Ultrasound Visual Biofeedback and Accent Modification: Effects on Consonant and Vowel Accuracy for Mandarin English Language Learners

<p>The number of individuals in the United States who speak languages other than English continues to increase. With the increase of language diversity comes a potential rise in communication challenges for those who speak with non-mainstream American English accents as English language learners. A portion of these individuals may elect to seek accent modification services, perhaps due to decreased intelligibility or communication breakdowns. Thus, speech-language pathologists must research and provide effective techniques to enhance intelligibility of all American English speakers for optimal communication. Few approaches employ a variety of treatment methods to improve speech sound accuracy, naturalness and intelligibility to target accent modification. One of these methods is ultrasound biofeedback therapy. Ultrasound therapy relies on visual feedback for remediation of speech sound production errors for those with various etiologies and diagnoses. A single-subject ABAB withdrawal design was employed with two native Mandarin speakers to examine the effect of incorporating ultrasound visual biofeedback in the treatment of consonant and vowel targets as measured by perceptual, acoustic and visual analyses.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MSSLP

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Armstrong, Courtney

Contributors dc:contributor

• Heather Leavy Rusiewicz
• Yang Chen
• Katie Micco

• accent
• modification
• reduction
• ultrasound
• biofeedback
• mandarin
• foreign language
• Medicine and Health Sciences

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1477

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-2486