The Ush2a Gene: An Analysis Of Ultrasonic Vocalizations In A Mouse Model Of Usher Syndrome Type 2, Kiana R. Akhundzadeh

Honors Scholar Theses

Usher syndrome type 2 is a complex autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is characterized by moderate to severe congenital sensorineural hearing loss, the onset of retinitis pigmentosa in the second decade of life, and in some cases, vestibular dysfunction. Mutations in the USH2A gene account for 85% of cases of type 2. The USH2A gene is responsible for encoding the protein usherin, which has an important role in the development and function of inner ear hair cells and retinal photoreceptors. Until recently, it has been believed that carriers of the USH2A mutation were phenotype free. However, recent data has suggested …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Examining Social Pragmatic Communication: Evidence From Parent And Professional Questionnaires, Katelyn Adams

Honors Theses

Hyter (2007) defined pragmatics as “daily interactions among groups of people with varying worldviews, each influenced by a history of social practices” (p.131). People use aspects of pragmatics in their everyday life depending on the context of their current social situation. For example, one’s pragmatic language could differ in a day from talking with a boss at work to having a conversation with a friend on the phone. These variations in conversational processes result in the assessment of pragmatics being a difficult task.

In this honors thesis, I examined results from Dr. Yvette Hyter’s assessment battery, the Assessment of Pragmatic …

Effectiveness Of Literacy Intervention Provided By School-Based Slps: Roles & Impressions On Literacy Teams, Ashley Alvarado

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine how effective speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are meeting all areas of responsibility for literacy intervention. To meet this purpose, SLPs from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota were surveyed. The survey examined SLP’s roles on literacy teams, areas of involvement, potential attitudes, impressions, and educational experiences of SLPs to explain why their role and opinions on involvement in literacy intervention may vary.

Efficacy Of A Three-Week Intervention Program For A School-Aged Children In The Areas Of Language, Literacy, Phonological Awareness, And Auditory Processing, Nicole Weis

Honors Theses

Research demonstrates that competency in the areas of language, phonological awareness, and auditory processing is vital to academic success in children, as well as in navigating adult life. The study's purpose is to measure the efficacy of an intensive, three-week summer camp therapy program for school-aged children in addressing these areas, and to identify areas of strength and weakness in the program and interventions implemented. Programs utilized during the summer camp included Visualizing and Verbalizing(TM), Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing(R), On Cloud Nine(R), Color My Conversation, Differential Processing Training Program(TM), as well as science experiments, and snack and crafts time.

Azbio Sentence Accuracy For English As A Second Language Adults In Quiet And Background Noise, Alexandra Wiist

Honors Theses

The objective of this study is to examine indications of a significant difference in listening ability between native English speakers and English as a Second Language (ESL) students in quiet and background noise specifically on the AZBIO Sentence test. Three Language groups were analyzed: Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. AZBIO lists were used to assess ESL students' ability to repeat sentences. An analysis of errors was completed to determine variance and similarities between the four language groups. Native English speakers had no difficulty repeating sentences in either condition, ESL students' data suggested more difficulty in both quiet and background noise and …

The Impact Of Task-Specific Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) On Sustained Attention In A Healthy Population, Kasi Dawn Steele

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the impact of task-specific anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) administered over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) on sustained attention in healthy participants.

Methods: This study examined the effects of task-training and tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on sustained attention. Participants (n=13) completed four sessions consisting of either true-stimulation (2 mA for 10 minutes) or sham-stimulation (2 mA for 30 sec) in counterbalanced order. Participants completed one session every 7 to 10 days and were randomly assigned to one of two task-specific conditions in counterbalanced order. All sessions consisted of a 10-minute Go/No-Go …

Articulatory Kinematics During Stop Closure In Speakers With Parkinson’S Disease, Austin Ross Thompson

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The goal of this exploratory study was (a) to investigate the differences in articulatory movements during the closure phase of bilabial stop consonants with respect to distance, displacement, and timing of motion between individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and healthy controls; and (b) to investigate changes in articulatory movements of speakers with PD when they voluntarily vary the degree of speech intelligibility.

