DECtalk and VeriVox: intelligibility, likeability, and rate preference differences for four listener groups.

The intelligibility, likeability, and speech presentation rates for two types of popular synthesized speech, DECtalk and VeriVox, were investigated across four age groups ranging from 6-85 years old. Results for all age groups revealed differences in intelligibility between synthesized adult and child voices, with intelligibility scores for child synthesized voices significantly below those for adult synthesized voices. The most popular synthesized voices were from the VeriVox family.

Moebius syndrome: measures of observer intelligibility with versus without visual cues in bilateral facial paralysis.

Objective: This study investigated observers' intelligibility for the spoken output of an individual with Moebius syndrome (MoS) with and without visual cues.

Design: An audiovisual recording of the speaker's output was obtained for 50 Speech Intelligibility in Noise sentences consisting of 25 high predictability and 25 low predictability sentences. Stimuli were presented to observers under two conditions: audiovisual and audio only.

Effects of alternative communication on the communicative effectiveness of an individual with a progressive language disorder.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of two different modes of communication on the communicative output of an individual who is no longer able to communicate verbally, presenting with a primary progressive aphasia and apraxia of speech. The two treatment approaches included training the patient with a text-to-speech alternative communication device and with American sign language. An alternating treatment design was used to compare two communicative approaches (an alternative communication device and American sign language) on the subject's communicative effectiveness.