Speech and Hearing Science Commons^™

A Comparison Of Nal And Dsl Prescriptive Methods For Paediatric Hearing-Aid Fitting: Predicted Speech Intelligibility And Loudness, Teresa Y.C. Ching, Earl E. Johnson, Sanna Hou, Harvey Dillon, Vicky Zhang, Lauren Burns, Patricia Van Buynder, Angela Wong, Christopher Flynn

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: To examine the impact of prescription on predicted speech intelligibility and loudness for children. Design: A between-group comparison of speech intelligibility index (SII) and loudness, based on hearing aids fitted according to NAL-NL1, DSL v4.1, or DSL m[i/o] prescriptions. A within-group comparison of gains prescribed by DSL m[i/o] and NAL-NL2 for children in terms of SII and loudness. Study sample: Participants were 200 children, who were randomly assigned to first hearing-aid fitting with either NAL-NL1, DSL v4.1, or DSL m[i/o]. Audiometric data and hearing-aid data at 3 years of age were used. Results: On average, SII calculated on the …

Narratives By Six Year Old And Nine Year Old Boys: Brute: Institutional, And Non-Institutional Mental Facts, Adam Craig Whipple

Master's Theses

Brute facts, institutional facts, and non-institutional mental facts were studied. The philosophy of constructionism and the theory of intent provided a framework for this research. Intentionality provided the basis for social facts. Brute, institutional, and noninstitutional mental facts were operationally defined. This study analyzed the use of these facts in the narratives of 6-year-old boys and 9-year-old boys. There were a total of 19 participants in this research. This research established brute, institutional, and non-institutional mental facts as appropriate operational categories for studying children's narratives. The 6-year-old boys produced more brute facts than the 9-year-old boys. The 9-year-old boys produced …

Hearing-Aid Safety: A Comparison Of Estimated Threshold Shifts For Gains Recommended By Nal-Nl2 And Dsl M[I/O] Prescriptions For Children, Teresa Y. C. Ching, Earl E. Johnson, Mark Seeto, John H. Macrae

ETSU Faculty Works

Objective: To investigate the predicted threshold shift associated with the use of nonlinear hearing aids fitted to the NAL-NL2 or the DSL m[i/o] prescription for children with the same audiograms. For medium and high input levels, we asked: (1) How does predicted asymptotic threshold shifts (ATS) differ according to the choice of prescription? (2) How does predicted ATS vary with hearing level for gains prescribed by the two prescriptions? Design: A mathematical model consisting of the modified power law combined with equations for predicting temporary threshold shift (Macrae, 1994b) was used to predict ATS. Study sample: Predicted threshold shift were …

Update On The Clinical Utility Of Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials, Faith W. Akin, Owen D. Murnane

ETSU Faculty Works

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) supplement the vestibular test battery by providing diagnostic information about otolith organ function. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an update on the clinical use of the cervical VEMP and ocular VEMP as clinical tests of otolith function

Comparison Of Performance On Static And Dynamic Language Tasks Among Typically Developing Preschoolers With Bilingual Experience, Mireya Hernandez

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of a graduated prompting format for measuring modifiability in a screening context among preschool children with bilingual experience. The dynamic assessment framework, including graduated prompting, is an alternative to traditional, static assessment of language impairment. Performance on four dynamic language tasks by 16 typically developing 4-year-olds with more English than Spanish experience was compared to performance of 16 matched children on static versions of the same tasks. These included novel adjective learning, semantic comparison, phonological awareness, and false-belief theory of mind tasks. When prompted responses were credited, the dynamic group …

Effects Of Truncation On Language Sample Analysis In Aphasia, Gerasimos Fergadiotis, Heather Harris Wright

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study is to determine if the length of a language sample elicited from a person with aphasia (PWA) is of consequence when making inferences about the patient's functional language ability. When conducting a language sample analysis, a sample representing a snapshot in time is used to make inferences about an individual's language capacity in general. However, current findings are inconclusive regarding the ideal length of the language sample necessary to draw valid conclusions about patients (e.g. Heilman, Nockerts, & Miller, 2010).

Measuring Global Coherence In Aphasia, V. Galetto, S. Kintz, T. West, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Discourse coherence may be conceptualized as representing the listener's ability to interpret the overall meaning conveyed by the speaker. Discourse schemas serve as the organizing frameworks for placing the essential discourse elements within a language sample (Bloom, Borod, & Santschi-Haywoor, Pick, & Obler, 1996; Peterson & McCabe, 1983). When the essential elements are provided a logical consistency of the discourse schema is maintained and the listener perceives the discourse as coherent (Ditman & Kuperberg, 2010; Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989; van den Broek, Virtue, Everson, Tzeng, & Sung, 2002). Global coherence refers to the ability to semantically relate …

Predicting Language Impairment Status: A Risk Factor Model, Johanna Maria Rudolph

