bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Developmental Disfluency and Emerging Grammar I
Authors: Colburn Norma , Mysak Edward D.
Published: July 2014

Approximately 47,200 spontaneous utterances of four nonstuttering children were analyzed for the occurrence of developmental disfluency from the time of one-word utterances through the emergence of beginning syntax. Disfluency profiles were drawn for each child at each of four mean length of utterance (MLU) levels. The frequencv of total disfluency and the frequency and distribution of specified disfluency types were computed. Variations were found among the children's profiles with systematic changes in disfluency profiles tor the individual child at each succeeding MLU level. The observed changes were related to the psycholinguistic features of discourse, imitation, and grammatical complexity in the children's language development.
A Respirometric Technique for Evaluating Velopharyngeal Closure in Children
Authors: Shaw Nancy , Gilbert H. R.
Published: July 2014

Respirometric quotients, indices of velopharyngeal closure, were determined from oral and nasal air volumes measured separately but simultaneously. Ten children aged 6–10 years were the subjects. The quotients were significantly lower for speech stimuli involving nasal sounds than for those involving nonnasal sounds. In contrast to the quotients obtained in previous research with children, the quotients obtained in this study were close to, but not in excess of, unity.
Language Onset and Concomitant Speech and Language Problems in Subgroups of Stutterers and Their Siblings
Authors: Seider Robin A. , Gladstien Keith L. , Kidd Kenneth K.
Published: July 2014

Time of language onset and frequencies of speech and language problems were examined in stutterers and their nonstuttering siblings. These families were grouped according to six characteristics of the index stutterer: sex, recovery or persistence of stuttering, and positive or negative family history of stuttering. Stutterers and their nonstuttering same-sex siblings were found to be distributed identically in early, average, and late categories of language onset. Comparisons of six subgroups of stutterers and their respective nonstuttering siblings showed no significant differences in the number of their reported articulation problems. Stutterers who were reported to be late talkers did not differ from their nonstuttering siblings in the frequency of their articulation problems, but these two groups had significantly higher frequencies of articulation problems than did stutterers who were early or average talkers and their siblings.
Iris Pigmentation and AC Thresholds
Authors: Roche Alex F. , Mukherjee Debabrata , Chumlea Wm. Cameron , Siervogel Roger M.
Published: July 2014

Data from 160 White children were used to analyze possible associations between iris pigmentation and AC pure-tone thresholds. Iris pigmentation was graded from iris color using glass models of eyes, and AC thresholds were obtained under carefully controlled conditions. Analyses of variance using two groupings of iris color grades showed no evidence of an association between iris color grade and AC thresholds. Furthermore, inspection of arrays of the actual glass eye models, in conjunction with the order of mean thresholds at each test frequency, did not indicate the presence of an association between iris color grades and thresholds. It was concluded that while iris pigmentation may be related to some aspects of hearing ability, it does not appear to be related to AC thresholds in children.
Effects of Physiological Aging on Selected Acoustic Characteristics of Voice
Authors: Ramig Lorraine A. , Ringel Robert L.
Published: July 2014

The relationship between age-related changes in body physiology and certain acoustic characteristics of voice was studied in a sample of 48 men representing three chronological age grouping (25–35, 45–55 and 65–75) and two levels of physical condition (good and poor). A fundamental frequency analysis program (SEARP) was used to measure mean fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and phonation range from samples of connected speech and sustained vowel production. Subjects in good physical condition produced maximum duration vowel phonation with significantly less jitter and shimmer and had larger phonation ranges than did subjects of similar chronological ages who were in poor physical condition. These differences were most apparent in the production of the elderly subjects. While chronological aging is undoubtedly a contributor to such changes in the acoustic characteristics of voice, these results suggest that age-related changes in body physiology, or physiological aging, also must be considered.
Linguistic Processing and Reaction Time Differences in Stutterers and Nonstutterers
Authors: Hand C. Rebekah , Haynes William O.
Published: July 2014

Linguistic processing by the left and right cerebral hemispheres was investigated in 10 adult male stutterers and l0 matched nonstutterers. Subjects performed a lexical decision task in which nonword and real-word stimuli were presented tachistoscopically to the right and left visual hemifields. Vocal and manual reaction times to real words were measured to assess hemispheric participation in processing linguistic information and to determine differences between response modes. The stuttering group exhibited a left visual field efficiency or right hemisphere preference for this task and were slower in both vocal and manual reaction times. Ramifications for hemispheric processing theories and laryngeal dysfunction hypothesis are discussed.
Airflow Characteristics of Fricative Consonants Produced by Normally Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Speakers
Authors: Whitehead Robert L. , Barefoot Sidney M.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the rates of airflow for fricative consonants produced by normally hearing speakers and by hearing-impaired speakers who varied in degree of hearing loss and speech intelligibility. Subjects consisted of 20 normally hearing adults (10 men and 10 women), 20 moderately-to-severely hearing-impaired adults with intelligible speech (10 men and 10 women), and 20 profoundly hearing-impaired adults with semi-intelligible speech (10 men and 10 women). Average airflow rates were obtained for the fricatives /s/,/z/,/f/, and /v/ in CV and VCV syllables. In general, it was found that normally hearing, intelligible hearing-impaired, and some semi-intelligible hearing-impaired speakers produced voiceless fricatives with substantially greater airflow rates than they produced voiced cognates. The data also revealed that both male and female semi-intelligible hearing-impaired speakers produced fricatives in the CV context with greater amounts of airflow and fricatives in the VCV environment with less airflow than did the normally hearing and intelligible hearing-impaired speakers. Further, the male and female semi-intelligible hearing-impaired speakers failed to demonstrate the trend, as exhibited by the other speakers, for lingua-alveolar fricatives to be produced with greater air flow than the labiodental fricatives. The data from this investigation provide additional evidence to support the assumption that some hearing-impaired speakers fail to control and coordinate the biomechanical aspects of speech properly.
Performance Characteristics for Hearing Aid Microphone Versus Telephone and Telephone/Telecoil Reception Modes
Authors: Tannahill J. Curtis
Published: July 2014

Two hearing aids and three telephone receivers were used to compare electroacoustic and word intelligibility data for hearing aid microphone reception versus telephone/telephone and telephone/telecoil reception. Measurements included test reference position gain and frequency response characteristics (Experiment 1) and word intelligibility scores (Experiment 2). The results indicated that performance was similar for hearing aid microphone reception and telephone/telephone reception. Telephone/ telecoil performance varied, depending on which telephone receiver was involved, but was poorer than hearing aid microphone performance. Recommendations were made concerning the selection of hearing aids and the management of hearing aid users relative to telephone/telecoil communication.
Children's Spontaneous and Imitative Speech
Authors: Bond Z. S. , Korte Solveig Sperati
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to compare the voice onset time of voiced and voiceless stop consonants in children's spontaneous and imitative speech. Ten children (2:3 to 3:8) were recorded producing the same test words spontaneously and imitatively, following a model. There were no statistically significant difference between imitative and spontaneous productions.
The Influence of Production Mode on the Recall of Signs in Normal Adult Subjects
Authors: Lloyd Lyle L. , Doherty Jane E.
Published: July 2014

Preliminary evidence has suggested that signs produced with contact between the two hands or between the hand and body are learned more readily than signs produced without such contact. Using a paradigm that eliminated the possibly confounding variables of previous studies, the effect of production mode on sign acquisition and recall was investigated with normal young adults. Results indicated that contact signs were acquired more readily than noncontact signs by one of two subject groups. More contact than noncontact signs were produced correctly during recall. Recall at 1 week was equivalent to that at same day for contact signs, but same-day recall was greater than 1-week recall for noncontact signs. Examination of responses that were correct except for a contact/noncontact discrepancy suggested that contact was added more often than it was deleted from signs during recall. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of tactile feedback in learning and memory and their potential application to teaching signs to nonverbal children.
Perception and Production of Approximant Consonants by Normal and Articulation-Delayed Preschool Children
Authors: Broen Patricia A. , Strange Winifred , Doyle Shirley S. , Heller James H.
Published: July 2014

Disagreement exists concerning the relationship between the perception of phonetic contrasts and their production by both normal and articulation-delayed children. The perception of three approximant consonant contrasts (/w/-/r/,/w/-/l/, /r/-/1/) was examined in two groups of 3-year-old children: Normal children who did and did not articulate /r/ and /1/ correctly and articulation-delayed children who misarticulated /r/ and /1/. Perception was assessed in a two-choice forced-choice identification task in which the subjects heard a word and pushed a button lighting a picture corresponding to the word. In general, normally developing children were highly accurate in their perception of all three contrasts, but there was more variability in /w/-/1/ perceptual performance among the children who neutralized the/w/-/1/contrast. Articulation-delayed children displayed a wider range of production patterns and were more variable in their perceptual performance than normally developing children. Results suggest that normally developing children learn to perceive approximant contrasts prior to 3 years of age. However, some but not all articulation-delayed 3-year-old children may still make errors in the perception of approximants.
Comparison of Reading Comprehension Task Performance for Deaf and Hearing Readers
Authors: Davey Beth , LaSasso Carol , MacReady George
Published: July 2014

The internal consistency, variability, and performance level of 50 deaf and 50 hearing subjects (with comparable SAT reading comprehension scores) were compared on two production (cloze and free-response) tasks and two recognition (multiple-choice and modified-cloze) tasks. Multiple-choice and free-response tasks were administered under both lookback and no-lookback conditions. Task consistencies and variabilities for deaf and hearing groups did not differ appreciably. Groups differed, however, with respect to mean level of performance, Deaf subjects' overall task performance level tended to be lower than that of hearing subjects, with the greatest differences noted in lookback and production conditions.
Masking of Tinnitus Compared to Masking of Pure Tones
Authors: Tyler Richard S. , Conrad-Armes David
Published: July 2014

