Factors affecting accuracy and intelligibility of transliterators who use cued speech

Some deaf individuals access spoken information via transliterators who use Cued Speech, a system of hand gestures that supplement information available through speechreading alone. In this presentation, the accuracy and intelligibility of 12 transliterators with varying degrees of experience are examined. Accuracy, or the percentage of cues correctly produced, was evaluated at three different speaking rates (slow, normal, and fast), and intelligibility, or the percentage of words correctly received, was measured by presenting the materials that the transliterators produced to nine expert receivers of Cued Speech. Results show that speaking rate had a large negative effect on accuracy, caused primarily by an increase in omitted cues, while increased experience level was generally associated with increased accuracy. Intelligibility was generally higher than accuracy, with accuracy accounting for roughly 25% of the variance in intelligibility scores. We conclude by discussing factors such as speechreadability that could explain additional portions of the variance.