Communication Sciences and Disorders Commons^™

Student Perceptions Of Reading Preparation And Textbook Use In Professional Allied Health Programs, Laura Stimler, Camille Skubik-Peplaski, Melba G. Custer, Shirley P. O'Brien

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: In professional allied health education, textbooks are central to developing course content, student learning and certification exams, but little is known about the graduate student’s perspective. This study was intended to describe current trends in graduate students’ point of view, habits and opinions related to buying and using textbooks and other resources in allied health education. Methods: This was a multi-site collaborative research project. An electronic survey was developed to gather data on student habits and perspectives regarding textbook preferences including digital texts, academic reading, exam preparation, and obtaining course materials. The survey was distributed across four academic institutions. …

Factors Affecting The Use Of Vestibular/Balance Screening Measures In Audiologists And Physical Therapists In Patients Reporting Dizziness, Alexandria W. Greene, Ashley G. Flagge, Nicholas S. Stanley

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Vestibular/balance screeners can improve the efficiency of the diagnostic process. Despite prior literature illustrating the importance of screeners, research suggests that many professionals do not utilize screening protocols. Methods: Thirty-two audiologists and thirty-four physical therapists completed an electronic survey with questions regarding the use of screeners and the referral process. The survey examined variables surrounding the use of vestibular/balance screeners among audiologists and physical therapists, including frequency of use, commonly used screeners, and factors affecting the use or non-use of screeners. Results: Physical therapists utilized vestibular/balance screeners statistically more often and used a larger variety of screeners compared to …

Validation Of An Integrated Pressure Level Measured Earmold Wideband Real-Ear-To-Coupler Difference Measurement, Matthew Urichuk, David Purcell, Prudence Allen, Susan Scollie

Communication Sciences and Disorders Publications

Objective: To validate measurement of predicted earmold wideband real-ear-to-coupler difference (wRECD) using an integrated pressure level (IPL) calibrated transducer and the incorporation of an acoustically measured tubing length correction. Design: Unilateral earmold SPL wRECD using varied hearing aid tubing length and the proposed predicted earmold IPL wRECD measurement procedure were completed on all participants and compared. Study Sample: 22 normal hearing adults with normal middle ear status were recruited. Results: There were no clinically significant differences between probe-microphone and predicted earmold IPL wRECD measurements between 500 and 2500 Hz. Above 5000 Hz, the predicted earmold IPL wRECD exceeded earmold SPL …

Development And Initial Evaluation Of The Hearing Aid Attribute And Feature Importance Evaluation (Hafie) Questionnaire, Hasan Saleh, Paula Folkeard, Selina Liao, Susan Scollie

Communication Sciences and Disorders Publications

Objectives: To develop and validate a novel questionnaire aimed at providing a structured, evidence-based methodology for hearing aid recommendation and selection using self-reported importance ratings for different modern hearing aid features. Design: The initial questionnaire items were created through a concept mapping approach that involved input from hearing aid users. Hearing care professional focus groups (n¼10) were conducted to assess questionnaire content and design, and to guide modifications. Validation of this initial 34-item version of the questionnaire was conducted using an anonymous online survey tool (Qualtrics). Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the dataset, using …

Objective Discrimination Of Bimodal Speech Using Frequency Following Responses, Can Xu, Fan-Yin Cheng, Sarah Medina, Erica Eng, René Gifford, Spencer Smith

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Bimodal hearing, in which a contralateral hearing aid is combined with a cochlear implant (CI), provides greater speech recognition benefits than using a CI alone. Factors predicting individual bimodal patient success are not fully understood. Previous studies have shown that bimodal benefits may be driven by a patient's ability to extract fundamental frequency (f0) and/or temporal fine structure cues (e.g., F1). Both of these features may be represented in frequency following responses (FFR) to bimodal speech. Thus, the goals of this study were to: 1) parametrically examine neural encoding of f0 and F1 in simulated bimodal speech conditions; 2) examine …

Exploring First Semester Allied Health Students’ Transition To Graduate School Through The Lens Of Occupational Adaptation, Carly E. Williams, Jessica N. O'Brien, Rebecca E. Dodick, Jillian M. Bell, Jennifer O. Knauth, Lorrie A. George-Paschal, Nancy Krusen, Jacquie Rainey

Innovations in Health Sciences Education Journal

The purpose of the study was to examine experiences of students transitioning into graduate allied health programs within a public university in the United States. Researchers assessed students’ occupational adaptation as well as factors that facilitated and inhibited their transition. Researchers collected data using the Relative Mastery Scale (RMS) (George-Paschal, Krusen, & Fan, 2022) and a researcher-developed transition survey. Participants included 129 students from three allied-health professions. Researchers conducted a mixed ANOVA to explore differences in RMS ratings across three disciplines. There was a statistically significant increase in RMS ratings over time for all disciplines and statistically significant differences between …

