Using early vocalization analysis for visual feedback

act: The Early Vocalization System (EVA) ies the Stevens landmark theory to infant lizations (babbles). The landmarks are grouped identify syllable-like productions in these lizations. The visiBabble system processes lizations in real-time. It responds to the infant’s ble-like productions with brightly colored ations and records the landmark analysis. The m reinforces the production of syllabic utterances are associated with later language and cognitive lopment. We report here on the development of isiBabble prototype and our initial field-testing. There is considerable research to support the position that infant vocalizations are effective predictors of later articulation and language abilities [7, 10, 12]. These studies have been carried out on normally developing children and on children with a variety of early diagnosed problems. These research studies emphasize the importance of early speech intervention for children at risk for being non-speaking. They also point out the difficulty of providing sufficient speech practice and feedback for children with such atypical speech patterns through traditional forms of intervention and interaction. Closants and oral-cavity openings can be detected in the sound waveform from acoustic evidence of discontinuities in the spectrum of sound. These discontinuities have been called landmarks by some researchers of adult speech [9, 13]. Landmarks that result from the creation or release of a narrow constriction or closure along the vocal tract are also found in prelinguistic vocalizations. We can hypothesize that the development of the ability to produce sounds exhibiting landmarks is a necessary skill underlying the production of syllables. ords : acoustic analysis, babbles, landmarks