Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

Verification Of A Mobile Psychoacoustic Test System, Jordana C. Soares, Sangamanatha Veeranna, Vijay Parsa, Chris Allan, Winnie Ly, Minh Duong, Paula Folkeard, Sheila Moodie, Prudence Allen

Faculty Publications

Many hearing difficulties can be explained as a loss of audibility, a problem easily detected and treated using standard audiological procedures. Yet, hearing can be much poorer (or more impaired) than audibility predicts because of deficits in the suprathreshold mechanisms that encode the rapidly changing, spectral, temporal, and binaural aspects of the sound. The ability to evaluate these mechanisms requires well-defined stimuli and strict adherence to rigorous psychometric principles. This project reports on the comparison between a laboratory-based and a mobile system’s results for psychoacoustic assessment in adult listeners with normal hearing. A description of both systems employed is provided. …

Effect Of Flow Phonation Voice Exercises On Vocal And Aerodynamic Measures In Undergraduate Student Singers, Jorge A. Diaz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of Flow Phonation Voice Exercises on vocal measures in undergraduate student singers. Whereas these exercises have provided positive outcomes in individuals with vocal hyperfunction, the use of these exercises in potentially enhancing the singing voice has not been explored. A total of 10 participants were randomly assigned into an experimental group (n = 6), that received 5 sessions of the Flow Phonation Voice Exercises across 5 weeks, and a control group (n = 4) which did not receive the treatment. Changes in auditory-perceptual, acoustic, subjective respiratory, quality-of-life and fatigue related measures compared across two groups. …

Perceptions Of Speech-Language Pathologists On Childhood Bilingualism, Sherlie V. Paz

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A total of 320 Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) completed a survey stating their perceptions on childhood bilingualism for typically developing children and children with disabilities. Based on the number of significant responses, 292 participants were analyzed utilizing a binary logistic regression to identify whether SLPs thought childhood bilingualism was advantageous or neutral, while incorporating the predictors of bilingual status and bilingual education received. Additionally, a content analysis was conducted on 173 participants who chose to respond to an open-ended question stating their additional perceptions on childhood bilingualism. Results revealed that bilingual status did not predict the probability of an advantageous perception …

The Effects Of Acidic Foods On Vocal Quality Of Vocally Healthy Individuals, Melissa Barbieri

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the consumption of acidic liquids on the vocal quality of vocally healthy individuals. Acidic foods and liquids are known to be possible causes of common voice disorders because of their putative effect on systemic hydration of the vocal folds impacting their viscoelastic properties and eventually affecting vocal quality, as they are found in over 50% of dysphonic patients (Karkos et al., 2007). This study investigated the effects of acidic foods on vocal quality in comparison to the effects of non-acidic/alkaline beverages in vocally healthy individuals.

One hundred participants …

Hearing Threshold Levels Of Australian Coal Mine Workers: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study Of 64196 Audiograms, Adelle Liebenberg, Alan M. Brichta, Valerie M. Nie, Sima Ahmadi, Carole L. James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective

This study examined the hearing threshold levels (HTL) of workers commencing employment in Australian coal mines in the State of New South Wales (NSW). The aim was to establish if some degree of hearing loss was identifiable in the mandatory pre-employment audiograms of workers.

Design

This was an observational, retrospective, repeated cross-sectional study. Study Sample De-identified audiometric records of 64196 employees entering NSW coal mining in three representative five-year periods between 1991–2015 were utilised

Results

Although HTLs were lower (better) in more recent years, the results showed clinically significant hearing loss ( ≥ 25dBHL) for older workers, 45–60 years. …

Creating A Theoretical Framework To Underpin Discourse Assessment And Intervention In Aphasia, Lucy Dipper, Jane Marshall, Mary Boyle, Deborah Hersh, Nicola Botting, Madeline Cruice

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Discourse (a unit of language longer than a single sentence) is fundamental to everyday communication. People with aphasia (a language impairment occurring most frequently after stroke, or other brain damage) have communication difficulties which lead to less complete, less coherent, and less complex discourse. Although there are multiple reviews of discourse assessment and an emerging evidence base for discourse intervention, there is no unified theoretical framework to underpin this research. Instead, disparate theories are recruited to explain different aspects of discourse impairment, or symptoms are reported without a hypothesis about the cause. What is needed is a theoretical framework that …

Voice-Related Experiences Of Nonbinary Individuals (Veni) Development And Content Validity, Grace Shefcik, Pei-Tzu Tsai

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Transgender individuals may seek a variety of gender-affirming health and educational services, including voice modification from speech-language pathologists. Measuring the client's self-perception of their communication experiences is crucial for providing client-centered services and measuring outcomes. However, there is currently no validated assessment tool for the nonbinary population, a part of the transgender population. This study explores the voice-related concerns and experiences among the nonbinary population to create a valid measure of their self-perception of voice. Ten nonbinary individuals were surveyed about their voice-related concerns and experiences. A thematic analysis of the responses led to the development of the questionnaire, titled …

Aphasia In Multilingual Patients, Mira Goral, Zahra Hejazi

Publications and Research

Purpose of Review

We summarize recent published work concerning assessment and treatment of aphasia in bilingual and multilingual people and review current related models of treatment outcomes. As well, we discuss studies that address the recently debated topic of cognitive processes in bilingual individuals with aphasia, with a focus on the effects of bilingualism on aphasia recovery and its potential protective effects.

Recent Findings

Providing assessment and treatment tools that best serve multilingual individuals with aphasia and unpacking the variables and mechanisms that underlie response to treatment have emerged as goals of several recent studies. Additionally, while findings are still …

Therapeutic Relationships In Aphasia Rehabilitation: Using Sociological Theories To Promote Critical Reflexivity, Felicity Bright, Stacie Attrill, Deborah Hersh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Background: Therapeutic relationships are fundamental in aphasia rehabilitation, influencing patient experience and outcomes. While we have good understandings of the components of therapeutic relationships, there has been little exploration of how and why therapists construct and enact relationships as they do. Sociological theories may help develop nuanced understanding of the values, assumptions and structures that influence practice, and may facilitate critical reflexivity on practice. Aims: To explore the potential for theoretical approaches …

Strengthening The Semantic Verb Network In Multilingual People With Aphasia: Within- And Cross-Language Treatment Effects, Aviva Lerman, Mira Goral, Lisa Edmonds, Loraine K. Obler

Publications and Research

In multilingual people, semantic knowledge is predominantly shared across languages.
Providing semantic-focused treatment to people with aphasia has been posited to strengthen
connectivity within association cortices that subserve semantic knowledge. In multilingual people, such treatment should result in within- and cross-language generalisation to all languages, although not equally. We investigated treatment effects in two multilingual participants with aphasia who received verb-based semantic treatment in two pre-stroke highly
proficient languages. We compared within- and cross-language generalisation patterns across languages, finding within- and cross-language generalisation after treatment in the less-impaired, pre-morbidly more-proficient first-acquired language (L1). This observation supports the theory that connectivity …

The Effects Of Complex Listening Environments On Semantic Processing In Young And Middle-Aged Adults, Emily Ferguson B.S., Nicholas Stanley Ph.D. Au.D.

AuD Capstone Projects - Communication Sciences and Disorders

The purpose of this research study is to determine how young adults and middle-aged adults process speech in different complex listening environments. Young adult and middle-aged adult volunteers will complete a cognitive screening and audiological evaluation to establish inclusionary status for experimental speech understanding in noise testing. If they meet the requirements of the study and wish to participate further, they will continue with a semantic judgement task, in which they will be asked to listen and respond to words presented in different background noises. Within the task, participants will be asked to identify word pairs into either a "match" …