bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Situational Difficulty on Stuttering
Authors: Lerman Jay W. , Shames George H.
Published: July 2014

Twenty subjects, previously diagnosed as stutterers, were interviewed concerning their feelings and anticipations about entering into four speaking situations varying in degree of difficulty. The following measures were derived from each subject’s interview: a Discomfort-Relief Quotient; frequency of stuttering; and number of words spoken in an interview.

Results suggested that there was very little difference in the DRQ’s derived from the interview in about three of the four speech situations; a positive correlation did not exist between the degree of anxiety and the frequency of stuttering in an interview; a significant relationship was not present between the number of words verbalized by the stutterer in his anticipation to a situation and the level of anxiety as measured by the DRQ; and situational participation did not significantly affect subsequent DRQ’s.
Factors Influencing Electrophysiologic Responsivity in Normal Adults
Authors: Goldstein Robert , RosenblÜt Benjamin
Published: July 2014

Electrodermal and electroencephalic responsivity to sound and to light was studied in 96 normal-hearing adults in three separate sessions. The subjects were subdivided into equal groups of white men, white women, colored men, and colored women. A 1 000 cps pure tone was the conditioned stimulus in two sessions and white light was used in a third session. Heat was the unconditioned stimulus in all sessions. Previously, an inverse relation had been found in white men between the prominence of alpha rhythm in the EEG and the ease with which electrodermal responses could be elicited. This relation did not hold true for white women. The main purpose of the present study was to answer the following questions: (1) are the previous findings on white subjects applicable to colored subjects? (2) are subjects who are most (or least) responsive electrophysiologically on one day equally responsive (or unresponsive) on another day? and (3) are subjects who are most (or least) responsive to sound equally responsive (or unresponsive) to light? In general, each question was answered affirmatively. Other factors influencing responsivity were also studied.
Oral Language Skills of Children with Defective Articulation
Authors: Vandemark Ann Ahlstrand , Mann Mary Bachmann
Published: July 2014

Oral language achievement was studied in 100 matched subjects, half with defective articulation and half with normal speech. The following language scores were derived from the language samples: mean length of response, structural complexity score, mean of the five longest responses, number of different words, type-token ratio, and standard deviation of response length. Only the structural complexity score yielded significant differences between groups.
An Automated Multiple Response Alternative Training Program for Use with Aphasics
Authors: Rosenberg Beth , Edwards Allan E.
Published: July 2014

Multiple responses to a configurational sample stimulus were obtained from five male aphasic patients.

Through this technique, it was possible to obtain a stop-motion view of perceptual skills and cognitive functions.
Spontaneous Recovery from Stuttering
Authors: Sheehan Joseph G. , Martyn Margaret M.
Published: July 2014

To investigate the puzzle of the nonpersistence of stuttering in many cases in which it begins, structured interview- and sentence-completion data were gathered on all incoming University of California, Berkeley, students during September 1964. Thirty-two spontaneously recovered stutterers were compared with 32 active stutterers and the normal controls, and a computer bivariate association analysis showed: (1) four out of five recover from stuttering spontaneously; (2) fewer of those who had received public school speech therapy recovered from stuttering; (3) fewer of those who had ever been severe recovered spontaneously; (4) no familial incidence pattern with either group of stutterers as compared to controls; (5) no differences in reported handedness in stutterers or their families; (6) improvement attributed to self-acceptance and role acceptance; (7) there appear to be many different paths to recovery.
The Social Status of Speech-Handicapped Children
Authors: Marge Dorothy Kunsevilch
Published: July 2014

This study investigated: (1) the relative social position of third grade speech-handicapped children as perceived by their peers and teachers, and (2) attitudes of parents of normal-speaking and speech-handicapped children toward individuals with oral communicative disorders.

The study population was comprised of 197 public school third grade children, their teachers, and their parents.

The social status of the speech-handicapped tended to be lower than that of the normal-speaking children in certain interpersonal relationships. The parents' questionnaires revealed that mothers of normal-speaking children did not differ greatly in attitude toward speech disorders than mothers of speech-handicapped children.
Speech Discrimination in Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss: Two Experiments on the Role of Intensity
Authors: Yantis Phillip A. , Millin Joseph P. , Shapiro Irving
Published: July 2014

Speech discrimination was investigated in subjects with sensori-neural dysacousis. Maximum discrimination for speech in the population studied generally occurred at intensity levels below those at which aural amplitude distortion may be introduced into the auditory system. Articulation functions for speech heard at various hearing-aid gain levels by experienced wearers showed that these subjects preferred gain levels close to those at which PB-max scores were obtained, and that the shapes of the articulation curves were quite variable from one subject to another.
Summed Evoked Responses Using Pure-Tone Stimuli
Authors: McCandless Geary A. , Best Lavar
Published: July 2014

