Word identification and sentence verification of two synthetic speech systems by individuals with intellectual disabilities

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Abstract
This study compared the performance of a group of individuals with intellectual disabilities with a matched control group on word recognition and sentence verification tasks. Two text-to-speech systems (i.e., DECTalk™ and RealVoice™®) were used to present synthetic speech stimuli. A pretest was administered to exclude subjects who were unable to obtain perfect scores when experimental stimuli were presented via natural speech. Results revealed that DECTalk male and female synthetic voices were significantly (p < .01) superior to the RealVoice synthesizer across groups. Additionally, performance of individuals with intellectual disabilities was significantly (p < .05) poorer than that of nondisabled individuals on the sentence verification task. Data analyzed on practice effects indicated significant interaction (p < .05) between voice and task. The results of this study should be of interest to clinicians and researchers in recognizing the differences between individuals with cognitive disabilities and nondisabled individuals in the perception of synthetic speech.

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