bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of the Profile of Hearing Aid Performance (PHAP)
Authors: Cox Robyn M. , Gilmore Christine
Published: July 2014

This paper reports the development of the Profile of Hearing Aid Performance (PHAP), a 66-item self-administered inventory that quantifies performance with a hearing aid in everyday life using both seven-score and four-score profiles. The profiles assess experience with amplification in terms of speech communication in three types of listening situations and in terms of reactions to amplified environmental sounds. The PHAP has been evaluated using groups consisting mainly of elderly hearing aid wearers having mild to moderate hearing impairments. Internal consistency reliability of the scales and subscales ranges from .70 to .91. Test-retest correlations range from .66 to .88. Ninety percent and 95% critical differences are presented to facilitate evaluation of differences between scores for the same individual under different conditions. It is envisioned that the PHAP will have its principal application in research evaluating and comparing different approaches to hearing aid fittings. In addition, the inventory can be used clinically to assess existing hearing aid fittings.
Content Analysis and Intratest Performance Profiles on the Columbia and the TONI
Authors: Kamhi Alan G. , Minor Jill S. , Mauer Daria
Published: July 2014

This research note presents the results of a content analysis of the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale and the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI). We also compared the intratest performance of a selected sample of language-impaired (LI) and MA-matched normal language children on these two tests. These analyses are an extension of Johnston’s (1982) report on the Leiter. The content analysis revealed differences in the nature of perceptual and conceptual items on the Columbia and the TONI. Consistent with Johnston’s findings, the intratest comparisons revealed no significant group differences. LI and normal-language children performed significantly better on the perceptual-type items than the conceptual-type items. The predominance of perceptual items was particularly evident in the TONI.
Genetic Implications of Gender Differences in the Prevalence of Spontaneous Otoacoustic Emissions
Authors: Bilger Robert C. , Matthies Melanie L. , Hammel Diane R. , Demorest Marilyn E.
Published: July 2014

Spontaneous otoacoustic emissions (SOAEs), which occur in about 40% of normal-hearing humans, do not have a firm explanation in auditory theory nor are their distributional properties well understood. To enhance our understanding of SOAEs, we have pooled data from three reports (Hammel, 1983; Strickland, Burns, & Tubis, 1985; Zurek, 1981) to assemble a large enough sample to assess the relevant hypotheses about the effects of ear and gender on their presence. The results, based on loglinear analyses of the pooled sample of 131 normal-hearing subjects, indicated that (a) the prevalence of SOAEs for female subjects [
P
(S|F)=.533] was significantly higher than that for male subjects [
P
(S|M)=.268]; (b) the percentage of right ears with SOAEs (36.6%) was significantly greater than that of left ears (25.2%); and (c) right and left ears were not independent with respect to the presence of SOAEs. These results can be explained by assuming that the (a) tendency to exhibit emissions is inherited, perhaps as a sex-linked trait and (b) ears are asymmetric with respect to the anatomical anomalies of the apical portion of the organ of Corti that may precipitate SOAEs.
A Comparison of Psychometric Functions for Detection in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Authors: Arehart Kathryn Hoberg , Burns Edward M. , Schlauch Robert S.
Published: July 2014

Psychometric functions (PFD) for the detection of pure tones were obtained with a two-interval forced-choice procedure from a group of listeners with normal hearing and a group of listeners with sensorineural impairments of presumed cochlear origin. Five PFDs were obtained for each group at each of the four test frequencies (500, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz). The slopes of PFDs were abnormally steep in some of the hearing-impaired listeners, but were statistically significant only at 2000 Hz.
Muscle Spindles in the Velopharyngeal Musculature of Humans
Authors: Kuehn David P. , Templeton Pamela J. , Maynard Jerry A.
Published: July 2014

Seven muscles in the velopharyngeal region of humans were studied histologically to determine the presence of muscle spindles. Typical spindles were found in palatoglossus and tensor veli palatini with a greater number in the latter. Spindles were not found in levator veli palatini, palatopharyngeus, musculus uvulae, salpingopharyngeus, or the superior pharyngeal constrictor.
Performance of Cochlear Implant Patients as a Function of Time
Authors: Spivak Lynn G. , Waltzman Susan B.
Published: July 2014

The speech perception abilities of 15 patients were measured preoperatively using hearing aids and postoperatively using the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant over a period of 1, 2, or 3 years. Analysis of mean data revealed that, although the greatest amount of improvement in speech perception scores occurred between the preoperative and 3-month poststimulation evaluation, there was also significant improvement in perception of segmental features and open-set speech recognition over the 3-year time period. When individual patient data were examined, however, it was clear that these improvements were due, in large part, to the performance of a subset of patients who had measurable open-set speech recognition abilities at the time of their 3-month, poststimulation evaluation. Subjects who used the processing scheme that included coding of F1 showed significantly more improvement over time than subjects who used the original FOF2 processing scheme exclusively. It was concluded that open-set speech recognition ability at 3 months is an important prognostic indicator of continued improvement in speech perception abilities over time.
Effects of Aging on the Precedence Effect in Sound Localization
Authors: Cranford Jerry L. , Boose Martha , Moore Christopher A.
Published: July 2014