Selected pure tones were used as stimuli in a study of evoked auditory responses in 25 adults. The effects of stimulus frequency, intensity, and duration on the evoked response were evaluated. Pure-tone stimuli appear to be as satisfactory as click stimuli in eliciting auditory evoked responses and have the additional advantage of providing more information relative to auditory function. Evoked response patterns were essentially the same for 500 Hz (cps), 2,000 Hz, and 4,000 Hz. Latencies were longer for the components of pure-tone-evoked responses than for click-evoked responses. Evoked responses may be influenced by (1) changes in stimulus parameters and (2) changes in subject’s psychophysical state. These variables become a major consideration in the recognition of the evoked response at intensity levels near threshold.
Binary Addition of Peak Times for Electroencephalic Audiometric Responses
Authors: Shimizu Hiroshi
Published: July 2014

A graphic binary addition technique for the detection of evoked responses in conventional sleep EEG audiometry is described. The method displays the number of peaks of waves from all samples that meet amplitude criteria at any given latency from the stimulus. The technique is simple and easily executed. It does not show the waveform of evoked responses, but it clearly reveals the presence or absence of a response in sleep.
The Effects of Simultaneously Punishing Stuttering and Rewarding Fluency
Authors: Martin Richard R. , Siegel Gerald M.
Published: July 2014

Two adult, male stutterers read orally for eight experimental sessions separated by at least one week. Stuttering frequency was continuously recorded during all sessions. After stuttering frequency stabilized, the subject was introduced to the response-contingent verbal stimuli. For two sessions, a wrist strap was attached during the time the verbal stimuli were presented. In subsequent sessions the strap was attached, but no verbal stimuli were delivered.

The findings were: (a) Presentation of response-contingent verbal stimuli resulted in a decrease in stuttering frequency. (b) Removal of the verbal stimuli was followed by an increase in stuttering frequency to base-rate level. (c) The wrist strap functioned as an effective discriminative stimulus. After it was paired with the verbal stimuli for a period of time, attachment of the strap alone resulted in decreased stuttering frequencies in several different experimental environments.
Prosody in Stuttering Adaptation
Authors: Wingate M. E.
Published: July 2014

Sixteen young adult male stutterers read a 207-word passage five times in succession under two conditions. In one condition the passage was exactly the same in all five readings. In the second condition the same passage was punctuated in five different ways, thus requiring an altered pattern of expression in each reading.

Adaptation was significantly diminished in the second condition. The results are interpreted as supporting a two-factor explanation of stuttering adaptation: (a) a general organismic adaptation to the situation, and (b) increasing familiarity with the prosody of the passage.
The Relations of Stuttering to Word Length and Word Frequency
Authors: Soderberg George A.
Published: July 2014

Twenty stutterers recorded nine 10-word lists in the presence of a single listener. The word lists were composed of combinations of three levels of word length and three levels of word frequency. An attempt was made to equate the word lists for stress of initial syllables, grammatical function, and initial sounds of words. The results agree with those of previous studies that have found a significantly greater frequency of stuttering to be associated with increases of word length and decreases of word frequency. However, the findings suggested that word length was the more potent of the two variables in effect on the frequency of stuttering.
Synthetic-Sentence Identification and the Receiver Operating Characteristic
Authors: Speaks Charles , Jerger James
Published: July 2014

Two experiments were undertaken to explore the applicability of a statistical-decision model to performance in a sentence identification task. Five normal-hearing observers were tested under a variety of structured criteria. Results suggest that, in this listening task, observers generate ROC curves consistent with the model and that one can derive a measure of performance that is independent of the observer’s criterion.
Errors in the Echoic Behavior of Preschool Children
Authors: Bricker William A.
Published: July 2014

Ninety children were divided equally into three age groups ranging at full-year intervals from 3.0 to 5.9 years of age. The subjects were given a test of echoic behavior consisting of 22 consonants coupled with each of two vowels to form consonant-vowel nonsense syllables. Analysis indicated that the errors made were inversely related to the frequency of the sounds in the repertoires of infants, and to the frequency of the sounds in the English language. Results also indicated that the stability of specific errors increased with age while the total frequency of errors decreased. The analysis of specific errors indicated that more errors were associated with the place of articulation than with either the manner of articulation or the voiced-voiceless dimension.
The Ability of Deaf and Hearing Children to Apply Morphological Rules
Authors: Cooper Robert L.
Published: July 2014

A paper and pencil test, devised to assess knowledge of morphological rules, was administered to 140 deaf students, aged 7 to 19, and to 176 hearing students, aged 7 to 18. Although the hearing subjects' performance was strikingly superior, patterns of item difficulty were similar for both groups. Scores were related to reading achievement, although a subsidiary investigation indicated that difficulties in reading test items did not depress test score. The tendency to base responses on irregular models increased with age. Deaf children’s low scores on conventional indices of verbal development may reflect their inadequate knowledge of English formational rules.
Adaptation and Consistency in the Disfluent Speech Behavior of Young Stutterers and Nonstutterers
Authors: Neelley James N. , Timmons Roy J.
Published: July 2014

