1996/01/05 by Paula Tallal, Steve Miller, Gail Bedi +6 · 1,204 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Language Development and Disorders #Reading and Literacy Development #Phonetics and Phonology Research #Comprehension #Salient #Listening comprehension #Speech recognition #Active listening #Computer science #Speech processing #Audiology #Natural language processing #Psychology #Artificial intelligence #Communication #Medicine
paper · doi:10.1126/science.271.5245.81
published in Science 271(5245), 81-84 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 1996/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
A speech processing algorithm was developed to create more salient versions of the rapidly changing elements in the acoustic waveform of speech that have been shown to be deficiently processed by language-learning impaired (LLI) children. LLI children received extensive daily training, over a 4-week period, with listening exercises in which all speech was translated into this synthetic form. They also received daily training with computer "games" designed to adaptively drive improvements in temporal processing thresholds. Significant improvements in speech discrimination and language comprehension abilities were demonstrated in two independent groups of LLI children.