In 10 subjects with sensorineural tinnitus (associated with a sensorineural hearing loss and no apparent source for a tinnitus originating elsewhere), the minimum level required to mask the tinnitus was determined for tonal maskers at several masker frequencies. This tinnitus masking pattern was compared to a psychoacoustical tuning curve (PTC) in which the signal frequency and level were determined from tinnitus pitch and loudness matching. Different patterns emerged. One subject showed a near-normal PTC but required high-level maskers across the frequency range to mask the tinnitus. Another subject showed some frequency resolution in the PTC but required low-level maskers across the frequency range to mask the tinnitus. For the remaining eight subjects, the masker levels required to mask the tone were generally higher than those levels required to mask the tinnitus. In addition, it was noted that the tinnitus pitch-match frequency was sometimes associated with an increase or a decrease in threshold sensitivity, or it was found at the low-frequency edge of a steep high-frequency threshold loss. In other subjects there was no apparent relationship between the tinnitus pitch and the audiogram shape.
Processing of Cues for Stop Consonant Voicing by Young Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Authors: Johnson Deborah , Whaley Patricia , Dorman M. F.
Published: July 2014

To assess whether young hearing-impaired listeners are as sensitive as normal-hearing children to the cues for stop consonant voicing, we presented stimuli from along VOT continua to young normal-hearing listeners and to listeners with mild, moderate, severe, and profound hearing impairments. The response measures were the location of the phonetic boundaries, the change in boundaries with changes in place of articulation, and response variability. The listeners with normal hearing sensitivity and those with mild and moderate hearing impairments did not differ in performance on any response measure. The listeners with severe impairments did not show the expected change in VOT boundary with changes in place of articulation. Moreover, stimulus uncertainty (i.e., the number of possible choices in the response set) affected their response variability. One listener with profound impairment was able to process the cues for voicing in a normal fashion under conditions of minimum stimulus uncertainty. We infer from these results that the cochlear damage which underlies mild and moderate hearing impairment does not significantly alter the auditory representation of VOT. However, the cochlear damage underlying severe impairment, possibly interacting with high signal presentation levels, does alter the auditory representation of VOT.
Standardization of a Test of Speech Perception in Noise
Authors: Bilger R. C. , Nuetzel J. M. , Rabinowitz W. M. , Rzeczkowski C.
Published: July 2014

All 10 forms of the test of Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) were presented to 128 listeners who had some degree of sensorineural hearing loss. Presentation of the speech track was at 50 dB above the estimated threshold for the babble track. Signal-to-babble ratio was 8 dB. Half of the subjects listened through headphones and half via loudspeaker. Half were tested in a single session and half in two sessions spaced 2–4 weeks apart. Two markers independently scored every test session. Statistical analyses indicate that transducer, number of visits, and order of test form presentation have little or no effect on test scores, and differences between markers, although significant, are quite small. The subtests consisting of items with strong contextual cues generate an average reliability coefficient of .91, whereas the value for the low-context subtests is .85. The 10 forms do not, however, constitute a set of equivalent forms, and there are large differences in mean performance on the low-context portions.
Perceived Contrastive Stress Production in Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Children
Authors: Weiss Amy L. , Carney Arlene E. , Leonard Laurence B.
Published: July 2014

Contrastive stress production patterns of 20 moderate-to-severely hearing-impaired children, aged 4:5–18:2 (years:months), were compared with those of 20 normal-hearing children, aged 3:7–6:7. The groups were matched on the basis of a linguistic measure, mean length of utterance. Analyses of judges' responses to the speakers' audiotapes recorded during a conversation-based task yielded evidence of similar production patterns for the groups although considerable individual performance variation was noted. This finding supports the view that language-matched normal and hearing-impaired children may not be very different in their production of this prosodic cue. Results of this study further support the idea that prosodic features of the speech signal enhance intelligibility, a factor which merits consideration in the intelligibility assessment and training of hearing-impaired children.
Creative Language Abilities of Deaf Children
Authors: Marschark Marc , West Sue A.
Published: July 2014

The language flexibilty and creativity of deaf children was investigated by having four deaf and four hearing 12–15-year-olds generate stories to experimenter-supplied themes. These were videotaped and examined for instances of nonliteral communication. Contrary to previous claims that deaf children are extremely rigid and literal in their language use, subjects here showed considerable use of creative language devices when evaluated in sign rather than vocal language. Deaf students produced traditional types of figurative contructions at a rate equal to their hearing age-mates and surpassed them in four other categories of nonliteral expression. These findings are discussed in terms of the cognitive skills required for and reflected by figurative language use and common assumptions concerning deaf children's related abilities.
Comparative Evaluation of the Auditory Responsiveness of Normal Infants and Profoundly Multihandicapped Children
Authors: Flexer Carol , Gans Donald P.
Published: July 2014