Sixty children, from five to eight years of age, 30 stutterers and 30 nonstutterers, were studied with regard to the adaptation and consistency phenomena of their disfluent speech behavior. A set of seven sentences was repeated five times by each subject. A frequency count of disfluent words was obtained. Neither adaptation nor consistency was an exclusive property of either experimental group. However, there was a decided tendency for the young stutterers to have the higher scores.
Influence of Signal Variables on Evoked Response to Sound
Authors: Lamb Lloyd E. , Graham James T.
Published: July 2014

Auditory evoked potentials were studied in 13 normal hearing adults. All signals, regardless of rise time, were equally effective in evoking detectable responses. Latency increased with rise time increase and decreased with intensity increase. Amplitude of response increased as intensity was raised and decreased with increases in rise time.
Intelligibility of Filtered Synthetic Sentences
Authors: Speaks Charles
Published: July 2014

The effects of frequency filtering on intelligibility of synthetic sentences were studied on three normal-hearing listeners. Performance-intensity (P-I) functions were defined for several low-pass and high-pass frequency bands. The data were analyzed to determine the interactions of signal level and frequency range on performance. Intelligibility of synthetic sentences was found to be quite dependent upon low-frequency energy. The important frequency for identification of the materials was approximately 725 Hz. These results are compared with previous findings concerning the intelligibility of single words in quiet and in noise.
Performance-Intensity Characteristics of Selected Verbal Materials
Authors: Speaks Charles
Published: July 2014

Performance-intensity functions for synthetic-sentence message sets were compared with analogous functions for spondaic words and for phonetically balanced monosyllabic words. Four trained listeners with normal hearing were tested. The function for sentences was slightly steeper than the function for spondaic words and markedly steeper than the function for PB words. The levels corresponding to 50% correct response were 16.1 dB for sentences, 20.2 dB for spondaic words, and 26.4 dB for PB words.
Comparison of Graphic and Computer Averaging Method of EER
Authors: Shimizu Hiroshi , Glackin Robert N.
Published: July 2014

The graphic binary addition technique for detection of evoked responses reported in a recent paper (Shimizu, 1966) was reevaluated by comparing results obtained by the graphic method with those from the electronic average response computer. The study revealed good agreement in the results obtained by the two methods, and indicated efficiency of the graphic method in conventional EEG audiometry.
Variability of Gain Versus Frequency Characteristics in Hearing Aids
Authors: Kasten Roger N. , Lotterman Stephen H. , Revoile Sally G.
Published: July 2014

Full-on gain versus frequency response curves were obtained from ten different hearing aid models using 15 samples of each model. A mean curve and the range of responses from 20 discrete frequency points were plotted for each model along with the manufacturer’s published curve at full-on gain values. While about half of the models tested showed good intragroup consistency, the variability of gain characteristics for the remaining models was large. The mean gain versus frequency curves of the sample aids differed from those published by the manufacrurer for about half of the models tested.
Effect of a Competing Message on Synthetic Sentence Identification
Authors: Speaks Charles , Karmen Jane L. , Benitez Luis
Published: July 2014

The function relating performance to intensity for synthetic sentence message sets presented in quiet is exceedingly steep. Two experiments were conducted to determine the degree to which the performance-intensity (P-I) function could be flattened by adding a competing message at selected message-competition ratios. Data were obtained from five trained listeners in a criterion-controlled experiment and 23 naive listeners in a criterion-free experiment. Addition of the competing message flattened the P-I function substantially. The degree of flattening was related to the presentation level of the messages.
Psychoacoustic Comparison of Cochlear and VIIIth Nerve Disorders
Authors: Jerger James , Jerger Susan
Published: July 2014

A variety of psychoacoustic procedures was administered to three subjects—one with normal hearing, one with cochlear disorder, and one with VIIIth nerve disorder. Auditory tasks included discrimination of loudness, pitch, and temporal order; critical off-time; and speech intelligibility. A number of differences in response pattern were noted. Both theoretical and applied implications are discussed.
Grammatical Function in Relation to Stuttering in Young Children
Authors: Bloodstein Oliver , Gantwerk Barbara F.
Published: July 2014

Samples of the speech of 13 stutterers from two to six years of age were studied to determine to what extent the distribution of stutterings was related to the grammatical functions of words. The findings were markedly different from those reported on older stutterers. For the most part the stutterings were randomly distributed with respect to the grammatical factor, but there was a tendency for stuttering to occur unusually often on pronouns and conjunctions and less often, in relation to chance expectation, on nouns and interjections. The excessive stuttering on pronouns and conjunctions appeared to be largely the effect of the high frequency of stuttering on the first word of the sentence. It was concluded that a true grammatical factor does not exist in the initial phase of stuttering, and probably emerges only with the emergence of difficult words.
A Comparison of Selected Measures with Psychological Scale Values of Language Development
Authors: Shriner Thomas H.
Published: July 2014

