Prosody Assessment Toolbox

Speech is generated by multiple organssuch as the lungsvocal chordsand the tongueall of which modulate sound over timeSome features of this modulation pattern convey identities of phonetic segmentswhat is saidComplementarysuprasegmentalfeatures refer to how it is saidThese features can have communicative functionsin which case we use the term prosodyThese communicative functions range from linguistic functionse glexical stressto pragmatic functionse gsocially appropriate toneor conveying doubtto affective functionse gscreaming to convey angerSuprasegmental features do not always have communicative functionsase gin hoarseness caused by vocal cord lesionsAbnormal receptive or expressive prosody is present in a wide range of disordersincluding Autism Spectrum DisorderASDMild Cognitive ImpairmentMCIDown s syndromeDSdysarthriaParkinson s diseasedepressionschizophreniaaphasiaAlzheimer s diseaseTBILanguage Impairmentbipolar disorderADHDand PTSDThe characteristics of these prosodic abnormalities and underlying brain dysfunction are still largely unknownThis lack of knowledgedespite the important light research on prosody could cast on brain dysfunction in a large set of medical conditionscan have only one causeCurrent instruments for assessing prosodic deficits are decades behind those that are used for clinical assessment of other aspects of languageDiehlJJand PaulRThe assessment and treatment of prosodic disorders and neurological theories of prosodyInternational journal of speech language pathologyThe best developed instrumentProfiling Elements of Prosody in Speech CommunicationPEPS Ca computer aided battery ofalternative choice receptive tasks and speech generation tasksscored correct incorrectwhile a major leap forwardshas many limitationsonly further illustrating the immature state of the prosody assessmentBuilding on our broad expertise in computerized prosody assessmentwe propose to build a system that addresses these shortcomingsThe system performs automated scoring and acoustic analysis of expressive prosodyallows stimuli to be acoustically modified for detailed perceptual assessment of receptive prosodyand can be extended by researchers to include novel tasksIt is evaluated with individuals who have ASDadults and childrenDSadults and childrenor MCIand a typically developing control group