title: Synthesized speech intelligibility in sentences: a comparison of monolingual English-speaking and bilingual children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research comparing the intelligibility of human and synthesized speech among both young children and adults has indicated that synthesized speech results in a degrading of intelligibility. The purpose of this study was to compare speech intelligibility of high-probability sentences produced using DECtalk Perfect Paul and live speech among monolingual English-speaking and bilingual children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty typically developing children between the ages of 4;5 (years;months) and 6;2 participated. Ten children (6 boys and 4 girls) were monolingual English speakers. The remaining ten children (4 boys and 6 girls) were bilingual. Their reproduction of modeled sentences produced in English via live speech and synthesized speech were analyzed to determine the intelligibility of each speech type.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that for both groups of children, performance was significantly better in the live speech condition. Results further revealed that the intelligibility decrement for synthesized speech was substantially greater for bilingual speakers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For bilingual children, even higher quality synthesized speech may present a greater challenge than it does for monolingual English-speaking children. Possible strategies to enhance intelligibility are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Axmear
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reichle
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alamsaputra
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kohnert
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Drager
authors.forename: Kelli
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sellnow
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement