Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

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 …

When Less Can Be More: Dual Task Effects In Stuttering And Fluent Adults, Naomi Nechama Eichorn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study tested the counterintuitive hypothesis that engaging cognitive resources in a secondary task while speaking could benefit aspects of speech production. Effects of dual task conditions on speech fluency, rate, and error patterns were examined in stuttering and fluent speakers based on specific predictions derived from three related theoretical frameworks. Twenty fluent adults and 19 adults with confirmed diagnoses of stuttering participated in the study. All participants completed two baseline tasks: (1) a continuous speaking task in which spontaneous speech was produced in response to given prompts; and (2) a working memory (WM) task involving manipulations of WM …

The Use Of Paralinguistics In Spontaneous Speech Of Children With Williams Syndrome And Typically Development Children, Kelly Ritter, Evan Panitzke, Emily Kruse

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This project investigated selected aspects of paralinguistics in spontaneous speech of speakers with Williams syndrome. Speakers with Williams syndrome “are noted for their well developed vocabulary, relatively complex and syntactically correct sentences, and their ability to spin a good tale. In contrast, their reasoning usually remains at a pre-operational or preschool level, and they typically have difficulty grasping cause-effect relations” (Semel & Rosner, 2003, p. 5). This research focused on an area of communication called paralinguistics which involved the use of nonspeech sounds for communication. Specifically, we looked at the frequency of laughing and sound effects produced during conversation. Ten …

Benefits Of Baby Sign On Cognitive Development In Infants, Clarissa Navedo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Research in the area of baby sign language has increased dramatically over the past several years, however there is still a lack of research regarding baby signs effects on typical infant development, specifically in the area of cognition. The hypothesis of this study was that instruction of baby sign would be correlated with a significant increase in the development of cognition and language acquisition for infant participants. This study provided a five-week instructional course on baby sign for parents/caregivers to implement with their typically developing infants (n=11). The course provided instruction of baby signs, methods of implementation and encouragement to …

Preschool Language And Phonological Proficiencies In Predicting Stuttering Recovery Or Persistence, Caroline E. Spencer

Open Access Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between expressive and receptive language, phonological, and verbal working memory proficiencies in the preschool years and eventual recovery from or persistence in stuttering. Participants included 40 children who stutter (CWS). At ages 3-5 years, participants were administered the Test of Auditory Comprehension of Language, 3rd edition (TACL-3), the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test, 3rd edition (SPELT-3), Bankson-Bernthal Test of Phonology--Consonant Inventory subtest (BBTOP--CI), Test of Auditory Perceptual Skills--Revised (TAPS--R) auditory number memory and auditory word memory subtests, and the Dollaghan & Campbell Nonword Repetition Test (NRT). Stuttering behaviors were tracked …

Nonword Processing In Bilingual Five Year Olds: Do Phonotactics Count?, Kyna Betancourt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phonotactic processing is foundational to the word processing task in both monolingual and bilingual children (Li & Farkas, 2002; Pierrehumbert, 2001; Shook & Marian, 2013; Storkel & Morrisette, 2002). While the use of phonotactic information in word processing in monolingual children is relatively well documented, it is less well understood in bilingual children. The purpose of this study was to investigate how bilingual kindergartners process the phonotactic probabilities of their two languages. A set of nonwords was developed that manipulated the strength of phonotactic probability across both Spanish and English while also controlling the language environment of the experimental task …

Neural Underpinnings Of Prosody In Autism, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Jillian Schuh, Einar Mencl, Robert T. Schultz, Rhea Paul

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

This study examines the processing of prosodic cues to linguistic structure and to affect, drawing on fMRI and behavioral data from 16 high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and 11 typically developing controls. Stimuli were carefully matched on pitch, intensity, and duration, while varying systematically in conditions of affective prosody (angry versus neutral speech) and grammatical prosody (questions versus statement). To avoid conscious attention to prosody, which normalizes responses in young people with ASD, the implicit comprehension task directed attention to semantic aspects of the stimuli. Results showed that when perceiving prosodic cues, both affective and grammatical, activation of …

Communications Connection - Fall 2012, Nova Southeastern University

Communications Connection

No abstract provided.

Exploring Picture Word Priming Effects In Healthy Aging Adults Using Event Related Potentials, Sasha C. Christopher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanics with which older adults activate and access different subdomains of their mental lexicons during word retrieval for picture naming.