Trumpet Directivity From A Rotating Semicircular Array, Samuel D. Bellows, Joseph E. Avila, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

The directivity function of a played musical instrument describes the angular dependence of its acoustic radiation and diffraction about the instrument, musician, and musician’s chair. Directivity influences sound in rehearsal, performance, and recording environments and signals in audio systems. Because high-resolution, spherically comprehensive measurements of played musical instruments have been unavailable in the past, the authors have undertaken research to produce and share such data for studies of musical instruments, simulations of acoustical environments, optimizations of microphone placements, and other applications. The authors acquired the data from repeated chromatic scales produced by a trumpet played at mezzo-forte in an anechoic …

Neural Correlates Of Individual Differences In Speech-In-Noise Performance In A Large Cohort Of Cochlear Implant Users, Joel I. Berger, Phillip E. Gander, Subong Kim, Adam T. Schwalje, Jihwan Woo, Young Min Na, Ann Holmes, Jean M. Hong, Camille C. Dunn, Marlan R. Hansen, Bruce J. Gantz, Bob Mcmurray, Timothy D. Griffiths, Inyong Choi

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Objectives: Understanding speech-in-noise (SiN) is a complex task that recruits multiple cortical subsystems. Individuals vary in their ability to understand SiN. This cannot be explained by simple peripheral hearing profiles, but recent work by our group (Kim et al. 2021, Neuroimage) highlighted central neural factors underlying the variance in SiN ability in normal hearing (NH) subjects. The present study examined neural predictors of SiN ability in a large cohort of cochlear-implant (CI) users. Design: We recorded electroencephalography in 114 postlingually deafened CI users while they completed the California consonant test: a word-in-noise task. In many subjects, data were also collected …

Recursive Functional Learning In Nonfluent Aphasia, Gerald C. Imaezue

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

People with nonfluent aphasia (PWNA) require feedback from an external agent as well self-feedback to facilitate performance of language production tasks. The extent to which PWNA can use self-feedback alone to improve their task performance is unknown. In addition, it is argued that self-feedback may reinforce or minimize performance errors over time. To test whether either is the case, we introduce an original learning mechanism, recursive functional learning, which uses self-feedback loops to optimize recursively multiple subsystems (cognitive and linguistic subsystems) that PWNA engage during task performance. We used this mechanism to underpin a novel automated procedure we developed, recursive …

One Font Doesn’T Fit All: The Influence Of Digital Text Personalization On Comprehension In Child And Adolescent Readers, Shannon M. Sheppard, Susanne L. Nobles, Anton Palma, Sophie Kajfez, Marjorie Jordan, Kathy Crowley, Sofie Beier

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Reading comprehension is an essential skill. It is unclear whether and to what degree typography and font personalization may impact reading comprehension in younger readers. With advancements in technology, it is now feasible to personalize digital reading formats in general technology tools, but this feature is not yet available for many educational tools. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of character width and inter-letter spacing on reading speed and comprehension. We enrolled 94 children (kindergarten–8th grade) and compared performance with six font variations on a word-level semantic decision task (Experiment 1) and a passage-level comprehension task (Experiment 2). …

Multicultural Assessment Practices: A Phenomenological Study Examining Speech-Language Pathologists' Self-Efficacy, Paola Jessica Flores

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand speech-language pathologists’ (SLP) self-efficacy beliefs toward assessing culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students within public elementary schools in California. Bandura’s self-efficacy theory guided this study since it evaluated SLPs’ belief in their capacity to manage their motivation, behavior, and social environment to carry out appropriate assessment procedures for CLD students. As not all students from CLD backgrounds are accurately identified, gathering the SLPs’ lived experiences regarding current assessment practices helped provide insight into the appropriate identification of SLI. Participants included SLPs employed by rural public school districts in California, with students …

The Directional Effect Of Target Position On Spatial Selective Auditory Attention, Heesung Park

Dissertations, 2020-current

Spatial selective auditory attention plays a crucial role in listening in a mixture of competing speech sounds. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported alpha band neural activity modulated by auditory attention, along with the alpha lateralization corresponding to attentional focus. A greater cortical representation of the attended speech envelope compared to the ignored speech envelope was also found, a phenomenon known as 'neural speech tracking’. However, little is known about the neural activities when attentional focus is directed on speech sounds from behind the listener, even though understanding speech from behind is a common and essential aspect of daily life. The …

Increasing Pediatric Hearing Aid Use: Considerations For Clinical Practice, Karen Muñoz, Kali Markle, Guadalupe G. San Miguel, Michael P. Twohig

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

Purpose: Hearing aid use can be variable for young children, and inconsistent wear time can undermine spoken language development. This study explored the effectiveness of hearing aid data logging (DL) awareness and coaching sessions on increasing hours of hearing aid use. We also collected qualitative data on challenges participants experienced managing hearing aid use.

