Speech Pathology and Audiology Commons^™

Pre-Pulse Inhibition In Mutated Mice: Studying Compromised Microglial Cells To Discover New Genetic Connections To Autism, Bailey R. Kramarik

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Microglial cells “play a pivotal role in refining neural networks during early critical periods” (Gabriele & Gray, 2020, p. 1). A disturbance in the functioning of these microglial cells contribute to specific characteristics of some neurodevelopmental disorders- including autism spectrum disorder. In this study, we used a mouse model to study disruptions in cell activity, as understanding the biological and genetic background of autism spectrum disorder could help us provide better treatment and therapy options to those diagnosed.

The mutated mice in this experiment have microglial cells with “compromised fractalkine signaling” (Gabriele & Gray, 2020, p. 4-5). We studied multimodal …

The Impact Of Distance Education On Therapy Services For Students With Asd: An Slp Perspective, Andrea Spragg

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused an abrupt change in the day-to-day lives of individuals across the world as adults were forced to work from home and children were forced into virtual school environments. For all students, this disruption in schedule and daily routine been hard, but especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Mumbardo-Adam et al., 2021). For many students with ASD, school is a place in which they receive many essential services and social interactions, such as speech therapy, that they may not receive other places. The purpose of this survey research was to understand the …

The Relationship Between Quality Of Life Outcomes And Social Hearing For Cochlear Implant Recipients Using The Nciq And Pipsl, Bonnie A. Purtill

Dissertations, 2020-current

Unmanaged hearing loss can have profound cognitive, social, and emotional impacts on a person’s life. Cochlear implants improve functional skills such as auditory detection and speech discrimination, and have also been shown to improve quality of life. Health related quality of life (HRQoL) measures are a great tool to assess mental, physical, and social changes after cochlear implantation. While previous research has established improvement in HRQoL after cochlear implantation, there remains a lack of research evaluating long-term effects of cochlear implants for post-lingually and bilaterally deafened adults. Using a disease specific HRQoL questionnaire—Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ) and a social …

Amplitude-Modulated Cvemp (Amcvemps) Versus Transient Cvemp Response Properties: Possible Implications, Andrew Thorne

Dissertations, 2020-current

Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) elicited by steady-state amplitude-modulated (AM) tones yield different information than conventional cVEMPs elicited by transient tonebursts, such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and phase coherence (PC). This study systematically examined the effects of tonic EMG activation on AMcVEMP response properties versus conventional transient cVEMPs. Thirty five young, healthy adults (ages 19–23) with normal audiograms and no known vestibular lesions participated in this study. AMcVEMPs were elicited with bone-conducted tones with a carrier frequency of 500 Hz and an amplitude modulation frequency of 37 Hz, and transient cVEMPs were elicited by 4-0-4 Blackman-gated 500 Hz tonebursts …

Temporal Modulation Transfer Functions Of Amplitude-Modulated Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials In Young Adults, Kerri Lawlor

Dissertations, 2020-current

Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) are widely used to evaluate saccular function in clinical and research applications. Typically, transient tonebursts are used to elicit cVEMPs. In this study, we used bone-conducted amplitude-modulated (AM) tones to elicit AMcVEMPs. This new approach allows the examination of phase-locked vestibular responses across a range of modulation frequencies. Currently, cVEMP temporal modulation transfer functions (TMTFs) are not well defined. The purposes of the present study were 1) to characterize the AMcVEMP TMTF in young, healthy individuals, 2) to compare AMcVEMP TMTFs across different analysis approaches, and 3) to determine the upper frequency limit of …

A Survey Of Cochlear Implant Clinical Protocols In India, Ariana Morris

Dissertations, 2020-current

The most recent data published in December 2019 records that approximately 736,900 registered cochlear implantation devices have been received since their approval in the 1980s. While 183,100 of these devices belong to U.S. Citizens, the large majority of cochlear implant recipients live in other countries (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016). While a lack of standardized practices exists in relation to audiologic care and management of cochlear implant devices and patients, Browning et al. (2020) attempts to assess and analyze common practices amongst audiologists practicing within the United States of America. This survey uses a modified questionnaire based …

Remote-Frequency Masking And Speech Perception In Adults, Taylor L. Arbogast

Dissertations, 2020-current

The primary purpose of this study is threefold: to use SRT measurements to examine the effect of various remote-frequency, narrowband maskers on adult’s perception of narrowband speech, to compare the performance between low and high band speech stimuli, and to evaluate the combination of these approaches by examining the correlation between the masking effect observed with speech and pure tone stimuli. Twelve subjects aged 22-34, with hearing thresholds no worse than 15 dB HL for frequencies 500-8000 Hz, participated in two listening tasks. In the speech perception task, coordinate response measure (CRM) sentences and their maskers were separately filtered into …

Quasi-Experimental Design And Outcomes Of A Graduate Clinician And Caregiver-Infant Coaching Intervention In A University Speech-Language Pathology Program, Shiree C. Harbick

Dissertations, 2020-current

Infants are born ready to learn language as one of their most critical developmental tasks, yet infants subject to environmental risk factors related to poverty and low maternal education have been shown to lag behind their peers in language development as early as 8 months of age. Research also indicates the quality of an infant’s language environment can significantly diminish the effects of these risk factors. This quasi-experimental clinical research study explored the effects of a preventive caregiver-infant coaching intervention delivered by graduate student clinicians in a university speech-language pathology program.

Developed based on a systematic review of preventive programs …

Like, It’S Important: The Frequency And Use Of Like In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rebekah Jones

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Background & Aims: Discourse markers, such as well or like serve a variety of functions to support conversational reciprocity: filling pauses, aiding word-finding, holding conversational turns, and providing information about pause length. Previous research shows that individuals with ASD use discourse markers less frequently than neurotypical (NT) peers; however, the discourse marker like has been left out of that research, despite its ubiquitous use by NT individuals, and despite the fact that like serves important pragmatic functions that are not encoded by any other discourse marker. Specifically, like signals to the listener that the content of upcoming speech is 1) …

Measuring Referential Communication Dynamically In Older Children With Asd, Caitlin Lee

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Research finds individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are relatively ineffective and/or inefficient at referential communication. However, this research typically uses static metrics of efficacy (how accurately messages were relayed) and efficiency (overall word count), rather than dynamic ones (e.g., Does the speaker alter subsequent descriptions when the listener previously misunderstood them?). The aim of this research is to use dynamic measures of efficacy and efficiency to examine how speakers with and without ASD adjust their message to meet listener needs across time. Fifteen older children with (n = 8) and without (n = 7) ASD were included. …

Responses To Partner Comments And Acknowledgements In Students With And Without Autism, Kaitlyn Bresette

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Some children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) initiate and respond less frequently than neurotypicals (NT) during language sampling tasks. More information is needed regarding how partner behaviors, such as comments and acknowledgements and the sampling context, influence the types of responses provided by children with ASD. This research study examined responses to adult comments and acknowledgments in two language sampling tasks, a traditional Share and Tell sample and a Double Interview sample (Garcia-Winner, 2002).

Participants. Fifty-eight participants, between the ages of 10 and 17 years, were recruited across two labs. The sample consisted of 28 adolescents with ASD …

Usability And Feasibility Of A Spoken Language Outcome Monitoring Procedure In A Canadian Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Program: Results Of A 1-Year Pilot, Olivia Daub, Barbara Jane Cunningham, Marlene P. Bagatto, Janis Oram Cardy

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Abstract

Purpose: Best practice recommendations for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs include routine spoken language outcome monitoring. The present article reports on pilot data that evaluated the usability and feasibility of a spoken language outcome monitoring procedure developed for Ontario’s Infant Hearing Program (IHP). This procedure included both Program-level monitoring using omnibus language tests from birth to 6;0 and individual vulnerability monitoring of key domains of spoken language known to be at risk in children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing.

Methodology: Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the IHP piloted the new procedures for one year and provided feedback on the procedure …

Association Between Craniofacial Anomalies And Newborn Hearing Screening Fail Rate, Kaitlyn Sheapp, Ruth S. Marin, Larry Medwetsky

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Purpose: Increased knowledge of the prevalence of various craniofacial anomalies and their associated risks for hearing loss can help guide 1) development of evidence-based practice regarding detection and documentation of risk factors at birth and 2) health care professionals to make appropriate recommendations for follow-up testing and monitoring.

Method: Records were reviewed for 39,813 infants born at Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center and White Oak Medical Center between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2019 to determine the association between the presence of craniofacial anomalies and newborn hearing screening fail rates, as well as the prevalence of confirmed hearing …

Adaptation Of The Conditioned Assessment Of Speech Production In Spanish, Alliete R. Alfano, Daniel Gonzalez, David J. Ertmer

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the adaptation of the Spanish adaptation of the CASP.

