Retroflex Versus Bunched in Treatment for Rhotic Misarticulation: Evidence From Ultrasound Biofeedback Intervention

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2014

Journal / Book Title

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Abstract

Method: Eight participants received 8 weeks of individual ultrasound biofeedback treatment targeting rhotics. In Study 1, all 4 participants were cued to match a bunched tongue-shape target. In Study 2, participants received individualized cues aimed at eliciting the tongue shape most facilitative of perceptually correct rhotics.Purpose: To document the efficacy of ultrasound biofeedback treatment for misarticulation of the North American English rhotic in children. Because of limited progress in the first cohort, a series of two closely related studies was conducted in place of a single study. The studies differed primarily in the nature of tongue-shape targets (e.g., retroflex, bunched) cued during treatment.Results: Participants in Study 1 showed only minimal treatment effects. In Study 2, all participants demonstrated improved production of rhotics in untreated words produced without biofeedback, with large to very large effect sizes.Conclusions: The results of Study 2 indicate that with proper parameters of treatment, ultrasound biofeedback can be a highly effective intervention for children with persistent rhotic errors. In addition, qualitative comparison of Studies 1 and 2 suggests that treatment for the North American English rhotic should include opportunities to explore different tongue shapes, to find the most facilitative variant for each individual speaker.

DOI

10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-14-0034

Journal ISSN / Book ISBN

PMID: 25088034

Published Citation

Byun, T. M., Hitchcock, E. R., & Swartz, M. T. (2014). Retroflex versus bunched in treatment for rhotic misarticulation: evidence from ultrasound biofeedback intervention. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 57(6), 2116–2130. https://doi.org/10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-14-0034

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