Responses to sound were observed in two groups of children. One was developmentally normal; the other was older but profoundly multihandicapped. The groups had developmental ages from 2 to 4 months, as assessed by the Kent Infant Developmental Scale (Katoff, Reuter, & Dunn, 1978). Stimuli were speech and random noise, both unfiltered and band-pass filtered at 2000 Hz, presented at 40, 60, and 80 dB HL. Responsiveness was determined from the confidence levels of observers' judgments of videotapes. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the subject groups. In both groups, however, responsiveness was dependent on hearing level and bandwidth but not on meaningfulness. The results support the practice of evaluating auditory responsiveness of multihandicapped children in relation to developmental age.
Earphone-Coupling Technique for Measuring the Temporal Characteristics of Aural Acoustic-Immittance Devices
Authors: Shanks Janet E. , Wilson Richard H. , Jones Howard C.
Published: July 2014

This research note describes an earphone-coupling technique that can be used to measure the temporal characteristics of acoustic-immittance instruments. The primary advantage of the earphone-coupling procedure in comparison with the procedure described by Popelka and Dubno (1978) is that the temporal measures are not contaminated by delays and irregularities in the coupler sound-pressure level associated with the pressure system. The latencies of two instruments (Grason-Stadler, Model 1723) were compared using dais earphone-coupling procedure and the Popelka-Dubno procedure. The latency measures were in good agreement following a correction for the delay associated with the pressure tubing in the latter procedure. The technique described is offered as an alernative to the Popelka-Dubno procedure in the absence of a modified 2-cm
3
coupler, particularly for instruments with complex pressure systems.
Older Listeners' Ability to Comprehend Speaker-Generated Rate Alteration of Passages
Authors: Schmitt John F. , Carroll Mark R.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of speaker-generated (natural) rate alteration on passage comprehension performance by healthy older listeners. Fourteen men and 14 women between 65 and 74 years of age were tested. The passages were recorded at 60% time compression, 0% alteration (normal rate), and at time expansion values of 140% and 180%. Comprehension was measured by scoring the responses made by subjects to questions that were pertinent to each passage. The data were analyzed for comprehension performance differences among the four rate alteration conditions and between the men and women. The group performed significantly more poorly only at 60% time compression when compared with normal rate; there were no differences among the three slower rates. The findings are compared with prior studies of rate-altered stimuli with older listeners and are discussed relative to potential differences in the responses of older persons to electronically altered as opposed to naturally altered speech rate.
Visemes Observed by Hearing-Impaired and Normal-Hearing Adult Viewers
Authors: Owens Elmer , Blazek Barbara
Published: July 2014

A series of VCV nonsense syllables formed with 23 consonants and the vowels //, /i/, /u/, and // was presented on videotape without sound to 5 hearing-impaired adults and 5 adults with normal hearing. The two-fold purpose was (a) to determine whether the two groups would perform the same in their identification of visemes and (b) to observe whether the identification of visemes is influenced by vowel context. There were no differences between the two groups either with respect to the overall percentage of items correct or to the visemes identified. Noticeable differences occurred in viseme identification between the /u/ context and the other 3 vowel contexts; visemes with // differed slightly from those with // and /i/; and there were no differences in viseme identification for // and /i/ contexts. Findings were in general agreement with other studies with respect to the visemes identified, provided it is acknowledged that changes can occur depending on variables such as talkers, stimuli, recording and viewing conditions, training procedures, and statistical criteria. A composite grouping consists of /p,b,m/; /f,v/; /θ,ð/; /w,r/; /t∫,d,∫,/; and /t,d,s,k,n,g,l/.
Modification of Listener-Judged Naturalness in the Speech of Stutterers
Authors: Ingham Roger J. , Martin Richard R. , Haroldson Sam K. , Onslow Mark , Leney Miriam
Published: July 2014

This study investigated the effect of regular feedback of listener-judged speech naturalness ratings on the speech of stutterers. Six adult stutterers each participated in a time-series ABA experiment. During the treatment phase the stutterer was instructed to improve a clinician's rating, on a 9-point scale, of the naturalness of each 30-s interval of the stutterer's spontaneous speech. The results indicate that the naturalness ratings and stuttering for 5 of the subjects made favorable changes during the treatment phase. Analyses of the findings show that only some of the naturalness judgments were influenced by stuttering frequency and speech rate. A perceptual analysis of the speech of 2 subjects suggested that the speech naturalness ratings were also probably influenced by other less obvious variables.
An Application of Exploratory Statistical Methods to Language Pathology
Authors: Fromm Davida , Greenhouse Joel B. , Holland Audrey L. , Swindell Carol S.
Published: July 2014

