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Children's auditory-perceptual performance in identifying phonological contrasts among stops
Larissa Cristina Berti1, Ana Elisa Falavigna, Jéssica Blanca dos Santos
1Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, School of Philosphy and Sciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Marília, SP, Brazil. berti.larissa@gmail.com
Jornal Da Sociedade Brasileira De Fonoaudiologia
|January 12, 2013
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Phonetics and phonology
- Child language acquisition
- Auditory perception
Background:
- Auditory-perceptual skills are crucial for language development.
- Understanding phoneme contrasts is essential for accurate speech perception.
- Limited research exists on the specific challenges children face in perceiving stop consonant contrasts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess children's accuracy in identifying stop consonant contrasts.
- To determine which phonemes and contrast features pose perceptual difficulties.
- To investigate the influence of age on auditory-perceptual accuracy.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of auditory-perceptual performance data from 59 children (Brazilian Portuguese).
- Utilized a picture-identification task with acoustic stimuli presented via headphones.
- Employed PERCEVAL software to record stimulus presentation and reaction times.
Main Results:
- Achieved 85% auditory-perceptual accuracy, positively correlated with age.
- Longer reaction times were observed for incorrect responses compared to correct ones.
- Voicing cues were more salient than articulation cues; phonetic distance influenced perceptual salience.
Conclusions:
- Children's ability to perceive stop consonant contrasts is not fully developed within the studied age range.
- Mastery of these contrasts is a gradual process with a potential hierarchy of difficulty.
- Auditory-perceptual skills continue to mature throughout childhood.