Open Access Dissertations

The etiology of specific language impairment (SLI) is multifactorial. Research has shown that genetic, environmental, and developmental factors may influence the course of its development. Because many of these factors are present even before a child is born, it is possible that a child's risk of developing the disorder can be identified long before grammatical deficits are observed. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a screening tool to discriminate between children with SLI and typically developing (TD) children using risk factor information including gender, family history of communication or reading disorders, socioeconomic status, maternal and paternal …

Developing A Drug Delivery System For Treatment Of Vocal Fold Scarring, Aaron Michael Kosinski

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal fold scarring is an affliction that results in the formation of a disorganized and stiff extracellular matrix (ECM) with abnormal ECM component densities & structures including a significant increase in collagen deposition. It is caused by improper healing post injury and results in profound changes in the biomechanical properties of the vocal folds impairing their ability to generate a normal mucosal wave during phonation.

Finding an effective treatment for vocal fold scarring has been elusive. Currently, treatments seek temporary solutions that correct glottal incompetence and reduce stiffness caused by the scar through the augmentation of the vocal folds using …

Articulatory Distinctiveness Of Vowels And Consonants: A Data-Driven Approach, Jun Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal, Yana Yunusova

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To quantify the articulatory distinctiveness of 8 major English vowels and 11 English consonants based on tongue and lip movement time series data using a data-driven approach.

Method: Tongue and lip movements of 8 vowels and 11 consonants from 10 healthy talkers were collected. First, classification accuracies were obtained using 2 complementary approaches: (a) Procrustes analysis and (b) a support vector machine. Procrustes distance was then used to measure the articulatory distinctiveness among vowels and consonants. Finally, the distance (distinctiveness) matrices of different vowel pairs and consonant pairs were used to derive articulatory vowel and consonant spaces …

Modern Prescription Theory And Application: Realistic Expectations For Speech Recognition With Hearing Aids, Earl E. Johnson

ETSU Faculty Works

A major decision at the time of hearing aid fitting and dispensing is the amount of amplification to provide listeners (both adult and pediatric populations) for the appropriate compensation of sensorineural hearing impairment across a range of frequencies (e.g., 160?10000?Hz) and input levels (e.g., 50?75?dB sound pressure level). This article describes modern prescription theory for hearing aids within the context of a risk versus return trade-off and efficient frontier analyses. The expected return of amplification recommendations (i.e., generic prescriptions such as National Acoustic Laboratories?Non-Linear 2, NAL-NL2, and Desired Sensation Level Multiple Input/Output, DSL m[i/o]) for the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII) …

Word Recognition From Continuous Articulatory Movement Time-Series Data Using Symbolic Representations, Jun Wang, Arvind Balasubramanian, Luis Mojica De La Vega, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal, Balakrishnan Prabhakaran

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Although still in experimental stage, articulation-based silent speech interfaces may have significant potential for facilitating oral communication in persons with voice and speech problems. An articulation-based silent speech interface converts articulatory movement information to audible words. The complexity of speech production mechanism (e.g., co-articulation) makes the conversion a formidable problem. In this paper, we reported a novel, real-time algorithm for recognizing words from continuous articulatory movements. This approach differed from prior work in that (1) it focused on word-level, rather than phoneme-level; (2) online segmentation and recognition were conducted at the same time; and (3) a symbolic representation (SAX) was …

Assessing For And Understanding The Impact Of Hearing Loss In Children, Sally A. Arnold Ph.D.

NYS Child Welfare/Child Protective Services Training Institute

Hearing loss in children may occur unnoticed if the family isn’t knowledgeable about hearing loss and the child is not routinely seen for medical exams or by a school or a service provider. The child welfare caseworker may be in a position to spot a potential hearing loss and make an appropriate referral.

This PowerPoint describes:

Indicators of hearing loss when assessing children;

Hearing milestones by age;

The types of hearing loss;

Appropriate referrals if a hearing loss is suspected.

This PowerPoint can be useful not just for the caseworker’s knowledge, but may be useful in helping parents understand why …

Alternative Ear-Canal Measures Related To Absorbance, S. T. Neely, S. Stenfelt, Kim S. Schairer

ETSU Faculty Works

Abstract:

Several alternative ear-canal measures are similar to absorbance in their requirement for prior determination of a Thévenin-equivalent sound…

A Preliminary Study Of The Articulatory And Acoustic Features Of Forward And Backward Tone Placement In Singing, Krista Wyllys

Masters Theses

A variety of terms exist for describing tone quality in singing, and voice scientists, voice therapists, teachers of singing, and students of singing use different terms to describe the same sound. One aspect of tone quality is tone placement. Teachers of singing often rely on imagery and imitation to elicit correct tone placement from students of singing. More concrete data about what produces forward and backward tone placement could supplement singing teachers’ current practice of using imagery and imitation to elicit a desirable tone quality. This study examined forward and backward tone placement to determine the articulatory gestures and acoustic …

