Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

A Musician Centered Toolkit For Audiologists, Ava Bonavita

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The toolkit for audiologists working with musicians includes a set of materials for use in a musician centered audiology practice. Given the rise in streaming of music by individuals of all ages and the recognition of susceptibility of musicians to hearing loss, the prevalence of hearing loss is on the rise necessitating the need for materials and protocols to better protect, educate, and treat music lovers of all ages who may be prone to hearing loss. Music induced hearing loss typically falls under the category of recreational noise exposure, a subset of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL). Musicians are the …

Just Culture: It's More Than Policy, Linda Ann Paradiso, Nancy Sweeney

Publications and Research

Any healthcare organization’s top priority is effective and safe care. Despite this, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the US. Hospitals are imperfect systems where nurses have competing demands and are forced to improvise and develop workarounds. Errors rarely occur in a vacuum, rather they’re a sequence of events with multiple opportunities for correction. Clinical nurses can have a significant impact on reducing errors due to their proximity to patients. When errors are identified, the events and impact on safe care need to be shared. Just culture is a safe haven that supports reporting. In a just …

Implications Of Vestibular Dysfunction Among The Aging Population: A Pocket Guide For Health Care Professionals, Maia L. Weisenfeld

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this health information booklet is to provide healthcare professionals with the appropriate tools and information required to ensure all patients with a vestibular impairment are cared for and treated appropriately. The following guide includes overview of the vestibular system, vestibulotoxic medications, and common vestibular disorders. These notable areas are required for appropriate treatment and referral to other professionals for treatment.

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 …

Review Of Au.D. Program Curriculums And The Current State Of Audiology Roles And Responsibilities In The United States, Kerri L. Heesemann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Audiology, a health profession concerned with all auditory impairments and their effect on communication, has rapidly and dramatically changed over the last 70 years of its existence (American Academy of Audiology [AAA], 2004). What began as a field dedicated to helping address veterans with hearing difficulties sustained while in the service, has now become a medical profession with a wide and varied Scope of Practice that requires an entry level a doctoral degree. With the evolution of technology, and knowledge about hearing loss, there has been an increase in the information and knowledge required for best practice. While education standards …

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 …

Effects Of Primary And Secondary Cigarette Smoke On Auditory Function: A Systematic Review, Hilary Mcmanus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The goal of this paper was to systematically review literature in order to investigate the effects of active and passive cigarette smoke on auditory function when assessing outcome measures including pure tone audiometry, otoacoustic emissions, high-frequency audiometry, and auditory evoked potentials.

Methods: A comprehensive search using the Medline Complete database was conducted to identify relevant studies published after 2005. Inclusion criteria included the use of pure tone audiometry, high-frequency audiometry, otoacoustic emissions, and/or auditory evoked potentials to examine the effect of primary or secondary cigarette smoke. Studies involving noise exposure or other confounding factors were excluded.

Results: A total …

Neural Indices Of Vowel Discrimination In Monolingual And Bilingual Infants And Children, Yan H. Yu, Carol Tessel, Henry Han, Luca Campanelli, Nancy Vidal, Jennifer Gerometta, Karen Garrido-Nag, Hia Datta, Valerie L. Shafer

Publications and Research

Objectives: To examine maturation of neural discriminative responses to an English vowel contrast from infancy to 4 years of age and to determine how biological factors (age and sex) and an experiential factor (amount of Spanish versus English input) modulate neural discrimination of speech.

Design: Event-related potential (ERP) mismatch responses (MMRs) were used as indices of discrimination of the American English vowels [ε] versus [I] in infants and children between 3 months and 47 months of age. A total of 168 longitudinal and cross-sectional data sets were collected from 98 children (Bilingual Spanish–English: 47 male and 31 female …

Lcd 322 Disorders Of Speech, Karen Ball

Open Educational Resources

LCD 322 is an undergraduate class that provides an overview of the symptoms, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of various speech disorders including disorders of phonology/articulation, voice/resonance, fluency, swallowing, and speech impairment associated with neurological impairment. Speech disorders will be considered across the lifespan.

Vowel Production In Down Syndrome: An Ultrasound Study, Micalle Carl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study investigated the articulatory and acoustic characteristics of vowel production in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Speech production deficits and reduced intelligibility are consistently noted in this population, attributed to any combination of phonological, structural, and/or motor control deficits. Speakers with DS have demonstrated impaired vowel production, as indicated by perceptual, acoustic, and articulatory data, with emerging evidence of vowel centralization. Participants in the study included eight young adults with DS, as well as eight age- and gender-matched controls. Ultrasound imaging was utilized to obtain midsagittal tongue contours during single-word productions, specifically targeting the corner vowels /ɑ/, /æ/, …

Hearing Loss And Third Party Disability: A Systematic Review, Kathleen H. Wallace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to conduct a systematic review of the quality of life (QoL), social, and emotional aspects of third party disability experienced by communication partners of persons with hearing loss (PHL), including a comparison of communication partners of users of hearing aids, users of cochlear implants, and unaided persons with hearing loss.

Methods: A comprehensive search utilizing various peer-reviewed databases accessible through the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center Library was conducted to identify relevant studies evaluating quality of life, social, and emotional outcome measures of communication partners of persons with hearing loss …

Development Of A Journaling Application To Track Progress Of Adaptation To Amplification For Adult Patients: Deardiary, Nicole C. Snider

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The DEar Diary application is an illustration of concept of an Apple iOS (operating system) application designed as a tool for supporting compliance and satisfaction with the use of amplification. The audiologist’s main purpose is to counsel, support and to provide rehabilitative counseling to their patients. Helping a patient succeed while using hearing devices for the first time is a complicated task which can be accomplished with the proper counseling and helpful tools in place.

The use of a journal to write down experiences and providing written support material the patient can refer to once they are out of the …

The Effect Of Hearing Aid Use On Cognition In Older Adults With Adult Onset Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review, Jona Cano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this paper was to systematically review literature in order to investigate whether the use of amplification in the form of hearing aids by older adults positively impacts cognitive status. If the results of this review uncover a positive association between hearing-aid use and cognition, then hearing aids can be recommended as an intervention method for the mitigation of cognitive decline. The eight studies included in this paper were reviewed based on the research design and the cognitive outcome measures employed. Additionally, the secondary measures of health utilized by study investigators were also evaluated. Of the eight studies …

Audiometric Status, Self-Perception Of Hearing Disorders, And Noise Dose In Audio Post-Production Engineers, Laura M. Sinnott

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Numerous studies have assessed the risk of hearing injury for musicians and other sound professionals due to excessive sound exposure, however no studies have investigated whether audio post-production engineers have this same risk. This preliminary study first measured 23 participants’ hearing thresholds and prevalence of audiometric notches. Second, a questionnaire, the Questionnaire for Sound Professionals (QUSP), was designed and administered to determine whether correlations between audiometric status and self-perception of hearing loss and hearing disorders existed. Third, sound dosimetry measurements were conducted at film audio post-production studios to assess whether this population is at risk for permanent hearing loss due …

Individual Differences In Stimulus Frequency Otoacoustic Emission Phase, Joshua J. Hajicek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) are sounds that originate in the cochlea and are measured in the ear canal. OAEs provide a noninvasive tool for investigating cochlear mechanics. Stimulus-frequency OAEs (SFOAEs) are evoked by presenting a single frequency tone, called a probe tone, which have an advantage over other OAEs because they are the least influenced by cochlear nonlinearities. However, because the SFOAE are generated in the cochlea with the same frequency as the stimulus, additional techniques, such as the use of suppressor tones are needed to enable separation of the probe tone from the SFOAE.

