Adaptation strategies in perturbed /s/.

Area of Science:

• Speech production and acoustics
• Articulatory phonetics
• Clinical audiology

Background:

• The /s/ fricative is crucial for speech intelligibility.
• Understanding articulatory adjustments is key for treating speech sound disorders.
• Palatal prostheses can alter speech production, necessitating compensatory strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the articulatory parameters influencing /s/ production.
• To determine the role of tongue position, jaw position, and tongue grooving in /s/ sound.
• To explore compensatory mechanisms in speech perturbation.

Main Methods:

• Six healthy speakers were fitted with a palatal prosthesis to perturb speech.
• Acoustic and electromagnetic articulography (EMA) recorded speech in four conditions: unperturbed, masked feedback, available feedback, and post-adaptation.
• Data were analyzed to assess changes in articulatory parameters and acoustic output.

Main Results:

• After a 2-week adaptation period, speakers produced increased high-frequency noise characteristic of /s/.
• This improvement was associated with higher jaw positions and/or increased tongue grooving.
• Auditory feedback played a role in the adaptation process.

Conclusions:

• Jaw height and tongue grooving are significant articulatory factors for producing a clear /s/ sound.
• These findings have implications for speech therapy, particularly for treating individuals with impaired /s/ production.
• The study highlights the adaptability of the speech motor system to structural changes.