Adler-Bock Marcy, Bernhardt Barbara May, Gick Bryan, Bacsfalvi Penelope
School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, University of British Columbia, 5804 Fairview Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z3.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2007 May;16(2):128-39. doi: 10.1044/1058-0360(2007/017).
Ultrasound can provide images of the tongue during speech production. The present study set out to examine the potential utility of ultrasound in remediation of North American English /r/.
The participants were 2 Canadian English-speaking adolescents who had not yet acquired /r/. The study included an initial period without ultrasound and 13 treatment sessions, each 1 hr long, using ultrasound. Speech samples were recorded at screening and immediately before and after treatment. Samples were analyzed acoustically and with listener judgments. Ultrasound images were obtained before, during, and after the treatment period.
Three speech-language pathologists unfamiliar with the participants rated significantly more posttreatment tokens as accurate [r]s in single words and some phrases. Acoustic analyses showed an expected lowering of the third formant after treatment. A qualitative observation of posttreatment ultrasound images for accurate [r] tokens showed tongue shapes to be more similar to those of typical adults than had been observed before treatment. Participants needed continued practice of their newly acquired skills in sentences and conversation.
Two-dimensional dynamic ultrasound appears to have potential utility for remediation of /r/ in speakers with residual /r/ impairment. Further research is needed with larger numbers of participants to establish the relative efficacy of ultrasound in treatment.
超声能够在言语产生过程中提供舌头的图像。本研究旨在探究超声在北美英语/r/音矫治中的潜在效用。
参与者为2名尚未习得/r/音的加拿大英语青少年。研究包括一个无超声的初始阶段以及13次治疗课程，每次课程时长1小时，使用超声进行治疗。在筛查时以及治疗前后即刻记录言语样本。对样本进行声学分析并由听众进行判断。在治疗期之前、期间和之后获取超声图像。
3名不熟悉参与者的言语语言病理学家对治疗后的单个单词和一些短语中的/r/音标记评定为准确的数量显著更多。声学分析显示治疗后第三共振峰预期降低。对治疗后准确/r/音标记的超声图像进行定性观察发现，舌头形状比治疗前观察到的更类似于典型成年人的舌头形状。参与者需要在句子和对话中持续练习他们新习得的技能。
二维动态超声对于有残余/r/音障碍的说话者矫治/r/音似乎具有潜在效用。需要对更多参与者进行进一步研究以确定超声在治疗中的相对疗效。
