Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

Comparing Two Naturalistic Pragmatic Assessments: The Celf-5 Pragmatic Activities And The Yale In Vivo Pragmatic Protocol (Yipp), Rebecca Reid

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Pragmatics, or the social use of language, is a dimension of communication skills that is very difficult to assess due to its dependence on cultural norms, situational context, and speaker differences. Of the current methods for evaluating pragmatic language skills in children, the literature most frequently recommends naturalistic assessment because it allows the clinician to most closely simulate a real-life interaction. Despite these recommendations, limited information exists to guide clinicians in making decisions about which activities yield the most representative pragmatic language sample. This preliminary study compared two naturalistic pragmatic assessments, the Pragmatic Activities from the Clinical Evaluation of Language …

Objective Differences Between Premium And Mid-Level Digital Hearing Aids, Chelsea C. Barry

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This ongoing study compared premium and mid-level hearing aids from major manufacturers on noise reduction and general electroacoustic characteristics. The findings of this study will contribute to the scarce independent literature evaluating currently available hearing aid technology. Measuring the overall gain reduction in response to a steady state noise can objectively test noise reduction. However, such a method does not specifically test a hearing aid’s ability to reduce speech in specific narrow frequency bands. Hanline & Rout (2008) developed a set of stimuli to evaluate multichannel noise reduction algorithms more precisely. We used these stimuli to test noise reduction abilities …

Melodic Contour Identification And Speech Recognition By School-Aged Children, Michael P. Morikawa

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Using the Sung Speech Corpus (SSC), which encompasses a single database that contains musical pitch, timbre variations and speech information in identification tasks, the current study aimed to explore the development of normal-hearing children’s ability to use the pitch and timbre cues. Thirteen normal hearing children were recruited for the study ages ranging from 7 to 16 years old. Participants were separated into two separate groups: Younger (7-9) and Older (10-16). Musical Experience was taken into account as well. The Angel Sound ™ program was utilized for testing which was adopted from previous studies, most recently Crew, Galvin, and Fu …

The Relationship Between Fundamental Frequency Variation And Articulation In Healthy Speech Production, Casey Behre

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Fundamental Frequency (F0) and articulation are two factors of speech production that impact speech perception, and yet the potential interactions of these two factors are not well understood. Their relationship has potential theoretical as well as clinical implications. This Honors Project aims to better understand this relationship by examining changes in fundamental frequency (F0) and the acoustic vowel space as an index of articulatory behaviors with a within-speaker approach. Specifically, F0 variations were examined in relation to the acoustic vowel space for 10 male native speakers of American English. Two sets of acoustic measures were made to evaluate F0 and …

The Effects Of Age On The Perception Of Frequency In Noise, Mary E. Scherer

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise is one of the most common complaints of older adults, both with and without hearing loss. One possible contributing factor is an age-related decline in neural synchrony (e.g., phase locking). Tones-in-noise were used in an attempt to disrupt rate-place coding of frequency and to encourage participants to use phase-locked, temporal representations of frequency during a behavioral frequency discrimination task. Fourteen adults participated in the study (five younger, aged 21-29; four middle aged, 41-50; and five older, aged 61-80). Participants had clinically normal hearing sensitivity (≤ 25 dB HL at octave frequencies …

Development And Deployment Of A Small Stereo-Hearing Testing System: Two Manuscripts, Sofia A. Ganev

Dissertations, 2014-2019

MANUSCRIPT #1 TITLE

Development of a Deployable Stereo-Hearing System

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of a portable stereo-hearing testing system with the intent of deployment for data collection in future studies. We quantify sound localization accuracy and speech-in-noise thresholds comparing unilateral (such as single-sided deafness) and bilateral subjects. We desired to design a small, inexpensive system that would show a large effect size between binaural and monaural subjects in a variety of stereo hearing tasks.

Methods: Subjects were tested on localization accuracy and speech understanding in noise using a laboratory-made stereo-hearing testing device. For the …

Reflection: Effect Of Age On Auditory Brainstem Responses In Mice With Epha4 Mutations, Erica L. Hoogerland

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss is a condition that affects approximately 40% of the population over 65 years of age (Gates & Mills, 2005). Studying the effects of EphA4 mutations (wild type, heterozygous, and homozygous) mice is fundamental in understanding the relationship between onset of age-related hearing loss, in both the mammalian population and the human population. In order to further understanding of age-related hearing loss, the researchers evaluated thirty-six mice in a preliminary study from two months to nine months of age. Following data analysis, the researchers confirmed the results by continuing a second round of testing. The hearing …

Build-Up Effect Of Auditory Stream Segregation Using Amplitude-Modulated Narrowband Noise, Harley J. Wheeler

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Recent psychoacoustic experiments (Böckmann-Barthel et al., 2014; Deike et al., 2012) have re-examined research regarding stream segregation and the build-up effect. Stream segregation is the ability to discern auditory objects within a stream of information, such as distinguishing one voice amongst background noise or an instrument within an orchestra. Initial works examining this topic proposed that auditory information is not immediately distinguished as various streams, but rather that differences accumulate over time, allowing listeners to segregate information following a period of build-up (i.e., the build-up effect); whereas more current findings indicate a build-up period is unnecessary for segregation. This experiment’s …

Release From Masking: Behavioral And Physiological Masking Level Differences, Sarah L. Hodgson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Binaural hearing offers several advantages over monaural hearing and is believed to be one factor that is involved in the ability to understand speech in background noise. Binaural hearing involves analysis of interaural timing and intensity differences in signals arriving at the two ears which provides listeners with sound localization cues as well as signal in noise detection. When sounds arrive at each ear at slightly different times, there may be a release from the effects of background noise, allowing listeners to detect softer sounds in noise. Masking Level Differences (MLDs) have been widely used to evaluate behavioral binaural processing. …

