Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Effects Of External Memory Aid Assessment And Treatment On Everyday Task Performance Of Individuals With Mild Neurocognitive Disorder, Alyssa M. Lanzi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with mild neurocognitive disorder complete many activities of daily living independently; however, they may require the use of compensatory strategies while performing everyday tasks. Compensatory strategies, such as external memory aids, incorporate a strengths-based approach to enhance the functional needs of individuals. Although external memory aids have a strong evidence-base, limited assessment tools and interventions are available to facilitate the development of individualized treatment plans that promote sustained strategy use. To better support the everyday needs of individuals with mild neurocognitive disorder and to inform clinicians who are developing interventions, the current dissertation includes four paper that examine a …

Factors Related To Hearing Aid Use Among Older Adults From Hispanic/Latino Backgrounds: Findings From The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study Of Latinos, Michelle L. Arnold

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand perceived hearing loss and hearing health care use among older adults from Hispanic/Latino backgrounds using the Andersen model of health care utilization as a framework. A cross sectional analysis of audiometric and survey data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos was used to estimate factors that characterize perceived hearing handicap and hearing aid use, and to determine hearing aid use rates in a large group of older Hispanic/Latino adults. Data came from 6970 adults aged 45 to 76. Results revealed that self-perceived hearing handicap is significantly correlated to measured hearing …

Early Literacy Abilities In Spanish-English Emergent Bilingual Children From Varied Dialectal Backgrounds, Antonietta Mastrota

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Hispanic population within the United States has grown to a considerable amount. The state of Florida’s population is 25% Hispanic, with projected estimates of this population continuing to grow in the coming years (Ortman & Shin, 2011). Statistics show that 28.3% of the state’s population, over the age of five, speak a language other than English at home. With this considerable number of Spanish-speakers comes the responsibility to adjust certain educational practices to best meet their needs. Literacy is an essential part of learning, and therefore assessing early literacy is an essential part to any child’s academic development.

Phonological …

Validity Of A Dynamic Spanish Assessment Of Phonological Awareness In Emergent Bilingual Children, Kelsey R. Wyman Chin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the current decade, the number of Hispanic students has doubled so that about 16% of the total student population within the United States are Spanish-speakers (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). With this growing population comes a responsibility to understand and implement best practices for educating these students. Because literacy is a building-block for learning, one integral part of this responsibility consists of developing valid and reliable means of assessing pre-reading skills that are predictive of later reading abilities (Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000; Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994).

English-language learning children are being identified for having reading difficulties and disabilities …

Articulatory Patterns In Children Who Use Cochlear Implants: An Ultrasound Measure Of Velar Stop Production In Bilingual Speakers, Katherine Javier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coarticulation occurs in running speech when one speech sound or phoneme overlaps with another. It can be considered a result of the way we sequence and organize our articulators to efficiently produce consecutive consonants and vowels in fluent speech. Previous research has suggested that measures of coarticulation can provide insight into the maturity of the motor speech planning system (Barbier, Perrier, Ménard, Payan, Tiede, & Perkell, 2013; Zharkova & Hewlett, 2009; Zharkova, Hewlett, & Hardcastle, 2011). Speech stability has also been suggested as an indicator of motor speech maturity in previous research using ultrasound imaging of velar-vowel targets (Frisch, Maxfield, …

Relationship Between Intelligibility And Response Accuracy Of The Amazon Echo In Individuals With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Exhibiting Mild-Moderate Dysarthria, Caroline A. Layden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is an ever-growing and increasing amount of technology options that use speech recognition software. Currently, the market includes smartphones, computers, and individual smart home personal assistants that allow for hands-free access to this technology. Research studies have explored the utility of these assistive devices for the completion of activities of daily living; however, there is limited research looking at the accuracy of voice recognition software within smart home personal assistants in populations with disordered speech. In persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), symptoms include changes to motor functions, speech in particular, and it is unknown how some of these …

The Impact Of Vocabulary Knowledge On Nonword Judgments In Spanish-English Bilinguals, Marisa E. Leyden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis suggests that the range of vocabulary in an individual’s lexicon has an influence on in their assessment of nonword wordlikeness. The study included thirteen Spanish-English bilinguals who participated in a language dominance questionnaire, standardized assessments of Spanish and English vocabulary knowledge, and Spanish and English wordlikeness judgment tasks. Resulting data demonstrated moderate correlations between vocabulary knowledge and performance on nonword wordlikeness judgement tasks in Spanish and English. Participants with larger lexicons appeared more tolerant of less probable nonwords, those with low phonotactic probability, while those with smaller lexicons were less accepting of nonwords with low phonotactic probability. The …

Relationship Between Vocal Fatigue And Physical/Psychological Factors In Prospective Vocal Professionals, Camille C. Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: To date, research has primarily focused on the subjective and objective measurement of vocal fatigue in professional voice users such as teachers and singers. However, these studies have not examined the effects of psychosocial factors (e.g., lack of sleep, emotional distress) leading to vocal fatigue in depth. Much like the professional voice users, students seeking to be professional voice users may face several psychosocial difficulties, may also experience similar vocal demands, and may develop vocal fatigue.