Four linear multiple—regression analyses were used to determine the best composite for predicting scale values of language development derived from children of four different age categories. For the youngest age group (mean age of four years, seven months), a new measure of language development was evaluated. The results showed that the relationship among the predictor variables change as a function of age. Little systematic relationship was observed between the criterion, scale values of language development, and the predictor variables for children above the age of approximately five years. For children who were younger than five years, the best single predictor was the new measure, a modified length-complexity measure. Until there is further improvement of the length-complexity measure, however, mean length of response is a satisfactory predictor of language for children who are approximately five years of age and younger.
Disturbances in the Perception of Auditory Sequence in Children with Minimal Cerebral Dysfunction
Authors: Aten James , Davis James
Published: July 2014

Three nonverbal and seven verbal recorded tests were administered to a group of 21 children with minimal cerebral dysfunction and learning difficulties, and to a comparison group of normal children.

Neurologically impaired children were significantly deficient in performance on all three nonverbal tests and on backward-digit span, serial noun span, multisyllabic word repetition, scrambled sentence arrangement, and oral sequential accuracy. Perseverative behavior and bizarre responses were displayed by the experimental group as performance demands increased. Temporal ordering difficulties and reduced attention are seen to contribute to psycholinguistic problems in language learning.
Effects of Signal Duration and Rise Time on the Auditory Evoked Potential
Authors: Skinner Paul H. , Jones Howard C.
Published: July 2014

Summing computer technique was used to study the effects of signal duration and rise time on evoked auditory responses of 40 adult subjects. An additional objective was to determine whether signal duration for short signals up to 150 msec would reflect temporal summation through amplitude and latency changes in the wave form of evoked potentials. In the experiment on signal-duration, 1000 Hz tones were presented at near threshold levels (10 or 15 dB SL) to maximize the probability of observing the possible effects of temporal summation. In the second experiment different rise times with 1000 Hz stimuli were presented at four sensation levels: 30, 50, 70, and 90 dB. No consistent trend was observed in the evoked responses with increments in signal duration. Conversely, a very clear trend of increased peak amplitude in the potentials occurred as signal rise-time was decreased.
The Effects of High Gain Amplification on Children in a Residential School for the Deaf
Authors: Bellefleur Philip A. , Van Dyke Robert C.
Published: July 2014

The audiometric records of 58 children covering an eight- to ten-year span were statistically analyzed to determine if hearing-aid amplification had a deleterious effect on the residual hearing. In 25 cases, the unaided ear served as a control for the aided ear. In the remaining 33 cases, the objective was to statistically select the aided ear. Subjects were also subdivided into those with extrinsic and intrinsic deafness. It was hypothesized that if amplification had an effect on hearing loss over a period of time, it would be apparent through comparison of the aided and unaided ears. The results indicate no differences between ears for subjects during the years of this study.
Discriminative Learning in Children’s Acquisition of Phonology
Authors: Locke John L.
Published: July 2014

The theories of acquired equivalence and acquired distinctiveness of cues are presented as particularly effectual models in terms of their capacity to explain certain normal and deviant articulation learning. Articulation therapy is discussed as an application of the acquired distinctiveness model. Both theories generate basic, clinically pertinent, testable questions.
A Proportional Measure of Stuttering Adaptation
Authors: Silverman Franklin H. , Williams Dean E.
Published: July 2014

This paper suggests a measure of stuttering adaptation which can be used to determine whether the subjects in two or more groups adapt proportionally to the same degree. The slope of an adaptation curve obtained using this measure is not influenced by the absolute frequency of stutterings. A detailed description is presented of the computational procedure, including a discussion of significance tests.
A Proposed Clinical Test of Speech Discrimination
Authors: Kreul E. James , Nixon James C. , Kryter Karl D. , Bell Donald W. , Lang Janna S. , Schubert Earl D.
Published: July 2014

The Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) has been adapted to the needs of the clinical audiologist. Tape recordings of three speakers, one female and two males, were made, evaluated, and assembled in a format suitable for use as a clinical tool. Special attention was given to ensure an appropriate carrier phrase, consistent timing sequences, well-controlled recordings, simplified instructions, and test forms. The tests were administered to panels of listeners, and the results were assessed for possible effects of learning, speaker or listener differences, and comparability of test lists. The recordings are available, for all three speakers, with the noise adjusted to yield approximately the same percentage of correct responses for normal listeners, 96, 83, and 75% correct.
Comparison of Traditional and Condensed Articulation Tests Examining the Same Number of Sounds
Authors: Fristoe Macalyne , Goldman Ronald
Published: July 2014

