bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aerodynamic and Temporal Aspects of Velopharyngeal Function in Normal Speakers
Authors: Zajac David J. , Mayo Robert
Published: July 2014

Aerodynamic and temporal characteristics of velopharyngeal function were determined for 42 adult male and female speakers. All subjects produced the word "hamper" at self-determined loudness levels and rates of speaking. Measurements of intraoral air pressure, nasal airflow, and estimates of velopharyngeal orifice size were obtained during production of the /m/ and /p/ segments. Volume measurements of nasal airflow were determined for the entire word, the /m/ segment, and the segments preceding /m/. Fifteen timing measures associated with the pressure-flow events of the nasal-plosive sequence were also determined. Results indicated that males generated significantly higher levels of peak intraoral air pressure than females during /p/. Male speakers also exhibited a significantly shorter interval in the rise of oral pressure associated with the /p/ segment. Male and female speakers, however, exhibited similar levels of anticipatory coarticulation as reflected by nasal air volume measurements. Finally, variability of selected measurements within speakers suggested that temporal aspects of velopharyngeal function were more constrained than aerodynamic aspects. The results are discussed relative to (a) sex differences in respiratory and velar function and (b) normative data for adult speakers.
Sample Size Effects on Temporal Reliability of Language Sample Measures of Preschool Children
Authors: Gavin William J. , Giles Lisa
Published: July 2014

The present study examined the temporal reliability of four quantitative measurements of operationally defined linguistic behaviors observed in a naturalistic setting. The measures of language production were computed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software from two 20-minute language samples obtained 3 to 14 days apart for each of 20 preschool-aged children. Samples were edited to different sizes based either on duration (12 or 20 minutes) or on limits of the total number of complete and intelligible utterances (from 25 to 175 in increments of 25). Inadequate reliability was found for the language sample measure, total number of words; hence, the validity of this measure is questionable. In contrast, very high temporal reliability coefficients (
r
> .92) were obtained for the language sample measures of number of different words, mean length of utterance in morphemes, and mean sentence length in morphemes when derived from a large number (≥ 175) of complete and intelligible utterances. The temporal reliability of these measures reached acceptable levels, not only for research purposes, but for diagnostic purposes as well.
Control of Children's Stuttering With Response-Contingent Time-Out
Authors: Onslow Mark , Packman Ann , Stocker Sally , Doorn Jan van , Siegel Gerald M.
Published: July 2014

Many stuttering treatments incorporate contingencies for stuttering that are thought to contribute to treatment effectiveness. One contingency used in a number of treatment programs for children is time-out (TO) from speaking. However, although TO has been shown to control stuttering in adults there are no clear demonstrations of this effect in children. One aim of the present study was to demonstrate in the laboratory that TO reduces stuttering in children. Three school-age children spoke in a single-subject ABA experiment. In the B phase, a red light was illuminated for 5 seconds when the subject stuttered, during which time the subject stopped talking. Two of the three children showed clear reductions in stuttering in response to TO. The second aim of the study was to detect whether the children who responded to TO adopted an unusual speech pattern in order to control their stuttering. Listeners did not detect any differences between the perceptually stutter-free speech of baseline conditions and that of TO conditions, and a subsequent acoustic analysis revealed a reduction in the variability of vowel duration during TO in one subject and no changes in the other. The theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
Comparative Assessment of Electroglottographic and Acoustic Measures of Jitter in Pathological Voices
Authors: Vieira Maurílio N. , McInnes Fergus R. , Jack Mervyn A.
Published: July 2014

Jitter, or the amount of cycle-to-cycle variation in the fundamental frequency, is a characteristic of the vocal folds' vibration that may affect electroglottographic (EGG) and acoustic signals in similar ways, because the translaryngeal conductance and the oral pressure are modulated by the same physiological mechanism. Despite the apparent simplicity in jitter computation and the relative facility in recording and analyzing EGG signals, only a few studies comparing EGG and acoustic jitter have been reported. This can be attributed to the remarkable sensitivity of measures of acoustic jitter to such features as the type of sound being analyzed, the equipment used for data acquisition, or the algorithms used to identify glottal cycle boundaries. To assess the agreement achievable by measures from these signals in pathological voices, acoustic and EGG waveforms of sustained vowels (/i/, /a/, /u/) produced by 15 dysphonic patients were analyzed by jitter extraction methods on the basis of peaks, zero crossings, and a waveform matching technique. The agreement, expressed as normalized absolute differences between acoustic- and EGG-derived jitter, was poorer for /i/ and /u/ than for /a/ vowels. For /a/ vowels, a method of acoustic jitter estimation is also proposed that combines peaks and zero crossings and resulted in increased consistency with the zero crossing-based EGG measures (mean normalized absolute difference: 10.95%;
SD
: 6.44%; range: 23.81%). The proposed method, which has a built-in test intended to reject unreliable estimates, may provide more confidence in acoustic measures in dysphonic speakers and lead to a better understanding of the relationships between acoustic and EGG signals.
Cochlear Implant Use by Prelingually Deafened Children
Authors: Fryauf-Bertschy Holly , Tyler Richard S. , Kelsay Danielle M. R. , Gantz Bruce J. , Woodworth George G.
Published: July 2014

