Speech Pathology and Audiology Commons^™

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 …

Functional Recovery: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Specific Variables Within A Post-Hospital Inter-Disciplinary Brain Injury Rehabilitation - Residential Program, Victoria Harding

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The mixed methods explanatory design study examined specific constructs of Post Hospital Interdisciplinary Brain Injury Rehabilitation – Residential (PHIDBIR-R) programs that positively influenced gains in function. The investigation involved exploring the phenomenon of individuals’ experiences while participating in a PHIDBIR-R program as part of recovery from brain injury. The study’ primary purpose was to understand individuals who make the greatest gains in function while participating in these programs, as measured by the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory-4 (MPAI-4) change scores from admission to discharge and what are the components of these programs that may contribute to individuals’ gains in function.

Data were …

The Effect Of Taste On Swallowing Function, Rachel Mulheren

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This study investigated the effects of taste on swallowing frequency and cortical activation in the swallowing network. The effects of salivary flow and taster status were also examined, along with genetic taster status. The effects of a 3ml bolus compared sour, sour with slow infusion, sweet, water, and water with infusion. Swallowing frequency was significantly higher 0-15 seconds after bolus delivery than 16-30 seconds. Swallowing frequency was higher in the sour conditions, whereas sweet and water did not differ. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy recordings measured changes in blood oxygenation (HbO) in the right and left hemispheres in the premotor, S1 and …

The Effect Of Auditory Fatigue On Reaction Time In Normal Hearing Listeners, Beth I. Hulvey

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Hearing impaired individuals often report feeling fatigue at the end of the day. These individuals are forced to exert more cognitive effort throughout the day as they strain to understand speech in an ever-changing auditory environment through an impaired/degraded auditory system (Rabbitt, 1991). Today’s digital hearing aids attempt to increase audibility and relieve cognitive strain through advanced signal processing techniques such as digital noise reduction (DNR). Recent research regarding noise and its effects on auditory fatigue in hearing impaired listeners suggests that DNR may reduce the effects of auditory fatigue (Sarampalis et al, 2009). The overarching goal of a future …

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), …

Training To Avoid Distractions, Cara E. Sanderson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Introduction: Auditory training has been extensively studied and applied to training software that is currently available for children with attention, hearing, or speech/language difficulties. The extent to which training generalizes, or transfers to an untrained task, is of great theoretical value. To our knowledge, there has not been a study that examines transference to a non-sensory masking task.

Methods: 16 adults without ADHD were trained in a contralateral masking task over the course of two days, with 900 trials per day. False alarm rates, thresholds, and reaction times were measured. Pre- and post-tests of contralateral and informational masking were conducted …

Effect Of Adaptive Frequency Lowering On Phoneme Identification And Sound Quality Of Music In Hearing-Impaired Listeners, Kaitlyn A. Sabri

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The most common type and configuration of hearing loss seen in clinics is high frequency sensorineural hearing loss. High-frequency hearing losses can lead to difficulties understanding speech in noise. Traditional amplification can aid in audibility of high-frequency information; however, its success is limited due to acoustic feedback, output limitations of the hearing aids, and loudness discomfort (Bohnert, Nyffeler, & Keilmann, 2010, Turner & Cummings, 1999). Cochlear dead regions further hinder the success of traditional hearing aids, as speech recognition may not improve with increased audibility (Turner & Cummings, 1999). Frequency-lowering algorithms, developed by four major hearing aid manufacturers, attempt to …

The Discrimination Of Cv Synthetic Syllables As A Function Of Phonetic Training And Noise Conditions, Ryan Mulligan, Antony Joseph

AuD Capstone Projects - Communication Sciences and Disorders

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine the effect of two signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and formal phonetic training on auditory discrimination of just noticeable differences (JND) among consonant vowel (CV) synthetic syllables. Fine-grain auditory discrimination abilities of 16 young-adults with undergraduate studies that included phonetic training and 17 young-adults with no phonetic training were assessed using a same/different discrimination task in a +3 SNR and a +13 SNR listening condition. Subjects listened to pairs of CV contrasts presented in rapid succession and indicated whether the contrastive syllables were the same or different. Results revealed a significant difference …

Dysarthria: A Study Of Effects On Communication, Casey Johnsen

Senior Honors Projects

Dysarthria is an impairment characterized by slow, weak, and imprecise muscle movements that affect one’s speech and communication. The specific characteristics of dysarthria vary depending on the site and extent of the lesion. Some general examples include articulatory-resonatory incompetence, imprecise consonants, distorted vowels, hypernasality, low pitch, harshness, strained-strangled voice and prosodic disturbances including slow rate. Dysarthria can be found in both children and adults, and is caused by neurologic disorders such as stroke, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s disease, or muscular dystrophy. Dysarthria can negatively impact one’s social participation. The extra effort it takes to speak and the frustration of …

Central Auditory Processing And The Link To Reading Ability In Adults, Lisa M. Brody

Honors Scholar Theses

What makes someone a good reader? What makes someone a poor reader? The root biological marker of reading ability has yet to be determined. Many scientists agree that phonological awareness, the understanding of speech sounds, and phonological decoding are key components of reading ability (Melby-Lervag, Lyster, & Hulme, 2012). In addition to this, new research suggests that the auditory system, specifically the timing of auditory processing in the brain, provides a crucial platform that supports the development of reading ability (Banai et al., 2009). This thesis provides empirical data to support the link between reading skill …

College Professors’ And Students’ Perceptions Toward College Students Who Stutter, Patricia N. Chastain