Method: Data were analyzed for 12 aging, native English speakers who performed a picture-word priming task. The auditory probe words were presented in the following conditions in relation to the picture stimuli: Identically related, strongly semantically related, weakly semantically related, strongly phonologically related, weakly phonologically related, semantically related to the strong phonological relative of the target picture label, or phonologically-related to the strong semantic relative of the target picture …

Effect Of Parallel Talk On The Language And Interactional Skills Of Preschoolers With Cochlear Implants And Hearing Aids, Sharon A. Raver, Jonna Bobzien, Corrin Richels, Peggy Hester, Anne Michalek, Nicole Anthony

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Children with profound congenital hearing loss often do not have the same prelinguistic opportunities for social and verbal interaction as their peers with typical hearing [14]. Consequently, language and social skills may be challenging for this group, even after they are provided with amplification or a cochlear implant. This pilot study examined the effectiveness of using a parallel talk intervention to increase the language and interactional skills of three preschoolers with deafnesss. Results revealed that all participants increased verbal turn-taking and that two of the three increased initiated and responded vocal/verbal comments, and initiated and responded nonverbal responses during a …

Semantic Feature Distinctiveness And Frequency, Katherine Marie Lamb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lexical access is the process in which basic components of meaning in language, the lexical entries (words) are activated. This activation is based on the organization and representational structure of the lexical entries. Semantic features of words, which are the prominent semantic characteristics of a word concept, provide important information because they mediate semantic access to words. An experiment was conducted to examine the importance of semantic feature distinctiveness and feature frequency in accessing the lexical representations of young and older adults in an off-line task using features of animals. The McRae, Cree, Seidenberg, and McNorgan (2005) feature norm corpus …

“What” And “Where” In Auditory Sensory Processing: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study Of Distinct Neural Processes Underlying Sound Object Recognition And Sound Localization, Victoria M. Leavitt, Sophie Molholm, Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, John J. Foxe

Publications and Research

Functionally distinct dorsal and ventral auditory pathways for sound localization (WHERE) and sound object recognition (WHAT) have been described in non-human primates. A handful of studies have explored differential processing within these streams in humans, with highly inconsistent findings. Stimuli employed have included simple tones, noise bursts, and speech sounds, with simulated left–right spatial manipulations, and in some cases participants were not required to actively discriminate the stimuli. Our contention is that these paradigms were not well suited to dissociating processing within the two streams. Our aim here was to determine how early in processing we …

Augmentative And Alternative Communication Systems In The Classroom, Helen Angela Mezzomo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Augmentative-alternative communication (AAC) systems are used to give voice to individuals who are nonverbal. As AAC systems become more complex and prevalent in the classroom expectations of school-based professionals expand. However, the roles of those expected to support AAC systems, primarily teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs), are not clearly defined. Without clearly defined roles, professionals may not provide needed support to students who use AAC. Dewey's theory of community suggests that role confusion leads to insufficient and ineffective services. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study was to determine how teachers and SLPs view their roles in supporting AAC. The …

Graduate Online Bulletin, 2011-2012 (2011), Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

Perspective Shifting In Relative Clauses By Elementary-Aged Spanish-English Bilinguals: A Cross-Linguistic Study, Xigrid Tayri Soto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language-specific theories of sentence processing suggest that individuals interpret sentences based on the characteristics of their native language (e.g., Bates & MacWhinney, 1989). As such, competing linguistic cues are taken into account (including word order, morphology, and animacy) and the cue selected is most likely to yield a correct interpretation in the native language. However, research in this area has produced conflicting results. MacWhinney (2005) has proposed that examining the role of perspective shifting in sentence comprehension may demonstrate how cognitive and syntactic factors work together to facilitate sentence comprehension. The aim of the current study is to investigate the …

Communicative Competence In Persons With Aphasia: The Impact Of Executive Function, Judy Marie Mikola

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between executive function and performance on selected linguistic tasks in persons with aphasia secondary to left frontal lesions.

A group of 15 persons with aphasia (PWA) completed three communication board tasks of varying levels of complexity and structure. The subject's functional use of the picture/word communication board was tested during a Story Retelling task. In addition, the PWA's executive function skills were examined using six nonverbal tests. The PWA group performance scores were compared to that of the neurologically healthy control group.

Results demonstrated that the control group performed significantly …

A Toddler's Development: Analyzing "One Who Walks Unsteadily", Valerie Sharie Davis

XULAneXUS

On April 19, 2009, for exactly two hours, I observed a twenty-four month old toddler at her home, with parents' consent, to fulfill an assignment for a Normal Language Development course. The assignment was to observe a child ranging between the infancy stages to three years old. After observing the child, students were instructed to complete a language analysis sample on every word or phrase that the child produced. This sample was conducted by writing down what the child said and comparing it to what linguistic and motor development researchers expected from a child at the approximate age level observed. …

Graduate Bulletin, 2008-2010, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

Do Auditory Simulations Of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Change Young Adults' Attitudes Towards Noise Exposure?, Claire Roockley

Theses : Honours

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), or hearing damage from regular exposure to loud noise, can profoundly affect a person's hearing capabilities and overall well-being. Many individuals continue to expose themselves to hazardous levels of noise, and, in turn, put themselves at risk of developing a NIHL. This review critically examines the existing literature presented on NIHL. Emphasis is placed on the increasing prevalence of NIHL in young adults from exposure to loud recreational noise. The effectiveness of current educational strategies that have been employed to reduce or prevent the occurrence of NIHL in this cohort is also examined. Research indicates that …

Graduate Bulletin, 2006-2007 (2006), Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

A Cross-Cultural Study Of Hearing And Hearing-Impaired Children’S Human Figure Drawings, Chia-Liang Timothy Hu

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to further the research of human figure drawings as useful assessment tools and add to the understanding of children’s human figure drawings from a cross-cultural perspective.

