Browsing by Person "Cleland, Joanne"

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A common co-ordinate system for mid-sagittal articulatory measurement
(2011-06) Scobbie, James M.; Lawson, Eleanor; Cowen, Steve; Cleland, Joanne; Wrench, Alan A.
A standard practice in EMA articulatory measurement is to set the origin of the measurement space near the boundary of the upper incisors and gum, on a standard reference coil. A conventional horizontal dimension is defined as being parallel to the speaker's unique bite (occlusal) plane. We propose that this convention be extended to other instrumentation, with a focus on how it can be achieved for ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI) in particular, using a disposable and hygienic vacuum-formed bite plate of known size. A bite plane trace, like a palate trace, provides a consistent reference to allow images to be rotated and translated in case the probe is in a new location relative to a speaker's cranial space. The bite plane also allows speakers with differently shaped palates to be overlaid, and for ultrasound data to share a coordinate space with EMA. We illustrate the proposal using a sample of six speakers. The average bite plane slope could be used to retrospectively rotate ultrasound data that lacks bite-plane measurement
A perceptual and electropalatographic study of /∫/ in young people with Down's syndrome
(2009-12) Timmins, Claire; Cleland, Joanne; Wood, Sara; Hardcastle, William J.; Wishart, Jennifer
Speech production in young people with Down's syndrome has been found to be variable and inconsistent. Errors tend to be more in the production of sounds that typically develop later, for example, fricatives and affricates, rather than stops and nasals. It has been suggested that inconsistency in production is a result of a motor speech deficit. Late acquired fricatives such as /s/ and /∫/ are complex articulations, which may require more precise motor programming and may therefore show highly inconsistent productions. Other factors potentially affecting speech production in this population are abnormal palatal structure, hearing loss, and hypotonia. A group of 20 young people with Down's syndrome were recorded using Electropalatography (EPG), reading a wordlist containing the phrase ‘a sheep’. The wordlist contained seven other phrases and was repeated 10 times. Eight typically developing, cognitively matched children and eight adults were also recorded producing the same data set. Articulatory (EPG pattern analysis) and perceptual analyses of the 10 productions of /∫/ were carried out. /∫/ production was found to be inconsistent in the young people with Down's syndrome, with more errors both in the auditory analysis and articulatory analysis than in the typical sample, which may be due to a motor programming or motor control problem. There were a greater number of errors in the EPG analysis than in the perceptual analysis. This suggests that some young people with DS were able to produce perceptually acceptable /∫/ with atypical EPG patterns. The use of typical, adult-modelled /∫/ EPG patterns in therapy may be inappropriate for some children with DS who present with atypical palatal structures.
Acquisition of new speech motor plans via articulatory visual biofeedback
(Peter Lang, 2019) Scobbie, James M.; Cleland, Joanne; Fuchs, Susanne; Cleland, Joanne; Rochet-Capellan, Amélie
This chapter describes the concept of categorising persistent Speech Sound Disorder in children as a disorder characterised by erroneous motor plans. Different types of articulatory visual biofeedback are described, each of which is designed to allow children to view their articulators moving in real-time and to use this information to establish more accurate motor plans (namely, electropalatography, electromagnetic articulography and ultrasound tongue imaging). An account of how these articulatory biofeedback techniques might lead to acquisition of new motor plans is given, followed by a case study of a child with persistent velar fronting who acquired a new motor plan for velar stops using ultrasound visual biofeedback.
An EPG analysis of /t/ in young people with Down's syndrome
(Taylor and Francis, 2011-11) Timmins, Claire; Hardcastle, William J.; Wood, Sara; Cleland, Joanne
Many studies have pointed to impaired speech intelligibility in young people with Down's syndrome (DS). Some have attributed these problems to delayed phonological development, while others have identified disordered speech patterns, which could be related to a dyspraxic element in their speech. This study uses electropalatography (EPG) to examine the speech of 25 young people with DS, focusing on their production of the obstruent /t/. For the EPG analysis, participants produced the target obstruent in the word 'toe', repeated 10 times. An investigative analysis was carried out. A new descriptive taxonomy of EPG error patterns was developed and these errors were related to perceptually based transcriptions. The measures are discussed in relation to current knowledge of the anatomical and physiological characteristics of DS.