The same recorded speech samples of subjects with articulation defects were presented to judges under two listening conditions. Under one condition each judge was to listen for only one sound per sample word, the traditional method for testing articulation. Under the second condition each judge was to listen for one, two, or three sounds in the various sample words, a quicker method for testing the same number of sounds. Comparisons of the results showed that there was little difference in the judges' performance under the two listening conditions. This suggests that speech pathologists can effectively evaluate more than one sound per word and that a condensed type of test will give approximately the same amount of information as the longer, traditional type of test.
Vocal Fry as a Phonational Register
Authors: Hollien Harry , Michel John F.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that vocal fry is a separate phonational register: specifically, whether or not the range of fundamental frequencies associated with vocal fry falls below the range of frequencies associated with the modal register. The frequency limits of the modal and falsetto registers, as well as those for vocal fry, were obtained from 12 males and 11 females. The results provide data that demonstrate vocal fry to be a register as specified.
Morphological Structures in the Language of Disadvantaged and Advantaged Children
Authors: Shriner Thomas H. , Miner Lynn
Published: July 2014

Two groups of preschool children, 25 culturally disadvantaged and 25 culturally advantaged, were matched by mental age and compared in their ability to apply morphological rules to unfamiliar situations. A comparison of morphology scores between the groups revealed no statistically significant difference. Several hypotheses are advanced to account for the lack of significant differences between the two groups. It is suggested that when relevant variables are controlled, and with respect to the morphological language abilities measured in this study, the labels “culturally disadvantaged” and “culturally advantaged” may be misnomers.
The Development of Constant Items for Speech Discrimination Testing
Authors: Owens Elmer , Schubert Earl D.
Published: July 2014

Subjects were English-speaking adults with hearing impairment. Etiology of hearing loss did not enter into selection. Consonant errors were observed on speech discrimination test lists employing a closed-set response system. Fifteen subjects were employed for the first list and 20 each for the remaining four lists, with an occasional subject serving in more than one group. Confusions between unvoiced and voiced consonants rarely occurred; the /r/ and /l/ were seldom confused with other phonemes; and nasals were seldom confused with non-nasals. Discrimination difficulty was related to both place and manner of articulation.
Comparison of Fairbanks Rhyme Test and CID Auditory Test W-22 in Normal and Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Authors: Kopra Lennart L. , Blosser Dennis , Waldron Daryle L.
Published: July 2014

Fifteen listeners with sensorineural hearing loss and 15 normal listeners were administered the Fairbanks Rhyme Test and CID Auditory Test W-22 at −4, 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40 dB sensation levels. The articulation functions for the two tests were similar for the two groups of listeners. The two tests appear equal in ability to differentiate normal listeners from listeners with sensorineural loss. It is suggested that certain nonessential advantages of the Rhyme Test may make it preferable to CID Auditory Test W-22 since both tests appear to be equivalent indicators of speech-sound discrimination.
Pre-Therapy Adaptation of Stuttering and Its Relation to Speech Measures of Therapy Progress
Authors: Prins David
Published: July 2014

Three measures of stuttering adaptation were obtained on 20 stutterers prior to the beginning of an eight-week residential therapy program. Following therapy each subject was evaluated using six scores which represented changes in speaking rate and frequency of stuttering during oral reading and in self-formulated speech. The results showed that less than half of the stutterers demonstrated a significant adaptation trend (A
t
), and only 12 of 20 showed significant normal deviate scores (A
s
) of adaptation. Partial correlation coefficients were significant in a negative direction between pretherapy percentage (A
p
) and trend (A
t
) adaptation measures and post-therapy scores showing increment in reading and speaking rate. It appears that adaptation is neither consistendy nor highly related to speech measures of therapy progress. A rationale is suggested for the negative correlation of adaptation and therapy change scores.
Stability of the Early Components of the Averaged Electroencephalic Response
Authors: Mendel Maurice I. , Goldstein Robert
Published: July 2014

The early components of the averaged electroencephalic response (AER) were examined at three-hour intervals in eight normal hearing adults over a single, sleepless 24-hour span. During each of the eight sessions, three series of clicks at 50 dB SL were presented to the right ear of the subject as he sat reading. 1024 clicks at the rate of 9.6/sec were used in obtaining each averaged response. Electroencephalic activity was recorded from an electrode on the vertex referred to the left earlobe. The response pattern was very stable, characterized by a polyphasic configuration with mean peak latencies of (P
o
) 13.3 msec, (N
a
) 22.0 msec, (P
a
) 32.3 msec, and (N
b
) 45.1 msec. An earlier negative peak (N
o
) with a mean peak latency of 8.3 msec occurred in many of the responses. At the conclusion of the 24-hour span, three of the subjects were tested with the same stimuli during various stages of sleep. The early components of the AER remained consistent even during sleep. Threshold searches were successfully carried out on two of the sleeping subjects. The long-term stability of the early components of the AER in the awake and sleep states makes them practical as a response index for electroencephalic audiometry. Their characteristics are more compatible with a neurogenic than with a myogenic theory of their origin.
Goal Setting Behavior of Parents of Beginning Stutterers and Parents of Nonstuttering Children
Authors: Quarrington Bruce , Seligman Judy , Kosower Eleanor
Published: July 2014

