Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Laryngeal-Level Amplitude Modulation In Vibrato, Lorie C. Reese Aug 2006

Laryngeal-Level Amplitude Modulation In Vibrato, Lorie C. Reese

Theses and Dissertations

Research in vocal vibrato has established that vocal tract filtering is primarily responsible for the amplitude modulation (AM) present in Western classical vibrato. Using electroglottography (EGG) and the EGG speed quotient, which is sensitive to fluctuations in the amplitude of vocal fold vibration, AM was detected at the laryngeal (source) level, in addition to the subsequent AM which results from vocal tract filtering. Seventeen classically-trained opera singers sang vowels in three pitch and loudness conditions. EGG and microphone measurements of FM and AM and their rates, extents, and periodicity were made. Airflow was also measured, and the samples were rated …


Recognition Of Facial Expressions Of Six Emotions By Children With Specific Language Impairment, Kristen Diane Atwood Jul 2006

Recognition Of Facial Expressions Of Six Emotions By Children With Specific Language Impairment, Kristen Diane Atwood

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past several years, research has shown that children with language impairment often have increased social difficulties. The purpose of this study was to take a closer look at the relationship between language ability and emotion understanding by examining the recognition of facial expressions in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and their typically developing peers. As such, this study is a follow-up investigation of the work done by Spackman, Fujiki, Brinton, Nelson, & Allen (2006). Children with SLI and their age- and gender-matched peers were asked to identify the following six facial expressions of emotion in a language-minimal …


Psychometrically Equivalent Arabic Monosyllabic Word Recognition Materials, Maida Christine Robertson Jul 2006

Psychometrically Equivalent Arabic Monosyllabic Word Recognition Materials, Maida Christine Robertson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Arabic monosyllabic word lists to use in the measurement of the word recognition score. Familiar Arabic monosyllabic words were digitally recorded by a native male talker from Jordan who was judged to have a standard Arabic dialect. Twenty native Arabic participants with normal hearing were used as subjects to determine the percentage of correct word recognition for each word at 10 intensity levels ranging from -5 to 40 dB HL in 5 dB increments. The monosyllabic word data were analyzed using logistic regression. …


Accuracy Of Automated Developmental Sentence Scoring Software, Carrie Ann Judson Jul 2006

Accuracy Of Automated Developmental Sentence Scoring Software, Carrie Ann Judson

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS; Lee 1974) is a well established, structured method for analyzing a child's expressive syntax within the context of a conversational speech sample. Automated DSS programs may increase efficiency of DSS analysis; however the program must be accurate in order to yield valid and reliable results. A recent study by Sagae, Lavie, and MacWhinney (2005) proposed a new method for analyzing the accuracy of automated language analysis programs. This method was used in addition to previously established methods to analyze the accuracy of a new automated DSS program, entitled DSSA (Channell, 2006). Previously collected language samples from …


Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Words For Speech Reception Threshold Testing In Arabic, Elisha Rose Ratcliff Jul 2006

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Words For Speech Reception Threshold Testing In Arabic, Elisha Rose Ratcliff

Theses and Dissertations

The use of speech audiometry is essential in audiological testing. One of the most important elements of speech audiometry is speech reception threshold. To provide services for the growing population of non-English speaking people, audiologists need speech audiometry materials in a variety of languages. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Arabic bisyllabic words for use in testing speech reception threshold. Ninety frequently used bisyllabic words were digitally recorded by a male talker of standard Arabic. These words were presented to 20 normally hearing subjects in 2 dB increments at intensity levels ranging from …


Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word Lists For Word Recognition Testing In Taiwan Mandarin, Alycia Jane Dukes Jul 2006

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word Lists For Word Recognition Testing In Taiwan Mandarin, Alycia Jane Dukes

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Taiwan Mandarin bisyllabic word lists to be used for word recognition testing. Frequently used bisyllabic words were selected and digitally recorded by male and female talkers of Taiwan Mandarin. Twenty normally hearing subjects were presented each word to find the percentage of words which they could correctly recognize. Each word was measured at 10 intensity levels (-5 to 40 dB HL) in increments of 5 dB. Logistic regression was used to include 200 words with the steepest logistic regression slopes in four psychometrically …


Speech Reception Threshold Materials For Taiwan Mandarin, Katie Bedke Slade Jul 2006

Speech Reception Threshold Materials For Taiwan Mandarin, Katie Bedke Slade

Theses and Dissertations

Speech reception threshold (SRT) tools have been developed to assist in the evaluation of hearing. This study was performed to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and equate Taiwan Mandarin trisyllabic words which can be used to measure the SRT. Eighty-nine commonly used trisyllabic words were chosen and digitally recorded by native male and female speakers. The words were then presented to 20 normally hearing subjects at 14 intensity levels (-10 to 16 dB HL) with 2 dB increments. Psychometric function slopes were calculated using logistic regression. Twenty-eight words with steep psychometric function were selected and digitally adjusted to match the mean …


Assessing Effects Of Iq On Sociable And Withdrawn Behaviors In Children With Language Impairment, Amanda Lyn Bradshaw Jun 2006

Assessing Effects Of Iq On Sociable And Withdrawn Behaviors In Children With Language Impairment, Amanda Lyn Bradshaw

