Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Effects Of Speech Intensity On Acoustic And Kinematic Articulatory Working Space, Christopher Dromey, Panika Palmer, Jason Whitfield

Faculty Publications

Acoustic measures calculated from the formant frequencies of corner vowels, such as the vowel space areas of triangles or quadrilaterals, have often been used as a window into articulatory function. Other measures, such as the formant centralization ratio (Sapir, Ramig, Spielman, & Fox, 2010), have been suggested as more sensitive alternatives. The purpose of this study was to compare changes in acoustic and kinematic measures of articulation across soft, comfortable, and loud speech conditions using both corner vowel-based and sentence level metrics. There were 19 participants, 9 male and 10 female, with ages ranging from 20 to 34 years. Each …

Structural Covariance Of Sensory Networks, The Cerebellum, And Amygdala In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Garrett Cardon, Susan Hepburn, Donald C. Rojas

Faculty Publications

Sensory dysfunction is a core symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and abnormalities with sensory responsivity and processing can be extremely debilitating to ASD patients and their families. However, relatively little is known about the underlying neuroanatomical and neurophysiological factors that lead to sensory abnormalities in ASD. Investigation into these aspects of ASD could lead to significant advancements in our general knowledge about ASD, as well as provide targets for treatment and inform diagnostic procedures. Thus, the current study aimed to measure the covariation of volumes of brain structures (i.e., structural magnetic resonance imaging) that may be involved in abnormal …

Development Of Psychometrically Equivalent Speech Recognition Threshold Materials For Native Cebuano Speakers, Melissa Dawn Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

While there is a clear and immediate need for reliable speech audiometry materials to evaluate the speech recognition threshold (SRT), these recorded materials are not available in Cebuano, a language of the Philippines with 15.8 million speakers. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Cebuano trisyllabic words for use in measuring the SRT. To create the SRT materials, common Cebuano trisyllabic words were digitally recorded by a male talker of Cebuano and presented for evaluation to 20 native speakers of Cebuano with normal hearing. Based on psychometric performance, a set …

The Ability Of Six Children With Language Impairment To Generate Stories From Pictured Stimuli: A Pilot Study, Molly Roxanne Alldredge

Theses and Dissertations

Narrative production and comprehension is a difficult task for children with language impairment (LI). Their stories are typically shorter and contain more grammatical errors than the stories of typically developing age-matched peers. This pilot study describes the abilities of six children with LI to produce stories from pictured stimuli. Stories were elicited from each child during a 10-week period. Stimulus pictures and coding procedures from the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument were employed to analyze the participants' story grammar (SG). Eight SG elements were assessed including character introduction, setting, initiating event (IE), internal response (IR), internal plan (IP), attempt, and outcome. …

Topic Manipulation In Five Children With Language Impairment In Response To Topic Probes, Kimberly Kasey Baker

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes a series of case studies on topic management patterns of five children (ages 5 to 10 years) with language impairment. The children participated in semi-structured topic tasks that assessed conversational abilities on topics that were verbally introduced and topics that were introduced both verbally and with an object. Although there was considerable variability among participants, the children generally responded to most introductions by acknowledging and maintaining the topic. With the exception of one child, however, the children in this study demonstrated immature topic manipulation patterns that could be expected to have negative social ramifications.

Preventing Vocal Fold Dehydration Using Aerosolized Salinein An Excised Porcine Model, Mallory Lynn Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Vocal fold hydration is important for efficient oscillation during voice production. Dehydration of the vocal fold surface is believed to produce adverse effects on the voice. Specifically, low environmental humidity, mouth breathing, and certain medical conditions may contribute to laryngeal and vocal fold dehydration. This dehydration effect may be quantified using the observed pressure and flow at the onset of phonation, operationally defined as phonation threshold pressure (PTP) and phonation threshold flow (PTF), respectively. Previous research has documented that nebulized isotonic saline (0.9% Na+Cl-) can reduce PTP. Additionally, the topical application of liquid saline increases vocal fold hydration in excised …

Story Retell Narratives In Five School-Aged Children With Language Impairment, Megan Bradshaw Deere