Methods: Six participants, 4 PD and 2 healthy control (HC) speakers, participated in this study. The stimulus was a sentence containing several bilabial stop consonants (i.e., “Buy Bobby a puppy”). Movement data were collected using …

The Dixit Method Of Language Sampling In Early Adolescence, Tanner Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study examined two methods of language sampling (interview and the Dixit Method) in early adolescents with typical language development. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the two procedures in eliciting lexical diversity in spoken language samples in the early adolescent population. To examine lexical diversity, traditional methods of analysis (type token ratio, average type token ratio, and mean length of utterance) were applied. However, because literature historically alludes to flaws in these traditional methods, the researchers also applied an ecological approach to analysis of lexical diversity proposed by Scott Jarvis (2013). Student participants …

Assessment For Mild Cognitive Impairment: Striving For Best Practice, Julie Leigh Dalmasso

Dissertations

This dissertation is a series of three studies aimed at determining the best assessment practices for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that can employed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The first study was non-experimental and descriptive examining whether three commonly used assessment instruments yielded similar categorical results. The data were analyzed to determine whether the Eight-Item Interview to Differentiate Aging and Dementia (AD8), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Cognitive-Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT) identified the same participants from a neurotypical sample as having cognitive deficits. Very little agreement was found amongst the three tools.

Study two was modified to include two …

Language Profiles Of Children Who Have Experienced Complex Trauma And Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Christel G. Ciolino

Masters Theses

Children who experience maltreatment and children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) have similar neurological differences and are at risk for language impairments. However, limited research has been conducted to analyze their specific skill sets. To address this limitation, retrospective data from the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center of Southwest Michigan were analyzed. The linguistic profiles of 79 children with histories of varying numbers of traumatic experiences and comorbid FASD statues are compared in the areas of semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and social communication. Individuals had high pass rates on the CELF-5 Screening Test and high overall scores on the Pragmatic Protocol-Revised …

Development Of An Audiologic Rehabilitation Program Model For Adult Patients Receiving Care At A Graduate Training Facility, Amanda Mcfadden, Antony Joseph

AuD Capstone Projects - Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research has shown that untreated hearing loss can negatively impact a person’s quality of life. The average person with hearing loss waits seven years from the onset of symptoms to pursue hearing aids (Hall, 2014). To decrease the negative effects of hearing loss, hearing technology, by itself, is typically not enough support for even the best users (Kelly et al., 2013). To provide supplementary support for these patients, audiologic rehabilitation (AR) is required. Audiologic rehabilitation is the modern term used to classify treatments that were previously so- called “aural rehabilitation.” Per Boothroyd (2007), aural [audiologic] rehabilitation may be defined as, …

Alternating Treatments For Idiom Interpretation By Children With Specific Language Impairments, Monique S. Kaye

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of two idiom interventions by students with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Idioms are linguistic expressions that have figurative meanings other than their literal interpretation. There is a strong correlation between idiom interpretation and academic success (Nippold & Martin, 1989). Students are exposed to idioms in media, in school, literature, and in daily interactions with peers and adults (Nippold, Moran, & Schwarz, 2001).Method: Three school-aged students (n=3) with SLI ages 11;9–13;8 (mean age = 12;8) were provided a language intervention for idioms embedded in stories with pictures (n=10) …

Early Uneven Ear Input Induces Long-Lasting Differences In Left-Right Motor Function, Michelle W. Antoine, Xiaoxia Zhu, Marianne Dieterich, Thomas Brandt, Sarath Vijayakumar, Nicholas Mckeehan, Joseph C. Arezzo, R. Suzanne Zukin, David A. Borkholder, Sherri M. Jones, Robert D. Frisina, Jean M. Hébert

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

How asymmetries in motor behavior become established normally or atypically in mammals remains unclear. An established model for motor asymmetry that is conserved across mammals can be obtained by experimentally inducing asymmetric striatal dopamine activity. However, the factors that can cause motor asymmetries in the absence of experimental manipulations to the brain remain unknown. Here, we show that mice with inner ear dysfunction display a robust left or right rotational preference, and this motor preference reflects an atypical asymmetry in cortico-striatal neurotransmission. By unilaterally targeting striatal activity with an antagonist of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), a downstream integrator of striatal …

The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Vocal Quality And Function With Self-Esteem In Older Adults, Victoria Berto