Parents of young beginning stutterers and parents of nonstutterers were studied to determine whether they differ in the goals they set for their children on a nonverbal task. The experiment represents a partial replication of an earlier work which studied older children with a longer stuttering duration. A group of 28 children, in whom the stuttering duration did not exceed eight months, was investigated. Controls were matched for age, sex, and family occupation level. Parents were each placed in separate sound treated rooms from which they observed their child. After each set of five trials on the Rotter Board the child’s score was reported to the parents, who then were required to estimate the child’s subsequent performance score. Reporting of the child’s score was controlled so that each parent was exposed to a standard schedule of fixed degrees of successes and failures. The two groups of mothers differed significantly on three of the four measures considered, with the mothers of stutterers setting significantly lower goals for their children. The two groups of fathers did not differ significantly on the same four measures. Theoretical implications are considered briefly.
Applications of Ultrasound in Speech Research
Authors: Kelsey Charles A. , Minifie Fred D. , Hixon Thomas J.
Published: July 2014

This paper describes techniques employing diagnostic ultrasound for monitoring various physiological parameters within the head and neck during speech production. The theoretical principles underlying these techniques are discussed together with basic instrumentation systems that have direct application to studies in speech physiology. Examples of A-scope measurement of pharyngeal wall depth, B-scans of the trachea, time-motion displays of the moving lateral pharyngeal wall, and Doppler monitoring of vocal-fold velocity are included. It is concluded that diagnostic ultrasound can be a useful tool in speech research.
Relationship of Auditory Distortion Test Results to Speech Discrimination Through Flat vs. Selective Amplifying Systems
Authors: Thompson Gary , Lassman Frank
Published: July 2014

Thirty adult subjects with high frequency hearing loss were given speech discrimination tests under conditions of flat and selective amplification. It was hypothesized that performance for the two amplifying conditions is related to amount of distortion in the auditory system as defined by selected clinical tests. An assumption was made that excessively distorted auditory systems are more easily overdriven by high frequency emphasis amplification than auditory systems with less distortion. Therefore, subjects with least distortion were expected to discriminate speech better through a high-pass filtered amplifying system which, within limits, restored frequency-intensity balance. Results indicated slightly better speech discrimination performance for the selective amplifying condition. There was some evidence that the extent of the difference favoring selective amplification may be influenced by the amount of distortion in the auditory system.
Bekesy Audiometry and Temporal Summation
Authors: Wright H. N.
Published: July 2014

The Bekesy Audiometer in its pulsed mode of operation customarily presents tones at a repetition rate of 2.5/sec with a duration of about 200 msec and a rise-fall time of 25 msec. The protocol developed for Threshold-Duration functions calls for tones with a repetition rate of 1/sec with a duration of 500 msec and a rise-fall time of 10 msec. This investigation compared the thresholds obtained with each of these types of signals to those obtained with a continuous tone at 250, 1000, and 4000 Hz. The results indicate that there are only slight differences between thresholds obtained with the tones provided by the conventional Bekesy Audiometer and the 500-msec tones used to obtain Threshold-Duration functions, at least during fixed-frequency tracings for normal-hearing listeners. When the thresholds for each of these pulsed tones are compared to those obtained with a continuous tone, however, clinically significant differences emerge.
A Task for Evaluation of Articulation Change: III. Imitative Task Scores Compared with Scores for More Spontaneous Tasks
Authors: Wright Virginia , Shelton Ralph L. , Arndt William B.
Published: July 2014

Nineteen subjects with consistent misarticulations of at least one phoneme were provided with remedial speech instruction. Thirty-item imitative sound production tasks were administered on three occasions prior to instruction, once before each lesson, and one month after the final lesson. Thirty-item talking tasks were obtained four times: (1) prior to instruction, (2) at a given midpoint, (3) before the final lesson, and (4) one month after the final lesson. A 30-item reading task was administered at one point during the study. The subjects were grouped according to a criterion level established for performance on the imitative task. Comparisons were made both within and between groups. These comparisons concerned articulation change as demonstrated by subjects' performances on the three tasks. Subjects made articulation improvement on the imitative task. They made less improvement on the reading task and much less improvement on the talking task.
Stimulus, Response, and Observer Variables in the Auditory Screening of Newborn Infants
Authors: Ling Daniel , Ling Agnes H. , Doehring Donald G.
Published: July 2014

Behavioral responses of 144 healthy neonates to actual and simulated presentations of three different high-frequency sounds of 85 dB SPL were studied. Stimuli were a narrow-band noise centered at 2000 Hz, a narrow-band noise centered at 3150 Hz, and a pure tone increasing and decreasing in frequency between 2000 and 4000 Hz. A masking noise which prevented knowledge of stimulus events was presented to one member of each observer pair.