Theses and Dissertations

Many children identified with Language Impairment (LI) demonstrate difficulty comprehending and producing narratives. Their narratives are often structurally less complex and of overall poorer quality than those produced by their typically developing peers. These difficulties may negatively impact the academic and social success of children with LI. This thesis evaluates the performance of five school-aged children with LI on a story retell probe embedded within an intervention designed to address their social and emotional language abilities. During the 10-week intervention, participants completed a series of story retell probes using wordless picture books. The story stimuli were taken from the Edmonton …

The Effects Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Production Of Emotion Words For Children With Language Impairment, Emilee Anne Longmore

Theses and Dissertations

Many school-age children with a diagnosis of Language Impairment (LI) also have social communication difficulties. Some of these difficulties are related to deficits in emotion understanding. This thesis evaluates the effects of a social communication intervention designed to increase the production of emotion-based words as an indicator of emotional competence. For five elementary school-aged children with LI, the production of emotion-based words was analyzed by first determining the frequency of words produced in preintervention sessions for the following categories: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. Following these measures, the participants received 20 intervention sessions over the course of treatment. …

Bidirectional Interference Between Simulated Driving And Speaking, Kelsey Lynn Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine interference between concurrently performed speaking and driving tasks. Participants included 60 adults, 30 males and 30 females, with no history of communication disorders. They were divided into three different age groups of 20 participants each: younger (20s), middle-aged (40s), and older (60s). The participants were given a list of topics to consider and were instructed to select eight topics that they could talk about; they completed five practice trials of the driving simulator prior to the experimental recording to eliminate practice effects. Each participant completed the speaking task and driving task both …

Mean Length Of Utterance And Developmental Sentence Scoring In The Analysis Of Children's Language Samples, Laurie Lynne Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) is a standardized language sample analysis procedure that uses complete sentences to evaluate and score a child’s use of standard American-English grammatical rules. Automated DSS software can potentially increase efficiency and decrease the time needed for DSS analysis. This study examines the accuracy of one automated DSS software program, DSSA Version 2.0, compared to manual DSS scoring on previously collected language samples from 30 children between the ages of 2;5 and 7;11 (years;months). The overall accuracy of DSSA 2.0 was 86%. Additionally, the present study sought to determine the relationship between DSS, DSSA Version 2.0, the …

The Association Between Articulator Movement And Formant Trajectories In Diphthongs, Katherine Morris Mckell

Theses and Dissertations

The current study examined the association between formant trajectories and tongue and lip movements in the American English diphthongs /aɪ/, /aʊ/, and /ɔɪ/. Seventeen native speakers of American English had electromagnetic sensors placed on their tongues and lips to record movement data along with corresponding acoustic data during productions of the diphthongs in isolation. F1 and F2 trajectories were extracted from the middle 50% of the diphthongs and compared with time-aligned kinematic data from tongue and lip movements. The movement and formant tracks were converted to z-scores and plotted together on a common time scale. Absolute difference scores between kinematic …

Psychometrically Equivalent Bisyllabic Word Lists For Spanish Pediatric Word Recognition Testing, Brenda Karina Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

While recorded speech audiometry materials have been developed in Spanish for adults, currently there are no speech audiometry materials available in Spanish that are suitable for a pediatric population. Thus, the purposes of this study were (a) to analyze Spanish bisyllabic words previously developed for adults to determine the words' appropriateness when testing word recognition scores in native Spanish-speaking children and (b) to compare the logistic regressions results from the Spanish adult data obtained in a previous study with the logistic regressions from Spanish pediatric data obtained in the present study. Using common-use children's dictionaries in the Spanish language, a …

The Efficacy Of A Literature-Based Social Communication Intervention On Teacher Report Of Sociability For Children With Language Impairment, Mnisa Lyn Harlow

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research indicates that children with language impairment (LI) often experience difficulties with social communication. Although the empirical basis for general social communication intervention is growing, information documenting the efficacy of these interventions for children with LI remains limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a social communication intervention on teacher perceptions of sociability in five elementary-aged children with LI. The intervention focused on the presentation and use of children's stories to target aspects of emotion understanding. The two sociability subscales of the Teacher Behavior Rating Scale (TBRS), impulse control/likeability and prosocial behavior, were used …

A Comparison Of Manual And Automated Grammatical Precoding On The Accuracy Of Automated Developmental Sentence Scoring, Sarah Elizabeth Janis