An ultrasound protocol for comparing tongue contours: upright vs. supine
(2011-08) Wrench, Alan A.; Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.; EPSRC EP/I027696/1
A study is described that employs ultrasound to measure the effects of gravity on production of vowels. The materials are designed to encourage consistent production over repetitions. A recording and analysis protocol is described which allows for correction for probe movement or rejection of data where correction is not possible. Results indicate a slight superior and posterior displacement of the tongue root in supine posture, consistent with a shift in the support structure of the tongue.
Articulation therapy for children with cleft palate using visual articulatory models and ultrasound biofeedback
(International Phonetic Association, 2015-08-15) Roxburgh, Zoe; Scobbie, James M.; Cleland, Joanne
Visual biofeedback tools, such as Electropalatography (EPG), are recommended for assessing and treating speech sound disorders (SSDs) associated with Cleft Palate (CP). However, EPG is not suitable for all clients, due to dependencies on stable dentition and timing of palatal repair. Ultrasound is becoming increasingly popular for its use in treating SSDs, with no reports on its dependency on structure of the vocal tract. However its clinical application in the CP population remains to be tested. We compared Visual Articulatory Models (VAMs) with Ultrasound for the treatment of SSDs in two children with repaired submucous CP. Both children received two blocks of therapy each with eight sessions, with the first block using VAMs and the second using ultrasound. Results showed that both children improved overall, with more improvement found in the first block of therapy using VAMs.
Comparing articulatory images: An MRI / Ultrasound Tongue Image database
(ISSP, 2011-06) Cleland, Joanne; Wrench, Alan A.; Scobbie, James M.; Semple, Scott; EPSRC EP/I027696/1
We report the development of a database that will contain paired ultrasound and MRI of tongue movements and shapes from 12 adults, illustrated with pilot data from one speaker. The primary purpose of the database will be to evaluate the informational content of ultrasound tongue images on the basis of the richer articulatory structures visible with MRI, and to provide tongue shape information that can later be incorporated into an image processing algorithm to enhance ultrasound tongue images. Ultrasound is an increasingly popular technique for studying speech production since it provides a real-time image of tongue movements. Its potential as a visualfeedback speech therapy tool has been recognised but has not yet been exploited to any great extent. In part this is because obstruents like /t/ /k/ /ch/,which are important targets for therapy, have tongue shapes in both canonical and common error productions which ultrasound displays rather poorly compared to the more easily-imaged vowels, glides and liquids. By enhancing ultrasound images in real time with information based on our corpus, we aim to create images which we hypothesise will A) be more easily understood by children for clinical feedback B) extend the range and utility of ultrasound generally.
Covert contrast and covert errors in persistent velar fronting
(Taylor & Francis, 2016-09-09) Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.; Heyde, Cornelia J.; Roxburgh, Zoe; Wrench, Alan A.
Acoustic and articulatory studies demonstrate covert contrast in perceptually neutralised phonemic contrasts in both typical children and children with speech disorders. These covert contrasts are thought to be relatively common and symptomatic of phonetic speech disorders. However, clinicians in the speech therapy clinic have had no easy way of identifying this covertness. This study uses ultrasound tongue imaging to compare tongue contours for /t/and /k/in seven children with persistent velar fronting. We present a method of overlaying tongue contours to identify covert contrast at the articulatory level. Results show that all seven children, contrary to expectations, produced both /t/and /k/with near-identical tongue shapes showing no evidence of covert contrast. However, further analysis of one of the participants showed highly variable tongue shapes for /t/and /k/, including retroflex productions of both. Although not phonologically conditioned, this covert error is evidence of speech disorder at the phonetic level.
The dorsal differentiation of velar from alveolar stops in typically developing children and children with persistent velar fronting
(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2021-03-09) Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.
Purpose: This study has two key aims: Firstly to provide developmental articulatory norms for the alveolar–velar distinction in 30 English-speaking typically developing children. Secondly to illustrate the utility of the reported measures for classifying and quantifying the speech of children with a history of persistent velar fronting as they develop the contrast longitudinally. Method: This study involved secondary data analysis of the Ultrasuite corpus comprising ultrasound tongue imaging recordings of speech materials from 30 typical children and longitudinal data from five children with persistent velar fronting undergoing ultrasound visual biofeedback intervention. We present two new measures of coronal dorsal differentiation: KTMax and KT crescent area. These measures distinguish /k/ and /t/ by quantifying the magnitude of this distinction in absolute spatial terms (mm of linear dorsal difference). For the typical children, we report these measures in corner vowel contexts. We then compare these to dorsal productions by the children with speech disorders, before, during, and after intervention. Results: Both measures reliably distinguished /k/ and /t/ in typically developing children. There was an effect of vowel, with larger KTmax and KT crescent area in /a/ and /o/ vowel contexts than in an /i/ context. The children with persistent velar fronting showed KTmax values near zero before intervention, showing a complete merger between /k/ and /t/. During intervention they showed variable KTmax values. Post intervention they showed values within the range of typical children. Conclusions: This study provides articulatory norms derived from ultrasound tongue imaging for the dorsal differentiation in alveolar and velar stops in typically developing children. By applying these norms to children with persistent velar fronting as they acquire this contrast, we see that /k/ is acquired in an articulatorily gradient manner.
