Perceptual-training paradigms offer a promising platform for improving intelligibility of dysarthric speech by offsetting the communicative burden from the speaker onto the listener. Much of the research to date has utilized young adults as listeners; however, there is reason to believe that these samples of listeners do not sufficiently represent the population of listeners who would most benefit from perceptual training, namely older caregivers of individuals with dysarthria. Due to evidence suggesting younger and older listeners process degraded speech differently, this study was conducted to evaluate intelligibility gains secondary to perceptual-training paradigms with older adults. Nineteen adults aged 60 and over completed a standard perceptual training protocol, which consisted of a pretest transcription, familiarization, and posttest transcription phase using recordings produced by a male speaker diagnosed moderate ataxic dysarthria. Mean pretest and posttest scores were compared to evaluate the effect of the familiarization experience on transcription accuracy. Additionally, older adults’ transcription accuracy improvement scores, reflected as the difference between post- and pre-test accuracy, were compared to historical data collected from 50 younger adult listeners previously reported in Borrie, Lansford, and Barrett (2017). Importantly, older adults were found to have significantly higher transcription accuracy in the posttest, relative to the pretest, condition, indicating a perceptual gain following training. In comparison to the younger listeners, transcription accuracy scores were consistently lower in the older listeners. However, transcription accuracy improvement scores demonstrated no age-related effect, indicating that both listener groups enjoyed a similar magnitude of learning following the familiarization experience. / A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the Master of Science. / Spring Semester 2017. / April 25, 2017. / dysarthria, older listeners, perceptual learning, speech perception / Includes bibliographical references. / Kaitlin Lansford, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Kaschak, Committee Member; Erin Ingvalson, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_552325 |
| Contributors | Luhrsen, Stephani (authoraut), Lansford, Kaitlin L. (professor directing thesis), Kaschak, Michael P. (committee member), Ingvalson, Erin (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Communication and Information (degree granting college), School of Communication Science and Disorders (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, master thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (31 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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