Theses and Dissertations

Alterations to the voice that occur in older adulthood include changes in vocal fold mass, inadequate approximation of the vocal folds, tremor, and air loss (Lundy, Silva, Casiano, Lu, & Xue, 1998). Many of the vocal changes that occur in older adults, those aged 65 and older (Colby & Ortman, 2015), may affect their social and emotional well-being. While some persons are not affected by life span vocal changes, others suffer from co-occuring depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal (Epstein, Hirani, Stygall, & Newman, 2009; Mirza, Ruiz, Baum, & Staab, 2003; Monini, Filippi, Baldini, & Barbara, 2015). There have been numerous …

Faculty Perspectives Of Student-Faculty Collaborative Course Design, Lauren H. Mead

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

This qualitative research study explored speech-language pathology (SLP) faculty perspectives of collaborative course design (CCD). For the purposes of this study, the term “faculty” includes all those who teach at the university level. Student-faculty CCD offers benefits to course instructors and students; however, research regarding this topic is lacking in the field of SLP. Interviews with faculty members in SLP programs explored faculty perspectives regarding the incorporation of student input into course design as well as anticipated benefits and challenges involved. The results of this study identified several factors related to faculty reluctance to use CCD, including reluctance to share …

Deaf In Her Own Way: The Role Of Identity In Social Justice Leadership, Judy Drescher

Student Coursework: Ed.D. program

The following fieldwork chronicles the personal and professional trajectory of Cindy Greenspun, a social justice leader at Yale University Library. At the age of eighteen months, Greenspun suffered an illness that resulted in the loss of her hearing and spent nearly the first half of her life fully immersed in the hearing world. Through significant self-reflection and perseverance, Greenspun evolved beyond the binary paradigm of oralism–the exclusive use of speech and lip reading–to ultimately embrace the essence of being both bilingual (speech and sign) and bicultural (hearing and non-hearing). These attributes not only enabled Greenspun to navigate between two distinctly …

Using Parent-Identified Strengths Of Autistic Children To Advance Strength-Based Intervention, Angelique Francesca Trigueros

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Questions remain about the range of abilities autistic children possess and what constitutes effective treatment. Strength-based intervention contrasts with traditional autistic intervention approaches that focus on children's deficits. Studies on strength-based intervention approaches have not revealed how children's strengths are identified and have not used the insights of parents for this purpose. Neurodiversity serves as the conceptual framework because the tenets of neurodiversity align with those of strength-based approaches and hold that autism is a variation of the human condition rather than a disability. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive phenomenological study was to explore how the parent-identified strengths of …

A Rapid, Handheld Device To Assess Respiratory Resistance: Clinical And Normative Evidence, Aaron B. Holley, Wesley D. Boose, Michael Perkins, Karen L. Sheikh, Nancy P. Solomon, Angela M. Dietsch, Jafar Vossoughi, Arthur T. Johnson, Jacob F. Collen

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Following reports of respiratory symptoms among service members returning from deployment to South West Asia (SWA), an expert panel recommended pre-deployment spirometry be used to assess disease burden. Unfortunately, testing with spirometry is high cost and time-consuming. The airflow perturbation device (APD) is a handheld monitor that rapidly measures respiratory resistance (APD-R_r) and has promising but limited clinical data. Its speed and portability make it ideally suited for large volume pre-deployment screening. We conducted a pilot study to assess APD performance characteristics and develop normative values.

Materials and Methods: We prospectively enrolled subjects and derived …

My Client Knows That He’S About To Stutter: How Can We Address Stuttering Anticipation During Therapy With Young People Who Stutter?, Eric S. Jackson, Hope Gerlach, Naomi H. Rodgers, Patricia M. Zebrowski

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Stuttering anticipation is endorsed by many people who stutter as a core aspect of the stuttering experience. Anticipation is primarily a covert phenomenon and people who stutter respond to anticipation in a variety of ways. At the same time as anticipation occurs and develops internally, for many individuals the “knowing” or “feeling” that they are about to stutter is a primary contributor to the chronicity of the disorder. In this article, we offer a roadmap for both understanding the phenomenon of anticipation and its relevance to stuttering development. We introduce the Stuttering Anticipation Scale (SAS)—a 25-item clinical tool that can …

