Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Effectiveness Of Interpersonal Communication And Active-Listening Skills With Individuals With Communication Disorders, Mandy C. Adams, Erinn Finke Dr.

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Investigating Predictive Relationships Between Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Students' Sense Of Classroom Community, Perceived Learning, And Perceived Anxiety., Emily B. Schantz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental health is an all-encompassing term that focuses on a person’s ability to achieve work-life balance inclusive of positive mental health and mental ill-health. Current trends suggest an overall increase in mental ill-health for undergraduate and graduate students. McMillan and Chavis’ sense of community theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. This study aimed to examine whether speech-language pathology graduate students’ sense of classroom community and perceived learning predict anxiety levels while controlling for demographic variables. Three-hundred-sixteen master’s level speech-language pathology students completed an online survey containing the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, Perceived Learning Scale, and Classroom Community Scale. …

Inspiratory Muscle Recruitment During Swallow And A Comparison Across Airway Behaviors., Allison V. English

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During swallow, a negative esophageal pressure is present that, along positive pressure from the tongue, which works to move the bolus through the pharynx into the esophagus. This negative esophageal pressure is thought to be produced via recruitment of chest wall inspiratory muscles (diaphragm and parasternal). This current study aimed to examine respiratory muscle recruitment across behaviors which have known inspiratory muscle activity (eupnea, augmented breath and cough) and compare to swallow. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant difference in amplitude and muscle recruitment over 75 ms between swallow and eupnea, but cough and augmented breath would …

Alterations In Rhythmic Licking Behaviors Following Fibrosis In The Rat Mylohyoid Muscle., Brittany Fletcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Muscle injury is a common side effect of radiation treatment for head and neck cancer. To increase understanding of muscle injury related dysfunction, we investigated the effects of oral swallowing function after cryoinjury to mylohyoid muscle in rats. The hypothesis is that injury to the mylohyoid delays the temporal licking pattern, resulting in aberrant drinking behaviors. Six rats received bilateral mylohyoid injuries by applying a 3mm cryoprobe. Licking behavior was measured by electrophysiological recordings of rhythmic tongue movements in a ten-minute drinking session taken pre-and post-injury (one-and two-weeks). Lick frequency and total licks per cluster decreased significantly one-and two-weeks post-injury …

Screening For Hearing Loss: Physician Attitudes And Practice, Theresa N. Vitale

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Age related hearing loss (ARHL) is considered a public health hazard in large part due to the negative health outcomes with which it is associated, such as, cognitive decline, increased risk of falling, social isolation and depression. Despite the health-related costs of ARHL, physician’s rarely screen older adults for ARHL. Some of the reasons previously cited include a lack of time and resources in medical offices, a lack of reimbursement for such measures, or lack of knowledge of risk factors associated with hearing loss. The latter is problematic as improved communication among physicians and their patients is an important correlate …

Across Curriculums: A Need For Audiology Instruction For Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing, Jenna M. Morishita

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this project is to gain insight into the requirements of teacher education programs with regard to instruction in audiology for teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing. Though individual teacher preparation programs have vast differences as they pertain to philosophy and methodology, graduates of each of these programs seek to work with children with hearing loss and therefore should have more than a basic understanding of audiology.

Method: The websites and course catalogs (when available) were reviewed for the 48 graduate programs listed on DeafEd.net. Data was collected on courses with the term “audiology” in …

Caring For Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Toolkit For Audiologists, Melanie Rosenthal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can mimic those of hearing loss, an audiologic evaluation is often a component of the differential diagnostic process. These audiologic evaluations can be complicated by social communication deficits, as well as sensory issues demonstrated by individuals with ASD. Typical testing procedures may need to be adapted, as well as multiple appointments may be needed, to obtain sufficient audiologic information. Although there is an abundance of literature suggesting that alternative approaches (i.e. visual schedules, social stories) should be utilized in the audiologic evaluation, there has yet to be a comprehensive toolkit for audiologists …

Sex-Related Differences In Perception And Discrimination Of Different Speakers: An Analysis Of The Auditory Dorsal Stream Via Eeg, David Thornton

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Growing evidence that speech perception tasks elicit sensorimotor activity, and that this activity varies due to context, sex, cognitive load, and cognitive ability. However, it is unknown as to whether the sex of the speaker and demands of the task differentially effect males and females during speech perception tasks. This study investigated whether speaker sex and task demands (i.e. passive listening or active discrimination) influence sensorimotor and auditory cortical activity in males and females differently. Raw EEG data were collected from 27 males and 29 females during passive listening to, and discrimination of /ba/ and /da/ syllable pairs spoken by …