The precedence effect in sound localization can be evoked by presenting identical sounds (e.g., clicks) from pairs of loudspeakers placed on opposite sides of a subject’s head. With appropriate inter-loudspeaker delays, normal subjects perceive a fused image originating from the side of the leading loudspeaker. Separate tests at loudspeaker delays ranging from 0 to 8 ms were presented to groups of young and elderly subjects. At 0 ms delay, young subjects perceived the fused image to be located halfway between the loudspeakers; at progressively longer delays, the image was perceived closer to the leading loudspeaker. Significant numbers of elderly subjects exhibited discrimination difficulties with delays below 0.7 ms.
Autonomic Correlates of Stuttering and Speech Assessed in a Range of Experimental Tasks
Authors: Weber Christine M. , Smith Anne
Published: July 2014

Electrodermal activity, peripheral blood flow, and heart rate were recorded from 19 stutterers and 19 normal speakers during performance of jaw movements, a strenuous breath-holding task, reading, and spontaneous speech. The tasks were selected to produce a range of autonomic activation and thus help scale autonomic activation for speech relative to other motor behaviors. Speaking was associated with relatively large increases in autonomic activity in both stutterers and normal speakers. There were no differences between the two groups of speakers, suggesting that the stutterers did not have abnormally high levels of autonomic activation in speech. Within the group of stutterers, the more extreme increases in arousal (specifically increases in measures reflecting sympathetic arousal) were correlated with the occurrence and increased severity of disfluent speech. Significant correlations were found for the intervals prior to, during, and after speech. Although significantly correlated with disfluency, measures of autonomic arousal accounted for small percentages of the variances of fluency and severity. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that sympathetic arousal accompanies the breakdowns in speech motor processes characteristic of stuttering. Mechanisms linking autonomic nervous system functions and somatic sensorimotor processes involved in speech production are discussed.
The Initial Learning of Novel English Words
Authors: Kiernan Barbara , Swisher Linda
Published: July 2014

The two single-subject, alternating treatment design experiments reported here investigated the initial learning of novel words by minority-language children acquiring English as a second language. Four Spanish- and 3 Navajo-speaking children (ages 4:11–6:3) served as subjects. The results for all children in both experiments supported the hypothesis that receptive learning of novel words in a second language would reach a pre-established criterion in fewer trials under a bilingual compared with a monolingual condition. In addition, several children in each study met the learning criterion for both first and second language words in the bilingual condition in approximately the same number of trials needed to reach criterion for the second language words in the monolingual condition. Neither study suggested that the degree of a subject’s relative language dominance influenced the learning patterns. The findings are discussed in relation to the linguistic, language-related, and learning requirements of the experimental tasks.
Play-Language Relationships in Young Children With Developmental Delays
Authors: Kennedy Marianne D. , Sheridan Margaret K. , Radlinski Sara H. , Beeghly Marjorie
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine whether the reported parallels between symbolic play and normal language development were evidenced in 6 children with developmental delays of varying etiologies. Subjects’ play and language behavior over a 6-month period was videotaped and analyzed during free play and modeling tasks. Although results supported the correspondences previously reported between normal language development and symbolic play, the variability across observations in the present subjects was more marked than expected. Implications for clinical assessment are discussed.
Spouse Attitudes Toward the Person With Aphasia
Authors: Zraick Richard I. , Boone Daniel R.
Published: July 2014

This investigation evaluated the attitudes of individuals towards their aphasic spouse. Using modified Q-methodology, 15 spouses of fluent aphasic patients, 15 spouses of nonfluent aphasic patients, and 30 matched controls completed a 70-item Q-sort. The spouses of nonfluent aphasic patients had a significantly greater number of negative attitudes toward their spouses than the spouses of fluent aphasic patients. The spouses of patients in both aphasia groups had a significantly greater number of negative attitudes toward their spouses than the matched controls. The most common attitudes of spouses of patients in both aphasic groups divided into six factors: compliance, desirability, egocentricity, independence, maturity, and sociability.
An Exploratory Study of the Interaction Between Language Teaching Methods and Child Characteristics
Authors: Yoder Paul J. , Kaiser Ann P. , Alpert Cathy L.
Published: July 2014

The present study examined whether the relative efficacy of two language teaching methods was predicted by pretreatment subject characteristics. Forty handicapped preschoolers were randomly assigned to two language teaching methods (i.e., Milieu Teaching and the Communication Training Program). No main effects of treatment were found. However, seven statistical interactions between pretreatment subject characteristics and language teaching method indicated that lower-functioning children benefitted more from the Milieu method and higherfunctioning children benefitted more from the Communication Training Program. The results were discussed in relation to the extant literature reporting subject-by-language-teachingmethod interactions. The importance of replicating the present results and specific suggestions for subject selection criteria and pretreatment subject characteristics likely to interact with language teaching methods similar to those used in this study are discussed.
Preparation Time and Response Complexity Effects on Stutterers’ and Nonstutterers’ Acoustic LRT
Authors: Dembowski James , Watson Ben C.
Published: July 2014