Results indicated that an observer’s judgments of infant behavior may be significantly influenced by knowledge of stimulus events. More responses were observed with the narrow-band noise centered at 2000 Hz; the most frequently observed responses were strong whole-body movements. A decrement in response strength tended to occur with repeated stimulation. Neither positive nor false positive responses were related to sex, anomalies, gestation period, birth weight, age at test, or body temperature. The inherent complexities of infant screening are discussed in relation to a signal detection paradigm.
Acoustic Coupler Effects on Speech Audiometric Scores using a CROS Hearing Aid
Authors: Jetty Albert J. , Rintelmann William F.
Published: July 2014

A CROS hearing aid was utilized with four different acoustic couplers to obtain spondee thresholds and speech discrimination scores from three groups of hearing-impaired subjects. Couplers employed were conventional and modified types (vented, open, and crimped polyethylene tubing). Results indicated that the conductives obtained better mean aided spondee thresholds with the conventional earmold than with the modified acoustic couplers, whereas speech discrimination scores showed essentially no intercoupler differences. The mean aided spondee thresholds of the sensorineural group with a precipitous high-frequency drop were essentially the same under all coupling conditions, whereas discrimination was markedly improved with the modified couplers as opposed to the conventional earmold. The sensorineural group with gradually sloping audiometric configurations obtained better aided spondee thresholds with the conventional earmold, whereas discrimination was improved with the modified couplers.
An Experimental Analogue of the Anxiety-Stuttering Relationship
Authors: Toomey George L. , Sidman Murray
Published: July 2014

Four adult subjects who stuttered were exposed to the Estes-Skinner conditioned anxiety paradigm. After buzzer-shock pairings were introduced, instances of stuttering and reading rates were affected in different directions. Different patterns were noted among individual subjects. In a situation designed to be anxiety arousing, stutterers reacted in different ways.
Lip and Jaw Coarticulation for the Phoneme /æ/
Authors: Amerman James D. , Daniloff Raymond , Moll Kenneth L.
Published: July 2014

The timing and coarticulation of jaw lowering and lip retraction was investigated. Meaningful sentences containing sequences of up to four consonants preceding the vowel /æ/ were constructed, and high speed cinefluorographic films were made of four subjects speaking all sequences at normal production rates and effort levels.

Curve fitting indicated that the lips and jaw do not behave as second-order mechanical systems responding to a step-function of muscle driving force. Lip retraction was a poor estimate of lip spreading, being small in amount, and variable in starting points. The jaw never achieved target values, and a majority of lip targets were undershot. Articulator target positions based on sustained, isolated phoneme productions are probably not realistic.

Jaw displacement and less consistently, lip retraction, extended over two and, in several cases, three consonants preceding /æ/. This result might have been extended had the /s/ phone not been contradictory to one or both gestures.

Extensive incoordination of lips and jaw in achieving target positions simultaneously and in starting at like time points was observed. The data were related to several models of articulation.
EMG of Pharyngoesophageal Musculature during Alaryngeal Voice Production
Authors: Shipp Thomas
Published: July 2014

EMG activity from the inferior constrictor and cricopharyngeus muscles and the voice signal were obtained from 18 laryngectomized male subjects as they produced isolated vowels using alaryngeal phonation. To inflate the esophagus prior to phonation, all subjects but one demonstrated a similar muscle pattern: either one or both muscles studied showed a burst of activity at the moment of inflation. The remaining subject had a muscle pattern during inflation that was identical to a post-laryngectomy swallowing pattern. No typical or modal muscle patterns were found for subjects during the phonatory portion of the alaryngeal voice task. Consistency of pattern within each subject was extremely high during a given procedure and on repeated procedures. The findings suggested that poor talkers had less control of differential muscle contraction than did the adequate talkers and that each laryngectomized talker adopts a phonatory method that is unique to him and consistent with his postoperative anatomy and physiology.
Reassembly of Segmented CVC Syllables by Children
Authors: Shriner Thomas H. , Daniloff Raymond G.
Published: July 2014

This study tested the perception-resynthesis performance of 80 normal-speaking first and third grade children. Stimuli consisted of 10 pairs of meaningful and meaningless CVC syllables. Phonemes were spoken in isolation and CVC syllables prepared with silent intervals of 50, 100, 200, and 400 msec between the phonemes. Children listened to these constructions and were asked to speak (reassemble) the CVC heard. Results indicate that correct responses significantly decrease as silent intervals are increased. Meaningless CVC syllables were much less easily resynthe-sized at all intervals than meaningful syllables. No significant differences were found between first and third grade children. The results are discussed in terms of the model used as the basis of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities as related to recent findings in coarticulation research.
Evoked Cortical Responses to Stimulus Change
Authors: McCandless Geary A. , Rose Darrell E.
Published: July 2014

