Table 1

List of acoustic measures with a brief explanation of each

DomainMeasureExplanation
InitiationIntensityObjective correlate of loudness, measured in dB SPL
Intensity decayPercentage decay in intensity from first to last sentence
ProsodyMean fundamental frequency (F0)Objective correlate of pitch, measured in Hz
SD of F0 Objective correlate of pitch variation
Speech rateSpeaking speed, measured in syllables per second
Adjusted speech rateAs per speech rate, but excluding dysfluencies and pause
AccelerationPercentage increase in speech rate from first to last sentence
Adjusted accelerationAs per acceleration, but excluding dysfluencies and pause
PauseA measure of hesitation, calculated in ms and expressed as percentage of utterance time, using a threshold of 50 ms as the minimum significant pause duration
Within-word pausePercentage of pause that occurred within rather than between words
IterationNumber of instances of linguistic unit repetition
Within-word iterationPercentage of instances of linguistic unit repetition that occurred within rather than between words
PhonationJitterRelative percentage variation in glottal cycle duration (indicative of voicing frequency consistency)
ShimmerRelative percentage variation in glottal cycle amplitude (indicative of voicing amplitude consistency)
Harmonic-to-noise ratioA measure of cycle-to-cycle variation in waveform shape (indicative of voicing strength)
ArticulationFormant Centralization RatioA measure of vowel distinctiveness
SD of /s/ amplitudeA measure of consonant articulation strength
Voice onset time ratioA measure of the ability to differentiate for example ‘bark’ and ‘park’