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of IQ on subtypes of sociable and withdrawn behaviors in children with language impairment (LI). Research has suggested that children with LI are more likely to experience difficulty with social interaction than their typically developing peers (Brinton & Fujiki, 1999; Rice, 1991). The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (Hart & Robinson, 1996) was used to compare sociable and withdrawn behaviors in 19 children with LI and 19 children with typically developing language. IQ scores for each participant were obtained by administering the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (Bracken & McCallum, 2003). These …


Influence Of Age On Auditory Gating, Ginny Marissa Smith Jun 2006

Influence Of Age On Auditory Gating, Ginny Marissa Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized paired tones at 1000 Hz with a 500 ms interpair interval and a 10 s interstimulus interval to assess sensory gating. Forty-two participants, ranging from 3-72 years of age were used to observe maturational changes in amplitude, latency, and suppression ratios of the P50 waveform. Previous research has shown that in normal adults the amplitude in response to the second of the paired tones is significantly suppressed compared to the amplitude in response to the first tone. The current study showed amplitude decreased with age to middle adulthood, where it increased slightly to later adulthood. Latencies decreased …


Hearing Health In Utah Special Olympics Athletes Compared To Special Olympics Athletes Worldwide: A Prevalence Study In Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Lisa Moses Mullins May 2006

Hearing Health In Utah Special Olympics Athletes Compared To Special Olympics Athletes Worldwide: A Prevalence Study In Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Lisa Moses Mullins

Theses and Dissertations

The Special Olympics Healthy Athletes initiative promotes wellness of the athletes with intellectual disabilities and education for medical professionals. Healthy Athletes has created a hearing screening program, Healthy Hearing, to help athletes with intellectual disabilities get the otological and audiological care they need. This program promotes a healthy hearing lifestyle and educates medical professionals regarding the need of health care for the intellectually disabled population. The physiologic, otologic, and audiologic abnormalities often occurring in the intellectually disabled population bring special attention for the need to determine the prevalence rate of hearing loss among the athletes participating in Special Olympics events. …


Automated Grammatical Analysis Of Language Samples From Spanish-Speaking Children Learning English, Nicole Redd Apr 2006

Automated Grammatical Analysis Of Language Samples From Spanish-Speaking Children Learning English, Nicole Redd

Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that automated grammatical tagging is fast and accurate for both English and Spanish child language, but there has been no research done regarding its accuracy with bilingual children. The present study examined this topic using English and Spanish language samples taken from 254 children living in the United States. The subjects included school-aged children enrolled in public schools in the United States in grades 2, 3, or 5. The present study found high automated grammatical tagging accuracy scores for both English (M = 96.4%) and Spanish (M = 96.8%). The study suggests that automated grammatical analysis has …


The Relationship Between Social Behaviors And Working Memory In School-Age Children With Language Impairment, Melanie Diane Javid Mar 2006

The Relationship Between Social Behaviors And Working Memory In School-Age Children With Language Impairment, Melanie Diane Javid

Theses and Dissertations

Children with language impairment (LI) have notable social problems (Brinton & Fujiki, 2004). Research has shown that children with LI often have deficits in working memory (Kirchner & Klatsky, 1985; Stark, Poppen, & May, 1987). The relationship between working memory and social behaviors has not been clearly defined. This study examined this relationship in children with LI and typical age-matched peers by asking participants to repeat nine nonwords and correlating these results with social behaviors as rated by teachers. The Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS; Hart and Robinson, 1996) was used to compare social behaviors of 19 school-age children with …


A Meaning-Based Instruction To Enhance Literacy Learning In A Dual-Language Kindergarten Classroom, Megan Melissa Fife Mar 2006

A Meaning-Based Instruction To Enhance Literacy Learning In A Dual-Language Kindergarten Classroom, Megan Melissa Fife

Theses and Dissertations

Concerns among educators continue to grow with the increased enrollment of Second Language Learners (SLL) in classrooms throughout the United States. This influx has stressed the boundaries of current methods of literacy instruction, which are not designed to meet the needs of these at-risk students. Literacy instructional methods need to be remediated through early intervention, followed by effective literacy instruction that is designed to meet the specific needs of SLL. Effective literacy instruction overcomes differences in culture and background by using meaning-based instruction coupled with engaging and varied contexts. This study evaluated the effectiveness of incorporating meaning-based instructional activities into …


Effect Of The Use Of Amaranth Leaf Flour In The Development Of A Diet For Guinea Pigs, Verónica Del Rocío Guerrero Carrera Jan 2006

Effect Of The Use Of Amaranth Leaf Flour In The Development Of A Diet For Guinea Pigs, Verónica Del Rocío Guerrero Carrera

Theses and Dissertations

This study was carried out in the San Clemente community. The objective was to analyze the effect of using amaranth leaf flour in the creation of a diet for guinea pigs. The field work was done over a period of 12 months and was done in two phases: Development of the diet: this was done by growing the amaranth, cutting it, and dehydrating it until flour was obtained. Then, it was mixed into the diet in accordance with the pre-determined formula along with the other respective materials. Handling of guinea pigs: This was done in the shed of the San …