Perception, production, and vocabulary in children (Hearnshaw et al., 2023)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children with and without speech sound disorders (SSDs), analyzing the data both by group and continuously.
Method: Sixty-one Australian English–speaking children aged 48–69 months participated in this study. Children’s speech production abilities ranged along the continuum from SSDs through to typical speech. Their vocabulary abilities ranged along the continuum from typical to above average (“lexically precocious”). Children completed routine speech and language assessments in addition to an experimental Australian English lexical and phonetic judgment task.
Results: When analyzing data by group, there was no significant difference between the speech perception ability of children with SSDs and that of children without SSDs. Children with above-average vocabularies had significantly better speech perception ability than children with average vocabularies. When analyzing data continuously, speech production and vocabulary were both significant positive predictors of variance in speech perception ability, both individually in simple linear regression and when combined in multiple linear regression. There was also a significant positive correlation between perception and production of two of the four target phonemes tested (i.e., /k/ and /ʃ/) among children in the SSD group.
Conclusions: Results from this study provide further insight into the complex relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children. While there is a clinical and important need for categorical distinctions between SSDs and typically developing speech, findings further highlight the value of investigating speech production and vocabulary abilities continuously and categorically. By capturing the heterogeneity among children’s speech production and vocabulary abilities, we can advance our understanding of SSDs in children.
Supplemental Material S1. Overview of speech perception performance on each phoneme per speech group (overall number correct out of a maximum of 48).
Hearnshaw, S., Baker, E., Pomper, R., McGregor, K. K., Edwards, J., & Munro, N. (2023). The relationship between speech perception, speech production, and vocabulary abilities in children: Insights from by-group and continuous analyses. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(4), 1173–1191. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00441

研究目的：本研究旨在探讨患有及未患有语音障碍（SSDs）的儿童在语音感知、语音产生和词汇能力之间的关联，并通过分组和连续分析数据。研究方法：61名年龄在48至69个月之间的澳大利亚英语母语儿童参与了本研究。这些儿童的语音产生能力从语音障碍到典型语音不等，他们的词汇能力从典型到高于平均水平（即“词汇早熟”）。除了常规的语音和语言评估外，儿童还完成了实验性的澳大利亚英语词汇和语音判断任务。研究结果：在分组数据分析中，患有语音障碍的儿童与未患有语音障碍的儿童的语音感知能力之间没有显著差异。拥有高于平均水平词汇的儿童的语音感知能力显著优于拥有平均水平词汇的儿童。在连续数据分析中，语音产生和词汇能力都是语音感知能力变化的显著正预测因子，无论是在简单线性回归中单独考虑，还是在多元线性回归中结合考虑。在语音障碍组儿童中，对四个目标辅音音素（即/k/和/ʃ/）的感知与产生之间也存在显著的积极相关性。研究结论：本研究的结果进一步揭示了儿童在语音感知、语音产生和词汇能力之间复杂关系的本质。尽管在语音障碍与典型发展语音之间进行分类区分在临床上具有重要意义，但研究结果进一步强调了连续和分类研究语音产生和词汇能力的重要性。通过捕捉儿童语音产生和词汇能力的异质性，我们可以深化对儿童语音障碍的理解。

补充材料S1：概述了每个语音组在每个辅音音素上的语音感知表现（正确总数除以最大48个）。Hearnshaw, S., Baker, E., Pomper, R., McGregor, K. K., Edwards, J., & Munro, N. (2023). 儿童语音感知、语音产生和词汇能力之间的关系：分组和连续分析的洞察。言语、语言和听力研究杂志，66(4)，1173–1191. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00441