Two simple exploratory statistical techniques, stem and leaf displays and box plots, are described and applied to the analysis of Western Aphasia Battery Cortical Quotient scores for 111 acute stroke patients. A stem and leaf display highlights the shape of a distribution of data and is useful for quickly ordering and displaying data in the form of a frequency distribution; box plots focus special attention on the tails of a distribution and are valuable for summarizing, analyzing, and comparing group data. These methods were used to determine an internal Cortical Quotient cutoff score to distinguish between normal and cognitively impaired patients. The utility of this Cortical Quotient cutoff score and the relevance of these statistical techniques to other research in communicative disorders are discussed.
Vowel Perception
Authors: Doyle Karen J. , Danhauer Jeffrey L. , Edgerton Bradly J.
Published: July 2014

We investigated vowel perception by 15 subjects using the single-electrode cochlear implant used at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. Subjects were postlingually deaf adults having histories of unsuccessful hearing aid use and a minimum of 6 to 12 months experience with the implant. Eleven American English vowels spoken by a male talker were tape recorded, digitized, analyzed, and controlled for the experiments. The stimuli were audiorecordings of both natural and loudness-matched vowels. Subjects rated the dissimilarity of both the naturally spoken and the loudness-matched vowels, and performed identification of the latter. Two normal-hearing subjects served as controls for the dissimilarity tasks. Multidimensional scaling, hierarchical clustering, and percent correct identification analyses were used to help determine the perceptual features used by the subjects in their judgments. Generally, the normal-hearing subjects took advantage of second formant (F2) frequency information. The cochlear-implant users relied primarily upon fundamental (F0) and first formant (F1) frequency information and demonstrated difficulty in vowel identification. No major differences were noted for the natural versus loudness-matched vowels. F2 information, requisite for accurate vowel recognition, did not correspond to any of the perceptual dimensions discerned in the results obtained from implant subjects.
A Reconsideration of the Relation between Age and Mean Utterance Length
Authors: Scarborough Hollis , Wyckoff Janet , Davidson Robin
Published: July 2014

Although a linear relationship between age and utterance length during the preschool years has been reported, that result was only partially replicated from age 2 to 5 years in two new research samples, one cross-sectional and the other longitudinal in design. Instead, a deceleration in age curves, particularly beyond about 36 months, was observed in each sample. Some explanations and implications of the findings are discussed from normative and developmental viewpoints.
Frequency Discrimination of Short- versus Long-Duration Tones by Normal and Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Authors: Freyman Richard L. , Nelson David A.
Published: July 2014

This investigation explored the effects of stimulus level on the frequency discrimination of long- and short-duration pure tones by 5 subjects with normal hearing and 7 with sensorineural hearing impairment. Frequency difference limens (DLs) were obtained as a function of signal intensity for 5-ms and 300-ms tones at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz. The performance of most of the hearing-impaired subjects was poorer than normal for 300-ms tones, but not for 5-ms tones. This result was relatively independent of the stimulus sensation levels at which the data were compared. However, the current results also show an unexpected dependence of the frequency DL on the sensation level of short-duration tones. In several normal-hearing subjects, frequency discrimination performance for these short tones is poorer at moderately high levels than at low levels.
Story Structure and Retelling of Narratives by Aphasic and Non-Brain-Damaged Adults
Authors: Ernest-Baron Christine R. , Brookshire R. H. , Nicholas Linda E.
Published: July 2014

Aphasic and non-brain-damaged subjects listened to and retold two narrative stories three times in succession. Both aphasic and non-brain-damaged subjects were affected by story structure—they retold a greater proportion of information units that were central to the story structure than information units that were peripheral to the story structure. Both aphasic and non-brain-damaged subjects increased the amount of information retold across three retellings, although only the increases from Retelling 1 to Retelling 2 were statistically significant. Non-brain-damaged subjects consistently retold slightly more information units than aphasic subjects, but the differences were not statistically significant. In all three retellings, both groups of subjects retold information in the same order that it occurred in the stories.
Dynamic Aspects of Phonatory Control in Spasmodic Dysphonia
Authors: Ludlow Christy L. , Connor Nadine P.
Published: July 2014

To understand the voluntary laryngeal movement disorder in spasmodic dysphonia (SD), SD patients were compared with normal controls on speech tasks with different laryngeal motor-control demands. Nine patients with idiopathic chronic SD and no other speech, otolaryngologic, neurologic, or psychiatric disorders were compared with 15 control subjects who were free of such disorders. Speech production tasks required different degrees of dynamic and precise control of vocal fold movement. Phonatory off times were increased in the SD patients, while maximum phonation time, phonatory on time, frequency and intensity control, and reaction times for CV syllables were not affected. On a reaction-time task, the onset of laryngeal movement was not delayed in the SD patients, however, the time between the onset of laryngeal movement and phonatory onset was significantly increased in the SD patients in comparison with the controls. Therefore, SD patients had no difficulty with the onset of laryngeal movement but were slow to achieve phonation, indicating a movement-control disorder affecting vocal fold adduction for phonation onset.
The Role of Coarticulatory Effects in the Perception of Fricatives by Children and Adults
Authors: Nittrouer Susan , Studdert-Kennedy Michael
Published: July 2014

