Synthetic Speech Perception in Individuals with Intellectual and Communicative Disabilities

Perception Of Synthetic Speech By Persons With Intellectual Disabilities

Data from the United States, Department of Education (2002) indicate that 18.7% of the children ages 6 through 21 who receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have a diagnosed speech and/or language impairment and 9.9% have a diagnosed intellectual impairment. Further, about 3.5% and 1.0% of individuals with intellectual impairment fall in the categories of severe and profound impairment respectively (Rosenberg & Abbeduto, 1993). Many individuals with severe-to-profound intellectual disabilities and severe communication impairments are potential candidates for SGDs. Thus, it is critical to investigate the factors that influence synthetic speech perception in individuals with intellectual impairment. Unlike non-electronic communication books and boards, SGDs provide speech output (synthetic or digitized) to the individual user and the communication partner (Church & Glennen, 1992). A retrospective study conducted by Mirenda, Wilk, & Carson, (2000) on the use of assistive technology by individuals with autism and intellectual impairment indicated that 63.6% of the students with severe intellectual impairment used SGDs to augment their communication.