Understanding Hearing Aid Sound Quality For Music-Listening, Jonathan Matthew Vaisberg

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To improve speech intelligibility for individuals with hearing loss, hearing aids amplify speech using gains derived from evidence-based prescriptive methods, in addition to other advanced signal processing mechanisms. While the evidence supports the use of hearing aid signal processing for speech intelligibility, these signal processing adjustments can also be detrimental to hearing aid sound quality, with poor hearing aid sound quality cited as a barrier to device adoption. Poor sound quality is also of concern for music-listening, in which intelligibility is likely not a consideration. A series of electroacoustic and behavioural studies were conducted to study sound quality issues in …

“Evaluating Knowledge And Perspectives Of Behavior Analytic Language Strategies In The Clinical Practice Of Speech-Language Pathology”, Mackenzie Sturman

Honors Theses

Research shows that principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) may be beneficial to language acquisition. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have the responsibility of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for individuals with various speech and language impairments, and work directly with language instruction. However, there is limited knowledge of the degree to which SLPs use concepts of behavior analytic language interventions in clinical practice for individuals of varying language and communication disorders. This study investigated the extent to which practicing SLPs use language strategies from ABA in their clinical practice. A qualitative approach was utilized by conducting individual semi-structured interviews with four practicing …

Effects Of Stuttering Frequency, Speaking Rate And Treatment On Speech Naturalness In Adults Who Stutter, Emily Hausman

Honors Theses

Purpose: Individuals who stutter can often exhibit speech patterns that sound unnatural compared to individuals who do not stutter. Unnaturalness can be due to several underlying factors including the presence of stuttering itself and the unintended consequences of treatment approaches that alter speech motor patterns. Understanding factors that impact speech naturalness within the stuttering population can help improve the clinical management of the disorder. The current study investigates the relationship between pause duration, speech rate and stuttering frequency, and listener ratings of speech naturalness in a group of adults who stutter (AWS) before and after participation in a stuttering treatment …

Exploring The Experiences Of Communication Partners Of People With Parkinson's Disease: A Qualitative Study, Jacqueline Bell

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore interactions between persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) and their communication partners. People with PD experience difficulties that can have a profound effect on their ability to communicate. This qualitative study explored the thoughts and feelings of primary communication partners of people with PD. The primary communication partners were interviewed using open-ended questions. The seven participants identified and detailed how declines in communication due to PD have resulted in changes in daily life, including; social participation, daily tasks, and psychosocial well-being. Commonalities that communication partners experienced will aid speech-language pathologists to …

An Exploration Of Resources Available To Deaf Children Attending Public And Deaf Community Schools, Katelyn Reid

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to explore current literature surrounding the similarities, differences, advantages and disadvantages that Deaf children experience while attending mainstream schools compared to the experiences of Deaf children attending all-Deaf and signing schools. A literature review was conducted using the terms: “mainstream schools” , “signing schools” , “resources” , and “Deaf children” were used. Areas of specific interest included social skills, academic performance, overall mood, and the availability of classroom and communication resources. A review of the literature in these four specific areas revealed mixed findings about which academic environment is more beneficial for Deaf children. …

Speech-Language Pathologist Preferences For Treatment Types For Childhood Apraxia Of Speech, Meeghan Hoose

Honors Theses

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), also known as developmental apraxia is, “a motor speech disorder that makes it hard for children to speak” (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association). While the child knows what he/she wants to say, the signals going from the brain to the mouth are not delivered correctly, resulting in the mouth not moving appropriately to produce the desired sounds. There are several methods used by speech-language pathologists to treat CAS including moto-programming, a linguistic approach, a combination of motor-programming and linguistic methods, sensory cuing and rhythmic approaches. Through surveying local practicing school speech-language pathologists, I will learn their preferred …

Picture Cued And Speech Production Cued Approaches For Speech Sound Learning, Michelyve C. Petit

LSU Master's Theses

This study examined the use of speech production cued cards, MorphoPhonic faces (MPF), and plain picture (PP) cards when seeking to remediate speech sound errors, specifically sounds / ɹ / and / s / in the word initial position. Fourteen children were provided articulation therapy at their public school using both stimulus types across four weeks. Each week, the total number of correct productions of target phoneme / s / and /ɹ/ were recorded and averaged. These results were used to graphically showcase trends in their performance with both stimulus types. The results demonstrated that MPF cards were advantageous for …

Efficacy Of A Three-Week Intervention Program For Children In The Areas Of Language, Articulation, Phonological Awareness, And Auditory Processing, Zoey Caballero

Honors Theses

Competency in the areas of language, articulation, phonological awareness, and auditory processing are essential for children to succeed academically. For the past four summers, select professors and graduate student clinicians in the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department at Andrews University have conducted an intensive three-week therapy program for school aged children to target these areas. By comparing pre/post-test scores, the purpose of the study is to obtain statistical evidence for specific therapy interventions in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the intensive therapy program.

