title: Spectral moment analysis of affricates produced by Mandarin-speaking pre-adolescents with repaired cleft palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the spectral differences in frication noise between aspirated and unaspirated affricates in typical Putonghua (standard Mandarin Chinese) pre-adolescent speakers, and to compare the spectral characteristics of affricate production between speakers with repaired cleft palate and their non-cleft peers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spectral moment analysis, a quantitative approach to capture the contour of speech spectra, was carried out on speech samples produced by two groups of speakers: (a) speakers with repaired cleft palate (n=14, mean age=11.7 years) and (b) typical speakers (n=10, mean age=11.0 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from typical speakers showed that the unaspirated affricates had significantly higher first spectral moment (M1) than their aspirated counterparts. Compared with typical speakers, individuals with repaired cleft palate exhibited a lower first moment for the four affricates /ts, tʂ, tɕ(h), tɕ/.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results revealed important acoustical differences between aspirated and unaspirated affricates for typical speakers. The trend of spectral deviation may have contributed to the difficulty in producing unaspirated affricates found in Putonghua-speaking individuals with speech disorders related to cleft palate.
authors.affiliation: Stomatological College, Nanjing Medical University, China; Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: jiangchenghui_26@njmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chenghui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Tara L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Whitehill
authors.affiliation: Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Bradley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McPherson
authors.affiliation: Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Manwa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology; D044466:Asian People; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Affricate; Aspiration; Chinese; Cleft palate; Spectral moment analysis; Speech disorder