A computer-aided articulation learning system for subjects with articulation disorders
Abstract
Purpose
Articulation errors substantially reduce speech intelligibility and the ease of spoken communication. Moreover, the articulation learning process that speech-language pathologists must provide is time consuming and expensive. The purpose of this paper, to facilitate the articulation learning process, is to develop a computer-aided articulation learning system to help subjects with articulation disorders.
Design/methodology/approach
Facial animations, including lip and tongue animations, are used to convey the manner and place of articulation to the subject. This process improves the effectiveness of articulation learning. An interactive learning system is implemented through pronunciation confusion networks (PCNs) and automatic speech recognition (ASR), which are applied to identify mispronunciations.
Findings
Speech and facial animations are effective for assisting subjects in imitating sounds and developing articulatory ability. PCNs and ASR can be used to automatically identify mispronunciations.
Research limitations/implications
Future research will evaluate the clinical performance of this approach to articulation learning.
Practical implications
The experimental results of this study indicate that it is feasible for clinically implementing a computer-aided articulation learning system in learning articulation.
Originality/value
This study developed a computer-aided articulation learning system to facilitate improving speech production ability in subjects with articulation disorders.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the National Science Council, ROC, under contract No. MOST104-2221-E-218-019. The authors thank the Multimedia Human-Machine Communication Laboratory of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, for supporting the development kit for 3D facial animations.
Citation
Chen, Y.-J. and Wu, J.-L. (2016), "A computer-aided articulation learning system for subjects with articulation disorders", Engineering Computations, Vol. 33 No. 7, pp. 2185-2197. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-08-2015-0235
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited