sounds in communication + communication disorders

acoustic

of or relating to a science of sound or to organ, nerves, or physical sense of hearing

acoustics

the branch of physics that deals with the study of sound

sound

results from compression and rarefraction of air molecules

frequency

rate of vibration of the sound source (Hertz), refers to the actual number of vibrations per second, perceived as pitch

pure tone

a sound that vibrates at only one frequency

fundamental frequency

the lowest frequency of a complex sound

amplitude

pressure produced by the vibrating motion, aka intensity, perceived as loudness, measured using decibels

spectogram

a visual display of the sound frequencies and intensity of a spoken utterance

phonology

the study of the sound system of a language - includes the rules of speech sound combinations that result in syllables and words; the correct use of speech sounds within a language requires knowledge of the sounds of the language and the rules that govern their production and combination

the English alphabet

not enough letters to represent all sounds used in spoken language, unnecessary or redundant letters, different letters for the same sound

international phonetic alphabet (IPA)

an internationally recognized system of phonetic transcription, has a symbol for each sound and only one sound, which allow us to specify meaningful sounds of the English language

phoneme

the smallest unit of sound that can affect meaning

allophone

the variations in phones that are still categorized as the same phoneme

dipthong

two vowels are combined with continuous change in the vocal tract shape

consonant

produced with constriction in the oral cavity

place (in consonant classification)

the point of contact or constriction is used to classify consonants, where the sound is made

manner (in consonant classification)

describes the degree or type of constriction in the vocal tract, the way that air flows out

voice (in consonant classification)

a consonant is either voiced or voiceless, where the vocal cords are vibrating when the sound is made

prosody

the melody, flow, rhythm of a spoken language; a melodic change in syllable stress, pitch, loudness, and duration

linguistic prosody

provides information concerning the grammatical structure of the spoken sentence

emotional prosody

carries information about feelings behind the words

child-directed speech (motherese)

the exaggerated stress and pitch variations, slower rate, and increased use of repetitions; not baby talk!

phonological development at 2 months

infants develop non-distress sounds - either "gooing" or "cooing"

phonological development at 3 months

infants vocalize in response to the speech of others

phonological development at 5 months

infants are able to imitate tone and pitch and begin babbling

phonological development at 6-7 months

infants' babbling changes to reduplicated (different sound combos) babbling

phonological development at 7-9 months

canonical babbling, communicative intent accompanies the use of sound

canonical babbling

the repetitive production of consonant-vowel (CV) and consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel (CVCV) combinations

phonological development at 10-14 months

develops jargon, non reduplicated or "variegated" babbling, and protowords

jargon

a chain of syllables with sentence-like inflections

non-reduplicated (variegated) babbling

variation of both consonants and vowels from syllable to syllable, jargon sounds are individualized and often not repeated

protowords

precursors to real words

phonological development at 12-13 months

first true words appear, these are typically words important in the child's environment and are easy to produce

toddler speech

when faced with difficult words, children adopt similar strategies or phonological processes

preschool speech

most of the phonological processes described for toddlers disappear by 4, consonant blends continue to develop, phoneme acquisition is gradual, sounds may be produced correctly in single words but not in connected speech

school age speech

by early elementary school, the phonological system resembles that of adults, morphophonemic contrasts take several years to master, extending into adulthood

articulation

speech requires neuromotor coordination to say sounds, words, and sentences

articulation impairments

disorders of production (substitutions, omissions, distortions, additions)

functional articulation disorder

difficulty in producing speech sounds without organic causes

syndrome

collection of structural anomalies that fit a broader pattern of anomalies; exist when a certain number of features co-exist across individuals

cerebral palsy

developmental motor disorder related to brain injury

spasticity (cerebral palsy)

characterized by severe tightness of the muscles

athetosis (cerebral palsy)

characterized by series of involuntary muscle contractions

mixed (cerebral palsy)

mixture of both spasticity and flailing athetosis

ataxia (cerebral palsy)

characterized by lack of balance and severe problems in coordination of movements

developmental dysarthria

motor incoordination or weakness of the muscles needed to articulate intelligible speech, typically have low muscle tone, drooling, eating difficulties; difficultly producing rapid speech, speech slurred and hard to understand

apraxia

impairment in the ability to program, combine, and sequence the elements of speech; increased articulation errors as word complexity increases

identification

articulation screening, case history, orofacial exam, hearing screening, formal assessment, stimulability

formal assessment

standardized, seeks to evaluate speech at the word level, sentence level, and conversation level, evaluates sounds in initial, medial, and final positions

4 ways of describing errors

1. sounds that are in error

2. type of error: omission, substitution, and distortion

3. location of error: initial, medial, final

4. level at which error occurs - word, sentence, or conversation