Difference limen for the frequencies (DLF) and the formant frequencies (DLFF) were examined in 5 children of normal, hard of hearing and deaf as the test of auditory discriminability.
DLF of the normal and the deaf children were 0.6-1.2% and 5.6-11.4% respectively
DLFF of the normal and the hard of hearing children 5.5-6.9% and 12.5-27.2% respectively.
Vocal pitch matching (VPM) and variability of formant frequencies (VFF) were examined on the same subjects as the tests of motor function.
VPM of the normal and the deaf were 1.6-2.2% and 17.8-30.2%, respectively.
VFF of the normal, the hard of hearing and the deaf were 5.0-7.6%, 9.9-25.3% and 28.3-46.6% respectively.
The results described above showed the almost same values between auditory discriminability and motor normality in speech behavior.
From these results, the author hypothized that measurement of the motor variability in speech behavior will be useful in the judgement of grade on the speech disordres, prognosis and training effects.
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