This book draws on the recent remarkable advances in speech and language processing: advances that have moved speech technology beyond basic applications such as medical dictation and telephone self-service to increasingly sophisticated and clinically significant applications aimed at complex speech and language disorders. The book provides an introduction to the basic elements of speech and natural language processing technology, and illustrates their clinical potential by reviewing speech technology software currently in use for disorders such as autism and aphasia. The discussion is informed by the authors' own experiences in developing and investigating speech technology applications for these populations. Topics include detailed examples of speech and language technologies in both remediative and assistive applications, overviews of a number of current applications, and a checklist of criteria for selecting the most appropriate applications for particular user needs. This book will be of benefit to four audiences: application developers who are looking to apply these technologies; clinicians who are looking for software that may be of value to their clients; students of speech-language pathology and application development; and finally, people with speech and language disorders and their friends and family members.

Efficient processing of speech and language is required at all levels in the design of human-computer interfaces. In this perspective, the book provides a global understanding of the required theoretical foundations, as well as practical examples of successful applications, in the area of human-language technology. The authors start from acoustic signal processing to pragmatics, covering all the important aspects of speech and language processing such as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and semantics.Throughout the volume, the reader can easily notice an emerging methodology, a key issue in the rational design of efficient and robust language-based computer applications. While engineering rigor is guaranteed in all chapters, particular care has been taken in highlighting intuitive aspects of technical details.Contributions from acknowledged experts in the relevant sub-disciplines make this book a truly unique offering in the available literature on speech and language engineering.

This major new textbook provides a clearly-written, concise and accessible introduction to speech and language processing. Assuming knowledge of only the very basics of linguistics and written specifically for students with no technical background, it is the perfect starting point for anyone beginning to study the discipline. Student s are shown from an elementary level how to use two programming languages, C and Prolog, and the accompanying CD-ROM contains all the software needed. Setting an invaluable foundation for further study, this is set to become the leading introduction to the field.

Remarkable progress is being made in spoken language processing, but many powerful techniques have remained hidden in conference proceedings and academic papers, inaccessible to most practitioners. In this book, the leaders of the Speech Technology Group at Microsoft Research share these advances -- presenting not just the latest theory, but practical techniques for building commercially viable products.KEY TOPICS: Spoken Language Processing draws upon the latest advances and techniques from multiple fields: acoustics, phonology, phonetics, linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, syntax, psychology, and beyond. The book begins by presenting essential background on speech production and perception, probability and information theory, and pattern recognition. The authors demonstrate how to extract useful information from the speech signal; then present a variety of contemporary speech recognition techniques, including hidden Markov models, acoustic and language modeling, and techniques for improving resistance to environmental noise. Coverage includes decoders, search algorithms, large vocabulary speech recognition techniques, text-to-speech, spoken language dialog management, user interfaces, and interaction with non-speech interface modalities. The authors also present detailed case studies based on Microsoft's advanced prototypes, including the Whisper speech recognizer, Whistler text-to-speech system, and MiPad handheld computer.MARKET: For anyone involved with planning, designing, building, or purchasing spoken language technology.

Corpus-based methods will be found at the heart of many language and speech processing systems. This book provides an in-depth introduction to these technologies through chapters describing basic statistical modeling techniques for language and speech, the use of Hidden Markov Models in continuous speech recognition, the development of dialogue systems, part-of-speech tagging and partial parsing, data-oriented parsing and n-gram language modeling. The book attempts to give both a clear overview of the main technologies used in language and speech processing, along with sufficient mathematics to understand the underlying principles. There is also an extensive bibliography to enable topics of interest to be pursued further. Overall, we believe that the book will give newcomers a solid introduction to the field and it will give existing practitioners a concise review of the principal technologies used in state-of-the-art language and speech processing systems. Corpus-Based Methods in Language and Speech Processing is an initiative of ELSNET, the European Network in Language and Speech. In its activities, ELSNET attaches great importance to the integration of language and speech, both in research and in education. The need for and the potential of this integration are well demonstrated by this publication.

Speech and language are central to the human experience; they are the vital means by which people convey and receive knowledge, thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences. Acquisition of communication skills begins early in childhood and is foundational to the ability to gain access to culturally transmitted knowledge, organize and share thoughts and feelings, and participate in social interactions and relationships. Thus, speech disorders and language disorders-disruptions in communication development-can have wide-ranging and adverse impacts on the ability to communicate and also to acquire new knowledge and fully participate in society. Severe disruptions in speech or language acquisition have both direct and indirect consequences for child and adolescent development, not only in communication, but also in associated abilities such as reading and academic achievement that depend on speech and language skills. The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for children provides financial assistance to children from low-income, resource-limited families who are determined to have conditions that meet the disability standard required under law. Between 2000 and 2010, there was an unprecedented rise in the number of applications and the number of children found to meet the disability criteria. The factors that contribute to these changes are a primary focus of this report. Speech and Language Disorders in Children provides an overview of the current status of the diagnosis and treatment of speech and language disorders and levels of impairment in the U.S. population under age 18. This study identifies past and current trends in the prevalence and persistence of speech disorders and language disorders for the general U.S. population under age 18 and compares those trends to trends in the SSI childhood disability population.