Editorial: Insights from ultrasound: Enhancing our understanding of clinical phonetics
(Taylor & Francis, 2016-02-22) Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.; Zharkova, Natalia
This is the editorial from the journal Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, from a Special Issue entitled Insights from Ultrasound. The timing of this special issue was in part inspired by the 6th Ultrafest conference in Edinburgh in 2013, a meeting in which phoneticians, clinicians and engineers working in ultrasound tongue imaging came together. We invited contributions from these and other experts in the field working with ultrasound as a tool for investigating clinical populations; as a biofeedback device in speech therapy; or as a tool for investigating typical speech production, with a view to informing investigations of clinical populations.
Electropalatographic therapy for children and young people with Down's syndrome
(2009-12) Cleland, Joanne
Articulation disorders in Down's syndrome (DS) are prevalent and often intractable. Individuals with DS generally prefer visual to auditory methods of learning and may therefore find it beneficial to be given a visual model during speech intervention, such as that provided by electropalatography (EPG). In this study, participants with Down's syndrome, aged 10:1 to 18:9, received 24 individualized therapy sessions using EPG. Simultaneous acoustic and EPG recordings were made pre- and post-intervention during 10 repetitions of a word list containing lingua-palatal consonants. Participants also completed the DEAP phonology sub-test at both time points. Post-treatment, all participants showed qualitative and quantifiable differences in EPG patterns and improvements in DEAP percentage consonants correct. EPG assessment and therapy appears a positive approach for identifying and improving articulatory patterns in children with DS. © 2009 Informa UK, Ltd
Emotional recognition in autism spectrum conditions from voices and faces
(SAGE, 2013-01-08) Stewart, Mary; McAdam, Clair; Pepp, Sue JE; Cleland, Joanne
The present study reports on a new vocal emotion recognition task and assesses whether people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) perform differently from typically developed individuals on tests of emotional identification from both the face and the voice. The new test of vocal emotion contained trials in which the vocal emotion of the sentence were congruent, incongruent, or neutral with respect to the semantic content. We also included a condition in which there was no semantic content (an 'mmm' was uttered using an emotional tone). Performance was compared between 11 adults with ASC and 14 typically developed adults. Identification of emotion from sentences in which the vocal emotion and the meaning of sentence were congruent was similar in people with ASC and a typically developed comparison group. However, the comparison group was more accurate at identifying the emotion in the voice from incongruent and neutral trials, and also from trials with no semantic content. The results of the vocal emotion task were correlated with performance on a face emotion recognition task. In decoding emotion from spoken utterances, individuals with ASC relied more on verbal semantics than did typically developed individuals, presumably as a strategy to compensate for their difficulties in using prosodic cues to recognize emotions.
Enabling new articulatory gestures in children with persistent speech sound disorders using ultrasound visual biofeedback
(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), 2019-02-05) Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.; Roxburgh, Zoe; Heyde, Cornelia J.; Wrench, Alan A.
Purpose: This study evaluated ultrasound visual biofeedback treatment for teaching new articulations to children with a wide variety of Speech Sound Disorders. It was hypothesized that motor-based intervention incorporating ultrasound would lead to rapid acquisition of a range of target lingual gestures with generalization to untreated words. Method: Twenty children aged 6-15 with a range of mild to severe speech disorders affecting a variety of lingual targets enrolled in a case series with replication. Of these, fifteen children completed the intervention. All of the children presented with a variety of errors. We therefore employed a target selection strategy to treat the most frequent lingual error. These individual speech targets were treated using ultrasound visual biofeedback as part of 10 to 12 one hour intervention sessions. The primary outcome measure was percentage target segment correct in untreated wordlists. Results: Six children were treated for velar fronting; three for post-alveolar fronting; two for backing alveolars to pharyngeal or glottal place; one for debuccalisation (production of all onsets as [h]); one for vowel merger; and two for lateralised sibilants. Ten achieved the new articulation in the first or second session of intervention despite no children being readily stimulable for their target articulation before intervention. In terms of generalization, effect sizes for percentage target segments correct ranged from no effect (five children); small effect (one child); medium effect (four children) and large effect (five children). Conclusion: Ultrasound visual biofeedback can be used to treat a wide range of lingual errors in children with various speech sound disorders, from mild to severe. Visual feedback may be useful for establishing new articulations; however, generalization is more variable.
