Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Comparison Of Ambient And Hearing Aid Output Noise Levels In Industrial And Non-Industrial Settings, Jody Lynn O'Connor

Dissertations and Theses

Federal regulations specify that an employee working for eight hours cannot legally be exposed to noise which has a time-weighted average greater than 90 decibels on the A scale. The industrial workforce is comprised of not only people with normal hearing acuity, but of individuals who suffer from hearing loss. While current noise regulation standards are deemed appropriate for those with normal hearing, it is difficult to apply these standards to persons wearing hearing aids on the job. The ambient, or unamplified, noise levels that fall below the maximum permitted by OSHA standards may very well be amplified to levels …

Validation Of The Rapid Speech Transmission Index (Rasti) In A Classroom Environment, Jeffery Larsen

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Because the acoustics of a room have a substantial impact on speech intelligibility, researchers have tried over the years to develop the most effective way to evaluate the effects of the acoustic environment on speech intelligibility. Both subjective and objective measures of speech intelligibility have been devised. For the purposes of this study, subjective measures are those in which a speech recognition test is given to a group of subjects whose scores provide a direct indication of speech intelligibility at each position in the listening environment {Steeneken & Houtgast, 1980). Objective measures are those that determine the acoustic factors that …

Portfolio Assessment As A Means Of Assessing Language Proficiency In Bilingual (Esl/Lep) Students, Christine Boynton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Speech-language pathologists are faced with the increasing problem of providing appropriate and nonbiased language assessment of minority language speakers. Currently available measures of language proficiency fail to provide adequate information about a Limited English Proficient student's language to determine the specific abilities and educational needs that he/she has.

Therefore, this study was an investigation of the use of a portfolio assessment method as a means of determining the language proficiency of bilingual Limited English Proficient students. The following measurements and information were included in the portfolio: (1) home and literacy background information, (2) parent, teacher, and student attitude information, (3) …

Effects Of Otitis Media On Language Development In Native Populations: A Review Of The Literature, Monica Malmgren

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

From the time a fetus reaches about 20 weeks gestational age, its auditory system is functioning. Before we are ever born, we are exposed to sounds within our environment. With birth, we begin to interact with, experiment with, and learn to interpret the sounds around us. Before learning to speak, we are bombarded by the sounds of our language. An infant's head is known to perk up at the sound of a voice, a sudden noise, music... all the sounds of the environment, which is evidence that children are aware of the sounds around them before they are ever able …

A Study To Examine The Effectiveness Of The Electropalatograph In Elicitation And The Remediation Of A Lateral Lisp In An Adult Client, Nathan Butikofer

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The electropalatograph is an exciting new instrument that is still being researched for clinical use in the remediation of various types of articulation disorders. The electropalatograph gives both client and clinician visual feedback of the client's articulatory productions. Specifically, it allows a client and a clinician to view on a screen exactly where the tongue is placed in relation to the hard and soft palate (McWilliams, 1990).

Comparative Analysis Of Syntactic Abilities Of Hard-Of-Hearing And Deaf Children, As Measured By The Screening Portion Of The Test Of Syntactic Abilities, Dawn Misenhimer

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

According to the authors of the Test of Syntactic Abilities (TSA), the most difficult task facing deaf and hard-of-hearing children in our educational system is the acquisition of English. The structure, or syntax, of the English language, is especially challenging for these children. The eventual result is that few deaf and hard-of-hearing students acquire even an adequate knowledge of standard English. This in turn affects all other aspects of education, including the learning of reading, writing and content subjects (Quigley, Steinkamp, Power & Jones, 1978). Most deaf and hard-of-hearing children do not even use English syntax to any great extent …

Language Abilities Of Male Adolescents In A Juvenile Detention Center, Krista J. Klein

Masters Theses

This study was designed to analyze the language abilities of male adolescents with delinquent behavior. It was based on the hypothesis that male adolescents with delinquent behavior would have lower language skills during expressive language tasks. Language skills of male adolescents in a juvenile detention center were examined by comparing 12 grammatical variables, four subtest scores, and one total score from the Screening Test for Adolescent Language (STAL; Prather, Ausdal-Breecher, Stafford & Wallace, 1980). Results indicated that the adolescents with delinquent behavior omitted significantly more words, but also produced significantly more secondary verbs in a narration task. Significantly lower results …

Language Skills Of Adolescents With Emotional Disorders, Diane T. Hardy

Masters Theses

The language abilities of adolescents with emotional impairments were examined to determine the differences that may occur between this population and that of a control group of similar age, race, and gender. Ten adolescents with emotional impairments and ten students in general education were examined using two procedures. The Screening Test of Adolescent Language (STAL) (Prather, Breecher, Stafford, & Wallace, 1980) includes four subtests: vocabulary, auditory memory span, language processing, and proverb explanation. A language sample was also gathered using a cartoon video narration task (Dollaghan, Campbell, & Tomlin, 1990) which examined for syntactic, semantic, and discourse variables.

Results indicated …

Story Writing By Students With Hearing Impairments, Lois A. Ketchum

Masters Theses

Students with hearing impairments (N = 21) wrote a personal narrative each academic year from 1990 to 1992. These narratives were rated on maturity of the story as a whole and maturity of the language used in the story by senior undergraduate students in the education department at Western Michigan University. The method used for rating was a holistic magnitude estimation technique.

Significant change over time was found for story scores, but not language scores. Grade level was found to have no significant effect on change from first to last ratings for either story scores or language scores. Degree of …

The Intelligibility Of Japanese Speakers Of English To Native Speakers Of English, Manabu Aoki

All Master's Theses

This research was conducted to identify the most important English speech sounds which determine non-native English speakers' intelligibility to native speakers of English. The researcher focused on variation of pronunciation by Japanese English speakers of differing levels of proficiency and examined the correlation between their pronunciation and intelligibility to native speakers. The results provided some keys to intelligible English speech and some implications for developing comprehensible speech in teaching English as a second language or English as a foreign language.

Perceptual Ratings Regarding Individuals With High Functioning Autism, Melanie A. Manhart

Masters Theses

A perceptual rating scale evaluating appropriateness/inappropriateness of eight communicative behaviors was designed to determine if the general population perceives adult individuals with high functioning autism as different. In addition, the rating scale results were examined to determine which of the eight communicative characteristics were perceived as most different. The results were also evaluated to determine if a rating difference between genders existed.

The subjects consisted of 453 college students who viewed videotaped interviews with five individuals, two considered "normal" and three diagnosed with high functioning autism who had received varying levels of remediation. After viewing each interview, subjects rated the …

The Effects Of Partner Training On Request Behaviors With An Aac User, Amy J. Fiala

Masters Theses

This study was conducted to examine the effects of partner training on request behaviors with an AAC user. A review of literature indicated that AAC users are often placed in respondent roles rather than initiator roles. Additionally, speaking individuals tend to dominate conversations over individuals who are nonspeaking. Such domination puts AAC users at risk for a loss of independence in communication of the basic communication interactions. Thus, inadequate social interaction skills are a common problem among AAC users. Utilizing communication partner training as an intervention target may serve to increase active participation in all areas of communication. The purpose …

The Use And Effectiveness Of Facilitated Communication For A Child With Autism, Danielle Gayton

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Information And Physical Positioning On Attitudes Toward An Individual Who Is Nonspeaking And Physically Disabled, Paige M. Lepak

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effects of printed information and four physical positions in space on attitudes of individuals who are nondisabled toward a person who is nonspeaking with severe physical disabilities. Employing a 4 (positions in space) X 2 (presence/absence of information) factorial design, subjects were presented with four photographs depicting a male who is both physically disabled and nonspeaking having a communicative interaction with a male who is nondisabled. Subjects in Condition 1 viewed 4 photographs depicting the individual who is nonspeaking sitting in a chair; Condition 2 subjects viewed photographs of the individual sitting in a wheelchair; Condition …