The investigation of the disintegration of phonemic discrimination on a perception and production level in adults with aphasia

Abstract

As more stress is being placed on the auditory disability of aphasics, the validity of dividing aphasic symptoms into expressive and receptive disorders is queried. The reflex-arc seems too simple a configuration to explain the complex functioning and breakdown of language. It is postulated that the auditory disorder is basic to aphasic symptoms on the level of understanding as well as that of production of language. Thus, if an aphasic patient shows a breakdown in the perception of phonemes, it seems likely that the auditory imperception will affect the production of the same phonemes. Aphasic subjects were presented with tests of phonemic discrimination on a perceptual and a production level and the similarity of phonemic errors was noted. 
The results of the experiment seemed to indicate that^a' hearing loss did not account for the subject's phonemic disintegration. However, it was not possible to control certain factors thus this result is not conclusive. 
The similarity between errors on an input level and those on an output level was poor, according to the result of the perception and production tests used in the study. However, despite the inadequacies of the tests used, all subjects showed'some degree of similarity and this tends to support the hypothesis. The errors in phonemic discrimination indicated by both perception and production tests were not random and inconsistent, but followed a trend. 
It was noted that the severity of the aphasic symptoms seemed closely linked with the degree of phonemic breakdown. Also, the subjects tested showed a significant similarity between auditory-type aphasic symptoms and phonemic discriminatory symptoms. Little similarity existed between phonemic errors in isolation and in spontaneous speech.