Goal: The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between psychosocial factors and vocal fatigue in students majoring in Communication Sciences …

Perceptual And Physiologic Analysis Of Dystussia In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Stephanie Anne Watts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Swallowing and cough are two vital functions that are reflexive in nature and are related to each other in terms of shared neural and anatomical space. When a disorder impacts normal and effective swallowing and/or cough, the consequences can be life-threatening. Evaluation and treatment of swallowing and cough disorders can fall under the scope of practice of the speech-language pathologist and speech-language pathologists often are leading professionals. Furthermore, much of the current research on swallowing and cough is spearheaded by speech-language pathologists often working with a multi-disciplinary team. The focus of this dissertation is on the clinical evaluation of cough …

Neural And Behavioral Mechanisms Of Clear Speech, Jenna Silver Luque

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clear speech is a speaking style that has been shown to improve intelligibility in adverse listening conditions, for various listener and talker populations. Clear-speech phonetic enhancements include a slowed speech rate, expanded vowel space, and expanded pitch range. Although clear-speech phonetic enhancements have been demonstrated across a variety of talkers, only a subset of these changes may be required for listeners to benefit perceptually from clear speech. Furthermore, while current literature has provided some understanding of the phonetic enhancements that are typical of clear speech and the improvements in intelligibility resulting from its use, less is understood regarding how listeners …

Selection Of Memory Book Content: Agreement In Content As A Function Of Informant Relationship To Memory Book Recipient, Rebecca J. Allen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to determine to what extent provision of personally relevant information and sensory cues would agree between Recipient and Informant for selection of memory book content. Six dyads married to each other an average of 29.17 years (SD = 10.03), between the ages of 43 and 70 years (Mean = 57; SD = 8.39), and cognitively competent (i.e., no diagnosis of cognitive impairment) participated. Participants completed questionnaires independently and provided personally relevant information/memories, aversions towards select memories/topics, and sensory cues on behalf of themselves (as “Recipient) and their spouse (as “Informant”). For provision of personally relevant information/memories, …

Perceptual Differences In Natural Speech And Personalized Synthetic Speech, Katherine Overton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what perceptual differences existed between a natural recorded human voice and a synthetic voice that was created to sound like the same voice. This process was meant to mimic the differences between a voice that would be used for Message Banking and a voice that would be created by the ModelTalker system. Forty speech pathology graduate students (mean age = 23 years) rated voices on clarity, naturalness, pleasantness, and overall similarity. Analysis of data showed that the natural human voice was consistently rated as more natural, clear, and pleasant. In addition, participants …

Validity Of A New Measure Of Phonemic Awareness That Does Not Require Spoken Responses In Children With Complex Communication Needs, Tiffany Chavers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children with complex communication needs (CCN) routinely have difficulty attaining appropriate literacy skills. Two indicators of literacy development are the alphabetic principle and phonemic awareness (Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1989). The acquisition of minimal literacy skills such as letter sound knowledge can give children with CCN the opportunity to communicate and generate their own messages, instead of being reliant on vocabulary provided by others. In order to identify appropriate intervention approaches, nonverbal assessments of phonological and phonemic awareness for individuals with CCN are needed.

The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of the Dynamic Assessment of the Alphabetic …

The Effect Of Clinical Experience On Perceived And Self-Reported Empathy In Novice Speech- Language Pathology Clinicians, Erline Vieira Nakano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the field of medicine, empathic providers have been found to bring numerous benefits to a clinical encounter as they are better able to elicit detailed and thorough case histories, build rapport and therapeutic alliance with patients, and foster greater compliance with treatment recommendations. Despite its multiple benefits, empathy has not been researched systematically within the field of speech-language pathology. In medical training, empathy has been found to decline by the time medical students are introduced to direct patient care. Currently, no information is available regarding the empathy trajectory of novice speech-language pathologists.

The goal of the current project was …

Hormone Replacement Therapy (Hrt) Modulates Peripheral And Central Auditory System Processing With Aging, Tanika Williamson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

After the findings were reported for the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study in the past decade, there has been a significant decline in the overall use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) among women. However, there are still millions of middle-aged, menopausal women in the U.S. who are currently undergoing hormone therapy. Their reasons for continuing treatment include relief of severe menopausal symptoms, aid in the management of osteoporosis and reduction in the risk of colon cancer (Ness et al., 2005). The purpose of the following investigation was to evaluate the impact of HRT on the central and peripheral auditory systems …

Analyzing Spelling Errors By Linguistic Features Among Children With Learning Disabilities, Christine Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to spell fluently and accurately, phonology, orthography, and morphology must be integrated and stored into long term memory (Berninger & Richards, in press; Berninger, Nagy, Tanimoto, Thompson, Abbott, 2015). Children with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and OWL-LD have specific deficits in linguistic processing that impede the cross-mapping of these linguistic elements. This study analyzes the frequency and nature of spelling errors produced by children with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and OWL-LD during an academic writing task in order to determine if known deficits in linguistic processing affect the type and severity of spelling errors made by these children.