This study focused on the long-term speech perception performances of 34 prelingually deafened children who received multichannel cochlear implants manufactured by Cochlear Corporation. The children were grouped by the age at which they received cochlear implants and were characterized by the amount of time they used their devices per day. A variety of speech perception tests were administered to the children at annual intervals following the connection of the external implant hardware. No significant differences in performance are evident for children implanted before age
5
compared to children implanted after age
5
on closed-set tests of speech perception ability. All children demonstrated an improvement in performance compared to the pre-operative condition. Open-set word recognition performance is significantly better for children implanted before age
5
compared to children implanted after age
5
at the 36-month test interval and the 48-month test interval. User status, defined by the amount of daily use of the implant, significantly affects all measures of speech perception performance except pattern perception.
Modulation Masking in Listeners With Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Authors: Lorenzi Christian , Micheyl Christophe , Berthommier Frédéric , Portalier Serge
Published: July 2014

This study compares amplitude-modulation (AM) masking in listeners with normal hearing and in listeners with a hearing loss. To address this issue, we measured the detection of sinusoidal AM applied to a white noise carrier, as a function of the frequency of a masking sinusoidal AM applied to the same noise carrier. These input filter patterns were measured for four listeners with normal hearing and three listeners with moderate or mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing losses. Stimuli were presented at 50 dB SL for all listeners with normal hearing and for two of the three listeners with hearing loss. The third listener with hearing loss was tested at 25 dB SL. For the listeners with normal hearing, the input filter patterns obtained for 100-Hz signal modulation had a broad bandpass characteristic. All input filter patterns showed a primary masking peak at 100 Hz. A secondary masking peak was apparent also at 50 Hz. For the listeners with impaired hearing, the unmasked modulation thresholds were similar to those measured in the listeners with normal hearing. One listener with moderate hearing loss exhibited a broadly tuned input filter pattern with a masking peak at 100 Hz, but no secondary peak. The two other listeners with moderate or mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss showed no main masking peak and increased thresholds at low masker modulation frequencies. These results suggest that cochlear damage may affect performance in a modulation masking task.
Modifications in Aerodynamic Variables by Persons Who Stutter Under Fluency-Evoking Conditions
Authors: Stager Sheila V. , Denman Daniel W. , Ludlow Christy L.
Published: July 2014

The purposes of this study were to (a) compare the effects of fluency-evoking conditions on aerodynamic variables in 10 persons who stutter with those previously reported for 12 individuals who do not stutter; (b) determine if any changes demonstrated in the amplitude and/or timing of aerodynamic variables were accounted for by changes in speech intensity; and (c) determine if any amplitude or timing changes in flow and intraoral pressure were related to improved fluency. The fluency-evoking conditions were choral reading (CR), metronome-pacing (MET), delayed auditory feedback (DAF), and noise (NOISE). From 8 words beginning with plosive consonants in CVC contexts read aloud in sentences, measures were made of 8 variables, including closure duration, amplitude and time to maximum airflow and intraoral pressure for initial plosives, and the duration and intensity of the following vowel. Speech rate was also computed. Only fluently produced target words from persons who stutter were analyzed. All persons who stutter showed improved fluency under all conditions. Both groups demonstrated significant (
p
0.006) condition effects for peak flow, vowel intensity, and pressure rise time. Thus, fluency-evoking conditions affected these variables regardless of speaker type. Both groups changed peak pressure in similar directions from baseline depending on condition, but not significantly for each group in the same conditions. Persons who stutter significantly increased speech rate for CR, DAF, and NOISE; and persons who do not stutter significantly decreased rate under DAF. The reported changes in peak pressure and peak flow could not be accounted for by changes in vowel intensity. Larger improvements in fluency occurred under conditions when peak flow and peak pressure values were decreased from baseline. Thus, variables that were modified by both groups when speaking under conditions were also the variables related to changes in fluency for the persons who stutter.
Reading and Metaphonological Outcomes in Late Talkers
Authors: Paul Rhea , Murray Candace , Clancy Kathleen , Andrews David
Published: July 2014

Children with a history of slow expressive language development (SELD) were followed to second grade, at which point outcomes in terms of speech, language, cognitive skills, reading achievement, and metaphonological performance were evaluated. Although there were some statistically significant differences between groups, children with a history of SELD generally performed within the normal range on the measures collected. Relations among speech, reading, and metaphonology in the SELD cohort appeared to operate in a manner similar to that seen in groups with typical language development. The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of specific language impairments and for treating early circumscribed language delays are discussed.
Verb Use in Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Conti-Ramsden Gina , Jones Melanie
Published: July 2014

The aim of the present study was to use longitudinal data to provide a detailed profile of early word combinations by children with SLI. Three children with SLI were videotaped during mother-child interactions in the home over a 2-year period. The data obtained were compared to MLU-matched samples of normal language-learning children from Wells’ (1981) longitudinal database, which provided a control for the linguistic measures used in this study. A range of analyses were carried out on controlled data samples in order to determine how the children with SLI’s early utterances compared with those of MLU-matched normal language peers. The measures were specifically designed to assess the children’s use of verbs and verb morphology because recent research has suggested that verbs may play a central role in the acquisition process, and children with SLI may have particular problems with verbs. We found that children with SLI used verbs less frequently, nouns more frequently, and were more input-dependent than their MLU-matched peers. The children with SLI used verb bare stems incorrectly more often than their MLU-matched counterparts. However, further analyses showed that this high frequency of incorrect bare stems may be at least partly due to the fact that children with SLI have particular difficulties using auxiliaries. Furthermore, the proportion of verb use that consisted of General All Purpose (GAP) verbs for children with SLI was similar to that of the MLU-matched children. The above findings were compared with those from other relevant studies of lexical diversity in children with SLI, and the potential implications of these data for theories of SLI language development were discussed, particularly with reference to Marchman and Bates’ (1994) "critical mass" hypothesis.
New Developments in Low-Bit Rate Videotelephony for People Who Are Deaf
Authors: Woelders Wendy W. , Frowein Han W. , Nielsen Jan , Questa Paolo , Sandini Giulio
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to evaluate the picture quality requirements for three visual communication modes: speechreading, fingerspelling, and sign language. Video recordings of everyday spoken, fingerspelled, and signed sentences were made, and some recordings were processed using a computer simulation of the IBIDEM technology: a videophone based on a novel type of visual sensor. This retina-like sensor, implemented in the camera, has a high resolution in the central part and a degrading resolution in the peripheral part of the picture. Two independent variables were examined: frame rate (10 and 15 frames per second) and spatial resolution (6000 and 8000 pixels per frame). Twenty-four people who were prelingually deaf participated, 8 in each communication mode. The results showed a marked effect of frame rate on speechreading. Fingerspelling and sign language were not affected by frame rate, and spatial resolution had no effect on any of the three communication modes.
Measuring the Perceptual Similarity of Pitch Contours
Authors: Hermes Dik J.
Published: July 2014

It has been shown that visual display systems of intonation can be employed beneficially in teaching intonation to persons with deafness and in teaching the intonation of a foreign language. In current training situations the correctness of a reproduced pitch contour is rated either by the teacher or automatically. In the latter case an algorithm mostly estimates the maximum deviation from an example contour. In game-like exercises, for instance, the pupil has to produce a pitch contour within the displayed floor and ceiling of a "tunnel" with a preadjusted height. In an experiment described in the companion paper, phoneticians had rated the dissimilarity of two pitch contours both auditorily, by listening to two resynthesized utterances, and visually, by looking at two pitch contours displayed on a computer screen. A test is reported in which these dissimilarity ratings were compared with automatic ratings obtained with this tunnel measure and with three other measures, the mean distance, the root-mean-square (RMS) distance, and the correlation coefficient. The most frequently used tunnel measure appeared to have the weakest correlation with the ratings by the phoneticians. In general, the automatic ratings obtained with the correlation coefficient showed the strongest correlation with the perceptual ratings. A disadvantage of this measure, however, may be that it normalizes for the range of the pitch contours. If range is important, as in intonation teaching to persons with deafness, the mean distance or the RMS distance are the best physical measures for automatic training of intonation.
Effects of Varied Vocal Intensity on Ventilation and Energy Expenditure in Women and Men
Authors: Russell Bridget A. , Cerny Frank J. , Stathopoulos Elaine T.
Published: July 2014

This study was completed to determine how ventilatory responses change by means of speech reading at three different sound pressure levels (SPL) as compared to quiet breathing prior to each task. The energy required to alter SPL was also studied and compared to energy expenditures during a quiet breathing condition. Twenty-four adults (12 women, 12 men) were studied while reading a standard passage at low, comfortable, and high SPLs for 7 minutes with quiet breathing periods between each task to achieve respiratory steady state and serve as a control to which the reading tasks were compared. The last 2 minutes of exhaled air for all speaking and quiet breathing tasks were collected using a Hans Rudolph mouth breathing face mask. A Sensor Medics V
max
29

TM

series diagnostic instrument system measured all ventilatory responses and energy expenditures. Volume and timing alterations in ventilation were characterized by measuring tidal volume (V
T
), inspiratory time (T
I
), inspiratory flow rate (V
T
/T
I
), and expiratory time (T
E
). Average ventilation, energy expenditure, and adequacy of ventilation were measured using minute ventilation (V

W

E
), oxygen consumption V

W

O
2
), carbon dioxide production (V

W

CO
2
), and partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide (end-tidal PET
CO2
). Results indicated volume, timing, ventilation, and energy expenditure values remained closest to quiet breathing values for the comfortable SPL. Volume, ventilation, and energy expenditure were significantly greater for the high SPL and lower for the low SPL, compared to the baseline steady state, indicating that the low SPL causes a ventilatory deficit that was found to be paid back at the end of the speech task during the quiet breathing period. These results demonstrate that an individual's comfortable SPL is the least energyrequiring way to speech breathe. As SPL rises above or below comfortable SPL, speech breathing requires more energy.
Temporal-Order Discrimination for Selected Auditory and Visual Stimulus Dimensions
Authors: McFarland Dennis J. , Cacace Anthony T. , Setzen Gavin
Published: July 2014

Thresholds for the discrimination of temporal order were determined for selected auditory and visual stimulus dimensions in 10 normal-adult volunteers. Auditory stimuli consisted of binary pure tones varying in frequency or sound pressure level, and visual stimuli consisted of binary geometric forms varying in size, orientation, or color. We determined the effect of psychophysical method and the reliability of performance across stimulus dimensions. Using a single-track adaptive procedure, Experiment 1 showed that temporal-order thresholds (TOTs) varied with stimulus dimension, being lowest for auditory frequency, intermediate for size, orientation, and auditory level, and longest for color. Test performance improved over sessions and the profile of thresholds across stimulus dimensions had a modest reliability. Experiment 2 used a double-interleaved adaptive procedure and TOTs were similarly ordered as in Experiment 1. However, TOT swere significantly lower for initially ascending versus descending tracks. With this method, the reliability of the profile across stimulus dimensions and tracks was relatively low. In Experiment 3, psychometric functions were obtained for each of the stimulus dimensions and thresholds were defined as the interpolated 70.7% correct point. The relative ordering of TOTs was similar to those obtained in the first two experiments. Non-monotonicities were found in some of the psychometric functions, with the most prominent being for the color dimension. A crossexperiment comparison of results demonstrates that TOTs and their reliability are significantly influenced by the psychophysical method. Taken together, these results support the notion that the temporal resolution of ordered stimuli involves perceptual mechanisms specific to a given sensory modality or submodality.
Multichannel Compression, Temporal Cues, and Audibility
Authors: Souza Pamela E. , Turner Christopher W.
Published: July 2014

Although multichannel compression systems are quickly becoming integral components of programmable hearing aids, research results have not consistently demonstrated their benefit over conventional amplification. The present study examined two confounding factors that may have contributed to this inconsistency in results: alteration of temporal information and audibility of speech cues. Recognition of linearly amplified and multichannel-compressed speech was measured for listeners with mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss and for a control group of listeners with normal hearing. In addition to the standard speech signal, which provided both temporal and spectral information, the listener's ability to use temporal information in a multichannel compressed signal was directly tested using a signal-correlated noise (SCN) stimulus. This stimulus consisted of a time-varying speech envelope modulating a two-channel noise carrier. It preserved temporal cues but provided minimal spectral information. For each stimulus condition, short-term level measurements were used to determine the range of audible speech. Multichannel compression improved speech recognition under conditions where superior audibility was provided by the twochannel compression system over linear amplification. When audibility of both linearly amplified and multichannel-compressed speech was maximized, the multichannel compression had no significant effect on speech recognition score for speech containing both temporal and spectral cues. However, results for the SCN stimuli show that more extreme amounts of multichannel compression can reduce use of temporal information.
The Socioemotional Behaviors of Children With SLI
Authors: Redmond Sean M. , Rice Mabel L.
Published: July 2014

