Articulation Rate and Vowel Space Characteristics of Young Males With Fragile X Syndrome: Preliminary Acoustic Findings

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research language, and hearing research, 2006-10, Vol.49 (5), p.1147-1155
• Main Authors: Zajac, David J, Roberts, Joanne E, Hennon, Elizabeth A, Harris, Adrianne A, Barnes, Elizabeth F, Misenheimer, Jan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustics; Adolescent; Age; Articulation; Articulation (Speech); Articulation disorders; Articulation Impairments; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Developmental Delays; Fragile X syndrome; Fragile X Syndrome - complications; Fragile X Syndrome - physiopathology; Genetic Disorders; Health aspects; Humans; Intellectual disabilities; Intelligibility; Male; Males; Men; Multivariate Analysis; Naming Task; Oral communication; Parents & parenting; Phonetics; Speech; Speech Acoustics; Speech Communication; Speech Disorders - etiology; Speech Disorders - physiopathology; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Production Measurement; Speech rate; Studies; Tape Recording; Vowels
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2006/082)

Contact author: David J. Zajac, University of North Carolina Craniofacial Center, CB# 7450, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. E-mail: david_zajac{at}dentistry.unc.edu PURPOSE: Increased speaking rate is a commonly reported perceptual characteristic among males with fragile X syndrome (FXS). The objective of this preliminary study was to determine articulation rate—one component of perceived speaking rate—and vowel space characteristics of young males with FXS. METHOD: Young males with FXS ( n = 38), developmental age (DA)-matched males ( n = 21), and chronological age (CA)-matched males ( n = 16) were audiotaped while engaged in spontaneous conversation and a picture-naming task. Articulation rate in syllables per second during intelligible utterances and vowel space area/dispersion measures were acoustically determined for each speaker. RESULTS: Males with FXS did not articulate significantly faster than CA-matched males. Area and dispersion of the acoustic vowel space also were similar between the 2 groups. Males with FXS, however, used significantly shorter utterances and had a tendency to pause less often than CA-matched males. In addition, males with FXS exhibited greater intraspeaker variability of formants associated with the vowel /a/. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that articulation rate may not be a primary factor contributing to perceived speaking rate of males with FXS. Limitations of the study relative to speech production tasks and utterance intelligibility are discussed. KEY WORDS: fragile X syndrome, speaking rate, articulation rate, vowel space CiteULike     Connotea     Del.icio.us     Digg     Facebook     Reddit     Technorati     Twitter     What's this?