There are many factors
that influence speech intelligibility. These factors may reside
within the speaker, the listener, the context, or the environment.
Because of the broad nature of this concept, we often prefer
the more inclusive term of comprehensibility.
When we assess intelligibility, we do so at the word,
sentence, and discourse level.
Supplemental assessment can also be conducted through instrumentation.
For example, the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) can provide information
about pitch and loudness. In addition, we use a particular program
called the Motor
Speech Profile available on the CSL.
Word Level
At
the word level we look for particular patterns of errors that
may provide information about underlying phonological processes.
Extensive errors may reflect a poorly developed phonological
system. They may also reflect underlyng physiological deviations...
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Sentence Level
We also assess intelligibility at the sentence level. One type of analysis looks at whether there is consistency in production at the word and sentence level. Another analysis looks at intelligibility as a function of how well a listener can understand words produced in context... MORE
Discourse Level
Intelligibility and comprehensibility are assessed at the discourse level through analyses of read and conversational speech. Comprehensibility is influenced by segmental and suprasegmental aspects of speech production and by all aspects of language including syntactic... MORE