The primary goal of this investigation …

Development Of Realistic Stimuli For The Evaluation Of Listening Effort Using Auditory Evoked Potentials, Christie Hoo Yee Leung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Purpose – Listeners often report difficulty perceiving speech in background noise, such as when listening in a restaurant. A common complaint of difficulty perceiving speech in noisy restaurants leads to the development of the present study, where audio recordings of connected discourse mixed with restaurant noise at different signal-to-noise ratios were made to determine the effect of restaurant noise on listening effort. Listening effort has previously been examined with psychophysiological measures, a dual-task paradigm, and qualitative measures using a variety of auditory stimuli ranging from simple tonal stimuli to complex speech stimuli, such as consonant-vowel syllables, words, and full sentences, …

Otologic Blast Injuries, Michelle Singer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The otologic system functions as a highly sensitive pressure transducer. Because of this, the ear is the most commonly affected organ in primary blast injury. Frequently encountered symptoms include hearing loss, tinnitus, and tympanic membrane perforations. The ear is repeatedly overlooked during triage and easily forgotten in subjects with multiple injuries after major catastrophic events such as explosions. This systematic review provides an overview of the most common otologic injuries observed after blast exposure in a variety of settings and populations. An analysis of 35 studies and an additional 23 reviews was performed in attempt to uncover patterns of otologic …

Associations Of The Medial Olivocochlear Reflex And Speech-In-Noise Abilities In Normal Hearing Adult Listeners: A Systematic Review, Imari J. Greaves

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This systematic review analyzed the research concerning the medial olivocochlear reflex (MOCR) and speech-in-noise abilities in normal hearing adult listeners. In an attempt to understand the underlying difficulties in this population, the following research questions were proposed: 1) Does the research indicate that the magnitude of MOC suppression measured via OAEs is related to a normal hearing subject’s ability to recognize speech-in-noise? 2) Are MOC effects measured via OAEs lateralized? Is there a right ear advantage as suggested by Khalfa, Morlet, Micheyl, Morgon & Collet (1997)? Ten studies met the standards for inclusion for this review. Analysis of the research …

Noise Levels In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Review, Esther Cohn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Advisor: Carol A. Silverman, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate noise levels in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in order to see if they are in compliance with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) proposed standards. This investigation also aims to compare noise levels among various NICU conditions in order to best hospital conditions for noise reduction.

Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature utilizing various peer-reviewed databases through the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center Library was conducted to identify relevant studies on noise levels in the NICUs. Articles that …

Promoting Aphasia Awareness, Yvonne M. Faria, Fiona Mcnulty, Veronica C. Gonzalez, Peggy S. Conner

Publications and Research

The National Aphasia Association defines aphasia as an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and ability to write. This communication disorder is typically acquired after a brain injury resulting from an accident or stroke. Nearly 180,000 Americans acquire aphasia each year. Despite efforts to increase awareness about aphasia, via organizations such as the National Aphasia Association, general knowledge is still limited. In 2000 Elman and colleagues collected data on the number of news articles that mentioned the term “aphasia” and compared it to similar health conditions with comparable or lower prevalence rates. They found that these …

Lexical Access In Individuals With Cerebral Palsy And Severe Speech And Physical Impairment, Iris Fishman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examined lexical access in adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy and severe speech and physical impairment (CP/SSPI) who have limited language production due to severe dysarthria or anarthria. To date, the impact of a severe speech production deficit on lexical activation and the organization of the mental lexicon has not been investigated. Such an investigation may support or refute these views of an articulatory basis of speech perception and lexical development and access. The hypothesis of this study is that spoken word recognition will be severely reduced or absent in this population although individual differences may result in …

Perception Of American–English Vowels By Early And Late Spanish–English Bilinguals, Miriam Baigorri, Luca Campanelli, Erika S. Levy

Publications and Research

Increasing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are entering the US and learning American–English (AE) as a second–language (L2). Previous studies investigating the relationship between AE and Spanish vowels have revealed an advantage for early L2 learners for their accuracy of L2 vowel perception. Replicating and extending such previous research, this study examined the patterns with which early and late Spanish–English bilingual adults assimilated naturally-produced AE vowels to their native vowel-inventory and the accuracy with which they discriminated the vowels. Twelve early Spanish–English bilingual, 12 late Spanish–English bilingual, and 10 monolingual listeners performed perceptual-assimilation and categorical-discrimination tasks involving AE /i,ɪ,ɛ,ʌ,æ,ɑ,o/. Early bilinguals …