Two models of the relationship between socioemotional behavior and verbal abilities are compared: Social Adaptation and Social Deviance. The socioemotional integrity of 17 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 20 unaffected children who were age-matched (AM) was examined using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Teacher's Report Form (TRF) at kindergarten and first grade. All CBCL and TRF syndrome scale means for both groups werewithin normal limits. Significant group x respondent interaction effects were observed; teachers, and not parents, rated the children with SLI as having more social and internalizing behavioral problems than their AM peers. Significant differences between groups were restricted to internalizing, social, and attention problems. Very little congruence or stability over time was observed in the clinical ratings. The outcomes support a Social Adaptation Model of socioemotional behavior and language impairment. Implications for the clinical management of children with SLI are discussed.
Vowel-Related Differences in Laryngeal Articulatory and Phonatory Function
Authors: Higgins Maureen B. , Netsell Ronald , Schulte Laura
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this investigation was to study the interaction between the supralaryngeal and laryngeal components of the speech mechanism by examining vowel-related effects for a variety of vocal fold articulatory and phonatory measures. Secondary issues were to determine if vowel-related differences were influenced by the nature of the speaking task or gender. Between-vowel differences in estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow, mean phonatory air flow, air flow near the termination of the vowel, electroglottograph cycle width (EGGW), fundamental frequency, and voice onset time were examined for men and women during syllable repetitions and sentence productions. Significant vowel-related differences were found for all of the measures except mean phonatory air flow, and generally were not influenced by speaking task or gender. Vowel-related effects for estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow, fundamental frequency, and VOT were consistent with some earlier studies. New findings included vowel-related differences in EGGW and air flow near the termination of the vowel. We propose a model that includes the contribution of mechanical forces, reflexive neural activity, and learned neural activity to explain vowel-related effects. When vowel height is varied, changes in laryngeal cartilage positioning and vocal fold and vocal tract tension appear to influence laryngeal articulatory and phonatory function.
DECTalk and MacinTalk Speech Synthesizers
Authors: Hustad Katherine C. , Kent Ray D. , Beukelman David R.
Published: July 2014

This study examined word level intelligibility differences between DECTalk and MacinTalk speech synthesizers using the Modified Rhyme Test in an open format transcription task. Three groups of listeners participated: inexperienced, speech-language pathologists, and speech synthesis experts. Results for between-subjects ANOVA showed that the expert group correctly identified a significantly higher number of words than each of the other listener groups. For the within-subjects factor of voice, simple effects ANOVA and post hoc contrasts within each group showed that listeners had higher intelligibility scores for the DECTalk male voice, Perfect Paul, than for the MacinTalk male voice, Bruce. No other pairwise gender/age-matched differences were found between the two synthesizers.
A Note on Vowel Centralization in Stuttering and Nonstuttering Individuals
Authors: Blomgren Michael , Robb Michael , Chen Yang
Published: July 2014

Inferences were made regarding vocal tract vowel space during fluently produced utterances through examination of the first two formant frequencies. Fifteen adult males served as subjects, representing separate groups of untreated and treated individuals who stutter and nonstuttering controls. The steady-state portion of formant one (F1) and formant two (F2) was examined in the production of various CVC tokens containing the vowels /i/, /u/, and /α/. Vocal tract vowel space was estimated three ways. The first analysis scheme involved measurement of formant frequency spacing. The second measure involved calculating the area of the vowel space triangle. The third measure was based on calculating the average Euclidean distance from each subject's midpoint "centroid" vocal tract position to the corresponding /i/, /u/, and /α/ points on the vowel triangle. The formant frequency spacing measures proved to be most revealing of group differences, with the untreated stutterers showing significantly greater vowel centralization than the treated group and control group. Discussion focuses on the vocal tract articulation characterizing fluent speech productions and possible treatment implications for persons who stutter.
Auditory Temporal Order Perception in Younger and Older Adults
Authors: Fitzgibbons Peter J. , Gordon-Salant Sandra
Published: July 2014

This investigation examined the abilities of younger and older listeners to discriminate and identify temporal order of sounds presented in tonal sequences. It was hypothesized that older listeners would exhibit greater difficulty than younger listeners on both temporal processing tasks, particularly for complex stimulus patterns. It was also anticipated that tone order discrimination would be easier than tone order identification for all listeners. Listeners were younger and older adults with either normal hearing or mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing losses. Stimuli were temporally contiguous three-tone sequences within a 1/3 octave frequency range centered at 4000 Hz. For the discrimination task, listeners discerned differences between standard and comparison stimulus sequences that varied in tonal temporal order. For the identification task, listeners identified tone order of a single sequence using labels of relative pitch. Older listeners performed more poorly than younger listeners on the discrimination task for the more complex pitch patterns and on the identification task for faster stimulus presentation rates. The results also showed that order discrimination is easier than order identification for all listeners. The effects of hearing loss on the ordering tasks were minimal.
Variable Use of African American English Across Two Language Sampling Contexts
Authors: Washington Julie A. , Craig Holly K. , Kushmaul Amy J.
Published: July 2014

This investigation compares the impact of two language sampling elicitation contexts, free play and picture description, on variability in the use of African American English (AAE). Subjects were 65 normally-developing African American 4;4- to 6;3-year-old boys and girls from lower socioeconomic status homes. Comparisons of AAE production in the first 50 C units revealed significant differences by context. Picture descriptions elicited more AAE usage overall, a larger set of AAE types, and took less time. Gender differences in the use of AAE tokens were also apparent, with the boys using significantly more tokens than girls in the free play context. The use of AAE types and tokens was comparable for boys and girls in the picture description context. The advantages of language sampling with pictures to determine dialect usage is discussed.
Reliability of Clinicians' Judgments About Prolonged-Speech Targets
Authors: Onslow Mark , O'Brian Sue
Published: July 2014