The presentation of any sensory stimulus of sufficient intensity produces a widespread evoked potential from the human brain. This can be recorded from scalp electrodes. These responses can also be elicited by any fairly abrupt change or alteration of the sensory environment. An evoked response occurs when the frequency of an auditory stimulus, the color of a visual stimulus, or the rate of tactile stimulation is changed perceptibly from an established condition. The response wave form is insensitive to direction of frequency change, but it has greater amplitude with intensity in crement than with a decrement. The evoked response amplitude and latency are related to the magnitude of the stimulus change. Evoked responses are also elicited when a tone being presented to one ear is changed to the other ear. Any perceptible alteration of one’s sensory environment from an established condition appears capable of eliciting not only behavioral alerting but also an accompanying evoked cortical response.
Relationship Between Reading and Selected Auditory Abilities of Third-Grade Children
Authors: Flynn Pauline T. , Byrne Margaret C.
Published: July 2014

This project studied auditory abilities of a selected group of advanced and retarded third-grade readers from high and low socioeconomic environments. Two general hypotheses were posed: (1) advanced and retarded readers perform differently on auditory tasks; and (2) socioeconomic environment affects auditory ability. A one-hour battery of auditory tests was administered to 39 third-grade children, all of whom were at least one year ahead or one year behind grade level in reading achievement. This research indicated that significant differences existed between advanced and retarded readers on the auditory tasks. Socioeconomic environment, alone, did not affect auditory ability. The advanced readers from both levels performed similarly, and so did the retarded readers. Significant differences were more frequently found when the groups had more widely divergent mean IQ scores.
A Comparison of the Results of Pressure Articulation Testing in Various Contexts for Subjects with Cleft Palates
Authors: Van Demark D. R.
Published: July 2014

Twenty-five subjects with cleft palate in each of three manometer ratio groups were administered three pressure articulation tests of varying complexity. These included a word articulation test, the reading of a sentence articulation test, and a repeated sentence articulation test. A sample of connected speech was also obtained to compare judged ratings of articulation defectiveness with scores obtained on the three articulation tests. All tests demonstrated a strong relationship to judged severity. Significant differences in performance were evident among manometer ratio groups and on articulation tests. Subjects achieved the highest percent correct articulation on the word articulation test followed by the repeated sentence articulation test and the sentence articulation. With one exception, subjects with high manometer ratios achieved the highest scores, followed by the marginal and then by poor closure groups. To explore further difference in performance among the manometer ratio groups and an articulation tests, errors on manner of production category and type of errors were examined. Subjects in the high manometer ratio group produced significantly fewer errors on fricatives; whereas, nasal distortions increased as manometer ratio decreased.
Auditory Training and Speech Discrimination
Authors: Bode Daniel L. , Oyer Herbert J.
Published: July 2014

Thirty-two adults with sensorineural hearing loss participated in a short-term auditory training program. The listeners were assigned to one of four matched groups which were equivalent in pure-tone sensitivity, speech-reception threshold, PB discrimination in quiet and in noise, intelligence, age, education, duration of loss, sex, and hearing-aid use. Each group responded during training to a different combination of listening condition (S/N varied or S/N-constant) and speech material (closed-set or open-set response formats).

Statistically significant increase in auditory discrimination was shown on the W-22 and Rhyme tests, while the increase revealed by the Semi-Diagnostic test was not significant. Results indicated that the two listening conditions were equally effective. Similarly, the two types of training material brought about equivalent increases in overall speech discrimination.

Trends suggested that open-set and closed-set training each had most effect on the respective type of speech discrimination. In addition, improvement in auditory discrimination was associated with those individuals who were oldest, with those who had highest intelligence, and with those who responded to training material at the most intense presentation level. Finally, listeners who reported the most hearing handicap also tended to show the greatest loss in speech reception and in speech discrimination in noise.
Effect on Stuttering of Changes in Audition
Authors: Wingate M. E.
Published: July 2014

This article presents an analysis of the ameliorative effect on stuttering known to be associated with different conditions affecting auditory reception. An integral explanation for the salutary effect of all of these conditions is derived, focusing on the indirect modification of vocal function. Conclusions are consistent with the analysis presented in a previous paper which dealt with the fluency-enhancing effects of a number of other conditions.
The Relative Contribution of Visual and Auditory Components of Speech to Speech Intelligibility as a Function of Three Conditions of Frequency Distortion
Authors: Sanders Derek A. , Goodrich Sharon J.
Published: July 2014

Twenty normal-hearing college students were tested to establish speech discrimination scores under three conditions of sensory input and four conditions of frequency filtering. The speech material used comprised Phonetically Balanced Monosyllabic words from CID Auditory Test W-22. The speech sample was presented under the following sensory input conditions: (1) vision alone, (2) audition alone, (3) vision and audition combined. The frequency spectrum of the speech sample was varied by a filter system to produce the following approximate band widths: (1) unfiltered, (2) 400 Hz low pass, (3) 1800 Hz high pass, (4) 400–2200 Hz band pass. The results indicate that the mode of presentation, frequency filter band widths, and interaction of mode of presentation and frequency filter band widths, all effect speech discrimination. Greater dependency on visual clues was evidenced as auditory distortion increased. The data were found to be significant at the 0.01 level of confidence.