Adult listeners are sensitive to the acoustic variations that result from a speaker's coarticulation (or coproduction) of phonetic segments. The present study charted the development of such sensitivity in young children by examining their responses to coarticulatory effects in fricative-vowel syllables. Children, at each of the ages 3, 4, 5, and 7 years, and adults identified tokens from a synthetic/∫/-/s/continuum followed by one of four natural vocalic portions:/i/and/u/, produced with transitions appropriate for either/∫/or/s/. Children demonstrated larger shifts in fricative phoneme boundaries as a function of vocalic transition than did adults, but relatively smaller shifts as a function of vowel quality. Responses were less consistent for children than for adults, and differences between children and adults decreased as children increased in age. Overall, these results indicate that perceptual sensitivity to certain coarticulatory effects is present at as young as 3 years of age. Moreover, the decrease in the sensitivity to vocalic transitions with age suggests that, contrary to a commonly held view, the perceptual organization of speech may become more rather than less segmental as the child develops.
The Intelligibility of Synthesized Speech
Authors: Hoover Julia , Reichle Joe , Van Tasell Dianne , Cole David
Published: July 2014

The intelligibility of two speech synthesizers [ECHO II (Street Electronics, 1982) and VOTRAX (VOTRAX Division, 1981)] was compared to the intelligibility of natural speech in each of three different contextual conditions: (a) single words, (b)"low-probability sentences" in which the last word could not be predicted from preceding context, and (c) "high-probability sentences" in which the last word could be predicted from preceding context. Additionally, the effect of practice on performance in each condition was examined. Natural speech was more intelligible than either type of synthesized speech regardless of word/sentence condition. In both sentence conditions, VOTRAX speech was significantly more intelligible than ECHO II speech. No practice effect was observed for VOTRAX, while an ascending linear trend occurred for ECHO II. Implications for the use of inexpensive speech synthesis units as components of augmentative communication aids for persons with severe speech and/or language impairments are discussed.
The Effect of Stimulus Repetition Rate on the Auditory Brainstem Response in Tumor and Nontumor Patients
Authors: Campbell Kathleen C.M. , Abbas Paul J.
Published: July 2014

Auditory brainstem responses were recorded in two groups of adult subjects with asymmetric sensorineural hearing loss. Clicks were presented at repetition rates of 9.7, 39.7, 49.7, and 59.7/s. One group was composed of 20 patients with no known otoneurologic lesion (cochlear group), and one group was composed of 8 patients with a surgically confirmed acoustic neuroma in the ear with poorer hearing sensitivity (retrocochlear group). Detection of wave V at different repetition rates was not significantly different between the two groups. Average wave-V latency shift was not significantly different between the two groups as repetition rate increased from 9.7/s to 39.7/s but was significantly greater for the retroeochlear group as repetition rate increased from 9.7/s to 49.7/s and 59.7/s. However, the wave-V latency shift showed no improvement over the slow-rate interaural wave-V latency difference in discriminating between the two groups of patients. No significant correlation between the amount of wave-V latency shift and hearing loss at 2000 Hz or 4000 Hz was found for the ears with poorer hearing sensitivity.
Individual Differences in Phonological Development
Authors: Vihman Marilyn May , Greenlee Mel
Published: July 2014

This paper reports the results of a study of the persistence of individual differences in the phonological development of 10 normally developing children observed at age 1 year and again at age 3 years. Data were based on ½-hr audio and video recordings of weekly spontaneous mother-child interaction sessions in the home between 9 and 17 months and at 36 months. In addition, phonological and cognitive probes were administered at age 3. At age 1 the children were compared at four times selected on the basis of the number of different word types used in a session. Preferences for particular phonological categories (fricatives, liquids, final consonants) were found not to correspond to relative mastery of those categories at age 3. Based on both babble and words, high use of vocalizations containing true consonants was found to be predictive of greater phonological advance at age 3. Phonological errors of two kinds were distinguished for age 3: those resulting from difficulty with specific segments and those more typical of younger children, involving the rearrangement, assimilation, or deletion of segments or syllables (prosodic errors). The children differed in intelligibility and in specific segment substitutions and cluster reductions. They also differed in the proportion of prosodic errors made and in consistency in segmental errors. Lastly, aspects of cognitive or learning style as expressed in phonological organization were found to be recognizable at both age 1 and age 3.
Stuttering, Delayed Auditory Feedback, and Linguistic Rhythm
Authors: Harrington Jonathan
Published: July 2014

