Perceptual-phonetic predictors of single-word intelligibility: A study of Cantonese dysarthria

This study investigated the perceptual-phonetic predictors of intelligibili ty in Cantonese speakers with dysarthria. The speakers were 20 young adults with cerebral palsy. The listener group consisted of 12 native Cantonese s peakers. A single-word intelligibility test was constructed, based on 17 ph onetic contrasts. There were no significant differences in intelligibility for gender, age, or type of cerebral palsy. A regression analysis showed th at intelligibility could be predicted with 97% accuracy by 5 out of the 6 m ost problematic contrasts. Three contrasts (glottal vs. null, final vs. nul l, and long vs. short vowel) predicted variation on an independent intellig ibility measure obtained for the same speakers with 84% accuracy Principal components analysis derived 4 components, which accounted for 81% of the va riance in the 17 contrasts. Physiological explanations and language-specifi c contributions to speech disorder in this group of speakers are discussed.