Vowel production in cri du chat-syndrome : results from a case study

Abstract

Kristian E. Kristoffersen. Vowel production in cri du chat-syndrome – results from a case study. In: M. J. Solé, D. Recasens and J. Romero (Eds.), Proceedings from The 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (pp. 1663–1666). Adelaide, Australia: Causal Productions Pty Ltd.

This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of vowel productions by a girl (H) with cri du chat syndrome (CDCS). Vowel productions in recordings of H’s speech at two different times (4;6 and 7;0) were subjected to acoustic analysis. The vowels were classified with reference to the corresponding vowels in target words, and formant frequency measurements were made of them from spectrograms. The results show that for all the vowels analyzed both F1 and F2 varied considerably. Furthermore, analyses of F1/F2 plots at both 4;6 and 7;0 revealed that H’s vowel productions did not form the well developed vowel space that is seen in normally developed children at H’s age. In spite of this, the data clearly indicate that from 4;6 to 7;0 a distinction between close and non-close vowels developed.