The models of stuttering and delayed auditory feedback (DAF) discussed in this paper are derived from a model of the fluent production of speech in which a rhythmic structure prespecifies the intervals between vowels of stressed syllables. The same rhythmic structure enables a prediction to be made concerning when vowels of stressed syllables will be auditorily perceived. In both stuttering and speech produced under DAF conditions, it is suggested that an incorrect prediction is made concerning when the vowel will be perceived relative to its production. The proposed model of stuttering can account for a variety of other phenomena. Finally, a preliminary model of the onset of stuttering in children is proposed.
Underlying Structure of Auditory-Visual Consonant Perception by Hearing-Impaired Children and the Influences of Syllabic Compression
Authors: Busby P. A. , Tong Y. C. , Clark G. M.
Published: July 2014

The identification of consonants in a/-C-/a/nonsense syllables, using a fourteen-alternative forced-choice procedure, was examined in 4 profoundly hearing-impaired children under five conditions: audition alone using hearing aids in free-field (A),vision alone (V), auditory-visual using hearing aids in free-field (AV1), auditory-visual with linear amplification (AV2), and auditory-visual with syllabic compression (AV3). In the AV2 and AV3 conditions, acoustic signals were binaurally presented by magnetic or acoustic coupling to the subjects' hearing aids. The syllabic compressor had a compression ratio of 10:1, and attack and release times were 1.2 ms and 60 ms. The confusion matrices were subjected to two analysis methods: hierarchical clustering and information transmission analysis using articulatory features. The same general conclusions were drawn on the basis of results obtained from either analysis method. The results indicated better performance in the V condition than in the A condition. In the three AV conditions, the subjects predominately combined the acoustic parameter of voicing with the visual signal. No consistent differences were recorded across the three AV conditions. Syllabic compression did not, therefore, appear to have a significant influence on AV perception for these children. A high degree of subject variability was recorded for the A and three AV conditions, but not for the V condition.
Analysis of Intentional Communication of Normal Children from the Prelinguistic to the Multiword Stage
Authors: Wetherby Amy M. , Cain Debra H. , Yonclas Dianne G. , Walker Virginia G.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to collect quantitative measures describing the use of intentional communication by 15 normal children during the prelinguistic, one-word, and multiword stages. A standard communication sample was collected at each language stage from each subject interacting with a clinician. Measures of rates of intentional communicative acts indicated an average of about 1 act per rain at the prelinguistic stage, 2 acts per min at the one-word stage, and 5 acts per min by the multiword stage. Analysis of communicative functions indicated that virtually all of the subjects displayed some acts for regulating behavior, engaging in social interaction, and referencing joint attention at all language stages. Changes in the proportions of specific communicative functions at each language stage were found. Analysis of discourse structure using these sampling procedures indicated that most subjects engaged in more initiated than respondent acts. Analysis of communicative means showed that the predominant means were gestural and vocal during the prelinguistic and one-word stage and verbal by the multiword stage. Changes in the proportions of isolated and coordinated gestures and vocalizations at each language stage were found. General descriptions of the syllabic shapes of intentional vocal acts at the prelinguistic and one-word stages demonstrated that most of the subjects used a substantial proportion of consonants in both mono- and multisyllabic vocalizations. Clinical applications of these findings to the early identification of children with the potential for language impairments will be discussed.
Acoustic Analysis of Correct and Misarticulated Semivowels
Authors: Chaney Carolyn
Published: July 2014

Four children who produced correct /w,r,l,j/, four children with developmental w/r and w/l substitutions, and four articulation impaired children with w/r and w/l substitutions were subjects. They produced sets of minimally contrasted words with /w,r,l,j/ in word-initial position with four vowels and with /w,r,l/ in two types of consonant clusters. Children's utterances were spectrographically analyzed for three formant frequencies and transition rate of the second formant. Children with correct semivowels produced distinctive formant frequency patterns for semivowels that were similar to those previously reported in the literature for adults and children. Developmental and articulation impaired children produced acoustic features for /j/ that were similar to the /j/ produced by the control group; but neither group differentiated among /w,r,l/ by either formant frequencies or transition rate. Some individuals in both groups produced formant frequency and/or transition rate differences among semivowels in some phonetic contexts. The /w/ produced for target /w/ and in substitution for /r/ and /l/ by three developmental children and two articulation-impaired children did not match the acoustic pattern of control /w/. These productions had higher second formants, occurring between control /w/ and /r,l/ or in the range of correct /r,l/.
Acoustic-Immitance Measures in Normal Ears
Authors: Wiley T. L. , Oviatt D. L. , Block M. G.
Published: July 2014

Acoustic-immitance measures in normal ears. Wiley, T. L., Oviatt, D. L., & Block, M. G. June 1987 161-170.