Treatments for stuttering based on variants of Goldiamond's prolonged-speech procedure involve teaching clients to speak with novel speech patterns. Those speech patterns consist of specific skills, described with such terms as
soft contacts, gentle onsets, and continuous vocalization
. It might be expected that effective client learning of such speech skills would be dependent on clinicians' ability to reliably identify any departures from the correct production of such speech targets. The present study investigated clinicians' reliability in detecting such errors during a prolonged-speech treatment program. Results showed questionable intraclinician agreement and poor interclinician agreement. Nonetheless, the prolonged-speech program in question is known to be effective in controlling stuttered speech. The clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
F0 Processing and the Seperation of Competing Speech Signals by Listeners With Normal Hearing and With Hearing Loss
Authors: Summers Van , Leek Marjorie R.
Published: July 2014

Normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners were tested to determine F0 difference limens for synthetic tokens of 5 steady-state vowels. The same stimuli were then used in a concurrent-vowel labeling task with the F0 difference between concurrent vowels ranging between 0 and 4 semitones. Finally, speech recognition was tested for synthetic sentences in the presence of a competing synthetic voice with the same, a higher, or a lower F0. Normal-hearing listeners and hearing-impaired listeners with small F0-discrimination (ΔF0) thresholds showed improvements in vowel labeling when there were differences in F0 between vowels on the concurrent-vowel task. Impaired listeners with high ΔF0 thresholds did not benefit from F0 differences between vowels. At the group level, normalhearing listeners benefited more than hearing-impaired listeners from F0 differences between competing signals on both the concurrent-vowel and sentence tasks. However, for individual listeners, ΔF0 thresholds and improvements in concurrent-vowel labeling based on F0 differences were only weakly associated with F0-based improvements in performance on the sentence task. For both the concurrent-vowel and sentence tasks, there was evidence that the ability to benefit from F0 differences between competing signals decreases with age.
Real-Time Inflectional Processing by Children With Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Montgomery James W. , Leonard Laurence B.
Published: July 2014

In this study, we examined the processing of low-phonetic- substance inflections (e.g., third-person-singular -s, past-tense -
ed
) versus a higher-phonetic-substance inflection (e.g., present-progressive -
ing
) by children with specific language impairment (SLI) in two types of receptive tasks. Twenty-one children with SLI (Age: 8 years;6 months), 21 chronological age matched (CA; Age: 8;7), and 21 receptive syntax matched (RS; Age: 6;8) children participated in a word-recognition reaction time (RT) task and an off-line task requiring grammaticality judgments. On the RT task, the children with SLI demonstrated RT sensitivity only to the presence of a higher-phonetic-substance inflection, unlike the CA and RS controls who displayed sensitivity to both higher-substance and low- substance inflections. On the grammaticality judgment task, the children with SLI performed more poorly than the CA controls only on sentences missing obligatory low-substance inflections (e.g., "Carl already jump over the fence"). The findings are discussed within the framework of the surface account, which predicts that children with SLI should have greater difficulty processing and making grammatical judgments about low-substance inflections compared to higher-substance inflections.
A Comparison of High Precision FO Extraction Algorithms for Sustained Vowels
Authors: Parsa Vijay , Jamieson Donald G.
Published: July 2014

Perturbation analysis of sustained vowel waveforms is used routinely in the clinical evaluation of pathological voices and in monitoring patient progress during treatment. Accurate estimation of voice fundamental frequency (FO) is essential for accurate perturbation analysis. Several algorithms have been proposed for fundamental frequency extraction. To be appropriate for clinical use, a key consideration is that an FO extraction algorithm be robust to such extraneous factors as the presence of noise and modulations in voice frequency and amplitude that are commonly associated with the voice pathologies under study. This work examines the performance of seven FO algorithms, based on the average magnitude difference function (AMDF), the input autocorrelation function (AC), the autocorrelation function of the center-clipped signal (ACC), the autocorrelation function of the inverse filtered signal (IFAC), the signal cepstrum (CEP), the Harmonic Product Spectrum (HPS) of the signal, and the waveform matching function (WM) respectively. These algorithms were evaluated using sustained vowel samples collected from normal and pathological subjects. The effect of background noise and of frequency and amplitude modulations on these algorithms was also investigated, using synthetic vowel waveforms.
The Role of Consonant-Vowel Amplitude Ratio in the Recognition of Voiceless Stop Consonants by Listeners With Hearing Impairment
Authors: Sammeth Carol A. , Dorman Michael F. , Stearns Carol J.
Published: July 2014