Nonstutterers’, mild stutterers’, and severe stutterers’ acoustic laryngeal reaction times (LRTs) were recorded for isolated vowels and nonpropositional VCV responses in different stimulus conditions governing response preparation. In all stimulus-response conditions severe stutterers produced the longest LRTs, followed in turn by mild stutterers and nonstutterers. The three groups significantly differed from one another in most conditions, but the magnitude of difference between mild and severe stutterers was notably greater than the difference between mild stutterers and nonstutterers. LRT changes as a function of stimulus condition showed that, in general, nonstutterers were best able to use a preparation-facilitating stimulus condition to reduce LRT, and severe stutterers least able to do so. LRT changes as a function of response complexity showed that only nonstutterers produced statistically significant within-group differences. Patterns of LRT change as a combined function of group, stimulus condition, and response type suggest a complex relationship between stutterer severity, preparation time, and type of response complexity. Results illustrate aspects of Goldberg’s (1985) model of preparation processes, and support hypotheses that stutterer subgroups show differential preparation deficits along with high motor initiation variability.
Management of Vocal Nodules
Authors: Allen Marybeth S. , Pettit John M. , Sherblom John C.
Published: July 2014

This study surveyed 21 otolaryngologists (70% return) and 32 speech-language pathologists (46% return) in Maine about the treatment of vocal nodules in children and adults, referral patterns, effectiveness of therapy, and adequacy of speech-language pathologists’ training. Differences in opinions between the two professional groups were found in treatment of children and referral patterns.
Validity and Reliability of Tympanometric Measures for Pediatric Patients
Authors: Karzon Roanne G.
Published: July 2014

Sensitivity and specificity of static acoustic admittance (SAA) and tympanometric width (TW) were assessed for 116 pediatric patients. Otologic examination was the validation criterion. Reliability of immediate repeat tympanometric measures (SAA, TW, peak pressure, and estimate of ear canal volume) was also evaluated. A statistically significant change in SAA, with a larger SAA on measure two than measure one, was observed. No significant change across the two sequential measures was observed for TW, peak pressure, or the estimate of ear canal volume. The sensitivity and specificity data collected are discussed with respect to assisting clinicians in selecting tympanometric criteria suitable to their own clinical situation.
Permanent Threshold Shift Associated With Overamplification by Hearing Aids
Authors: Macrae John H.
Published: July 2014

Humes and Jesteadt have proposed that the Modified Power Law (MPL) provides a means of predicting permanent threshold shift (PTS) due to noise exposure in subjects with preexisting sensorineural hearing loss. Data concerning PTS attributed to overamplification by hearing aids in 8 children with severe sensorineural hearing loss were used to evaluate the MPL hypothesis. The excessive amplification was partly due to use by the children of very high volume-control settings instead of mid-range volume-control settings. The PTS tended to be flat across frequency. Its course in time was a miniature version of the time course of PTS that would be induced by a similar noise exposure in a person with normal hearing. It began to occur soon after the start of hearing aid use and its rate of development was slower than that which would occur in a person with normal hearing. The growth of PTS could be predicted from the estimated real ear output levels of the children’s hearing aids by means of the MPL combined with the logarithmic equation proposed by Kraak for predicting the effect of noise exposure on hearing.
Duration of the Speech Disfluencies of Beginning Stutterers
Authors: Zebrowski Patricia M.
Published: July 2014

This study compared the duration of within-word disfluencies and the number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetitions of beginning stutterers to those produced by age- and sex-matched nonstuttering children. Subjects were 10 stuttering children [9 males and 1 female; mean age 4:1 (years:months); age range 3:2–5:0], and 10 nonstuttering children (9 males and 1 female; mean age 4:0; age range: 2:10–5:1). Mothers of the stuttering children reported that their children had been stuttering for 1 year or less. One 300-word conversational speech sample from each of the stuttering and nonstuttering children was analyzed for (a) mean duration of sound/syllable repetition and sound prolongation, (b) mean number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetition, and (c) various related measures of the frequency of all between- and within-word speech disfluencies. There were no significant between-group differences for either the duration of acoustically measured sound/syllable repetitions and sound prolongations or the number of repeated units per instance of sound/syllable and whole-word repetition. Unlike frequency and type of speech disfluency produced, average duration of within-word disfluencies and number of repeated units per repetition do not differentiate the disfluent speech of beginning stutterers and their nonstuttering peers. Additional analyses support findings from previous perceptual work that type and frequency of speech disfluency, not duration, are the principal characteristics listeners use in distinguishing these two talker groups.
The Structure of Disfluency Behaviors in the Speech of Adult Stutterers
Authors: Lewis Kerry E.
Published: July 2014

