Can the reliability of auditory-perceptual assessment of voice onset hardness by speech and language pathology students be improved thanks to training ?

Details

Supervisors

Maryn, Youri

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en logopédie, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Voice onset hardness is a crucial aspect to take into account in assessment and treatment of voice impairments. Auditory-perceptual evaluation is still considered as a primary method in clinical evaluation of voice onset. However, intra- and interrater reliability in the ratings of phonation onset hardness is variable. This study aimed to determine if a training provided to naïve listeners could improve reliability within and between those raters. Eleven students in speech and language pathology were divided into one control and one experimental group. They participated in a pre-training, immediate post-training and one-week long-term post-training test session. Raters were asked to (a) attribute the categories soft, breathy or hard to 24 voice onset fragments, (b) rate the level of voice onset type (when breathy or hard) on a 100-mm visual-analog scale. Results obtained were not in line with the initial assumption : Inter- and intrarater reliabilities are not improved after the training has been provided, neither for nominal nor for continuous assessments. Several limitations of the present study have to be highlighted in order to understand this absence of effects : Timing of the training, dissimilarity between test and training stimuli, selection of anchors, method of response during test and training sessions, confounding factors between both groups, etc. Future investigations could be conducted in order to refine the training protocol, compare different training programs and/or different anchor types, define voice onset continuum and include other evaluation tools for voice onset assessment.