, served as subjects. Measures of vocal function (perturbation and EGG) were obtained before and after a 30-minute exercise session. Results showed that the group with self-reported voice problems had greater amounts of jitter, lower harmonic-to-noise ratios, and less periodicity in sustained vowels overall, but no significant differences in measures of perturbation and EGG were found before and immediately after instruction. Measures of vocal parameters showed that subjects with self-reported voice problems projected with relatively greater vocal intensity and phonated for a greater percentage of time across beginning, middle, and ending periods of aerobic instruction than subjects with no reported voice problems.