Item Comparison Of Two Language Assessments In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Christina M. Hensgens

LSU Master's Theses

The language skills of children with ASD vary across the population and prove challenging to assess for many reasons. The current study was designed to compare two language assessments for children with ASD to gain understanding in determining the best method for assessment. The Preschool Language Scale-5 (PLS-5) is a standardized language assessment commonly used in the field of Speech-Language Pathology, while the Verbal Behavioral Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is commonly used in Applied Behavior Analysis. Scores from children with ASD (N=17) on a total of 64 functionally equivalent items from both assessments were analyzed to determine the …

Acoustic Reflex And Extended High-Frequency Testing In Relation To Tinnitus, Deborah Kim

Honors Theses

Tinnitus, a growing concern among adults, is the perception of sound without an external acoustic source. Tinnitus can sound like ringing, buzzing, and clicking and is typically caused by noise-induced hearing loss. Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by prolonged exposure to high levels of noise, which damages the cochlea, and can be temporary or permanent. The purpose of this study is to determine if there are any common factors or characteristics in Acoustic Reflex, standard pure tone and/or Extended High-Frequency testing results between two groups: people who report and do not report tinnitus. This study explores whether Acoustic Reflex testing …

Orthographic And Phonological Processing In Beginning Readers, Emily Fisher

Senior Theses

In order to learn to “sound out” new words, children must have phonological awareness, the ability to reflect on and manipulate the sounds in words. However, in skilled readers, performance on phonological awareness tasks is influenced by orthographic awareness, the awareness of spelling patterns and constraints. Both orthographic and phonological awareness are essential to reading, however, until recently the role of orthographic knowledge in phonological awareness has not been thoroughly investigated in beginning readers. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between orthographic and phonological knowledge in beginning readers and established a proof of concept for the use of …

Aphasia & Stutter Therapy: An Ailment Not To Be Treated, Janae Nieto

Honors Theses

This work demonstrates the history of two common speech and communication disorders: aphasia and stuttering. Once considered incurable diseases, these conditions have since generated rich rehabilitation practices and accompanying schools of thought. The first part of the thesis takes up adult aphasia, excluding cases involving speech and communication disorders due to other mental illnesses. The second half of this project conveys the history of stuttering. The majority of the modern cases analyzed in this thesis focus on developmental stuttering in children; although, different forms of stuttering are embedded in the progression of the therapy history. Each chapter includes a section …

Acoustic Characteristics Of Vowels Produced By Young Children From The New Orleans Area, Rebecca E. Dorsa

LSU Master's Theses

Understanding dialects and their effects on speech and language is integral to the field of speech-language pathology, as dialectal differences could potentially be misdiagnosed as speech or language disorders if these factors are not well-considered. The number and organization of the vowel system of one regional dialect of American English differs from those of another regional dialects. Therefore, understanding the effect of dialect on vowel productions in children can aid in the accurate evaluation of children from various dialectal backgrounds. The aims of the proposed study were to 1) determine the age at which young children develop acoustic markers of …

Relationship Between Subject Pronoun And Verb Finite Marking In Aae-Speaking Children, Emily C. Sossaman

LSU Master's Theses

Children learning General American English (GAE) show a relationship between their case marking of subject pronouns and their marking of finite verbs, and this relationship has been found for children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing controls (TD). The relationship between children’s case marking of subject pronouns and finite verb marking has not been examined in children who speak dialects of English that differ from GAE. The purpose of the current study was to examine this relationship in children learning African American English (AAE) as this dialect differs from GAE. The data came from an archival dataset of …

Use Of Video-Models To Teach Language Stimulation Techniques, Jason Killian

LSU Master's Theses

The current study was designed to assess the feasibility of creating videos depicting Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) support strategies and presenting them to graduate students in a communication sciences and disorders program, and whether differences in accuracy existed between first- and second-year graduate students. EMT support strategies were chosen due to the previous successes found within the literature. Twelve videos were presented to ten graduate students. Each participant response was analyzed for accuracy and overall responses were compiled to create overall video clarity.