The present study analyzed …

Analysis Of Patterns In Handwritten Spelling Errors Among Students With Various Specific Learning Disabilities, Laura Ann Winkler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities struggle with spelling accuracy, but they do so for different reasons. For instance, students with dysgraphia, dyslexia, and oral-written language learning disability (OWL-LD) have distinct areas of weakness in cognitive processing and unique difficulties with the linguistic features necessary for accurate spelling (Silliman & Berninger, 2011). This project considered the spelling errors made by such students to determine if their unique learning profiles lead to distinct misspelling patterns.

Academic summaries handwritten by 33 students diagnosed with dysgraphia (n=13), dyslexia (n=15), and OWL-LD (n=5) were analyzed for type/complexity and …

Effects Of A Novel Right Brain Intervention On Stuttering In Familiar And Structured Speech Tasks, Josalyn Elizabeth Perry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over 3 million Americans are disfluent due to developmental stuttering. Current evidence-based treatments typically consist of a rigorous schedule of intensive therapy, followed by the need for maintenance of skills, placing high demands on self-monitoring of one’s speech at all times. Relapse after treatment is very common, at 84%. The demand for further research into treatment possibilities for stuttering is on the forefront. Previous research has connected neural activations in people who stutter (PWS) and people with chronic nonfluent aphasia. The aim of this study was to determine if a novel intervention, based on a treatment for anomia, would change …

Tongue Twisters Quantified: Ultrasound Analysis Of Speech Stability And Speech Errors, Karen Reddick

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates errors on speech sounds (or phonemes) produced in laboratory speech stimuli designed to generate phonological onset errors. The present study adds to the literature on phonological speech errors with an instrumental analysis of tongue posture during speech error production and an investigation of the nature of speech errors as unintended variation in articulation.

This study utilized ultrasound instrumentation to visualize speech errors made on velar and alveolar stop consonants at the point of stop closure. Two types of errors were of interest, categorical errors and gradient errors. Categorical errors are those that are heard by the listener …

Interspeech Posture In Spanish-English Bilingual Adults, Merrily Rose Shary

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interspeech posture (ISP) is a term used to define the position of a person’s articulators when they are preparing to speak. Research suggests that ISP may be representative of a speaker’s phonological knowledge in a particular language, as determined empirically with ultrasound measures of the tongue in English-French bilinguals (Wilson & Gick, 2014). It is possible, therefore, that measuring ISP could be a diagnostic tool for determining phonological knowledge in bilingual speakers. However, more information on ISP in typical adult bilingual speakers is needed before diagnostic claims can be made. For example, ISP is believed to be language specific, and …

Effects Of A Novel Right Brain Intervention On Stuttering Frequency In Unfamiliar Speech Tasks, Chelsea Beatrice Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Developmental stuttering persists in approximately 1% of the United States population. Stuttering has been shown to impact overall quality of life. The present study examines the effects of a Novel Right Brain Intervention on two female participants with persistent developmental stuttering. The aim of the study was to determine whether encouraging greater activation of the right hemisphere, specifically the pre-SMA, via complex left-handed movements, prior to speech production, would lead to a reduced stuttering frequency and severity in people who stutter (PWS). It was hypothesized that each participant would reduce stuttering symptoms and behaviors following the intervention due to the …

Static And Dynamic Spectral Acuity In Cochlear Implant Listeners For Simple And Speech-Like Stimuli, Benjamin Anderson Russell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For cochlear implant (CI) listeners, poorer than normal speech recognition abilities are typically attributed to degraded spectral acuity. However, estimates of spectral acuity have most often been obtained using simple (tonal) stimuli, presented directly to the implanted electrodes, rather than through the speech processor as occurs in everyday listening. Further, little is known about spectral acuity for dynamic stimuli, as compared to static stimuli, even though the perception of dynamic spectral cues is important for speech perception.