Individual Articulator's Contribution To Phoneme Production, Jun Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Speech sounds are the result of coordinated movements of individual articulators. Understanding each articulator’s role in speech is fundamental not only for understanding how speech is produced, but also for optimizing speech assessments and treatments. In this paper, we studied the individual contributions of six articulators, tongue tip, tongue blade, tongue body front, tongue body back, upper lip, and lower lip to phoneme classification. A total of 3,838 vowel and consonant production samples were collected from eleven native English speakers. The results of speech movement classification using a support vector machine indicated that the tongue encoded significantly more information than …

Effects Of Noise On Cognitive Function During Dual Tasks Across Normally Aging Adults, Jennine Harvey

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

This study expands upon methods used to investigate cognition and speech perception which have been limited by lack of (a) pre-screening of cognitive function in participants, (b) reporting visual or auditory accuracy and reaction time measures across experimental conditions that examine reaction times, and (c) comprehensive test battery that includes performance across multiple levels of dual task paradigms (DTPs). This study aims to examine group performance on dual tasks (DT) increasing in cognitive (task difficulty) and perceptual load (noise) with age. Participants were divided into two groups based upon age. Group 1 consisted of 14 listeners (Female=11) who were 40-59 …

Voice As A Parameter Of Emotional And Physical Health, Ahmed Abdelal

Bridgewater Review

This article provides basic information about voice and laryngeal health to fellow educators and professional voice users with the hope that it can make a difference in their lives. I tackle voice from a multi-dimensional approach integrating research and clinical practice. What follows is based on extensive research that I have reviewed over the years, on coursework that I have taught in related areas (including anatomy and physiology of speech, language and hearing; phonetics, linguistics, and neurological bases of speech, language and hearing) and on my own experience as a licensed speech language pathologist who has diagnosed and treated patients …

Slps And Auds Go Global: A Research-Based Cross-Linguistic Consortium, A. Lynn Williams, Brenda Louw

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Aging And Spectral Shaping On The Sub-Cortical (Brainstem) Differentiation Of Contrastive Stop Consonants, Dania A. Rishiq

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Purpose: The objectives of this dissertation are to: (1) evaluate the influence of aging on the sub-cortical (brainstem) differentiation of voiced stop consonants (i.e. /b-d-g/); (2) determine whether potential aging deficits at the brainstem level influence behavioral identification of the /b-d-g/ stimuli, (3) investigate whether spectral shaping diminishes any aging impairments at the brainstem level; and (4) if so, whether minimizing these deficits improves the behavioral identification of the speech stimuli.

Subjects: Behavioral and electrophysiological responses were collected from 11 older adults (> 50 years old) with near-normal to normal hearing and were compared to those of 16 normal-hearing younger …

Modeling Hrtf For Sound Localization In Normal Listeners And Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users, Douglas A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical models can be very useful for understanding complicated systems and for testing algorithms through simulation that would be difficult or expensive to implement. This dissertation presents a model that attempts to simulate the sound localization performance of persons using bilateral cochlear implants. The expectation is that this model could prove to be a useful tool in developing new signal processing algorithms for neural encoding strategies.

The head related transfer function (HRTF) is a critical component of this model, and in the ideal case, provides the base characteristics of head shadow, torso and pinna effects. This defines the temporal, intensity …

Time-Frequency Analysis Of Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions In Children Exposed To Carboplatin Chemotherapy, Shaum Bhagat, Johnnie Bass, Ibrahim Qaddoumi, Rachel Brennan, Matthew Wilson, Jianrong Wu, Carlos-Rodriguez Galindo, Alessia Paglialonga, Gabriella Tognola

Faculty Publications

The aims of this study were to characterize and quantify time-frequency changes in transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) recorded in children diagnosed with retinoblastoma who were receiving carboplatin chemotherapy. A signal processing technique, the wavelet transform (WT), was used to analyze TEOAE waveforms in narrow-band frequency components. Ten children (aged 3–72 months) diagnosed with unilateral or bilateral retinoblastoma were enrolled in the study. TEOAEs were acquired from the children with linear sequences of 70 dB peak equivalent SPL clicks. After WT analysis, TEOAE energy, latency and normalized energy in the narrow-band frequency components were compared before and during carboplatin chemotherapy treatment …

Syllabic Patterns In The Early Vocalizations Of Quichua Children, Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann, Barbara L. Davis, Peter F. Macneilage

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

To understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless of language environment and the early appearance of production effects based on perceptual learning from the ambient language requires the study of languages with diverse phonological properties. Few studies have evaluated early phonological acquisition patterns of children in non-Indo-European language environments. In the current study, across- and within-syllable consonant-vowel co-occurrence patterns in babbling were analyzed for a 6-month period for seven Ecuadorean Quichua learning children who were between 9 and 17 months of age at study onset. Their babbling utterances were compared to the babbling of six English-learning children …