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) is a standardized language sample analysis procedure that evaluates and scores a child's use of standard American-English grammatical rules within complete sentences. Automated DSS programs have the potential to increase the efficiency and reduce the amount of time required for DSS analysis. The present study examines the accuracy of one automated DSS software program, DSSA 2.0, compared to manual DSS scoring on previously collected language samples from 30 children between the ages of 2-5 and 7-11. Additionally, this study seeks to determine the source of error in the automated score by comparing DSSA 2.0 analysis given …

The Influence Of A Social Communication Intervention On The Syntactic Complexity Of Three Children With Language Impairment, Alyse Wheeler

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that children with language impairment (LI) exhibit difficulties with both social communication and syntax. This study analyzed the effect of a social communication intervention on syntactic development, focusing on grammatical complexity in three children with LI when enacting stories. The intervention included reading and enacting stories, playing games with picture emotion cards and journaling. Each child's mean length of terminal unit (t-unit), the number and type of subordinate clauses they produced per t-unit, and the grammaticality of their complex sentences was analyzed. While none of the children increased their mean length of t-unit or the grammaticality of …

Modeling Children's Organization Of Utterances Using Statistical Information From Adult Language Input, Katie Lynn Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Previous computerized models of child language acquisition have sought to determine how children acquire grammatical word categories (GWCs). The current study seeks to determine if statistical structure can be corroborated as a factor in GWC acquisition. Previous studies examining statistical structure have dealt with word order rather than GWC order and only examined an overall success rate. The present study examines how well a computer model of child acquisition of GWCs was able to reorganize scrambled sentences back into the correct GWC order using transitional probabilities extracted from adult language input. Overall, a 50% success rate was obtained, but when …

Speech Adaptation To Kinematic Recording Sensors, Elise Hansen Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the time course of speech adaptation prior to data collection when using an electromagnetic articulograph to measure speech articulator movements. The stimulus sentence and electromagnetic sensor placement were designed to be sensitive to changes in the fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/. Twenty native English speakers read aloud stimulus sentences before the attachment of six electromagnetic sensors, immediately after attachment, and again at 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes after attachment. Participants read aloud continuously between recordings to encourage adaptation to the presence of the sensors. Audio recordings were rated by 20 native English listeners who were not part …

Psychometrically Equivalent Trisyllabic Words For Testing Spanish Pediatric Speech Recognition Thresholds, Jessica Lee Graham

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use previously recorded Spanish trisyllabic words tested on adults in the measurement of the speech recognition threshold of Spanish-speaking children in order to (a) determine the words' appropriateness when testing children and (b) compare psychometric functions between adults and children. A selection of 28 frequently used trisyllabic words was chosen from previously recorded samples of male and female adult native speakers of Spanish. These words were then presented to 20 native Spanish-speaking children with normal hearing between the ages of 4 and 8 years. The words were presented starting at -5 dB HL …

Effects Of Two Gait Tasks On Language Complexity In Parkinson's Disease, Betty Ann Marquardt

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of dual tasking in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been studied for a number of years. Previous research has generally focused on changes in gait patterns while another task has been performed concurrently. Very few studies have focused on the impact of a concurrent task on speech or language. Language is key for communication: to express wants and needs, to maintain familial relationships, and for social interaction. Thirty-seven individuals participated in the study: 10 with PD, 14 neurologically healthy older (HO) adults, and 13 healthy younger (HY) adults. The participants were given a list of topics to consider and …

Semantic And Syntactic Processing In A Patient With Left Temporal Lobe Damage Secondary To Traumatic Brain Injury: An Fmri Study, Caitlin Moizer

Theses and Dissertations

The ability of the brain to change and form new neuropathways after brain injury is remarkable. The current study investigates the brains ability to form new pathways for language processing following traumatic brain injury (TBI), specifically a left temporal lobectomy. Two subjects participated in this study; one participant with TBI and one age-matched control. Sentence stimuli consisted of four types: semantically correct, semantically incorrect, syntactically correct, and syntactically incorrect. Participants underwent a fMRI scan while the auditory stimuli were presented in four blocks. Participants were asked to record if the sentence was correct or incorrect by pressing the corresponding button. …

Effects Of Subglottic Stenosis And Cricotracheal Resection On Voice Production In Women, Lisa Marie Mattei