Throughout the stuttering literature numerous references to a twofold classification of disfluency types are found. However, no rigorous empirical test of that dichotomous classification has been reported in the literature. This investigation was designed to conduct such a test in order to provide an empirical foundation for that distinction. The hypotheses stated that the relationships among disfluency behaviors were consistent with an underlying two-dimensional structure and specified the group of variables (disfluency behaviors) having primary association with each dimension. Instrumentation and procedures permitting reliable dentification and coding of nine disfluency behaviors were developed. This observational system was applied to baseline monologues obtained from 180 adult stutterers Results of factor analyses supported the hypotheses on the two-factor structure and on the disposition of the disfluency variables.
The Production and Perception of Syllable Structure
Authors: Tuller Betty , Kelso J. A. S.
Published: July 2014

Much research on speech over the years has focused on uncovering examples of the nonlinear relationship between acoustics and perception (e.g., so-called “categorical perception”) and between articulation and acoustics [as described by Stevens’s (1972) quantal theory]. In the present experiment we demonstrate that naturally occurring linear changes in articulation may also be perceived discontinuously. Specifically, linear changes in relative phase of glottal and oral movements are perceived as categorical changes in the location of syllable juncture. Thus, phase transitions observed during speech demarcate a change in syllabic organization.
Children’s Knowledge of Auditory/Articulatory Correspondences
Authors: Klein Harriet B. , Lederer Susan H. , Cortese Emma E.
Published: July 2014

Forty-five normally developing children, 15 within each group of mean ages 5, 6, and 7, participated in a metaphonologic study examining the knowledge of auditory/articulatory correspondences Tasks included (a) a nonverbal identification of correspondences by selecting the appropriate side of a split video screen display, and (b) a verbal explanation of the cues used to motivate this choice. With development, there were significant increases in numbers of correct responses on the nonverbal task and corresponding changes in relative proportions of verbal explanation types. No significant relationship between level of performance on metaphonologic tasks and phoneme production skill was found.
Toleration of Background Noises
Authors: Nabelek Anna K. , Tucker Frances M. , Letowski Tomasz R.
Published: July 2014

One of the frequently quoted reasons for the rejection of hearing aids is amplification of background noise. The relationship between hearing aid use and toleration of background noise was assessed. Four groups of elderly subjects (at least 65 years old) and one group of young subjects with normal hearing participated in the study. Each group consisted of 15 subjects. The young subjects and elderly subjects in one group with relatively good hearing were tested for comparison with the hearing-impaired subjects. Elderly subjects in the three remaining groups had acquired hearing losses and had been fitted with hearing aids. The subjects were assigned to three groups on the basis of hearing aid use: full-time users, part-time users, and nonusers. The amount of background noise tolerated when listening to speech was tested. The speech stimulus was a story read by a woman and set at an individually chosen most comfortable level. The maskers were a babble of voices, speech-spectrum noise, traffic noise, music, and the noise of a pneumatic drill. There was a significant interaction between groups and noises. The full-time users tolerated significantly higher levels of music and speech-spectrum noise than part-time users and nonusers. In addition, the full-time users, but not the part-time users, assessed themselves as less handicapped in everyday functions when they wore hearing aids than when they did not wear their hearing aids
The Efficacy of Script Contexts in Language Comprehension Intervention With Children Who Have Mental Retardation
Authors: Kim Young Tae , Lombardino Linda J.
Published: July 2014

This study was designed to investigate the effects of script-based and nonscript-based treatment on the language comprehension of 4 preschool children with mental retardation. An alternating treatments design (ATD) in combination with a multiple baseline design was used to evaluate treatment effects. Treatments were comprised of three script routines and three nonscript activities. Two semantic constructions were selected for training and counterbalanced across subjects and treatments. Daily probes were administered to assess the effects of the treatments. The script-based treatment was more effective than the nonscript treatment in facilitating comprehension of the targeted semantic constructions in 3 of the 4 subjects.
Turn Exchange Behaviors of Children With Normally Developing Language
Authors: Craig Holly K. , Evans Julia L.
Published: July 2014

The turn exchanges of normally developing 8-year-old boys and girls were examined within adult-child dyadic interaction. Videotaped language samples were analyzed for gender differences in the children’s production of simultaneous and nonsimultaneous speech. The results indicated no gender differences for nonsimultaneous turn exchange behaviors but significant differences in the overlap subtypes and simultaneous resolution patterns between the boys and the girls. Sex of the adult partner influenced the negotiation and ultimate length of the children’s turns. The children’s gender differences were consistent with the adult literature that characterizes men as more assertive conversationally than women.
Comparison of Objective and Subjective Measures of Speech Intelligibility in Elderly Hearing-Impaired Listeners
Authors: Cox Robyn M. , Alexander Genevieve C. , Rivera Izel M.
Published: July 2014

