American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology Vol.19 259-273 August 2010. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2010/09-0024)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrowCustom Print
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow My Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Drager, K. D. R.
Right arrow Articles by Pinkoski, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Drager, K. D. R.
Right arrow Articles by Pinkoski, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Delicious   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Research Article

Synthesized Speech Output and Children: A Scoping Review

Kathryn D. R. Drager
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Joe Reichle
Carrie Pinkoski
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Contact author: Kathryn Drager, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 308G Ford Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: kdd5{at}psu.edu.

Purpose: Many computer-based augmentative and alternative communication systems in use by children have speech output. This article (a) provides a scoping review of the literature addressing the intelligibility and listener comprehension of synthesized speech output with children and (b) discusses future research directions.

Method: Studies investigating synthesized speech intelligibility and/or comprehension with children as listeners were systematically identified and coded according to their objectives and methodology.

Results: Ten studies were identified. They were organized according to the following variables: intelligibility variables related to the stimuli (context and rate), intelligibility variables related to aspects of the listener (age of the child, the language or languages spoken by the listener, experience, and practice effects), and comprehension. Each of these factors—and the research support with child participants—was discussed.

Conclusions: Overall, there is a paucity of research investigating synthesized speech for use with children. Available evidence suggests that children produce similar trends but lower levels of intelligibility performance when compared with adults. Future areas of applied research are required to adequately define this relationship and the variables that may contribute to improving the intelligibility and comprehension of synthesized speech for children.

Key Words: augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), synthesized speech output, children, intelligibility, comprehension


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Delicious Delicious   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?