Prepulse Inhibition Of The Acoustic Startle Reflex To Obtain A Psychometric Function In Mice, Robyn Browne

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The acoustic startle reflex (ASR) is an automated motor response to an unexpected and intense auditory stimulus (Ouagazzal, Reiss, & Romand, 2006). When an audible ‘prepulse’ stimulus is presented before the intense, startle-evoking stimulus (SES); the startle reflex response is reduced and this is known as prepulse inhibition (PPI). The degree of ASR inhibition serves as a measure of the behavioral salience of the prepulse (Carlson & Willott, 1996). This study aimed to obtain a psychometric function from the amount of PPI of the ASR that resulted from varying intensity levels of a prepulse stimulus (PPS).

Twelve mice were used …

Effect Of Epha4 Signaling Mutations On Auditory Function, Michelle R. Gerringer

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Neural pathways underlie the ability of the auditory system to perceive sound. Organization of neural pathways into functional auditory circuitry is accomplished in part by Eph and ephrin signaling proteins. One of these signaling proteins, the EphA4 receptor tyrosine kinase protein, acts as an axon-guidance molecule to aid in target selection and to maintain tonotopicity in the auditory brainstem and midbrain. Genetic mutations of the EphA4 protein have been shown to affect structural auditory development, but there is limited research which shows the functional effects of these mutations. The goal of the present study was to determine the functional effects …

Variability In Clinically Measured Wideband Acoustic Immittance Over Time In Young And Old Adults, Allison G. Mcgrath

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) measures of the middle ear have the potential to increase our ability to detect changes in the middle ear transfer function not seen using traditional tympanometry. In order to use this new tool diagnostically we must first understand its normal clinical variability. The present study aimed to investigate the variability that occurs when wideband acoustic immittance (WAI) is measured clinically within subjects as a function of subject age, as a function of time, and as a function of pressure. A total of thirty-six ears from eighteen subjects were studied (n=18 young adults ears, n=18 older adult …

Pre-Pulse Inhibition Assessment Of Sound Localization In Mice, Kathryn C. Brooks

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of my Honors Research Project was to assist Dr. Megan

Klingenberg in completing part of the research in her final dissertation project. Dr.

Klingenberg’s project was based off of a study done by Allen and Ison in 2010.

This study tested the auditory spatial acuity of mice using pre-pulse inhibition of

the startle reflex as the response for detecting the sound stimulus. The goal of

Dr. Klingenberg’s AuD project was “to explore the methodological, functional, and

genetic influences on sound localization using pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic

startle response in mice”. Dr. Klingenberg’s project was broken into three …

Binaural Listening In Young And Middle-Aged Adults: Interaural Phase Differences And Speech-In-Noise Measures, Caitlin Cotter

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Difficulty understanding speech in the presence of noise is a common complaint of middle-aged and older adults with and without hearing loss. There is an incomplete picture of what contributes to difficulties understanding speech-in-noise in adults who have normal audiograms. As humans we listen binaurally, so declines in binaural processing may contribute to speech-in-noise difficulties. We examined the effects of age on the upper frequency limit of interaural phase difference (IPD) detection and IPD detection at fixed frequencies. We also examined a speech-in-noise measure of spatial separation across young and middle-aged, normal-hearing individuals.

Participants were young (n=12) and middle-aged (n=8) …

Effects Of Training And Lung Volume Levels On Voice Onset Control And Cortical Activation In Singers, Nicholas A. Barone

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Singers need to counteract respiratory elastic recoil at high and low lung volume levels (LVLs) to maintain consistent airflow and pressure while singing. Professionally trained singers modify their vocal and respiratory systems creating a physiologically stable and perceptually pleasing voice quality at varying LVLs. In manuscript 1, we compared non-singers and singers on the initiation of a voiceless plosive followed by a vowel at low (30% vital capacity, VC), intermediate (50%VC), and high (80%VC) LVLs. In manuscript 2, we examined how vocal students (singers in manuscript 1) learn to control their voice onset at varying LVLs before and after a …

Pre-Pulse Inhibition Assessment Of Sound Localization In Mice: Methodological, Functional, And Genetic Considerations, Megan Klingenberg

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Sound localization is an important aspect of normal hearing. The Eph/ephin family of signaling proteins, studied here, is known to guide the formation of central auditory connections in early development, particularly topographic inputs from the lateral superior olive (LSO) to the inferior colliculus (IC). Processing in the LSO and its influences on the IC are known to be heavily involved in sound localization tasks. One way to study sound localization in mice is through pre-pulse inhibition (PPI). PPI is the phenomenon by which a weak prestimulus inhibits the response to a subsequent startle stimulus. In studying sound localization, the prestimulus …

Examining Monaural And Binaural Measures Of Phase-Locking As A Function Of Age, Larissa M. Heckler

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Understanding speech in the presence of background noise is a common complaint of middle-aged and older listeners with clinically normal audiograms. There is great interest in understanding how age-related changes in auditory physiology make it harder for older adults to understand speech in difficult listening situations, compared to young listeners. It was recently reported that middle-aged and older normal-hearing listeners showed frequency-dependent, age-related declines in the behavioral and physiological detection of interaural phase differences (Grose & Mamo, 2010; Ross et al, 2007). There is also evidence of an age-related, frequency-dependent decline in the frequency-following response (FFR) (Clinard et al., 2010), …