Three experiments were performed to evaluate the use of subjective intelligibility estimations as a method for measuring hearing aid benefit. Subjective and objective speech intelligibility scores were compared for young normal-hearing and elderly hearing-impaired listeners. Objective intelligibility scores were obtained using the Connected Speech Test (CST). This test consists of conversationally produced passages of speech that the listener repeats sentence by sentence. To provide subjective intelligibility scores, listeners estimated the percentage that they understood of each CST passage. Comparison of the two types of scores revealed that they were closely related in both groups of subjects (
r
=82–92). Although the two types of scores were essentially equal for normal-hearing subjects, the hearing-impaired listeners tended to produce subjective estimations of intelligibility that were significantly lower than their objective scores. Manipulation of visual cues and amplification, In an attempt to influence the hearing-impaired listeners’ expectation of understanding speech, had no effect on the subjectiveobjective score differential. The difference between subjective and objective scores in the hearing-impaired group was not related to audiometric variables such as speech reception threshold, audiogram, or duration of hearing loss. It was concluded that comparative hearing aid evaluations using subjective intelligibility estimates would usually produce the same
relative
outcome as evaluations using the objective intelligibility measurement procedure. However, scores obtained with the objective procedure had smaller critical differences. Thus, when both types of scores are based on the same number of passages, the objective measurement procedure would be the more sensitive to differences among hearing aids.
Repair Strategy Usage by Hearing-Impaired Adults and Changes Following Communication Therapy
Authors: Tye-Murray Nancy
Published: July 2014

This investigation documented how hearing-impaired individuals use communication repair strategies in structured settings and determined whether these strategies could be changed by communication therapy. Eight hearing-impaired adults with mild to severe sensorineural hearing losses practiced using five repair strategies when they did not correctly speechread a videotaped sentence. The strategies included asking the talker to (a) repeat the sentence, (b) simplify it, (c) rephrase it, (d) say an important key word, and (e) speak two sentences. Therapy consisted of computerized interactive activities and role-playing with a clinician. Seven hearing-impaired adults served as control subjects and received no therapy. Before and during therapy, subjects usually wanted a misperceived sentence to be repeated. On average, subjects changed their use of repair strategies following therapy. They utilized the repeat strategy less often and other strategies more often.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
Authors: Kahn Gerri , Goldman Ellen
Published: July 2014

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a form of child abuse in which a mother causes or simulates her child’s symptoms and presents the child for diagnosis and treatment. All previously reported cases have involved acute illnesses. This case study describes the ways in which a mother obtained a diagnosis of sensorineural hearing loss as well as amplification for her normally hearing infant.
Accuracy of the Pressure-Flow Method in Estimating Induced Velopharyngeal Orifice Area
Authors: Zajac David J. , Yates Campbell C.
Published: July 2014

A two-part study was conducted to determine the accuracy of the pressure-flow method in estimating induced velopharyngeal orifice areas when the flow coefficient
k
was empirically determined. In Study 1, short tubes, 4.5 cm in length and with internal diameters of 3.2, 4.8, and 6.4 mm, were placed in a model of the vocal tract, and the associated flow coefficients were calculated. In Study 2, the 4.8-mm internal diameter tube was inserted into the nasopharynx of a normal adult subject to induce oronasal coupling during production of the syllable I/pa/. Results for the human subject revealed that the error between the known and estimated orifice areas was approximately 7%. This finding indicates that the pressure-flow technique is accurate when the flow coefficient of the orifice is known. It is suggested that future research attempt to estimate flow coefficients associated with the geometry of the human velopharyngeal orifice in order to improve the accuracy of the pressure-flow technique.
Recognition of Synthetic Speech by Hearing-Impaired Elderly Listeners
Authors: Humes Larry E. , Nelson Kathleen J. , Pisoni David B.
Published: July 2014

The Modified Rhyme Test (MRT), recorded using natural speech and two forms of synthetic speech, DECtalk and Votrax, was used to measure both open-set and closed-set speech-recognition performance. Performance of hearing-impaired elderly listeners was compared to two groups of young normal-hearing adults, one listening in quiet, and the other listening in a background of spectrally shaped noise designed to simulate the peripheral hearing loss of the elderly. Votrax synthetic speech yielded significant decrements in speech recognition compared to either natural or DECtalk synthetic speech for all three subject groups. There were no differences in performance between natural speech and DECtalk speech for the elderly hearing-impaired listeners or the young listeners with simulated hearing loss. The normal-hearing young adults listening in quiet out-performed both of the other groups, but there were no differences in performance between the young listeners with simulated hearing loss and the elderly hearing-impaired listeners. When the closed-set identification of synthetic speech was compared to its open-set recognition, the hearing-impaired elderly gained as much from the reduction in stimulus/response uncertainty as the two younger groups. Finally, among the elderly hearing-impaired listeners, speech-recognition performance was correlated negatively with hearing sensitivity, but scores were correlated positively among the different talker conditions. Those listeners with the greatest hearing loss had the most difficulty understanding speech and those having the most trouble understanding natural speech also had the greatest difficulty with synthetic speech.
Clinical Applications of Otoacoustic Emissions
Authors: Lonsbury-Martin Brenda L. , Whitehead Martin L. , Martin Glen K.
Published: July 2014

