Speech Perception of Global Acoustic Structure in Children with Speech Delay, with and Without Dyslexia

• Main Author: Madsen, Mikayla Nicole
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2020
• Subjects: speech delay; dyslexia; speech perception; vocoded speech recognition; Education
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/9052; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10061&context=etd

Children with speech delay (SD) have underlying deficits in speech perception that may be related to reading skill. Children with SD and children with dyslexia have previously shown deficits for distinct perceptual characteristics, including segmental acoustic structure and global acoustic structure. In this study, 35 children (ages 7-9 years) with SD, SD + dyslexia, and/or typically developing were presented with a vocoded speech recognition task to investigate their perception of global acoustic speech structure. Findings revealed no differences in vocoded speech recognition between groups, regardless of SD or dyslexia status. These findings suggest that in children with SD, co-occurring dyslexia does not appear to influence speech perception of global acoustic structure. We discuss these findings in the context of previous research literature and also discuss limitations of the current study and future directions for follow-up investigations.