The Efficacy Of Baby Sign Language In Reducing Problem Behaviors In Typically Developing Children, Nguyen-Chau Dinh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Baby sign is an emerging trend that is speculated to reduce the instances of tantrums, emotional outbursts, and frustration in typically hearing infants (Nelson, White, & Grewe, 2012). Despite its proclaimed benefits, little research has been conducted to evaluate the true efficacy of baby sign in reducing problem behaviors in typically hearing children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether or not baby sign could be used as an alternative and augmentative communication modality in increasing communicative intent and decreasing stress. A single subject, AB design was used to examine the changes in behavior in a typically developing …

Auditory Selective Attention Performance In Older And Younger Bilingual Adults, Ninive Corina Gomez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent research has suggested that bilinguals may have enhanced cognitive abilities resulting from the constant management and maintenance of their two language systems. This cognitive advantage has been evidenced in studies showing that bilinguals outperform monolinguals on tasks of visual selective attention. However, very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences selective attention in the perception of auditory information. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of bilingualism on auditory selective attention. A total of 61 participants were recruited to participate and divided into four participant groups: 15 younger monolinguals (between the ages of 18-25), 15 …

Preseason Assessment As A Predictor Of Post-Concussion Performance Of Athletes On The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment And Cognitive Test, Kelly Marie Lambeth

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ideally, athletes are assessed pre-season to establish their cognitive-communicative status for comparison purposes if the athlete suffers a concussion during their season. Post-concussion (PC) assessment comparison with the baseline (BL) assessment will provide clinical information for treatment of the athlete's concussion. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) test was used for assessment of pre-and post-concussion. Because the literature indicates that some athlete's attempt to actively perform poorly on the preseason assessment to misrepresent their performance post-concussion it would be interesting to determine if there is a score on the ImPACT pre-season test that would predict their post-concussion test …

Changes In Fundamental Frequency Of Voice In A Group Of Transwomen Following Voice Modification Therapy, Emily Marquez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The term transgender refers to an individual that identifies with a gender that is different to the one given at birth. Individuals that are transgender experience conflict between the gender the individual identifies with and the sex they are born with. Individuals that are transgender may elect to go through a transition process so that their outward appearance is congruent with their gender identity. Part of the transition process may include voice modification therapy. Transgender individuals may seek voice modification therapy so that the outward appearance matches the voice. However, there is limited information regarding the efficacy of traditional voice …

Using Baby Sign As A Facilitating Technique To Segment Speech With 4-18-Month-Old Monolingual And Bilingual Hearing Infants-An Extension Study, Johanna Puga-Martinez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The intricacies involved in learning language are astounding, nonetheless, infants are more than capable of accomplishing this feat within their first few years of life. This unbelievable achievement is carried out through numerous milestones and exposure to multiple modalities of stimuli all around them. Through the use of these modalities, be it auditory or visual, infants begin their journey to learn language with the task of extracting words from fluent speech, speech segmentation. Researchers have found that infants as young as 6-months can segment words from the speech stream by using their own name or highly familiar words like momma …

An Evaluation Of Interprofessional Knowledge And Attitudes In Graduate Students From Six Programs In Health Sciences After An Interprofessional Education Workshop Experience, Joanna Velasco

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Interprofessional Education (IPE) occurs when two or more disciplines learn about, from, and with each other to provide interprofessional patient-centered care which ultimately improves patient health care outcomes (WHO, 2010). Through collaboration, students not only bring their own expertise, but are given an opportunity to learn what the other disciplines can offer for the same patient. Although IPE's importance is highly recognized, many universities do not engage in IPE practice because of scheduling difficulties, lack of faculty involvement, implementation challenges for various levels of competency, and uncertainty of how to measure the effectiveness of IPE activities (Johnson et al., 2015). …

Speech Recognition In Noise Performance In Younger And Older Spanish-English Bilinguals' L1 And L2, Elisa Guadalupe Barraza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: Previous research has shown that Spanish/English speaking bilinguals have difficulty understanding English speech in background noise compared to their monolingual counterparts. However, the effects of age on bilinguals' speech understanding performance remains unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether older Spanish/English bilingual speakers are at an increased disadvantage understanding speech in the presence of background noise compared to older English monolinguals.

Methods: 15 younger Spanish-English (S/E) bilinguals, 15 older S/E bilinguals, 15 younger English monolinguals and 15 older English monolinguals participated in the study. Speech recognition performance was measured using the Spanish and English versions …