Keywords

FAS, Foreign Accent Syndrome, Motor Speech Disorders, acoustic analyses, phonetic analyses, aphasia, apraxia of speech, voice onset time, fundamental frequency, vowels, vowel duration, word duration, formant frequencies

Abstract

This study presents detailed phonetic and acoustic analyses of the speech characteristics of two new cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). Participants include a 48-year-old female who began speaking with an "Eastern European" accent following a traumatic brain injury, and a 45-year-old male who presented with a "British" accent following a subcortical cerebral vascular accident (CVA). Identical samples of the participants' pre- and post-morbid speech were obtained, thus affording a new level of control in the study of Foreign Accent Syndrome. The speech tasks consisted of oral readings of the Grandfather Passage and 18 real words comprised of the stop consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/ combined with the peripheral vowels /i/, /a/ and /u/ and ending in a voiceless stop. Computer-based acoustic measures included: 1) voice onset time (VOT), 2) vowel durations, 3) whole word durations, 4) first, second and third formant frequencies, and 5) fundamental frequency. Formant frequencies were measured at three points in the vowel duration: a) 20%, b) 50%, and c) 80% to assess differences in vowel 'onglides' and 'offglides'. The phonetic analysis provided perceptual identification of the major phonetic features associated with the foreign quality of participant's FAS speech, while acoustic measures allowed precise quantification of these features. Results indicated evidence of backing of consonant and vowel productions for both participants. The implications for future research and clinical applications are also considered.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2007

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Ryalls, Jack

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Degree Program

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001916

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001916

Language

English

Release Date

November 2007

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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