Reliability for Durational Measurement of Cluttered Speech Intervals
Tyler A. Palmer · BearWorks (Missouri State University) · 2009
The primary purpose of this research was to investigate the intra-rater reliability for speech-language pathologists in selecting intervals of cluttered speech from larger speech samples. A secondary purpose was to research inter-rater reliability for this task. A tertiary purpose was to investigate the onset and termination of selected intervals of cluttering for purposes of intra- and inter-rater comparison. This skill is essential for the ability to determine cluttering severity through means of percent talking time cluttered, a recently proposed severity measure. Severity determinations of people who clutter, as well as determining changes in cluttering severity as a result of therapy, are anticipated to be frequent clinical needs. Intra and inter-rater reliability were found to be satisfactory for the durational and interval count data. Absolute durational and counting-related data were not statistically different from one moment to the next or from one rater to the next. Specific intervals that were identified did vary in terms of temporal overlap.