Several authors have evaluated consonant-to-vowel ratio (CVR) enhancement as a means to improve speech recognition in listeners with hearing impairment, with the intention of incorporating this approach into emerging amplification technology. Unfortunately, most previous studies have enhanced CVRs by increasing consonant energy, thus possibly confounding CVR effects with consonant audibility. In this study, we held consonant audibility constant by reducing vowel transition and steady-state energy rather than increasing consonant energy. Performance-by-intensity (PI) functions were obtained for recognition of voiceless stop consonants (/p/, /t/, /k/) presented in isolation (burst and aspiration digitally separated from the vowel) and for consonant-vowel syllables, with readdition of the vowel /α/. There were three CVR conditions: normal CVR, vowel reduction by 6 dB, and vowel reduction by 12 dB. Testing was conducted in broadband noise fixed at 70 dB SPL and at 85 dB SPL. Six adults with sensorineural hearing impairment and 2 adults with normal hearing served as listeners. Results indicated that CVR enhancement did not improve identification performance when consonant audibility was held constant, except at the higher noise level for one listener with hearing impairment. The re-addition of the vowel energy to the isolated consonant did, however, produce large and significant improvements in phoneme identification.
Grammatical Characteristics of Children's Conversational Utterances That Contain Disfluency Clusters
Authors: Logan Kenneth J. , LaSalle Lisa R.
Published: July 2014

Selected characteristics of disfluent conversational utterances with and without disfluency clusters were examined in 14 children who stutter (CWS) and 14 children who do not stutter (CWNS). For CWS, utterances with disfluency clusters contained significantly more syllables and clausal constituents than disfluent utterances without clusters, which, in turn, contained significantly more syllables, clauses, and clausal constituents than fluent utterances. For both groups of children, disfluency clusters coincided significantly more often with utterance or clause onset than they did with grammatical constituents located elsewhere within an utterance. CWNS produced a significantly greater percentage of disfluency clusters that contained grammatical revision than did CWS. No significant between-group differences were observed in terms of the number of syllables, clauses, or clausal constituents within cluster-inclusive utterances. Findings are taken to suggest that disfluency clusters are typically produced within the most complex linguistic contexts and that they reflect the effects of producing multiple syntactic constituents within an utterance.
Reduction in Caregiver-Identified Problem Behaviors in Patients With Alzheimer Disease Post-Hearing-Aid Fitting
Authors: Palmer Catherine V. , Adams Sheneekra W. , Bourgeois Michelle , Durrant John , Rossi Michelle
Published: July 2014

Studies and clinical procedures related to patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) largely have ignored the hearing ability of either the patient or caregiver. Yet the majority of treatment and investigation depends on or presupposes communication ability. Further, caregiver complaints often center around communication-based issues. Hearing deficits may be the most frequently unrecognized condition in patients with AD because patients either communicate adequately in quiet or the impairment is masked by other behavioral symptoms of AD. The current investigation identified individuals with AD with perceived and measured hearing impairment, provided amplification management, and evaluated the impact of treatment on caregiver-identified problem behaviors believed to be related to hearing status. Specifically, treatment compliance (hearing-aid use) and treatment efficacy (reduction in perceived hearing handicap and problem behaviors) were measured in the current investigation. A multiple-baseline design across individuals with multiple dependent variables was used to evaluate the reduction of problem behaviors post-hearing-aid treatment. Eight participants were included and 1 to 4 problem behaviors were significantly reduced for each patient after hearing-aid treatment. All participants were able to complete the necessary evaluation for hearing-aid fitting and wore their hearing aids between 5 and 15 hours per day by the end of the study. This investigation employed novel methodology in the areas of on-site hearing evaluation and hearing-aid selection, advanced hearing-aid technology, and primary data recording of caregiver-identified problem behaviors by caregivers.
Utterance Length, Syntactic Complexity, and Childhood Stuttering
Authors: Yaruss J. Scott
Published: July 2014

This study examined relationships among utterance length, syntactic complexity, and stuttering in children's conversational speech. Analyses extended prior research by examining several different aspects of syntactic complexity, including sentence structure, clause structure, and phrase structure. Subjects were 12 boys who stutter, age 40 to 66 months, who produced 75-utterance conversational speech samples during free-play interactions with their mothers. Group analyses revealed significant differences between fluent and stuttered utterances in terms of all measures of utterance length and several measures of syntactic complexity. Analysis of the relationships between utterance length and syntactic complexity identified several measures of syntactic complexity that influenced stuttering and were independent of utterance length. Logistic regression analyses revealed that utterance length was better than syntactic complexity at predicting whether stuttering would occur, though neither utterance length nor syntactic complexity was a particularly strong predictor for individual subjects' data. Thus, findings suggest that utterance length and syntactic complexity cannot, by themselves, adequately account for the occurrence of stuttering in children's conversational utterances.
Arithmetic Calculation, Short-Term Memory, and Language Performance in Children With Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Fazio Barbara B.
Published: July 2014

