Kinematic Analysis of Speech Sound Sequencing Errors Induced by Delayed Auditory Feedback

Area of Science:

• Speech motor control
• Auditory feedback
• Phonetics

Background:

• Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) is known to induce speech disfluency and phonological errors.
• Current assessment methods often rely on subjective auditory perception, potentially missing nuanced articulatory changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate articulatory kinematic changes in speakers under DAF.
• To develop and validate new quantitative methods for analyzing speech errors during DAF.

Main Methods:

• Eight typical speakers produced nonsense syllables under normal and DAF conditions (200 ms).
• Electromagnetic articulography captured lip and tongue kinematics.
• Acoustic recordings were analyzed using existing and novel quantitative methods.

Main Results:

• Increased kinematic variability was observed in 5 participants even in perceptually error-free productions under DAF.
• Analysis of error trials showed productions blending target and perceived utterances.
• New multivariate measures validated findings, highlighting subtle articulatory shifts.

Conclusions:

• DAF induces articulatory changes that may not be perceptually salient.
• This study provides evidence for distinct classes of speech errors under DAF.
• Novel methods were developed for analyzing kinematic data in speech research.