Facilitation Of Language Acquisition Viewed Through An Interpretative Lens: The Role Of Authenticity, Melanie Ann Harper

Wayne State University Dissertations

A paradigm is the conceptual framework or lens one uses to view reality. The field of speech-language pathology is traditionally rooted in the empirical paradigm, which believes that language can be fragmented into isolated skills and taught in a hierarchal fashion. This belief has resulted in service delivery models that remove students from naturalistic contexts for decontextualized exercises. Progress in language acquisition is measured objectively. The empirical belief is exemplified by the accountability requirements in special education law (e.g., IEP). It is compounded by the realities of public school speech-language pathologists (SLPs), such as high caseload numbers, multiple buildings, and …

The Impact Of Baby Sign On The Development Of Pragmatic Skills In Typically Developing Children, Lyna Marie Sullivan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of Baby Sign on the pragmatic development of typically developing children. The participants for the study were 11 typically developing children. A one group pretest posttest case study design was used to evaluate the impact of baby sign. Prior to parents and caregivers attending a 5 week course on baby sign language, each child was administered the Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC). Although, measurements were taken of the child's social, cognitive, physical, adaptive, and communication skills, standard scores of only the social subtests from the pretest to the posttest …

Self-Ratings Of Communication Style And Discourse Performance Of Healthy Aging Adults, Hayley E. Besten

Theses and Dissertations--Communication Sciences and Disorders

This study investigated the accuracy of healthy aging adults‟ self-rating of communication style, as measured by quantifiable measures of discourse performance. Ninety cognitively healthy adults participated and comprised three age cohorts (20s, 40s, 60s). Participants completed discourse tasks that included recounting a vacation, telling a story, and describing a picture. Participants also self-rated their communication style, placing them in a talkative or reserved cohort. Communication style was measured by discourse performance variables of interest: length of output (TNW) and informativeness (%IU). When presented with an unconstrained task (recounting a vacation), talkative and reserved groups, regardless of age, produced a similar …

Personalizing Aac For People With Aphasia: The Role Of Text And Pictures, Aimee R. Dietz, Kristy S.E. Weissling, Julie Griffith, Miechelle L. Mckelvey

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Over time, and with intensive instruction, people with aphasia (PWAs) can learn to use grid-based, categorically organized, high-technology AAC layouts during structured tasks (e.g., Hough & Johnson, 2009). In an effort to reduce the training intensity required to teach PWAs to use AAC; researchers developed visual scene displays (VSDs), designed to complement the residual cognitive and linguistic abilities of PWAs by tapping their intact episodic memory. VSD interfaces incorporate personally relevant (PR) photos, text, and speech output (Dietz, McKelvey, & Beukelman, 2006; Weissling & Beukelman, 2006). VSDs appear to facilitate improved communication success (e.g., McKelvey, Dietz, Hux, Weissling, & Beukelman, …

Electropalatography As An Adjunct To Nonspeech Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder Assessments: A Feasibility Study, Alana Mantie-Kozlowski, Kevin M. Pitt

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine if electropalatography (EPG) would be a useful adjunct and feasible option for those conducting clinical assessments of individuals with suspected nonspeech orofacial myofunctional disorders (NSOMD). Three females (two adults, one child) were referred by their orthodontist for assessment of suspected NSOMD. Three adults and one child without NSOMD were recruited for the purpose of evaluating methodological construct, and to provide comparisons for participants with NSOMD. Using EPG, lingual-palatal timing and contact patterns of 105 saliva swallows (45 with NSOMD, 60 without NSOMD) were analyzed by compartmentalizing the sensor display and tracking the …

Structural Processing Of Language Components: Detection And Comprehension, Samantha Rose Crow

Wayne State University Theses

Although music and language share many perceptually functional characteristics, research endeavors are still focusing on the underlying neural circuitry. Past research has indicated a distinction of hemispheric lateralization between music and language processing. Recently, efforts have shifted to the notion of an initial general shared pathway in the brain with auditory stimuli differentiated in later processing to specialized regions. Therefore, both linguistic and musical components have been examined in numerous experiments to discern the possible influence of music and language components on auditory perception and comprehension, including their potential interaction. However, the effects of sentential prosody on early language structural …

Language Of Intervention In Bilingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Alejandra Carrillo

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Over the last few decades the United States has seen a heavy increase in the incidences of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Also increasing in the United States is the increase in multicultural and multilingual groups. Although both of these populations are increasing there is very limited information regarding the language abilities of bilingual individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the language used for intervention, and those servicing them. A survey was developed to gather information regarding the current practice trends used by Speech-Language clinicians with bilingual children with ASD. The study was conducted in El Paso, Texas a city located on the …