Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Relationship Between Narrative Informativeness And Psychosocial Outcomes In Chronic Stroke-Induced Aphasia, Eileen Armes, Jessica Richardson, Rick Arenas, Lori Nelson

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Currently there is a gap in the literature in understanding the relationship between the newly categorized primary outcome measure of discourse and secondary outcomes related to psychosocial impact, such as participation, psychological impact, social well-being, or mood. In a large sample of persons with stroke-induced aphasia (N=115), this study analyzed discourse samples using main concept analysis to determine how discourse performance correlates with the secondary outcome measures ALA, CCRSA, GDS, and CIQ. As a secondary research question, the differences in these relationships dependent on severity was also explored. Results showed statistically significant positive correlations between main concepts (MCs) and ALA …

Speech Characteristics Of Professional Fighters, Sofiya Krasilshchikova, Amy Neel Ph.D., Jessica Dawn Richardson Ph.D., Rick Arenas Ph.D., Lauren Bennett Ph.D., Sarah Banks Ph.D., Charles Bernick Ph.D.

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

The aims of this project were to accurately measure and describe speech characteristics of professional fighters; and to analyze the future potential of using speech characteristics as biomarkers for acquired neurogenic decline or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The Professional Fighters Brain Health Study (PFBHS) is a longitudinal project investigating the effect of repeated head trauma in professional combatants. The PFBHS provided recorded speech samples for this project. This study measured accurate speech characteristics of 102 professional boxers and mixed martial artists and compared these results to a group of 27 age-matched healthy controls. Analysis revealed a significant difference in articulation …

The Impact Of Temporal Resolution On Clinical Decision-Making For Individuals With Dysphagia, Shauna Corinne Murray

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

INTRODUCTION: Dysphagia, or a disordered swallow, affects up to 1 in 25 individuals in the United States. The gold standard for assessing dysphagia is the videofluoroscopic evaluation of swallowing (VFES). This allows the clinician to observe the swallow anatomy in motion via an X-ray movie, which historically was recorded at 30 frames per second. In recent years VFES have been performed at less frames per second due to radiation concern. This project investigates the effect of using lower temporal resolutions on assessment of video-fluoroscopic swallow studies.

METHODS: In this investigation, 30 swallow studies, all acquired at 30 frames per second, …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of The Contextual Variability And Anticipation Of Stuttering, Amanda D. Ortiz-Alvarez

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Stuttering is a neurologically based speech impairment often defined by listener-oriented parameters (i.e., its overt characteristics). These fail to encompass contextual variability and anticipation, two facets of the speaker’s experience which, though frequently encountered by people who stutter (PWS), remain poorly understood and largely under-researched. To better understand the subjective underpinnings of these phenomena, as well as how PWS conceptualize and relate to their stuttering, the present study sought to explore a) the experiences of PWS with the unpredictable and/or variable nature of their stuttering, as well as their beliefs surrounding potential contributors to its variability; b) the experiences of …

The Experience Of Being A Parent Of A Child Who Stutters And Subsequent Involvement In Support Groups: A Narrative Study, Katlyn A. Ferguson, Richard Arenas

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

INTRODUCTION: Developmental stuttering generally begins after a period of typical fluency and is highly variable in its presentation and persistence. This variability along with the lack of a definitive cause and social stigma often negatively impact both children who stutter (CWS) and their caregivers. However, research on the specific effects of stuttering on the caregiver is quite sparse compared to research into the caregiver experience in other disorders. Additionally, although social support has been identified as a primary protective factor for other caregivers, little evidence exists to show how support groups benefit caregivers of CWS.

METHOD: Five parents participated in …