The primary goal of the current study was to examine spectral acuity in CI listeners, and a comparison group of normal hearing (NH) …

Assessing Excessive Noise Exposure Of Music-Oriented Nightclub Employees, Aiyanna Fitzgerald

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much research has gone into noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and the effects of high intensity noise levels on the hearing mechanism of individuals. A study by the National Institutes of Health has established that high intensity sounds can cause hearing damage of either a temporary, or worse, a permanent nature; regardless of the age of the person. While sound levels below 75 decibels are considered comparatively harmless and have been found not to cause any kind of permanent hearing loss; sound levels greater than 85 decibels and regular exposure of approximately 8 hours per day, on an average, has been …

The Impact Of Lingual Resistance Training In Two Individuals With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Case Series, Raele Donetha Robison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal and progressive disease characterized by the deterioration of motor neurons within the body. This degeneration leads to bulbar dysfunction in the form of an impaired ability to communicate and swallow. Currently, bulbar dysfunction is treated via compensatory methods aimed at maximizing comfort and safety that include environmental adaptations, augmentative and assistive communication and gastrostomy tube placement to replace speech and oral feeding. The role of active intervention is controversial in this patient population and no investigations have examined the potential role lingual exercise might play in ALS bulbar management. The purpose of …

Validity Of A Nonspeech Dynamic Assessment Of Phonological Awareness In Children From Spanish-Speaking Backgrounds, Bianca Angelica Loreti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literacy development in Spanish-speaking children is a growing concern in the United States (Invernizzi, 2009). Phonological awareness is a predictor of literacy achievement in most alphabetic languages (Anthony et al., 2011; Davison & Brea-Spahn, 2012; Durgunoğlu, Nagy, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993; Goikoetxea, 2005). Bilingual children with complex communication needs (CCN) demonstrate increased difficulties in speaking, reading, and writing, making learning two languages a difficult task (Toppelberg, Snow, & Tager-Flusberg, 1999). Literacy attainment in bilingual individuals who have CCN is important to improve their overall language development and communication interaction skills (Harrison-Harris, 2002). A valid and reliable phonological awareness assessment that does …

Script Training: The Role Of Written Cues, Hallie Cohen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Script training is a technique that allows persons with acquired speech and language disorders, such as nonfluent aphasia, to have islands of fluent speech during which they can speak about a topic without pausing or having word-finding errors. Scripts relevant to specific functional situations are written and practiced until memorized. Script training delivered verbally has been effective with clients with aphasia but the role of written cues in the training has not been explored. Therefore the purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of script training taught verbally, or verbally with a written script, in persons with aphasia. …

Hesitation Rate As A Speaker-Specific Cue In Bilingual Individuals, Jamie Lynn Armbrecht

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hesitation use is common among all speakers, regardless of whether they are engaged in their dominant or non-dominant language (Fehringer & Fry, 2007; Reed, 2000). The question is whether a bilingual speaker will engage in the same types of hesitations in both languages. If hesitation patterns can be identified consistently across speakers regardless of language, their use as an acoustic cue for speaker identification may be possible. This study examines differences in hesitation use across languages and speaking contexts (reading vs. conversation) in bilingual speakers.

Twenty Spanish-English bilinguals (ages 19 -31 years) were tested as part of a larger speaker …

Validity Testing Of A Preschool Reading Screening Device For Pediatricians, Erika Elaine Blue

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite efforts to improve access to early literacy intervention in the United States, there are still children entering kindergarten that are not adequately prepared for school and are unlikely to catch up to their peers (National Education Association, 2014). Preschool programs are actively involved in screening their students for potential literacy difficulties; however, there are children who do not attend preschool and may not have their literacy development assessed. One solution to this problem is to involve other individuals who routinely see preschool age children. Pediatricians are one such group as children come to them for their wellness visits and …

Anticipatory Coarticulation And Stability Of Speech In Typically Fluent Speakers And People Who Stutter Across The Lifespan: An Ultrasound Study, Alissa Joy Belmont

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study uses ultrasound to image onset velar stop consonant articulation in words. By examining tongue body placement, the extent of velar closure variation across vowel contexts provides for the measurement of anticipatory coarticulation while productions within the same vowel context provide measurement of extent of token-to-token variation. Articulate Assistant Advanced 2.0 software was used to semi-automatically generate midsagittal tongue contours at the initial point of maximum velar closure and was used to fit each contour to a curved spline. Patterns of lingual coarticulation and measures of speech motor stability, based on curve-to-curve distance (Zharkova, Hewlett, & Hardcastle, 2011), are …

Outcomes Of A Combined Mindfulness, Stuttering Modification, And Fluency Shaping Intervention For Children Who Stutter, Jennifer Kordell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A week-long intervention for five school-age children who stutter was implemented using techniques of fluency shaping, stuttering management, and mindfulness training. The purpose of this study was to investigate if children who stutter stuttered less frequently, stuttered with less struggle, and demonstrated changes in mindfulness measures after the completion of this week-long intervention. Pre- to post-treatment measures were analyzed by individual and group-level results. A comparative analysis between reading and narrative tasks was also performed. Findings indicate that three out of five children reduced the total number of disfluencies during the reading task, and two children reduced this total during …