On the basis of recent advances in auditory physiology, new tests of cochlear function have been developed using measures of otoacoustic emissions. In the present report, the clinical potential for each of the four basic emission types is examined. In addition, the practical advantages of examining the ear with two specific types of evoked emissions, transiently evoked and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions, are reviewed in detail. Finally, the future role of tests of otoacoustic emissions in the diagnosis of hearing impairment is discussed. The current view is that evoked emissions hold promise as an essential part of the clinical examination of the auditory system.
Maternal Linguistic Input to Toddlers With Slow Expressive Language Development
Authors: Paul Rhea , Elwood Terril J.
Published: July 2014

Maternal speech styles to children between 20 and 34 months of age who were slow to acquire expressive language were compared to those of mothers with normally speaking toddlers. Aspects of the mothers’ speech examined included use of various sentence types (declaratives, negative, questions, etc.), the mother’s lexical contingency with regard to the child’s utterance; mother’s use of pragmatic functions such as requests, comments, and conversational devices; and the mother’s use of topic management. Results revealed that mothers of toddlers with slow language development are different from mothers of normal speakers only in their frequency of use of lexical contingency devices, specifically, expansion and extension. However, the proportion of expansions and extensions relative to the number of child utterances is not different, indicating that when late talkers give their mothers something to expand, the mothers do so, but that the late talkers do not give their mothers as much speech to work with as do the normal toddlers. Implications of these findings for parent training are discussed
Anticipatory Coarticulation in the Speech of Adults and Young Children
Authors: Katz William F. , Kripke Clarissa , Tallal Paula
Published: July 2014

Three experiments investigated anticipatory lingual and labial coarticulation in the [sV] productions of children and adults. Acoustic, perceptual, and video data were used to trace the development of intrasyllabic coarticulation in the speech of adults and children (ages 3, 5, and 8 years). Although children show greater variability in their articulatory patterns than adults, the data do not support claims that young children produce a greater degree of intrasyllabic coarticulation than older children or adults. Rather, the acoustic and video data suggest that young children and adults produce similar patterns of anticipatory coarticulation, and the perceptual data indicate that coarticulatory cues in the speech of 3-year-old children are less perceptible than those of the other age groups.
High-Level Psychophysical Tuning Curves
Authors: Nelson David A.
Published: July 2014

Forward-masked psychophysical tuning curves (PTCs) were obtained for 1000-Hz probe tones at multiple probe levels from one ear of 26 normal-hearing listeners and from 24 ears of 21 hearing-impaired listeners with cochlear hearing loss. Comparisons between normal-hearing and hearing-impaired PTCs were made at equivalent masker levels near the tips of PTCs. Comparisons were also made of PTC characteristics obtained by fitting each PTC with three straight-line segments using least-squares fitting procedures. Abnormal frequency resolution was revealed only as abnormal downward spread of masking. The low-frequency slopes of PTCs from hearing-impaired listeners were not different from those of normal-hearing listeners. That is, hearing-impaired listeners did not demonstrate abnormal upward spread of masking when equivalent masker levels were compared. Ten hearing-impaired ears demonstrated abnormally broad PTCs, due exclusively to reduced high-frequency slopes in their PTCs. This abnormal downward spread of masking was observed only in listeners with hearing losses greater than 40 dB HL. From these results, it would appear that some, but not all, cochlear hearing losses greater than 40dB HL influence the sharp tuning capabilities usually associated with outer hair cell function.
Stimulability as a Factor in the Phonological Generalization of Misarticulating Preschool Children
Authors: Powell Thomas W. , Elbert Mary , Dinnsen Daniel A.
Published: July 2014

The relationship among six functionally misarticulating preschool children’s phoneme-specific stimulability skills, the choice of treatment targets (i.e., stimulable or nonstimulable sounds), and generalization of correct sound production was explored in this prospective study. Each subject [age range of 4:11 (years:months) to 5:61 was taught to produce [r] and one other sound that was absent from his or her phonetic inventory using a contrasting-minimal-pairs production approach. A multiple baseline across behaviors single-subject research design provided experimental control. For 86% of the 28 monitored sounds, generalization was consistent with pretreatment stimulability skills; production of stimulable sounds tended to improve regardless of treatment target. These results suggest that nonstimulable sounds are likely to require direct treatment; thus, generalization probe responses may be maximized by treating nonstimulable sounds rather than stimulable sounds.
Use and Understanding of Adverbial Conjuncts
Authors: Nippold Marilyn A. , Schwarz Ilsa E. , Undlin Robin A.
Published: July 2014