A 5-year follow-up of the arithmetic calculation abilities of low-income children with specific language impairment (SLI) is reported. The performance of fourth- and fifth-grade children with SLI was compared with that of typically developing low-income peers and with younger, typically developing low-income children. Short-term memory, language, and arithmetic calculation abilities were assessed. Compared to their age-matched peers, the SLI group exhibited low scores on a number recall task, a marked difficulty with mathematical calculation under timed conditions, and numerous errors when retrieving rote math facts such as 7 x 6=_. Although children with SLI made more written calculation errors than their age-matched peers, they did not differ in the type of errors made. However, strategies used to solve written calculation differed among the groups. Rather than use automatic math fact retrieval, children with SLI were more likely to use counting strategies to solve calculation problems. These findings offer further evidence that children with SLI have difficulty with rote memory. The findings also document the real-world consequences of slow, inefficient memory retrieval in children with SLI.
Effects of Rate of Presentation on the Reception of American Sign Language
Authors: Fischer Susan D. , Delhorne Lorraine A. , Reed Charlotte M.
Published: July 2014

Previous research on the visual reception of fingerspelled English suggests that communication rates are limited primarily by constraints on production. Studies of artificially accelerated fingerspelling indicate that reception of fingerspelled sentences is highly accurate for rates up to 2 to 3 times those that can be produced naturally. The current paper reports on the results of a comparable study of the reception of American Sign Language (ASL). Fourteen native deaf ASL signers participated in an experiment in which videotaped productions of isolated ASL signs or ASL sentences were presented at normal playback speed and at speeds of 2, 3, 4, and 6 times normal speed. For isolated signs, identification scores decreased from 95% correct to 46% correct across the range of rates that were tested; for sentences, the ability to identify key signs decreased from 88% to 19% over the range of rates tested. The results indicate a breakdown in processing at around 2.5–3 times the normal rate as evidenced both by a substantial drop in intelligibility in this region and by a shift in error patterns away from semantic and toward formational. These results parallel those obtained in previous studies of the intelligibility of the auditory reception of time-compressed speech and the visual reception of accelerated fingerspelling. Taken together, these results suggest a modality-independent upper limit to language processing.
Automated Grammatical Tagging of Child Language Samples
Authors: Channell Ron W. , Johnson Bonnie W.
Published: July 2014

Recent studies of the automated grammatical categorization ("tagging") of words using probabilistic methods have reported substantial levels of accuracy—over 95% agreement with manual tagging for words from a variety of texts. However, the texts with which this method has been tested were written by adults and edited by publishers. The present study examined the accuracy with which such methods could tag transcribed conversational language samples from 30 normally developing children. On a word-by-word basis, automated accuracy levels ranged from 92.9% to 97.4%, averaging 95.1%. Accuracy at correctly tagging whole utterances was lower, ranging from 60.5% to 90.3%, with an average of 77.7%. Probabilistic methods of coding language samples hold potential as a viable tool for child language research. Further study and improvement of automated grammatical tagging is warranted and necessary before widespread use can be made of this technology.
Acoustic Examination of Preterm and Full-Term Infant Cries
Authors: Goberman Alexander M. , Robb Michael P.
Published: July 2014

The acoustic characteristics of crying behavior displayed in 2 groups of newborn infants are reported. The crying episodes of 10 full-term and 10 preterm infants were audio recorded and analyzed with regard to the long-time average spectrum (LTAS) characteristics. An LTAS display was created for each infant's non-partitioned crying episode, as well as for 3 equidurational partitions of the crying episode. Measures of first spectral peak, mean spectral energy, and spectral tilt were revealing of differences between full-term and preterm infants' non-partitioned crying episodes. In addition, the full-term infants demonstrated significant changes in their crying behavior across partitions, whereas the preterm infants changed little across the crying episode. Discussion focuses on possible differences between full-term and preterm infants in their neurophysiological maturity, and the subsequent impact on their speech development. The importance of examining entire crying episodes when evaluating the crying behavior of infants is also discussed.
Model-Based Semantic Treatment for Naming Deficits in Aphasia
Authors: Drew Ruby L. , Thompson Cynthia K.
Published: July 2014

An interactive activation model for picture naming was used to guide treatment of a semantic-level deficit in 4 individuals with aphasia and severe picture-naming problems. Participants exhibited a profile consistent with Broca's aphasia with severe naming deficits, part of which was attributable to a semantic impairment based on testing of the lexical system. A semantic-based treatment was used to train naming of nouns in two semantic categories using a single-participant multiple baseline across behaviors and participants. Additional treatment, which included orthographic and phonological information about target words, then was applied. Treatment responses and error patterns demonstrated that semantic treatment resulted in improved naming of both trained and untrained items for 2 of 4 participants. Two participants did not show improved naming until treatment emphasizing the phonological form of the word was provided. This study demonstrates the utility of using an interactive activation model to plan treatment based on levels of disruption in the lexical processing system.