ABSTRACT:
Purpose:
to verify: a) the level of agreement among judges during auditory-perceptual assessment of velar plosive sounds before and after speech therapy, b) the possible influence of the phonetic composition from the speech samples in this correlation c) whether the assessments from judges with experience differ from those without experience in given conditions.
Methods:
60 speech samples of children with cleft lip and palate, 30 before and 30 after speech therapy, and 30 samples from children without cleft lip and palate and with normal speech were rated by a group of 9 judges. Three speech-language pathologists established the "gold standard" consensual judgments for the study. Six other judges assessed the samples for this study: three considered experienced ones (speech-language pathologists) and three non-experienced (undergraduate students). The speech samples included velar consonants /k/ and /g/ and vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/. Judges were instructed to assess the presence or absence of velar consonants or presence of CA.
Results:
Kappa statistics revealed moderate agreement among experienced judges and low agreement among the judges without experience for samples recorded before speech therapy. Phonetic context had an effect on the assessments before and after speech therapy. Assessments were significantly better among experienced judges before speech therapy (p-valor <0,001).
Conclusion:
experience of judges and phonetic composition from the speech samples influence perceptual judgments of CA.
KEYWORDS:
Cleft Palate; Speech; Speech Disorders; Auditory Perception