Honors Theses

Research on stuttering has reflected the perceptions of speech-language pathologists (Swartz, Gabel & Irani, 2009; Crichton-Smith, Wright & Stackhouse, 2003; Cooper & Cooper, 1996; Kalinowski, Armson, J., Stuart, A., & Lerman, J. W., 1993; Daniels, Panico, & Sudhoolt, 2011), students (Mayo & Mayo, 2013; Dorsey & Guenther, 2000), and professors (Dorsey & Guenther, 2000; Silverman, 1990; Ruscello et al., 1990) toward people who stutter (PWS). The findings of the aforementioned studies indicated there is neither a wholly positive or negative attitudinal trend in the perceptions towards PWS within or across groups. Only one study was conducted (15 years ago) that …

Training Clinical Judgment Skills For Interpreting Feeding Behavior In Preterm Infants: A Comparison Of Video And In Vivo Simulation, Jamesa R. Ewing

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Health and feeding outcomes for preterm infants depend upon healthcare providers’ ability to recognize non-verbal signs of distress during bottle-feeding. Methods of training future providers’ to interpret feeding behavior in preterm infants are unclear. This study used a pre-test/post-test design to compare the effects of in- vivo simulation and video-simulation training on students’ knowledge of feeding abnormalities, clinical judgment, and documentation accuracy. Fifty-two graduate level speech-language pathology students were assigned to the in-vivo (N= 27) or video-simulation (N= 25) group. Results revealed that both methods proved beneficial for increasing knowledge and clinical judgment skills. Participants trained using video-simulation training documented …

Assessing Vocabulary Of Children: Investigating The Evaluation And Instruction Of Basic Concepts, Rebecca Elizabeth Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vocabulary knowledge of preschool children is a key factor in predicting literacy success in elementary school (Hammer, Farkas, & Maczuga, 2010). However, few deliberate attempts to teach basic concept vocabulary have been studied (Bowers & Schwarz, 2013; Wilson, 2004). The purpose of this research is to determine if large group explicit instruction with interactive activities of specific basic concept vocabulary will increase preschool children's understanding of basic concept terms when measured by a standardized basic concept assessment. This research will also assess the validity of a basic concept-curriculum based measure (BC-CBM) as an efficient tool to monitor a child's understanding …

Preliteracy Skills Promoted In Children’S Spanish-Language Books, Katherine Marie Suter

Masters Theses

As of July 1, 2013, the latest census figures indicate that there are approximately 54 million Latinosliving in the U.S. (US Census Bureau, 2013). However, many Latino children still do not receive the services or resources they need to perform well academically. The primary aim of this research study is to determine if the books available to Spanish-speaking Latino¹ populations in two Michigan Counties contain features that might be used to facilitate beginning pre-literacy skills.

Children’s Spanish-language books from bookstores and public libraries were analyzed to determine the presence of features that might facilitate print awareness, phonological awareness, and …

The Effects Of Aging On Auditory Duration Discrimination, Rachael N. Luckett

Honors Theses

The goal of this study is to identify how auditory duration discrimination ability varies across age groups by using an unbiased stimulus such as a music tone. This will be accomplished by conducting a quantitative study testing duration discrimination skills in young and elderly adults. Their confidence ratings per response will also be included along with their discrimination results. The author will generate data that compare the duration discrimination abilities of young versus elderly adults. The null hypothesis is that there is no difference in duration discrimination between elderly and young adults.

Productions Of Metalinguistic Awareness By Young Children With Sli And Typical Language, Lucy E. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to: (1) determine if differences exist between children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) compared to age-matched (AM) and language- matched (LM) children with typical language development (TL) in rates and proportions of five types of metalinguistic productions and (2) test theories of metalinguistic production. Forty-five children, 24 with TL and 21 with SLI, paired for age or language level, formed two groups. Previously collected data from two studies of verb learning (Proctor-Williams & Fey, 2007; Proctor- Williams, unpublished) were analyzed for rates and types of metalinguistic productions. Results yielded no within or between group significant differences in …

Bridging Theories Of Phonological Awareness For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Children: Perspectives From Verbotonal Specialists In The United States, Jazmin Rambeau

Honors Theses

Approaching literacy instruction for children who are deaf and hard of hearing is one of the most significant challenges within global education because there are various evidence-based theories in the literature as to why children who are deaf and hard of hearing often manifest impaired reading abilities compared to children with normal hearing, and how they may acquire literacy skills differently. This study aims to identify agreements within the literature regarding the role of phonological awareness in literacy acquisition for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and how tools such as the Verbotonal method of auditory therapy may …

A Call For Hearing Loss Prevention Programs In College Music Education Programs, Jason Taurins

Honors Theses

Music educators, ensemble conductors, and students who participate in musical ensembles are exposed to sound pressure levels which exceed the criteria for NIOSH. As such, this population should be enrolled in hearing loss prevention programs. Ensemble directors (many music educators fall into this category) have a direct role in influencing the sound pressure levels produced in rehearsals. Music educators have a role in influencing the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors of their students. Because of the health risks of noise exposure, and the role music educators (and ensemble directors in general) have in influencing their students, hearing loss prevention should …

Incidental Phonological Awareness Instruction In Early Childhood Education: The Development Of An Observational Tool, Emma Cooper

Honors Theses

Explicit phonological awareness instruction in preschool curricula has been established as playing a fundamental role in improving reading outcomes in children (Carroll, Snowling, Stevenson, & Hulme, 2003). However, to date, there has been a lack of evidential research data that assess the value of incidental phonological awareness instruction as a supplement to regular instruction within these preschool classrooms (Phillips, Clancy-Menchetti, & Lonigan, 2008). This study covers the development and evaluation of an observational tool designed to capture, quantify, and assess instances of incidental phonological awareness instruction in preschool and early childhood education classrooms.

After a review of extant measures, a …