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Articulation Rate and Vowel Space Characteristics of Young Males With Fragile X Syndrome: Preliminary Acoustic Findings

Contact author: David J. Zajac, University of North Carolina Craniofacial Center, CB# 7450, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. E-mail: david_zajac{at}dentistry.unc.edu

PURPOSE: Increased speaking rate is a commonly reported perceptual characteristic among males with fragile X syndrome (FXS). The objective of this preliminary study was to determine articulation rate—one component of perceived speaking rate—and vowel space characteristics of young males with FXS.

METHOD: Young males with FXS (n = 38), developmental age (DA)-matched males (n = 21), and chronological age (CA)-matched males (n = 16) were audiotaped while engaged in spontaneous conversation and a picture-naming task. Articulation rate in syllables per second during intelligible utterances and vowel space area/dispersion measures were acoustically determined for each speaker.

RESULTS: Males with FXS did not articulate significantly faster than CA-matched males. Area and dispersion of the acoustic vowel space also were similar between the 2 groups. Males with FXS, however, used significantly shorter utterances and had a tendency to pause less often than CA-matched males. In addition, males with FXS exhibited greater intraspeaker variability of formants associated with the vowel /a/.

CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings suggest that articulation rate may not be a primary factor contributing to perceived speaking rate of males with FXS. Limitations of the study relative to speech production tasks and utterance intelligibility are discussed.

KEY WORDS: fragile X syndrome, speaking rate, articulation rate, vowel space

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This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. J. Zajac, A. A. Harris, J. E. Roberts, and G. E. Martin Direct Magnitude Estimation of Articulation Rate in Boys With Fragile X Syndrome J Speech Lang Hear Res, October 1, 2009; 52(5): 1370 - 1379. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. T. Neel Vowel Space Characteristics and Vowel Identification Accuracy J Speech Lang Hear Res, June 1, 2008; 51(3): 574 - 585. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]