Cognitive And Neurobiological Degeneration Of The Mental Lexicon In Primary Progressive Aphasia, Jet M. J. Vonk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ease with which we use the thousands of words in our vocabulary stands in stark contrast to our difficulty establishing how they are organized in our mind and brain. The breakdown of language due to cortical atrophy in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) creates conditions to study this organization at a cognitive and neurobiological level in that the three variants of this disease, namely non-fluent, logopenic, and semantic PPA, each bear their own signature of language-specific decline and cortical atrophy. As the impaired regions in each variant are linked to different lexical and semantic attributes of words, lexical decision performance …

Cochlear Implantation In Adults With Neurofibromatosis Type Ii: Outcomes, Benefits, And Limitations, Lydia Riehl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The objective of the current study was to examine, in a retrospective case series, outcome in terms of word-recognition performance in patients with neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2) who have received a cochlear implant (CI) The primary independent variables were duration of deafness (DoD) and age at cochlear implantation. The secondary independent variables were status of hearing sensitivity in the ear contralateral to the one that received cochlear implantation and the type of tumor treatment.

The retrospective case series comprised eight patients who were implanted at New York University Medical Center, or who were receiving follow-up care there. All NF2 patients …

Development Of 90th Percentile Norms For Ipsilateral Acoustic Reflex Thresholds: A Feasibility Study, Iris Wertheimer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The acoustic reflex threshold has been well established in the literature as an involuntary bilateral contraction of the stapedius muscle in response to loud transient sounds. Additionally, the clinical utility of the acoustic reflex threshold has been established as it allows for the differential diagnosis of many different conductive, cochlear and retrocochlear pathologies. Gelfand, Schwander and Silman (1990) have established and validated 90^th percentile normative data for use with the contralateral acoustic reflex threshold. Much of the literature on the acoustic reflex threshold has focused on the contralateral acoustic reflex threshold; however, surveys have found that many clinicians are …

"Marie Manje La Pom Nan." Examining The Cognitive Process Of Restructuring And Advantage Selection In The Definite Article System In Haitian Creole Among U.S. Born Heritage Speakers Of Haitian Creole, Marie-Michelle Monéreau-Merry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The distributional patterns of heritage speakers’ reanalyzed first language are often grammatically divergent from native speakers. Irrespective of the heritage language, there is converging evidence that the cognitive process of reanalysis of heritage languages is often evident in less salient properties of the language, such as inflectional morphology (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007). Therefore, Haitian Creole (HC) is a candidate for restructuring. In this investigation we compared the morphophonological patterns of the definite article system at the production and perception level between two groups of early learners of Haitian Creole (i.e. native speakers vs. United States (US) born heritage speakers).

The …

Hearing Related Concerns Among Parkinson’S Patients And Their Care Partners, Samantha Morgan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The goal of this study is to evaluate the relationship between self-reported subjective hearing loss and objective measures of hearing in older adults with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), as well as the relationship between self-reported hearing handicap of those with PD and the report of their care partners. Twenty-four individuals, comprised of older adults with PD and their primary care partners, underwent subjective and objective hearing screenings and completed measures of self-reported hearing handicap. Results revealed no significant relationship between the subjective and objective hearing screening results of those with PD, nor any significant relationship between the self-report of hearing handicap …

Recreational Music Exposure And Music-Induced Hearing Loss: A Systematic Literature Review, Carolyn Lindenbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Legislation regarding occupational noise exposure is the result of a long period of interest and research; more recently, the effects of recreational noise are receiving increasing attention. Various sources of recreational noise and music exposure have become more widespread among the general public, increasing research in this source of potential risk. The proliferation of personal music players that are easily available and accessible to children and adults has contributed to the spread of leisure music exposure. Leisure music exposure is also common in the attendance of concerts and clubs/discos, and bars/pubs. The present systematic literature review focused exclusively on recreational …

Occlusion Effects In Various Testing Conditions Using Insert Earphones, Amanda M. Desantolo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The occlusion effect is a well-known phenomenon that can affect audiological testing. Sound energy that would typically escape is trapped when covering the ear(s) and reflected back toward the inner ear. This increases the intensity of the sound, resulting in the “appearance” of a more sensitive threshold. Many aspects of the occlusion effect have been well researched and understood, however there are still aspects that warrant further investigation, such as the degree of occlusion with insert earphones when using partial versus full insertion and whether one or both of the ears are occluded. A within-subject design (n=5) was utilized to …