Changes in voice onset time and motor speech skills in children following motor speech therapy: Evidence from /pa/ productions

Abstract

This study evaluated changes in motor speech control and inter-gestural coordination for children with speech sound disorders (SSD) subsequent to Prompts for Restructuring Oral and Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) intervention. We measured the distribution patterns of voice onset time (VOT) for a voiceless stop (/p/) to examine the changes in inter-gestural coordination. Two standardized tests were used (Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children (VMPAC), GFTA-2) to assess the changes in motor speech skills and articulation. Data showed positive changes in patterns of VOT with a lower pattern of variability. All children showed significantly higher scores for VMPAC, but only some children showed higher scores for GFTA-2. Results suggest that the proprioceptive feedback provided through PROMPT had a positive influence on speech motor control and inter-gestural coordination in voicing behavior. This set of VOT data for children with SSD adds to our understanding of the speech characteristics underlying speech motor control. Directions for future studies are discussed.

Temporal variability in sung productions of adolescents who stutter

“…However, singing shows a major benefit for adolescents who stutter in reducing VOT variability which was not observed in adolescents who do not stutter. In spoken speech, it is known that individuals who stutter produce more variable VOTs compared to controls, indicating less efficient or mature motor control processes (Whiteside et al, 2003;Yu et al, 2014). In the present study, singing also produced advantages for articulatory stability in adolescents who do not stutter, notably, by generating smaller vowel and utterance variability in sung productions.…”

“…It has therefore been assessed in developmental studies as well as in studies of speech disorders (Auzou et al, 2000;Whiteside, Dobbin, & Henry, 2003;Yu et al, 2014;Yu, De Nil, & Pang, 2015). In particular, VOT variability has been discussed as a marker of fine-grained motor and timing control of oral and laryngeal processes.…”

Motor-Based Intervention Protocols in Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

“…The study reported improvements on all speech measures; however, the study design did not include experimental control measures (essentially a one-group pre-post design), and as such it cannot be concluded that any improvements were attributable to the intervention. A number of additional studies have examined PROMPT intervention in children with motor speech disorders, with sample sizes ranging from N=5 to N=12, although all of these studies explicitly excluded children with CAS [86–88]. Further, only one of these studies [87] used a design with experimental control measures, rather than uncontrolled pre-post designs which cannot support claims of efficacy.…”

Acoustic Features Associated with Sustained Vowel and Continuous Speech Productions by Chinese Children with Functional Articulation Disorders

“…To the best of our knowledge, VOT was rarely used to study the motor control ability of children with FAD [28][29][30]. Previous studies [21] measured the VOT of the stop consonants /d/ and /t/ produced by subjects with ataxic dysarthria, finding that the patient group reduced categorical distinction between the VOT of voiced stop consonants and unvoiced stop consonants.…”