Method: The authors adapted each segment into Spanish, then had 41 participants complete a survey to determine if each adapted segment was representative of the Spanish phonologic system. Thirty-six children (half with typical hearing, half with hearing loss) completed the CASP in English and Spanish. Paired samples t-tests were run to compare English and Spanish CASP scores between children with hearing loss and those with typical hearing.

Results: All segments were adapted as needed into Spanish. There was no statistical difference between …

Improving Newborn Hearing Screening Through Collaboration And Communication, Mary Duncan, Marissa Schuh, Shannon Haynes, Anita Taylor, Gwen Moreland, Raleigh Jones, Matthew Bush, Jennifer Shinn

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Purpose: Hearing loss is the number one birth defect among children. There are significant consequences of delayed diagnosis and failure to obtain timely intervention, particularly for a child’s speech and language development. Design and implementation of successful newborn hearing screening (NHS) programs can be challenging. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate improved efficiency and effectiveness of a large NHS program through the implementation of a team approach engaging both ambulatory and hospital services.

Methodology: A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis was used to develop an improved NHS program focused on improving patient care. The SWOT analysis …

Hearing Screening In North Carolina's Nicu And Well-Baby Nurseries: Impact Of Jcih 2019 And Covid-19, Jackson Roush, Shannon Culbertson, Chloe Gratzek, Jane Khin, Alexandra Mccormick, Stephanie Ortega, Madison Rock, Kathryn Sobon, Jenna Van Bosch, Hannah Siburt, Marcia Fort

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

Purpose: Over an 18-month period in 2020–2021, the North Carolina Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program in collaboration with the North Carolina Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program conducted a statewide examination of newborn hearing screening practices in North Carolina’s 24 Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and 86 well-baby nurseries to determine how current protocols and procedures conform to those recommended by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing (JCIH) in its Year 2019 Position Statement: Principles and Guidelines for Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Programs. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged during the study period and motivated …

Intervention Goals For Preschoolers With Language Difficulties And Disorders A Scoping Review Using The Icf Framework, Elaine Kwok, Carly A. Cermak, Kathryn Hatherly, Barbara Jane Cunningham

PRECISe Preschool Speech and Language Publications

Purpose: The primary aim of this scoping review was to categorize language therapy goals reported in intervention studies for preschoolers (i.e., children from 0 to 5;0 years old) with language difficulties and disorders within the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. A secondary aim was to determine whether different therapy goals were reported for different language difficulty/disorder subtypes (i.e., comparing language difficulty/disorder associated with a biomedical condition to those without an associated biomedical condition).

Method: The scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) guidelines. Articles were retrieved from speechBITE, with age (under …

The Efficacy Of The Student Communication Repair Inventory And Practical Training Program On Adolescent’S Self-Advocacy Skills In Communication Breakdowns, Karlye Tolbird

Honors Theses

Purpose

Hearing loss can affect several aspects of an adolescent’s life, particularly their self-advocacy skills and ability to communicate their needs in the classroom. Literature shows that adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years have a prevalence of hearing loss between 14.9 percent and 19.5 percent (Shargorodsky et al., 2010). Therefore, early identification and intervention of hearing loss are necessary to reduce the adverse effects on the development of cognition, verbal communication skills, and self-advocacy skills (Michael & Zidan, 2018). This research study aimed to determine if the implementation of the SCRIPT program changes the communication repair behavior …

Intensive, Interprofessional Therapy: A Case Approach, Emma C. Schrotenboer

Honors Theses

This research looks at the impacts of intensive, interprofessional therapy for children with disabilities. There is very little literature currently published on this topic, although what is available generally finds that more intense therapy is more beneficial. The child who was studied was a camper at Adam’s Camp therapy camp, a week-long program that involves six hours of therapy each day with therapists from five different fields. Her progress over the week, as well as her retention of skills several weeks later, were determined by pre- and post-camp surveys sent to the mother and the therapists’ notes from during the …

Resilience Training And Quality Of Life In Stuttering Therapy: A Systematic Review, Ashley Koehler

Honors Theses

Abstract

This study investigated correlations between resilience and quality of life relative to stuttering therapy. A systematic review and meta-analysis of articles published with focuses on stuttering, resilience training, and quality of life was conducted. Electronic databases, PubMed, and Google Scholar, were used to gain results of relevant published articles. Both search engines in this review produced relevant articles. Google Scholar produced more articles that met all 3 inclusion criteria, while PubMed produced more results that met at least 1 or 2 inclusion criteria. From both databases, numerous articles included the need for a multidimensional therapy emphasizing personal resilience. However, …