TY - GEN

T1 - Voice and speech features as diagnostic symptom

AU - Lyakso, Elena

AU - Frolova, Olga

AU - Nikolaev, Aleksandr

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - The study of the peculiarities of speech of children with atypical development is necessary for thedevelopment of educational programs, children’s socialization and adaptation in society. The aim of thisstudy is to determine the acoustic features of voice and speech of children with autism spectrum disorders(ASD) as a possible additional diagnostic criterion. The multiplicity of symptomatology, different age ofits manifestation, and the presence of a leading symptom complex individually for each child make itdifficult to diagnose ASD. To determine the specificity of speech features of ASD, we analyzed thespeech of children with developmental disabilities in which speech disorders accompany the disease -Down syndrome (DS), intellectual disabilities (ID), mixed specific developmental disorders (MDD).The features that reflect the main physiological processes occurring in the speech tract during voice andspeech production are selected for analysis. The speech of 300 children aged 4-16 years was analyzed.Speech files are selected from the speech database "AD_Child.Ru" (Lyakso et al., 2019). Acousticfeatures of voice and speech, which are specific for different developmental disorders, were determined.The speech of ASD children is characterized by: high pitch values (high voice); pitch variability; highvalues for the third formant (emotional) and its intensity causing "atypical" spectrogram of the speechsignal; high values of vowel articulation index (VAI). The speech of children with DS is characterized bythe maximal duration of vowels in words; low pitch values (low voice); a wide range of values of the VAIdepending on the difficulty of speech material; low values of the third formant; unformed most ofconsonant phonemes. The characteristics of speech of children with ID are: high values of vowel’sduration in words, the pitch, and the third formant, low values of the VAI; of MDD - low pitch values andhigh values of the VAI. Based on the identified peculiarities specific to each disease, the set of acousticfeatures specific to ASD can be considered as a biomarker of autism and used as an additional diagnosticcriterion. This will allow a timely diagnose, appoint treatment and develop individual programs forchildren. Speech characteristics of children with ID, DS, and MDD can be considered to a greater extentin the training and socialization of children and used in the development of training programs taking intoaccount individual peculiarities of children.

AB - The study of the peculiarities of speech of children with atypical development is necessary for thedevelopment of educational programs, children’s socialization and adaptation in society. The aim of thisstudy is to determine the acoustic features of voice and speech of children with autism spectrum disorders(ASD) as a possible additional diagnostic criterion. The multiplicity of symptomatology, different age ofits manifestation, and the presence of a leading symptom complex individually for each child make itdifficult to diagnose ASD. To determine the specificity of speech features of ASD, we analyzed thespeech of children with developmental disabilities in which speech disorders accompany the disease -Down syndrome (DS), intellectual disabilities (ID), mixed specific developmental disorders (MDD).The features that reflect the main physiological processes occurring in the speech tract during voice andspeech production are selected for analysis. The speech of 300 children aged 4-16 years was analyzed.Speech files are selected from the speech database "AD_Child.Ru" (Lyakso et al., 2019). Acousticfeatures of voice and speech, which are specific for different developmental disorders, were determined.The speech of ASD children is characterized by: high pitch values (high voice); pitch variability; highvalues for the third formant (emotional) and its intensity causing "atypical" spectrogram of the speechsignal; high values of vowel articulation index (VAI). The speech of children with DS is characterized bythe maximal duration of vowels in words; low pitch values (low voice); a wide range of values of the VAIdepending on the difficulty of speech material; low values of the third formant; unformed most ofconsonant phonemes. The characteristics of speech of children with ID are: high values of vowel’sduration in words, the pitch, and the third formant, low values of the VAI; of MDD - low pitch values andhigh values of the VAI. Based on the identified peculiarities specific to each disease, the set of acousticfeatures specific to ASD can be considered as a biomarker of autism and used as an additional diagnosticcriterion. This will allow a timely diagnose, appoint treatment and develop individual programs forchildren. Speech characteristics of children with ID, DS, and MDD can be considered to a greater extentin the training and socialization of children and used in the development of training programs taking intoaccount individual peculiarities of children.

KW - Child speech

KW - acoustic features

KW - atypical development

KW - biomarker of autism

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 259

EP - 263

BT - Psychological Aplications and Trends 2021

A2 - Pracana, C.

A2 - Wang, M

PB - InScience Press

CY - Lisboa, Portugal

ER -