Teaching Vowel Articulation with the Computer Vowel Trainer Methodology and Results

Abstract

The Computer Vowel Trainer (CVT) uses linear prediction to estimate and display the shape of the speaker's vocal tract during an utterance. The assessment of the CVT was carried out over a period of three years with 14 profoundly deaf children divided into an experimental and a matched control group. Two main results were obtained: (a) children learning to articulate with the CVT achieve consistently higher articulation scores than those trained with conventional methods; (b) the younger the children, the greater their progress in vowel learning, retention and generalization.