In this quantitative study, 147 human figure drawings made by 59 hearing and 64 hearing-impaired Taiwanese children and 24 hearing-impaired American children were collected. In addition, 50 drawings done by hearing American children were randomly chosen from the children’s drawing database of Eastern Virginia Medical School Graduate Art Therapy Program. Five Formal Elements Art Therapy Scales (FEATS) scales were modified for use with human figure drawings and were …

Examining The Time Course Of Indexical Specificity Effects In Spoken Word Recognition, Conor T. Mclennan, Paul A. Luce

Psychology Faculty Publications

Variability in talker identity and speaking rate, commonly referred to as indexical variation, has demonstrable effects on the speed and accuracy of spoken word recognition. The present study examines the time course of indexical specificity effects to evaluate the hypothesis that such effects occur relatively late in the perceptual processing of spoken words. In 3 long-term repetition priming experiments, the authors examined reaction times to targets that were primed by stimuli that matched or mismatched on the indexical variable of interest (either talker identity or speaking rate). Each experiment was designed to manipulate the speed with which participants processed the …

Graduate Bulletin, 2004-2006 (2004), Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

By The Book: Interpreting An Intake In A County Jail, Digiterp Communications

Course Materials

Guide to ASL interpreting for the booking of a person into a county jail, including consideration of how to prepare for entering the facility and what to expect in the interpreting situation.

Graduate Bulletin, 2002-2004 (2002), Minnesota State University Moorhead

Graduate Bulletins (Catalogs)

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of Families And Service Providers Participating In Participatory Action Research Related To Self-Determination In Young Children With Disabilities, Kristen L. Kozlowski

Dissertations and Theses

The concept of self-determination or "acting as the primary casual agent in one's life and making choices and decisions regarding one's quality of life free from undue external influence or interference" (Wehmeyer, 1996, p.24) has long been a focus of educating adults with disabilities. Recently, researchers and educators have begun to examine teaching foundational skills of self-determination to young children with disabilities. It is important to evaluate programs and methodologies that are said to enhance self-determination in order to ensure their efficacy. Research has examined self-determination programs involving adults and older children, however to date there have been few studies …

Communications Connection - Vol.6, No. 8 - Fall 2001, Nova Southeastern University

Communications Connection

No abstract provided.

Minimum Mean Square Error Spectral Peak Envelope Estimation For Automatic Vowel Classification, Jaishree Venugopal

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Spectral feature computations continue to be a very difficult problem for accurate machine recognition of speech. In this work, which focuses on vowels, a new spectral peak envelope method for vowel classification is developed, based on a missing frequency components model of speech recognition. According to the missing frequency components model, vowel recognition depends only on the spectral (harmonic) peaks. Smoothing and interpolation of the spectra, performed in the standard cepstral analysis method commonly used in automatic speech recognition, actually loses valuable information and results in reduced recognition accuracy. The new method for feature extraction presented in this thesis is …

A Comparison Of Developmental Sentence Scores And Ratings Of Intelligibility, Julie O'Harrow Karnstein

Dissertations and Theses

Speech intelligibility is the term used to describe the degree to which an individual speaker is understood by both familiar and unfamiliar listeners. There are many factors that influence an individual's intelligibility, including (but not limited to) variations in phonology, grammar, rate of speech, and vocal features. Most research has focused on the articulation and phonological influences that impact speech intelligibility. Perhaps for this reason, treatment methods for improving speech intelligibility generally have targeted an individual's phonological production skills. Additional research is necessary to understand more about each of the areas of language production that may be influencing intelligibility. This …

Contingencies Governing The Production Of Fricatives, Affricates, And Liquids In Babbling, Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann, Barbara L. Davis, Peter F. Macneilage

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Studies of early-developing consonants (stops, nasals, and glides) in babbling have shown that most of the variance in consonants and their associated vowels, both within and between syllables, is due to a "frame" produced by mandibular oscillation, with very little active contribution from intrasyllabic or intersyllabic tongue movements. In a study of four babbling infants, the prediction that this apparently basic "frame dominance" would also apply to late-developing consonants (fricatives, affricates, and liquids) was tested. With minor exceptions, confirming evidence for both the predicted intrasyllabic and intersyllabic patterns was obtained. Results provide further evidence for the frame dominance conception, but …