| spastic speech | Labored speech related to increased tone of muscles. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| speech | 1. The faculty of uttering articulate sounds or words; the faculty of expressing thoughts by words or articulate sounds; the power of speaking. "There is none comparable to the variety of instructive expressions by speech, wherewith man alone is endowed for the communication of his thoughts." (Holder) 2. He act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as expressing ideas; language; conversation. Speech is voice modulated by the throat, tongue, lips, etc, the modulation being accomplished by changing the form of the cavity of the mouth and nose through the action of muscles which move their walls. "O goode God! how gentle and how kind Ye seemed by your speech and your visage The day that maked was our marriage." (Chaucer) "The acts of God . . . To human ears Can nort without process of speech be told." (Milton) 3. A particular language, as distinct from others; a tongue; a dialect. "People of a strange speech and of an hard language." (Ezek. Iii. 6) 4. Talk; mention; common saying. "The duke . . . Did of me demand What was the speech among the Londoners Concerning the French journey." (Shak) 5. Formal discourse in public; oration; harangue. "The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point." (Swift) 6. Ny declaration of thoughts. "I. With leave of speech implored, . . . Replied." (Milton) Synonym: Harangue, language, address, oration. See Harangue, and Language. Origin: OE. Speche, AS. Spc, spr, fr. Specan, sprecan, to speak; akin to D. Spraak speech, OHG. Sprahha, G. Sprache, Sw. Sprk, Dan. Sprog. See Speak. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| speech acoustics | The acoustic aspects of speech in terms of frequency, intensity, and time. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech, alaryngeal | Methods of enabling a patient without a larynx or with a non-functional larynx to produce voice or speech. The methods may be pneumatic or electronic. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech articulation tests | Tests of accuracy in pronouncing speech sounds, e.g., iowa pressure articulation test, deep test of articulation, templin-darley tests of articulation, goldman-fristoe test of articulation, screening speech articulation test, arizona articulation proficiency scale. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech audiogram | The record of thresholds for spondaic word lists and scores for phonetically balanced word lists. (05 Mar 2000) |
| speech audiometer | An audiometer that provides spoken material at controlled sound pressure levels to obtain speech reception thresholds, tolerance for loud speech, and discrimination ability, utilizing either a live voice with a microphone or a recorded voice played over a turntable or tape recorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| speech audiometry | Measurement of overall performance in hearing, understanding, and responding to speech for a general assessment of hearing and an estimate of degree of practical handicap. (05 Mar 2000) |
| speech bulb | A prosthetic speech aid; a restoration used to close a cleft or other opening in the hard or soft palate, or to replace absent tissue necessary for the production of good speech. (05 Mar 2000) |
| speech centres | Areas of the cerebral cortex centrally involved in speech function; one is in the left inferior frontal gyrus, a second one in the supramarginal, angular, and first and second temporal gyri. See: Broca's centre, Wernicke's centre. (05 Mar 2000) |
| speech discrimination tests | Tests of the ability to hear and understand speech as determined by scoring the number of words in a word list repeated correctly. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech disorders | Long-term disorders in speaking or in perception of speech. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech intelligibility | Ability to make speech sounds that are recognizable. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech-language pathology | The study of speech or language disorders and their diagnosis and correction. (12 Dec 1998) |
| speech, oesophageal | A method of speech used after laryngectomy, with sound produced by vibration of the column of air in the oesophagus against the contracting cricopharyngeal sphincter. (12 Dec 1998) |