The use and understanding of two types of adverbial conjuncts, concordant (e.g.,similarly, moreover, consequently) and discordant (e.g.,contrastively, rather, nevertheless), was examined developmentally in 120 adolescents and young adults. Four groups of 30 students participated. Mean ages of the groups were 12:9, 15:10, 19:2, and 23:8 (years:months). The results demonstrated an increasing ability to use and understand these words in the written mode. An interesting discrepancy emerged between the use and the understanding of adverbial conjuncts, a finding that resembled the well-documented discrepancy between the use and the understanding of spoken words in young children. Although young adults had mastered the words in terms of their understanding, they continued to show some difficulty using the words correctly. It was also found that the two types of conjuncts were equally difficult, a result that failed to support Piaget's (1928) hypothesis concerning the greater difficulty of discordant connectives. Factors that may contribute to the development of adverbial conjuncts are discussed.
Echolalic Responses by a Child With Autism to Four Experimental Conditions of Sociolinguistic Input
Authors: Violette Joseph , Swisher Linda
Published: July 2014

Studies of the immediate verbal imitations (IVls) of subjects with echolalia report that featuresof linguistic or social input alone affect the number of IVIs elicited. This experimental study of achild with echolalia and autism controlled each of these variables while introducing a systematicchange in the other. The subject produced more (p< .05) IVIs in response to unknown lexicalwords presented with a high degree of directiveness (Condition D) than in response to threeother conditions of stimulus presentation (e.g., unknown lexical words, minimally directive style.)Thus, an interaction between the effects of linguistic and social input was demonstrated. IVlswere produced across all conditions, primarily during first presentations of lexical stimuli. Onlythe IVis elicited by first presentations of the lexical stimuli during Condition D differed significantly(p< .05) from the number of IVis elicited by first presentations of lexical stimuli in otherconditions. These findings viewed together suggest that the occurrence of IVIs was related, atleast for this child, to an uncertain or informative event and that this response was significantlygreater when the lexical stimuli were unknown and presented in a highly directive style.
Auditory Temporal Acuity in Normally Achieving and Learning-Disabled College Students
Authors: Watson Betty U.
Published: July 2014

Recent research has suggested that deficits in several metalinguistic/phonological abilities, such as short-term verbal memory and phoneme segmentation, may be etiologic factors in specific reading disability, and it has been speculated that these weaknesses may result from a more fundamental deficit in the processing of temporal, auditory stimuli. This study examined the auditory temporal processing skills of reading-disabled, math-disabled, and normally achieving college students. The math-disabled group was included to control for the possibility that poor temporal processing is a "marker" variable for learning disability rather than being related specifically to reading disability. Subjects were assessed on a battery of psychophysical tasks that included five tests of temporal processing. The reading-disabled group performed significantly more poorly on the temporal tasks but performed as well as the other groups on the simple pitch and loudness discrimination tasks. In spite of the significant difference on the temporal tasks, the majority of reading-disabled subjects performed within the same range as the subjects in the other two groups, and there were also some normally reading subjects who performed poorly on the temporal processing tasks. These findings suggest that poor temporal processing is neither a necessary nor a sufficient cause of reading disability, but that there is a modest association between the two domains.
Hearing Aid Saturation and Aided Loudness Discomfort
Authors: Fortune Todd W. , Preves David A.
Published: July 2014

Clinical measurements of the loudness discomfort level (LDL) are generally performed while the subject listens to a particular stimulus presented from an audiometer through headphones (AUD-HP). The assumption in clinical practice has been that the sound pressure level (SPL) corresponding to the sensation of loudness discomfort under AUD-HP conditions will be the same as that corresponding to LDL with the hearing aid. This assumption ignores the fact that the distortion produced by a saturating hearing aid could have an influence on the sensation of loudness. To examine these issues, 5 hearing-impaired subjects were each fit with four linear hearing aids, each having a different saturation sound pressure level (SSPL90). Probe-tube microphone measurements of ear canal SPL at LDL were made while the subjects listened to continuous discourse in quiet under aided and AUD-HP conditions. Also using continuous discourse, real-ear coherence measures were made at various output sound pressure levels near LDL. All four hearing aid types produced mean LDLs that were lower than those obtained under AUD-HP conditions. Those hearing aids with higher SSPL90 produced significantly higher LDLs than hearing aids with lower SSPL90. A significant negative correlation was found between real-ear SPL and real-ear coherence. Quality judgments made at LDL indicated that sound quality of hearing aids with higher SSPL90 was preferred to that of hearing aids with lower SSPL90. Possible fitting implications regarding the setting of SSPL90 from AUD-HP LDL measures are discussed.
Stuttered and Normal Speech Events in Early Childhood
Authors: Onslow Mark , Gardner Kate , Bryant Kathryn M. , Stuckings Cathi L. , Knight Tamsin
Published: July 2014

