Speech sound disorders are common occurrences in the preschool period and generally cannot be resolved without the help of a speech therapist. In the diagnostic process, the speech therapist largely relies on their own auditory perception, but sometimes also uses other methods in the form of tools, devices, or technology.
To detect deviations from the articulatory norms, acoustic analysis can be utilized in the evaluation process. Although it has not been extensively researched yet, acoustic analysis is mentioned as a useful complement to traditional assessment methods.
In this master's thesis, we aimed to obtain acoustic values of the sounds /s/ and /z/ in five-year-olds, identify the most common pronunciation deviations, determine their occurrence frequency, and identify their positions within words. We included 25 participants whose parents agreed to their participation and recorded them performing a picture-naming task. We analyzed the recordings using Praat software, obtained the acoustic measures of the target sounds, and further categorized them based on their realization. The values were included in a statistical analysis.
The analysis showed that correctly articulated sounds /s/ and /z/ significantly differ in their acoustic parameter values. We found statistically significant differences in the proportion of appropriate and inappropriate realizations depending on the type of sound, and significant differences in the proportion of voicing for both sounds. Furthermore, we also found statistical significance between different positions of the sound in words and the children's success in articulating it for /z/, but not for /s/.
The results obtained in this study provide insight into the articulation characteristics of /s/ and /z/ in five-year-olds and their acoustic parameters, and they also serve as a guide for further research and the integration of new methods in speech therapy.
|