Method: We used a single-subject design that included three conditions, during a 6-week period, in the same order for each participant. Condition A was baseline, Condition B was DL monitoring alone, and Condition C was remote coaching calls plus DL monitoring.

Results: Hours of hearing aid …

Factors Affecting The Healthcare Of Adults With Communication Difficulties Due To Autism Spectrum Disorder And/Or Intellectual And Developmental Disability, Kathryn L. Shady

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This dissertation explores the healthcare barriers and facilitators experienced by autistic adults and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) who have communication difficulties (CD).

Problem: Approximately 5-10% of Americans have CD, including difficulties such as stuttering, aphasia, apraxia, and other forms of language impairment(1,2). Communication difficulties are present in about 25-30% of autistic individuals and 57.9% of those with IDD, which accounts for a large and poorly studied portion of those with CD(3,4). Individuals with CD report negative healthcare experiences and decreased levels of satisfaction with healthcare providers secondary to practices such as communication solely with a …

Laryngeal Symptoms Related To Motor Phenotypes In Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review, Zoë Thijs Ph.D., Matthew Dumican

Communication Sciences and Disorders: Faculty Publications

Objective This study aimed to systematically review the associations between motor clinical phenotypes in Parkinson's disease (PD) and laryngeal disease symptoms. Laryngeal dysfunctions such as dysphonia and dysphagia are ubiquitous in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Similar to other disease symptoms, they manifest variably across PwPD. Some of the variability within PD has been explained by clinical phenotypes. However, it is unclear how laryngeal symptoms of PD express themselves across these phenotypes.

Methods Five databases were searched (MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus) in May 2022. After the removal of duplicates, all retrieved records were screened. Cohort, case–control, and …

Services Provided To Aging Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: Survey Of Speech Language Pathologists, Claire H. Gatewood

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Purpose: The present study explored current speech-language pathology service provision for aging individuals with intellectual disabilities in the United States, including areas and domains of services, factors restricting service provision, and reported knowledge and confidence of individuals within the field of speech-language pathology in providing services, to identify possible gaps of service and needed improvement.

Methods: Participants (n = 272) from across the United States completed an online survey to gather descriptive information about current speech-language pathology service provision for aging individuals with intellectual disabilities. Participants were recruited through state speech-language hearing associations and universities with speech-language pathology clinics …

Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment: Examining The Perspectives Of Survivors And Speech-Language Pathologists, Patricia Lynn Geels

Dissertations

Scientific advancements have led to significant improvements in cancer treatment and increased survival rates. However, cancer survivors often experience long-term effects, including cognitive impairments known as cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI). CRCI is a common and distressing side effect that affects affected individuals’ quality of life. The discipline of speech-language pathology (SLP) is well-positioned to assess and treat CRCI. Still, there is a gap in determining the most effective support for cancer survivors with CRCI. This mixed methods, three-paper dissertation implements exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to examine how speech-language pathologists and survivors view CRCI symptoms, its impact on daily functioning, and …

The Relationship Of Levels Of Hearing And Course Format With Course Satisfaction: A Predictive Correlational Study, Diana Blakeney-Billings

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study using a predictive, correlational design was to investigate the relationship between two unrelated predictor variables (levels of hearing and course format) and one criterion variable (course satisfaction scores). The study included 239 undergraduate students enrolled in HED 101 at an HBCU institution in Alabama. Hearing loss is an invisible disorder that impacts social, emotional, and educational aspects. This study was critical to determine whether course modality and hearing loss can influence students’ course satisfaction. Data collection involved administering the collaborative learning, social presence, and satisfaction (CLSS) questionnaire and an audiological hearing screening that involved …

Incorporating Poi As A Therapeutic Modality For Preschool Aged Children In The Care Clinic, Danielle Zirkle

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

New Mexico Teachers’ Perceptions Of Students Who Stutter, Kyla Evelyn Cook

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Although stuttering may have a negative impact on quality of life, social support can mediate this impact and result in better outcomes. Teachers can be an important support for children. However, studies have shown that teachers have similar biases and knowledge compared to the public, and therefore may hold harmful beliefs about their students who stutter. This online survey is part of the assessment phase that aims to investigate the local attitudes and beliefs of K-12 school teachers in New Mexico. The data showed that New Mexico teachers have similar knowledge and biases as teachers globally. Results indicate New Mexico …