Theses and Dissertations

Subglottic stenosis (SGS) is a narrowing of the airway in the region of the cricoid cartilage below the vocal folds and above the tracheal rings. Individuals with SGS experience difficulty breathing at rest and during exertion both of which become increasingly difficult with the level of stenosis severity. Some individuals also experience negative voice changes. Individuals whose stenoses significantly impact breathing generally require medical procedures or surgery, either balloon dilation or cricotracheal resection (CTR). CTR has been shown to improve patients' ability to breathe, but it can also result in permanent vocal changes. Alternatively, balloon dilation results in similar breathing …

A Model Of Children's Acquisition Of Grammatical Word Categories From Adult Language Input Using An Adaption And Selection Algorithm, Emily Marie Berardi

Theses and Dissertations

Previous models of language acquisition have had partial success describing the processes that children use to acquire knowledge of the grammatical categories of their native language. The present study used a computer model based on the evolutionary principles of adaptation and selection to gain further insight into children's acquisition of grammatical categories. Transcribed language samples of eight parents or caregivers each conversing with their own child served as the input corpora for the model. The model was tested on each child's language corpus three times: two fixed mutation rates as well as a progressively decreasing mutation rate, which allowed less …

The Effect Of Age, Noise Level, And Frequency On Loudness Matching Functions Of Normal Hearing Listeners With Noise Masking, Linda Titera Parrish

Theses and Dissertations

Loudness recruitment is an abnormally rapid growth of perceived loudness above the hearing threshold that slows to normal growth as the intensity of the signal increases. Recruitment is common in sensorineural hearing loss and in simulated hearing loss with noise masking. This study looked at possible differences in loudness recruitment with age, noise level, and frequency. Participants from two age groups were tested. Group A included participants aged 18 to 30 years and Group B included participants aged 50 to 75 years. Participants practiced the Alternate Binaural Loudness Balance (ABLB) test without noise present. They then repeated the tests with …

Russian Palatalized And Unpalatalized Coda Consonants: An Electropalatographic And Acoustic Analysis Of Native Speaker And L2 Learner Productions, Shawn L. Nissen, Jane F. Hacking, Bruce L. Smith, Hannah Allen

Faculty Publications

One fundamental aspect of the Russian phonological system is a contrast between palatalized and unpalatalized consonants. This distinction poses a challenge for native English speakers learning Russian as a second language because palatalization is not a feature of their first language (L1) phonology. The present study examined word-final palatalized and unpalatalized consonants produced by native Russian speakers and native English speakers learning Russian. Electropalatographic (EPG) and acoustic recordings were made of six native Russian speakers and six native English speakers, who had significant classroom and immersion experience with Russian. Data from the native Russian speakers suggested that the contrast between …

Exploring The Clinical Utility Of Relative Fundamental Frequency As An Objective Measure Of Vocal Hyperfunction, Christopher Dromey, Nelson Roy, Rebecca A. Fetrow, Ray M. Merrill

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Vocal hyperfunction, related to abnormal laryngeal muscle activity, is considered the proximal cause of primary muscle tension dysphonia (pMTD). Relative fundamental frequency (RFF) has been proposed as an objective acoustic marker of vocal hyperfunction. This study examined (a) the ability of RFF to track changes in vocal hyperfunction after treatment for pMTD and (b) the influence of dysphonia severity, among other factors, on the feasibility of RFF computation. Method: RFF calculations and dysphonia severity ratings were derived from pre- and posttreatment recordings from 111 women with pMTD and 20 healthy controls. Three vowel–voiceless consonant–vowel stimuli were analyzed. Results: RFF …

Articulatory-Acoustic And Kinematic Relationships In Comfortable And Loud Speech, Christopher Dromey, Jason A. Whitfield, Panika Palmer

Faculty Publications

During speech, movements of the vocal tract systematically alter vowel acoustics. A number of investigations have examined these articulatory acoustic relationships (e.g., Mefferd & Green, 2010). Studies have shown that systematic changes in speaking style, such as in clear or loud speech, yield greater excursions of articulatory gestures that are accompanied by an expansion of formant frequency measures in F1-F2 space (Mefferd & Green, 2010; Tasko & Greilick, 2010). A recent investigation introduced the Articulatory-Acoustic Vowel Space (AAVS), a measure of working formant space that uses continuously sampled formant data from connected speech (Whitfield & Goberman, 2014). No data, however, …

