Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

Verification And Quantification Of Surface Electromyographic (Emg) Activity Of The Masseter Muscle, Kelsey Bowles

Honors Theses

Purpose: The goal of the present study is to develop and evaluate an automated technique for measuring biting and chewing related surface electromyographic (EMG) activity of the masseter muscle.

Methods: Data from 28 neurologically healthy participants between the ages of 18-40 were selected for this study. The procedure for collecting the bite/chew data consisted of the participant biting down and chewing three small breath mints while an EMG sensor recorded the masseter muscle activity. A five-step Matlab-based algorithm was created to accurately identify onsets and offsets of each bite and chew event.

Results: Compared to manual measurements using standard …

Acoustic Correlates Of Speech Naturalness In Post-Treatment Adults Who Stutter: Role Of Speaking Rate, Caylee Jessen

Honors Theses

Purpose: While many stuttering therapy programs can result in a decrease in stuttering behaviors among participants, some clients leave therapy with speech sounding unnatural due in part to the therapy techniques themselves. The aim of the current study is to examine associations between selected acoustic measures of speaking rate and listener ratings of speech naturalness in a group of adults who stutter following participation in an intensive fluency shaping treatment program.

Methods: Twenty-nine adults who stutter, drawn from an existing database of speech samples, served as participants. All participants had recently completed a four-week group-based intensive fluency shaping treatment program. …

Acoustic Correlates Of Speech Naturalness In Post-Treatment Adults Who Stutter: Role Of Fundamental Frequency, Jacqueline Schmitt

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Memory Support For Adults With Alzheimer’S Disease: Applications For Speech-Language Pathologists, Laura Dober

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is known to cause progressive and severely debilitating impairments in cognition, especially in memory. Deficits in memory and cognition are clearly reflected in the communication of people diagnosed with this progressive, degenerative, incurable disease, placing speech-language pathologists as important members of a care team for adults with AD. Speech-language pathologists provide treatment to support memory, and therefore communication, in people with AD through direct and indirect methods. Some examples of memory supportive strategies include spaced-retrieval learning, the use of external memory aids and assistive technology, Montessori methods, and manipulations …