Methods for quantifying on-off speech patterns under delayed auditory feedback

Abstract

Changes in the on-off patterns of speech under delayed auditory feedback (DAF) have been represented by gross measures such as total reading time, percent phonation time, and total pause time. The research reported in the present paper employed an analog-to-digital converter to assess changes (from normal speech to DAF speech) in 11 descriptive measures derived from the distribution of pause and vocalization durations. These measures reflected variations in individual speech performance under DAF which were consistent with the subjective ratings of the authors. It was concluded that independent correlates of subject, task, and environmental variables would be required to determine the usefulness of these measures.