Online Rotating Delivery of Perception/Production Enhanced Treatment for Rhotics

In visual-acoustic biofeedback treatment, elements of traditional articulation treatment are used, including auditory models, verbal descriptions of correct articulator placement, cues for repetitive motor practice via images and diagrams of the vocal tract as visual aids. These strategies are supplemented with a dynamic display of the speech signal in the form of the real-time LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) spectrum (Sona-Match module of PENTAX Sona- Speech software). Because correct vs incorrect productions of /r/ contrast acoustically in the frequency of the third formant (F3), participants will be cued to make their real-time LPC spectrum match a visual target characterized by a low F3 frequency. They will be encouraged to attend to the visual display while adjusting the placement of their articulators and observing how those adjustments impact F3. Knowledge of performance feedback will typically involve reference to the location of the third peak on the visual display.

Description: Perceptual training involves self-paced presentation of auditory stimuli via a computerized software program (Gorilla). Stimuli are organized into three separate tasks. In tasks 1 and 3, which train category goodness judgment, participants will hear 75 naturally produced speech tokens containing /r/ from various speakers, with a balance of correct and incorrect productions. They will classify each /r/ as correct or incorrect and receive feedback on the accuracy of their classification. Tasks 1 and 3 differ in that task 1 will feature a subset of items designed to provide focused practice on a specific context (e.g., initial /r/ as in red; /r/ as syllable nucleus as in sir), with increasing difficulty over time, whereas task 3 will feature randomly selected items representing all contexts and difficulty levels. In task 2, participants will hear 75 items drawn from the synthetic rake-wake continuum used in the identification task administered at baseline, but they will recei