English (Scottish) speech development
(Oxford University Press, 2024) Scobbie, James M.; Cleland, Joanne; Lawson, Eleanor; Schaeffler, Sonja; McLeod, Sharynne
Scottish English is primarily spoken in Scotland, U.K. It is a national quasi-standard variety of English with a range of social and geographical variants. It can be characterized as a highly distinctive accent (or accent group) of English, mainly due to its relationship to Scots. Its strongly distinct character may be more phonetic, prosodic and lexical than strictly phonemic and phonological, so for practical reasons it can be assumed that its inventory and consonant phonotactics overlap sufficiently with other varieties for many “British English” clinical resources to be applicable. Scottish English is, however, rhotic in its prestige varieties, which makes it markedly different from non-rhotic Southern Standard British English and other non-rhotic varieties. There are few specific studies of children’s acquisition of Scottish English, though Scottish children are often incorporated in larger studies in the U.K. Research on Scottish English has focused on social variation, speech production, and remediation techniques augmented with real time visual biofeedback, involving children with speech sound disorders and cleft palate. Commonly-used speech assessments and interventions have not been developed specifically for this variety of English.
Expressive prosody in children with autism spectrum conditions
(2011-01) Peppé, Sue JE; Cleland, Joanne; Gibbon, Fiona; O'Hare, Anne; Martinez-Castilla, P.
The expressive prosodic abilities of two groups of school-age children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC), Asperger's syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA), were compared with those of typically-developing controls. The HFA group showed impairment relative to age-matched controls on all the prosody tasks assessed (affect, sentence-type, contrastive stress, phrasing and imitation) while the AS showed impairment only on phrasing and imitation. Compared with lexically-matched controls, impairment on several tasks (affect, contrastive stress and imitation) was found in the HFA group but little in the AS group (phrasing and imitation). Comparisons between the ASC groups showed significant differences on prosody skills. Impairment in prosodic skills may therefore be a reliable indicator of autism spectrum subgroups, at least as far as communicative functioning is concerned. There were also significant differences between ASC groups and lexically-matched typically-developing children on expressive language skills, but the incomplete correlation of the prosody results with scores on language tasks suggests that the prosodic differences between the two groups may not all be attributable to the level of language skills. Suggested further research is to investigate the relationship of prosody and language skills in this population more closely, and to develop a prosody test as part of the diagnostic criteria of ASC.
Helping children learn non-native articulations: The implications for ultrasound-based clinical intervention
(International Phonetic Association, 2015-08-15) Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.; Nakai, Satsuki; Wrench, Alan A.
An increasing number of studies are examining the effectiveness of ultrasound as a visual biofeedback device for speech production training or therapy. However, no randomised control trials exist. We compared the success of typically-developing children learning new articulations with and without ultrasound biofeedback. Thirty children aged 6-12 were randomly assigned to 2 groups: Group U were taught novel (non-English) consonants and vowels using ultrasound in addition to imitation, modelling, articulatory descriptions and feedback on performance. Group A were taught the same speech sounds, using the same methods but in the absence of ultrasound visual biofeedback. Results showed that both groups of children improved in their production of the novel sounds with the exception of the high back vowels [u,]. No advantage for Group U was found, except for the palatal stop [c].
