New Software for Prosodic Assessment: PEPS-C with Automated Analysis

Background: Prosodic systems (prosodic structure, intonation, rhythm) play a key role in spoken language. They mediate the phonetic substance of speech within a wide range of communicative functions. The study of prosody has to do with the comprehension and production of the organizational structure of speech, including the patterns of intonation, timing, prominence, and chunking of spoken utterances. Difficulties with these abilities can dramatically influence daily conversations, social and professional interactions, and even typical language development. Although, prosody has been long considered an important topic of research in clinical populations, and it is consensual that atypical prosody is a common feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), no consensus has emerged on the characterization of the prosodic profile in ASD.

Objectives: As many studies of prosody in ASD present methodological issues related with the assessment of prosody (e.g., McCann & Peppé, 2003), we aim to improve this assessment through the evaluation of both expressive and receptive prosodic skills using a comprehensive prosodic battery and automated acoustic analysis. 

Methods: We used a computerized version of the Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems – Communication (PEPS-C, Peppé & McCann, 2003) for Portuguese speakers and we included new functions for automated assessment of prosody. The available PEPS-C is a test addressing receptive and expressive skills in parallel. The tasks are at two levels: formal (n = 4) and functional (n = 8). The formal level assesses the auditory discrimination and voice skills required to perform the tasks, whereas the functional level evaluates four communicative domains: (1) Turn-end indicates the ability to decide if an utterance is a question or a statement; (2) Affect signals liking or disliking (reservation) regarding food and drink items; (3) Chunking indicates prosodic phrase boundaries skills; and (4) Focus addresses the capacity to emphasize a particular word in an utterance. The new software records the participant’s answers and automatically extracts and analyses acoustic parameters from the expressive tasks. Additionally, it is possible to do automated comparative acoustic analyses of speech production in populations with and without prosodic impairments. 

Results: This new software simplifies the process of collecting and analysing prosodic data. We intend to do an interactive presentation of this software showing preliminary data.

Conclusions: The use of this comprehensive assessment could have significant clinical implications and improve differential diagnosis and intervention for individuals with ASD.

References:

McCann, J., & Peppé, S. (2003). Prosody in autism spectrum disorders: A critical review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38(4), 325-350. doi: 10.1080/1368282031000154204

Peppé, S., & McCann, J. (2003) Assessing intonation and prosody in children with atypical language development: the PEPS-C test and the revised version. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 17(4/5), 345-354. doi: 10.1080/0269920031000079994