A set of 200 utterances from stuttering and normally speaking children aged 2–4 years was obtained. Each utterance contained a disfluency. A group of 5 sophisticated listeners assigned one of Johnson’s eight disfluency categories to each of the 200 utterances. These clinicians showed poor agreement in the categories they assigned. Subsequently, the 200 disfluencies were presented to a group of generalist clinician listeners and a group of unsophisticated listeners, who were asked to judge whether each disfluency was "stuttering" or "normal." The disfluencies judged with high agreement to be "stuttering" and the disfluencies judged with high agreement to be "normal" were not categorically distinguished by the disfluency categories assigned previously by the sophisticated listeners. Further, judged presence of various disfluency categories accounted for only a small portion of the variance in numbers of "stuttering" judgments assigned to disfluencies. It is concluded that it is justifiable to question the validity of the data language used by researchers to describe stuttered and normal speech in early childhood. Several implications of this conclusion are discussed.
Psychogenic Stuttering of Adult Onset
Authors: Mahr Greg , Leith William
Published: July 2014

The characteristic features of psychogenic stuttering of adult onset are reviewed and four cases of this disorder are presented. Psychogenic stuttering of adult onset is best classified as a conversion reaction, and tentative criteria for this diagnosis are proposed.
Delay Versus Deviance in the Language Acquisition of Language-Impaired Children
Authors: Curtiss Susan , Katz William , Tallal Paula
Published: July 2014

To investigate the issue of delay versus deviance in the language acquisition of language-impaired (LI) children, the order of acquisition of a set of linguistic structures and the relationship obtaining between one structure and another were examined in comprehension and production over a 5-year period in a group of LI and language-matched normal children. The results demonstrated a marked similarity between groups, both in the point at which mastery of individual structures was achieved and in the overall patterns of acquisition demonstrated. These data suggest that LI children are constructing grammars based on the same rules and principles as those of linguistically normal control subjects, and that their linguistic impairments may be principally processing, not representational, in nature.
Stuttering and Speech Naturalness
Authors: Martin Richard R. , Haroldson Samuel K.
Published: July 2014

Unsophisticated raters, using 9-point interval scales, judged speech naturalness and stuttering severity of recorded stutterer and nonstutterer speech samples. Raters judged separately the audio-only and audiovisual presentations of each sample. For speech naturalness judgments of stutterer samples, raters invariably judged the audiovisual presentation more unnatural than the audio presentation of the same sample; but for the nonstutterer samples, there was no difference between audio and audiovisual naturalness ratings. Stuttering severity ratings did not differ significantly between audio and audiovisual presentations of the same samples. Rater reliability, interrater agreement, and intrarater agreement for speech naturalness judgments were assessed.
Young Children's Idiom Comprehension
Authors: Abkarian G. G. , Jones Alison , West Gretchen
Published: July 2014

Young children (3.5–6.5 years of age) were tested for their comprehension of 10 common idioms in context and no-context conditions. Results revealed a significant linear trend for children to make more literal responses with increasing age. Children of this age did not find the story contexts helpful in interpreting the idioms. A range of comprehension scores was found among the individual idioms, but semantic transparency (as judged by adults) was not related to comprehension. Child-internal and methodologic variables influencing idiom comprehension are discussed.
Listening and Language at 4 Years of Age
Authors: Gravel Judith S. , Wallace Ina F.
Published: July 2014

The effect of early otitis media on preschoolers’ listening and language abilities was examined in a cohort of prospectively followed children. At 4 years of age, children considered otitis negative and otitis positive during the first year of life were examined using a speech-incompetition task and several standardized measures of language and cognitive function. An adaptive test procedure was used, with sentence materials from the Pediatric Speech Intelligibility Test (PSI) (Jerger & Jerger, 1984). Results indicated that children with positive histories of otitis media during the first year required a more advantageous signal-to-competition ratio to perform at 50% sentence intelligibility than did their otitis-negative peers. There was no interaction between birth status (high-risk or full-term) and adaptive PSI listening task outcome. No differences between the groups were found In either receptive or expressive language abilities or in cognitive abilities. Further, there was no relationship between any language or cognitive measure and the adaptive PSI result
Converging Evidence for Underlying Phonological Representation in a Child Who Misarticulates
Authors: McGregor Karla K. , Schwartz Richard G.
Published: July 2014

The liquid, fricative, and affricate sounds in the phonological system of a single misarticulating child were the focus of converging analyses. These analyses included structured measures of perceptual and productive skills, language sampling, and acoustic analysis of seemingly homophonous forms. The results of perceptual and productive tasks indicated that the child’s perception of certain sounds was superior to his productions, but for other sounds, productive skill was superior to perceptual performance This child’s errors of production could be attributed to nonadultlike underlying representations A two-lexicon model of underlying representation best accounted for the data. The findings led to inferences about the child’s underlying perceptual and articulatory knowledge of fricative, affricate, and liquid sounds.