On p. 168, Table 4, the labels Ambient and Peak are reversed. Data in the top half of the table is for Peak, that in the bottom is for Ambient.
Stutterers' and Nonstutterers' Voice Fundamental Frequency Changes in Response to Auditory Stimuli
Authors: McLean-Muse Ann , Larson Charles R. , Gregory Hugo H.
Published: July 2014

An acoustic analysis of certain aspects of voice fundamental frequency (F
o
) in response to auditory clicks may provide a tool for studying short-latency auditory-laryngeal reflexes in humans (Sapir, McClean, & Larson, 1983). The purpose of this investigation was to compare 18 adult male stutterers' and 19 adult male nonstutterers' auditory-laryngeal reflexes. Subjects sustained phonation at constant pitch and intensity levels while receiving bilateral auditory click stimuli. F
o
signal averages were generated and measured. Data analyses indicated that there were no differences between stutterers and nonstutterers with respect to the frequency of reflex occurrence. Also, there were no significant group differences with respect to the mean reflex temporal measures or the variability of the reflex temporal measures.
Effects of Decision Variables on Stimulus Dominance in Dichotic Listening
Authors: Niccum Nancy , Speaks Charles , Katsuki-Nakamura Jun , Leathers Ruth
Published: July 2014

Stimulus dominance occurs when one member of a dichotic pair is identified more accurately than the other member. The contribution that attentional factors, listener biases, and other nonsensory variables make to stimulus dominance was assessed by comparison of scores obtained in a conventional two-ear monitoring task with scores obtained in a yes/no target-monitoring task. The target-monitoring paradigm is an application of signal detection theory to dichotic listening that allows calculation of d', a measure of perceptual sensitivity. Patterns of dominance for the two paradigms were very similar, which indicates that nonsensory factors had little influence in determining those patterns.
Input Stimuli for Obtaining Frequency Responses of Automatic Gain Control Hearing Aids
Authors: Preves David A. , Beck Lucille B. , Burnett Edwin D. , Teder Harry
Published: July 2014

Developing a family of frequency response curves for AGC types of hearing instruments using swept pure tones at varying input levels often produces erroneous results. This problem is caused by exceeding the threshold for activating the AGC circuit at some frequencies but not at other frequencies during the pure-tone sweep, thereby producing a different frequency response from that which would be obtained with a complex input signal such as speech-shaped noise. This measurement artifact may be minimized by ensuring that the threshold for activating the AGC circuit is either always exceeded or never exceeded during the development of a frequency response curve. Three input signals are compared for developing a family of frequency responses for an AGC hearing aid: (1) swept pure tone, (2) swept pure tone with bias tone added, and (3) shaped broad-band noise. The shaped broad-band noise appears to be the input signal of choice.
Technical Considerations in Computation of Spectral Harmonics-to-Noise Ratios for Sustained Vowels
Authors: Cox Neil B. , Ito Mabo R. , Morrison Murray D.
Published: July 2014

This paper explores technical issues affecting computed measures of the relative level of noise in the frequency spectrum of a vowel. This type of measure has been proposed for quantification of hoarseness in pathological speakers. An analysis of synthesized vowels was used to test the influence of vowel type, fundamental frequency, perturbation type, perturbation level and quantization. The algorithms were shown to be highly sensitive to errors in pitch-period demarcation, and a dependency on jitter perturbations, fundamental frequency, and vowel type was demonstrated. Relationships between algorithm performance and methods of spectrum estimation were discussed, and approaches for reducing the dependencies were proposed. Finally, a method for achieving a significant reduction in computation time was described.
Prosodic and Segmental Aspects of Speech Perception with the House/3M Single-Channel Implant
Authors: Rosen Stuart , Walliker John , Brimacombe Judith A. , Edgerton Bradly J.
Published: July 2014

Four adult users of the House/3M single-channel cochlear implant were tested for their ability to label question and statement intonation contours (by auditory means alone) and to identify a set of 12 intervocalic consonants (with and without lipreading). Nineteen of 20 scores obtained on the question/statement task were significantly better than chance. Simplifying the stimulating waveform so as to signal fundamental frequency alone sometimes led to an improvement in performance. In consonant identification, lipreading alone scores were always far inferior to those obtained by lipreading with the implant. Phonetic feature analyses showed that the major effect of using the implant was to increase the transmission of voicing information, although improvements in the appropriate labelling of manner distinctions were also found. Place of articulation was poorly identified from the auditory signal alone. These results are best explained by supposing that subjects can use the relatively gross temporal information found in the stimulating waveforms (periodicity, randomness and silence) in a linguistic fashion. Amplitude envelope cues are of significant, but secondary, importance. By providing information that is relatively invisible, the House/3M device can thus serve as an important aid to lipreading, even though it relies primarily on the temporal structure of the stimulating waveform. All implant systems, including multi-channel ones, might benefit from the appropriate exploitation of such temporal features.