Results showed that the Communication Temptation EMT support strategy videos achieved the highest levels of clarity, while …

Exploring A Connection Between Learning And Student Perception Of Place, Katelyn Roberts

Honors Theses

The quality of the physical environment is understood to impact overall health, wellbeing, and capacity to learn and engage in daily life. This pilot study explores how students in the Speech Language and Hearing Sciences program at Western Michigan University view the effects of indoor and outdoor nature spaces at the College of Health and Human Services on the East Campus of Western Michigan University on their learning experience. Results of the study suggest that there are significant relationships between the participant’s perception of interesting qualities in the College of Health and Human Services and feeling a sense of connection …

Dysphagia Practice Patterns Of Virginia Speech-Language Pathologists, Molly Kathleen Dailey

Theses & Honors Papers

Currently, there are a variety of screening tools, clinical, and instrumental assessments used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to diagnose dysphagia and plan for treatment. Anecdotal reports and empirical evidence suggest that dysphagia assessment and treatment practice patterns vary considerably across patient populations, work settings, and clinicians. Understanding the SLP assessment and treatment practices across settings and factors that may influence their decisions will help inform future directions in dysphagia education, training, and clinical practice components. These findings will enable the provision of quality care that will ultimately lead to positive patient health outcomes. Thus, this survey study was designed to …

An Experimental Evaluation Of Stop-Plosive And Fricative Consonant Intelligibility By Tracheoesophageal Speakers In Quiet And Noise, Sebastiano Failla

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite functional levels of postlaryngectomy communication, individuals who undergo total laryngectomy and tracheoesophageal (TE) puncture voice restoration continue to experience significant communication difficulties in noisy environments. In an effort to identify and further characterize TE speakers’ intelligibility in noise, the current auditory perceptual study investigated stop-plosive and fricative intelligibility of TE speech in quiet and in the presence of multi-talker noise. Eighteen listeners evaluated monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant words produced by 14 TE speakers using an open-response paradigm. Our findings indicate that overall intelligibility was significantly lower in noise. Further examination showed a differential effect of noise on intelligibility according to manner …

Attitudes And Barriers Affecting Hearing Aid Use In Hispanics Living In The U.S. Borderland Region, Loren Renee Sotelo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hearing loss can affect a person's overall quality of life, and has been linked to depression and dementia in older adults (Brewster, Ciarleglio, Brown, Chen, Kim, Roose, Golub & Rutherford, 2018; Ciorba, Bianchini, Pelucchi, & Pastore, 2012). In the largest study to date of hearing loss among Hispanic adults residing in the U.S., researchers found that nearly 1 in 7 has hearing loss, which is close to the overall national average (National Institutes of Health, 2015). Currently, hearing aids are the primary/most effective treatment for an age-related hearing loss; Unfortunately, the adult uptake rates are low (Chien & Lin, 2012; …

Voice Disorders Secondary To Thyroidectomy: A Case Study, Samantha D'Agostino

ETD Archive

The thyroid is an important gland that aids in development. Located anteriorly at the base of the neck, the thyroid produces hormones that regulate metabolism. Thyroid dysfunction can lead to excess or reduced production of hormones known as hyper and hypothyroidism. Usually affecting women, hyper and hypothyroidism can be life-threatening. A well-known treatment is a thyroidectomy, or removal of the thyroid gland. Many people report vocal change secondary to thyroidectomy. Dysfunction can result from intubation during surgery or damage to laryngeal nerves and/or muscles. A participant’s low intensity and difficulty with projection prompted a case-study to examine the laryngeal area …

The Effect Of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems On The Vocal Folds, Hilary Gayle Sample

ETD Archive

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) are non-combustible tobacco products that are rapidly gaining in popularity worldwide. ENDS are marketed as safer alternatives to cigarettes; however, very little research is available to support or deny these claims. ENDS aerosol is inhaled over the vocal folds and into the lungs consistent with cigarette smoke. The larynx is among the primary locations affected by smoking; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effect, if any, of ENDS on the larynx. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the laryngeal appearance and function of seven ENDS users as compared to four cigarette …

Contextual Interference In Speech Motor Learning Secondary To Similar Phonemes, Katelyn M. Bond

Capstones and Honors Theses

Purpose: The contextual interference (CI) effect is a motor learning phenomenon where learners experience difficulty during training resulting in poor performance; however, improved performance is observed in transfer conditions. Different variables elicit a CI effect, and the purpose of this study is to investigate whether phoneme (or sound) similarity may result in a CI effect during speech motor learning.

Method: The study included twenty-nine participants whose hearing and speech abilities were within the normal range. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two training sessions involving nonwords with either similar or dissimilar phonemes. Each training session included nonword repetition training …