Recovering With Acquired Apraxia Of Speech: The First 2 Years, Tyson G. Harmon, Katarina L. Haley, Jennifer N. Shafer, Adam Jacks

Faculty Publications

This study was intended to document speech recovery for 1 person with acquired apraxia of speech quantitatively and on the basis of her lived experience. The second author sustained a traumatic brain injury that resulted in acquired apraxia of speech. Over a 2-year period, she documented her recovery through 22 video-recorded monologues. We analyzed these monologues using a combination of auditory perceptual, acoustic, and qualitative methods. Recovery was evident for all quantitative variables examined. For speech sound production, the recovery was most prominent during the first 3 months, but slower improvement was evident for many months. Measures of speaking rate, …

Laryngeal Desiccation Challenge And Nebulized Isotonic Saline In Healthy Male Singers And Nonsingers: Effects On Acoustic, Aerodynamic, And Self-Perceived Effort And Dryness Measures, Christopher Dromey, Kristine Tanner, Robert B. Fujiki, Ray M. Merrill, Whitney Robb, Katherine A. Kendall, J Arden Hopkin, Ron W. Channell, M Preeti Sivasankar

Faculty Publications

Summary: Objectives. This study examined the effects of a laryngeal desiccation challenge and nebulized isotonic saline on voice production in young, healthy male singers and nonsingers. Study design. This is a prospective, double-blind, within-subjects experimental design. Methods. Participants included 10 male university-trained singers and 10 age-matched nonsingers (mean age, 21.8 years; range, 18–26 years) who underwent a 30-minute oral breathing laryngeal desiccation challenge using medical grade dry air (<1% relative humidity) on two occasions in consecutive weeks. After the challenge, participants received either 3 mL or 9 mL of nebulized isotonic saline (0.9% Na+ Cl); order of administration was counterbalanced. Phonation threshold pressure (PTP), the cepstral spectral index of dysphonia (CSID) for sustained vowels and connected speech, and self-perceived vocal effort, mouth dryness, and throat dryness were measured at each recording (baseline, after challenge, and at 5, 35, and 65 minutes after treatment). Results. Self-perceived effort and dryness measures increased (worsened) after desiccation challenge and decreased (improved) after nebulized treatment (P < 0.05). No consistent changes were observed for PTP or CSID over time. Overall, singers demonstrated significantly lower vocal effort and CSID as compared with nonsingers. Conclusions. Young, vocally healthy men may not experience physiologic changes in voice production associated with laryngeal desiccation and nebulized saline treatments; however, self-reported increases in vocal effort which are associated with dryness symptoms might improve with nebulized treatments. Future hydration research should consider age and sex variables

The Effects Of Noise On Speech Movements In Young, Middle- Aged, And Older Adults. Speech, Language And Hearing, Christopher Dromey, Sarah Scott

Faculty Publications

People often talk in noisy environments, which can influence the effectiveness of communication. This study examined the impact of several types of noise on speech production by measuring lip movements during a sentence repetition task. Sixty participants in three age groups ranging from 20 to 70 repeated a sentence under five noise conditions (silence, one person reading aloud, two readers, six readers, and pink noise).A head-mounted strain gauge system tracked vertical lip movements. With the presentation of noise during a speaking task, the intensity increased due to the Lombard effect in all of the noise conditions. The utterance duration for …

Listener Perceptions Of Simulated Fluent Speech In Nonfluent Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Adam Jacks, Katarina L. Haley, Richard A. Faldowski

Faculty Publications

Background: People with aphasia (PWA) are frequently perceived less favorably by listeners than their peers. These perceptions include incorrect assumptions that can prevent successful social interactions. While communication partner training has been shown to improve social outcomes related to the listener (see e.g., Kagan, Black, Duchan, Simmons-Mackie, & Square, 2001), changing the verbal output of PWA may also yield more favorable listener perceptions about the speech, speaker, and their own affective response. We investigated the effects of artificially altered fluency (i.e., simulated fluency) on listeners’ subjective impressions.

Aims: The purpose of the study was to (1) confirm that listeners perceive …