The impact of real-time articulatory information on phonetic transcription: Ultrasound-aided transcription in cleft lip and palate speech
(Karger, 2019-05-24) Cleland, Joanne; Lloyd, Susan; Campbell, Linsay; Crampin, Lisa; Palo, Pertti; Sugden, Eleanor; Wrench, Alan A.; Zharkova, Natalia
Objective: This study investigated whether adding an additional modality, namely ultrasound tongue imaging, to perception-based phonetic transcription impacted on the identification of compensatory articulations and on interrater reliability. Patients and Methods: Thirty-nine English-speaking children aged 3 to 12 with cleft lip and palate (CLP) were recorded producing repetitions of /aCa/ for all places of articulation with simultaneous audio and probe-stabilised ultrasound. Three types of transcriptions were performed: 1. Descriptive observations from the live ultrasound by the clinician recording the data; 2. Ultrasound-aided transcription by two ultrasound-trained clinicians; and 3. Traditional phonetic transcription by two CLP specialists from audio recording. We compared the number of consonants identified as in error by each transcriber and then classified errors into eight different subcategories. Results: Both the ultrasound-aided and traditional transcriptions yielded similar error-detection rates, however these were significantly higher than the observations recorded live in the clinic. Interrater reliability for the ultrasound transcribers was substantial (k=0.65), compared to moderate (k=0.47) for the traditional transcribers. Ultrasound-aided transcribers were more likely to identify covert errors such as double articulations and retroflexion than the audio-only transcribers. Conclusion: Ultrasound-tongue imaging is a useful complement to traditional phonetic transcription for CLP speech.
Multiple phonetically trained-listener comparisons of speech before and after articulatory intervention in two children with repaired submucous cleft palate
(Taylor & Francis, 2016-02-22) Roxburgh, Zoe; Cleland, Joanne; Scobbie, James M.
In Cleft Palate (CP) assessments based on phonetic transcription are the gold standard- therapy outcome measure, despite reliability difficulties. Here we propose a novel perceptual evaluation, applied to ultrasound-visual biofeedback (U-VBF) therapy and therapy using visual articulatory models (VAMs) for two children with repaired submucous CP. Three comparisons were made: post VAM, post U-VBF and overall pre- and post-therapy. Twenty-two phonetically-trained listeners were asked to determine whether pre- or post-therapy recordings sounded closer to the English target-, using their own implicit stored knowledge (prompted via orthographic representation) as a comparison. Results are compared with segment-oriented percent target consonant correct (PTCC) derived from phonetic transcriptions by the authors. Listener judgements and PTCC suggest that both children made improvements using both VAM and U-VBF. Statistical analysis showed listener agreement across all three comparisons, despite agreement being poor. This perceptual evaluation offers a straightforward method of evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and can be used by phonetically trained or lay listeners.
Onset vs. Coda Asymmetry in the Articulation of English /r/
(International Phonetic Association, 2015-08-15) Scobbie, James M.; Lawson, Eleanor; Nakai, Satsuki; Cleland, Joanne; Stuart-Smith, Jane
We describe an asymmetric categorical pattern of onset-coda allophony for English /r/, the post-alveolar rhotic approximant, drawing on published and unpublished information on over 100 child, teenage and adult speakers from prior studies. Around two thirds of the speakers exhibited allophonic variation that was subtle: onset and coda /r/ were typically both bunched (BB), or both tip-raised (RR), with minor within speaker differences. The other third had a more radical categorical allophonic pattern, using both R and B types. Such variable speakers had R onsets and B codas (RB): but the opposite pattern of allophony (BR) was extremely rare. This raises questions as to whether the asymmetry is accidental or motivated by models of syllable structure phonetic implementation.
Phonetic and phonological errors in children with high functioning autism and Asperger syndrome
(2010) Cleland, Joanne; Gibbon, Fiona; Peppe, Sue JE; O'Hare, Anne; Rutherford, Marion
This study involved a qualitative analysis of speech errors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Participants were 69 children aged 5-13 years; 30 had high functioning autism and 39 had Asperger syndrome. On a standardized test of articulation, the minority (12%) of participants presented with standard scores below the normal range, indicating a speech delay/disorder. Although all the other children had standard scores within the normal range, a sizeable proportion (33% of those with normal standard scores) presented with a small number of errors. Overall 41% of the group produced at least some speech errors. The speech of children with ASD was characterized by mainly developmental phonological processes (gliding, cluster reduction and final consonant deletion most frequently), but non-developmental error types (such as phoneme specific nasal emission and initial consonant deletion) were found both in children identified as performing below the normal range in the standardized speech test and in those who performed within the normal range. Non-developmental distortions occurred relatively frequently in the children with ASD and previous studies of adolescents and adults with ASDs shows similar errors, suggesting that they do not resolve over time. Whether or not speech disorders are related specifically to ASD, their presence adds an additional communication and social barrier and should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible in individual children. 2009 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited.