bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Reliability of Developmental Sentence Scoring as a Function of Sample Size
Authors: Johnson Martha R. , Tomblin J. Bruce
Published: July 2014

Language samples taken from 50 preschool children were used to estimate the reliabilities of the total and component measures of the latest edition of the Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) system (Lee and Koenigsknecht, 1972; Lee, 1974). Each sample was divided into five, five-sentence response segments, and DSS total and component scores were tabulated for each segment. Estimates of reliability and standard error of measurement were obtained for the measures involved for varying numbers of response segments. A method is discussed whereby standard error of measurement data can be evaluated by comparison with normative data for the purposes of making decisions about sample size. Application of this method to the total score of DSS showed that the sample size needed for separating normal from abnormal language users was great enough that its use was impractical for this purpose. Because of the absence of normative data on the component measures, the method outlined could not be used for making decisions about sample sizes, which would be appropriate for component measures.
Self-Retrieval and Articulatory Retention
Authors: Winitz Harris , Bellerose Betty
Published: July 2014

The effect of training in self-retrieval on articulatory recall was examined. Elementary school children practiced the syllables /ç
i
ks/ and /çɔlt/ under two conditions: imitation and self-retrieval. In the latter condition subjects were asked to say the test object rather than to imitate its name. Over intervals of one day and five days there was no difference in retention as a function of the type of pretraining. Imitative responses decayed little over time and were, in general, always higher than self-retrieval responses regardless of the type of training during acquisition (self-retrieval or imitation).
Identification and Discrimination of Vowel-Consonant Syllables in Listeners with Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Authors: Reed Charlotte
Published: July 2014

The speech encoding ability of eight persons with sensorineural hearing loss and three persons with normal hearing was studied in identification and discrimination paradigms. In the identification task a feature analysis of transmitted information for VC syllables was used to study encoding ability. Transmitted information was reduced from normal for persons with hearing loss, indicating a loss of ability to encode consonants. In the discrimination task, coding ability was studied by measuring reaction times (RTs) for “same” and “different” decisions. The RTs for individuals with impaired hearing were found to be significantly different from those subjects with normal hearing. The trend was for faster “same” than “different” RTs among the normal subjects and faster “different” than “same” RTs among the hearing-impaired persons. The results are interpreted as indicating that the two groups of subjects used different processing modes in discriminating between pairs of phonemes.
Residual Hearing and Speech Production in Deaf Children
Authors: Smith Clarissa R.
Published: July 2014

Residual hearing, phoneme recognition, speech production errors, and selected background variables were examined in 40 congenitally deaf children of normal intelligence who had no apparent anomalies other than deafness, in an effort to identify factors most closely associated with speech intelligibility. Mean intelligibility of the recorded speech of the children, to inexperienced listeners, was 18.7%, corresponding closely with results of previous studies. Scores on the total and some portions of the phoneme recognition test showed significant correlations with both phoneme production and speech intelligibility. The correlation between phoneme production errors and intelligibility was −0.80. A sizable proportion of the dispersion could be accounted for by certain prosodic errors, such as those resulting from improper phonatory control. Errors of place of articulation and voicing remained in essentially the same proportion for all speakers. Errors of manner and combined place and manner of articulation showed a slight systematic decrease from the poorest to the best speakers. Omissions decreased sharply, but not systematically. Vowel errors showed the most marked and systematic decrease as intelligibility improved. Children of deaf parents were poorer in phoneme recognition and in speech intelligibility than children with comparable residual hearing but with hearing parents.
Binaural Masking Effects in Bone-Conducted Noise
Authors: Sorenson Fay Doyle , Schubert Earl D.
Published: July 2014

When pure tones are masked by bone-conducted noise presented at the midline of the forehead, it is possible that binaural unmasking may occur due to the interaural phase relations of the noise. To study this possibility, the amount of masking produced in bone-conducted noise, in correlated air-conducted noise, and in monaural noise was determined using narrow bands of noise centered at 240, 500, 910, and 1900 Hz as maskers and a block up-down two-interval forced choice procedure. The subjects were four women under 30 years of age with 10 dB HTL or better (ANSI, 1969) for the frequencies tested. The amount of unmasking (the masking-level difference) was determined by subtracting the masking levels obtained under each noise condition at each frequency from those obtained in the comparable monaural noise—monaural signal condition. Levels of binaural unmasking obtained in correlated air-conducted noise agreed with those in previously reported experiments. Comparable binaural unmasking effects were demonstrated for midline presentation of bone-conducted noise. Some clinical implications of the findings are discussed.
Second Formant Transitions of Selected Consonant-Vowel Combinations in the Speech of Deaf and Normal-Hearing Children
Authors: Monsen Randall B.
Published: July 2014

Although it is well known that the speech produced by the deaf is generally of low intelligibility, the sources of this low speech intelligibility have generally been ascribed either to aberrant articulation of phonemes or inappropriate prosody. This study was designed to determine to what extent a nonsegmental aspect of speech, formant transitions, may differ in the speech of the deaf and of the normal hearing. The initial second formant transitions of the vowels /i/ and /u/ after labial and alveolar consonants (/b, d, f/) were compared in the speech of six normal-hearing and six hearing-impaired adolescents. In the speech of the hearing-impaired subjects, the second formant transitions may be reduced both in time and in frequency. At its onset, the second formant may be nearer to its eventual target frequency than in the speech of the normal subjects. Since formant transitions are important acoustic cues for the adjacent consonants, reduced F
2
transitions may be an important factor in the low intelligibility of the speech of the deaf.
The Ability of Stutterers and Nonstutterers to Initiate and Terminate Phonation during Production of an Isolated Vowel
Authors: Adams Martin R. , Hayden Paul
Published: July 2014

This study tested the hypothesis that stutterers have difficulty initiating and terminating phonation independent of the acts of running speech and stuttering. Ten young adult stutterers served as the experimental group. They were matched as a group for age and sex with 10 normal speakers. Subjects from both groups were tested individually. The experimental task required that subjects start and stop phonation as quickly as possible upon hearing each member of a series of 1000-Hz pure tones appear and then disappear. Subjects' vocalizations were permanently recorded on an optical oscillograph. Results showed that both groups improved (shortened) their voice initiation and termination times from the beginning to the end of the experiment. Typically, however, the stutterers were significantly slower than the control subjects on most of the temporal measures.
Elicited Imitation of Selected Features of Two American English Dialects in Head Start Children
Authors: Stephens M. Irene
Published: July 2014

Three measures were used to check the bidialectal imitative facility of 100 black, white, and Spanish-speaking Head Start children. In general, blacks and Spanish-speaking subjects performed more accurately on black English markers than on Standard English markers and whites, the reverse. When the children did make an error on the feature marker they usually substituted the opposing dialectal marker. Blacks and Spanish-speaking subjects were more apt to be accurate on the total sentence when it was given in black English. Several explanations are offered for group similarities and differences.
Effect of a Dental Prosthesis on Speaker-Specific Characteristics of Voice
Authors: Hamlet Sandra L. , Geoffrey Virginia C. , Bartlett Dean M.
Published: July 2014

Subjects were fitted with an experimental dental appliance which had the effect of lowering and retracting the alveolar-palatal contour. Recordings of subjects speaking without the prosthesis and with the prosthesis at two stages of speech adaptation were analyzed acoustically and by judgmental evaluation for the effect of the appliance in disguising the voice. Individual differences were found in the type and extent of sibilant and vowel changes produced by wearing the prosthesis. Listeners made more errors on a speaker authentication task involving recordings obtained immediately after the unfamiliar prosthesis was placed in the mouth than on recordings made after a week of accommodation to the appliance, or recordings made a week apart when no prosthesis was worn.
Intelligibility of Time-Altered Speech in Relation to Chronological Aging
Authors: Konkle Dan F. , Beasley Daniel S. , Bess Fred H.
Published: July 2014

The Northwestern University Auditory Test Number 6 (NU-6) measure of speech discrimination was time compressed and presented to four age groups ranging from 54 to 84 years of age. Experimental stimuli were presented at sensation levels of 24, 32, and 40 dB to an equal number of right and left ears and male and female subjects. Results indicated that intelligibility decreased as a function of increasing time compression and age and decreasing sensation level. Changes in speech intelligibility associated with the aging process appear to be closely allied to changes in the temporal resolving power of the central auditory processing system.
Language and Memory Disorders Following Closed Head Trauma
Authors: Groher Michael
Published: July 2014

Patients who suffer closed head trauma may demonstrate communication disorders which have been variously described as aphasia, severe memory impairments, traumatic aphasia, or confusion. The memory and language skills of 14 patients who had suffered closed head trauma were documented after they regained consciousness and at one-month intervals for four months utilizing the Porch Index of Communicative Ability and the Wechsler Memory Scale. Results indicated that patients initially suffered both reduced memory and language skills. After four months, expressive and receptive language skills were grossly functional for conversational purposes, and all memory tasks with the exception of orientation skills were within normal limits. Significant improvement in both language and memory functioning most often occurred during the first month after regaining consciousness, although gradual improvement in both language and memory skills was noted beyond the one-month period. No significant correlations existed between the length of unconsciousness and the initial and final language and memory scores.
Revision Behaviors in the Speech of Normal Children Developing Language
Authors: Gallagher Tanya M.
Published: July 2014

Revision behaviors in the speech of normal children were investigated. The subjects were 18 children, six at Brown’s Language Stages I, II, and III. During the collection of a one-hour spontaneous language sample from each child the experimenter pretended 20 times not to understand and asked, “What?” The results indicate a significantly greater use of revisions than repetitions or no responses at each stage and significant differences among the types of revisions observed across stages. These findings are related to current language models.
Developmental Changes in Speech Discrimination in Infants
Authors: Eilers Rebecca E. , Wilson Wesley R. , Moore John M.
Published: July 2014

A visually reinforced infant speech discrimination (VRISD) paradigm is described and evaluated. Infants at two ages were tested with the new paradigm on the following speech contrasts: [sa] vs [va], [sa] vs [∫a], [sa] vs [za], [as] vs [a:z], [a:s], vs [a:z], [at] vs [a:d], [a:t] vs [a:d], [at] vs [a:t], [fa] vs [θa], and [fi] vs [θi]. The data reported are compared with data on the same speech contrasts obtained from three month olds in a high-amplitude sucking paradigm. Evidence suggesting developmental changes in speech-sound discriminatory ability is reported. Results are interpreted in light of salience of available acoustic cues and in terms of new methodological advances.
Conversational Aspects of the Speech of Language-Disordered Children: Revision Behaviors
Authors: Gallagher Tanya M. , Darnton Barbara A.
Published: July 2014

Revision behaviors in the speech of language-disordered children were investigated. Subjects were 12 children, four at each of Brown’s language Stages I, II, and III. During the taping of a one-hour spontaneous language sample from each child, one of the experimenters pretended 20 times not to understand and asked “What?”. The relationship between the child’s original utterance and his response to “What?” was analyzed. The results indicated a significantly greater use of revisions than repetitions or no responses at each stage and a pattern of revision behavior that was uniform across stages and qualitatively different from the previously reported patterns of normal children. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of language disorder and its implications for pragmatic theories of language.
Intraoral Air Pressure During the Production of /p/ and /b/ by Children, Youths, and Adults
Authors: Bernthal John E. , Beukelman David R.
Published: July 2014

Peak intraoral air pressures produced by 12 children (age four to six years), 12 youths (age 10 to 12 years), and 12 adults (age 19 to 46 years) were measured during the production of /p/ and /b/ in 12 stimulus words placed in a carrier phrase. Mean pressures produced by children and youths were similar but significantly higher than those for adults. Pressures associated with /p/ were significantly higher than those associated with /b/ across all age groups. Mean pressures associated with the intervocalic context were significantly higher than for the post-vocalic context. An inverse relationship was found between age and variability of intraoral pressure, and the variability of pressure associated with /b/ was greater across all age groups than that associated with /p/.
Relation Between Sound Intensity and the Latency and Amplitude of the Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response
Authors: Wolfe Janis A. , Skinner Paul , Burns John
Published: July 2014

This study investigated the relation of peak amplitude and latency to signal intensity for the brainstem auditory evoked response (BSAER). One thousand clicks were presented to obtain each averaged response. Responses were obtained to clicks presented at sensation levels of 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 dB. Five adult males who demonstrated normal hearing served as subjects. Latency and amplitude for various wavelets were plotted against signal intensity. A consistent trend of decreased peak latency occurred with increased signal intensity. Contrary to previous reports, the amplitude of Wavelet V showed a linear growth with increased signal intensity.
Discrimination of Time-Altered Sentential Approximations and Monosyllables by Children with Reading Problems
Authors: Freeman Barry A. , Beasley Daniel S.
Published: July 2014

This study compared the performance of normal-reading and reading-impaired children using time-compressed three- and five-word sentential approximations to full grammatically, and the Word Intelligibility by Picture Identification (WIPI) test presented with and without pictures. Results suggested that reading-impaired children could be differentiated from normal readers by scores on these measures and by types of errors made. Theoretical and pragmatic implications are discussed.
Functional Clauses and Sentence Segmentation
Authors: Carroll John M. , Tanenhaus Michael K.
Published: July 2014

In two experiments subjects listened to a sentence containing a brief tone, then wrote out the sentence and marked the location of the tone. The experimental sentences were biclausal with the tone placed before or after the clause break. The initial clause was either functionally complete or functionally incomplete. Functionally complete clauses contain a complete set of fully specified grammatical relations, while functionally incomplete clauses do not. In Experiment 1 tones were mislocated toward the clause break and the final word of the first clause significantly more often for functionally complete clauses. Experiment 2 replicated this finding holding deep-and surface-structure variables constant. The resulis indicate that functionally complete clauses are better segmentation units during sentence perception than functionally incomplete clauses. Purely structural theories of the units of sentence perception cannot account for this finding.
Effects of Five Experimental Treatments on Stuttering
Authors: Martin Richard , Haroldson Samuel K.
Published: July 2014

Twenty adult stutterers were exposed to each of five experimental treatments: time-out, noise, delayed auditory feedback (DAF), “wrong” and metronome. In each session a subject spoke for 20 minutes without treatment (baserate) followed by 30 minutes in one of the five experimental conditions. Before the five treatment sessions, subjects accomplished three pre-experimental tasks: expectancy, changeability, and adaptation tasks. Percent stuttering decreased significantly in all conditions, and stuttering duration reduced significantly in all but the noise condition. The amount of reduction in percent stuttering from baserate to treatment (change score) in time-out was positively related to the change scores in DAF and metronome. Change scores in metronome were positively related to change scores in time-out and “wrong.” Percent stuttering change scores in noise, DAF, and “wrong” were essentially unrelated. Stuttering duration change scores were related only for the time-out and DAF, and metronome and DAF conditions. In general, the pre-experimental expectancy, changeability, and adaptation scores were unrelated to change scores in any of the experimental conditions. Words spoken per minute did not change significantly from baserate to treatment for any experimental condition except time-out.
An Eye-Marking Investigation of Anticipated and Observed Stuttering
Authors: Brutten Gene J. , Janssen Peggy
Published: July 2014

The subjects of this experiment read a list of words and underlined those on which they expected speech difficulty. The matched stutterers and non-stutterers were subsequently called upon to read silently a connected passage in which half of these words were present. During this reading, the relation of eye movement to the words read was recorded on film. Frame by frame analysis of the eyes' exact momentary position revealed that the stutterers evidenced significantly more fixations than did the non-stutterers. They also showed significantly more progressive and regressive eye movements. It follows that the overall duration of their eye movements was somewhat shorter. In contrast, the average duration of the stutterers' fixations were significantly longer for those words on which fluency failure had been anticipated and on words on which it was later observed than on those words on which difficulty was not expected and those on which stuttering did not occur. These data suggest that stutterers search among the words to be spoken and sort out those on which they anticipate and on which they have difficulty.
Dissimilarity Ratings of English Consonants by Normally-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Individuals
Authors: Danhauer Jeffrey L. , Lawarre Ruth M.
Published: July 2014

Perceptual patterns in rating dissimilarities among 24 CVs were investigated for a group of normal-hearing and two groups of hearing-impaired subjects (one group with flat, and one group with sloping, sensorineural losses). Stimuli were presented binaurally at most comfortable loudness level and subjects rated the 576 paired stimuli on a 1–7 equal-appearing interval scale. Ratings were submitted to individual group and combined INDSCAL analyses to describe features used by the subjects in their perception of the speech stimuli. Results revealed features such as sibilant, sonorant, plosive and place. Furthermore, normal and hearing-impaired subjects used similar features, and subjects' weightings of features were relatively independent of their audiometric configurations. Results are compared to those of previous studies.
Visual Vowel and Diphthong Perception from Two Horizontal Viewing Angles
Authors: Wozniak Virginia D. , Jackson Pamela L.
Published: July 2014

This study investigated vowel and diphthong lipreading performance from 0° and 90° angles of observation. Sixteen English vowels and diphthongs were placed in an /h—g/ context to form the stimulus items. Each item was presented by a speaker ten times in random order for a total of 160 items. The speaker was simultaneously videotaped from 0° and 90° angles under optimal lighting conditions. Ten normal hearing adult subjects phonetically recorded the vowel or diphthong they perceived as each item was visually presented. The diphthong stimuli were significantly easier to identify than the vowel stimuli at both angles of observation. In addition, no significant differences were found between the 0° and the 90° angles in terms of percentage of correct identifications of all phonemes examined. Orderly, predictable confusions also were observed. Those confusions occurring in visual diphthong recognition tended to shift toward the stressed vowel element of the diphthong or to a vowel produced in a manner similar to the stressed element.
Voice Onset Time, Frication, and Aspiration During Stutterers' Fluent Speech
Authors: Metz Dale Evan , Conture Edward G. , Caruso Anthony
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate voice onset time (VOT) and durations of frication and aspiration in stutterers' fluent speech. Broadband sound spectrograms were used to measure five adult stutterers' and five adult normally fluent controls' VOT, frication and aspiration durations during fluent productions of 18 word-initial sounds or sound clusters. Results indicate that stutterers' mean VOT for six of the 18 sounds/sound clusters (/p b br pr tw bl/) was significantly different from that of normally fluent speakers. VOT values for four of these 18 sounds/sound clusters (/b bl p tw/) could, to a moderate degree, be predicted from knowledge of whether a subject is a stutterer or a normally fluent speaker. With one exception, aspiration duration for /tw/, stutterers were not significantly different from normally fluent speakers in terms of frication and aspiration durations. These results suggest that stutterers' VOT during fluency is within normal limits and as such is of small assistance in distinguishing between stutterers and normally fluent speakers.
Dimensions of Improvement in Stuttering
Authors: Silverman Franklin H.
Published: July 2014

This paper presents a first approximation of the dimensional structure of stuttering improvement and its hierarchical organization. A set of 288 statements obtained from stutterers, indicating ways in which they felt their stuttering problems had improved, were assigned to dimensions by three clinicians who had considerable experience in the area of stuttering. They also were rated for the amount of improvement the changes reported usually represent by 26 clinicians who were regarded as authorities in the area of stuttering. The statements are ordered on the improvement continuum, by dimension, based upon the medians of the ratings assigned to them. The ordering of the statement set appears to be highly reliable
Acquisition of the Voicing Contrast by Language-Delayed and Normal-Speaking Children
Authors: Bond Z. S. , Wilson Howard F.
Published: July 2014

Voicing is a phonological contrast which emerges early in the speech of children. However, the acoustic correlates of the voicing contrast for stop consonants are fairly complex. In the initial position, voicing is cued primarily by the relative timing of articulatory versus laryngeal gestures. In the final position, the duration of the preceding vowel is associated with the voicing contrast of stop consonants. The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of acquisition of the voicing contrast in the speech of ten children diagnosed as language-delayed in comparison with the acquisition of the voicing contrast by normal speaking children. The language-delayed and normal-speaking children were matched according to mean length of utterance (MLU) and placed in one of Brown's five developmental stages. Each participant was first given a short test, using natural speech, to determine his or her ability to identify minimal pairs differing in the voicing of stop consonants. Those who passed the test were recorded under standard recording conditions repeating 12 test words. The test words contrasted voiced and voiceless stop consonants in initial and final positions. Spectrograms of the three best productions of each word were used to examine voice-onset time for stops in initial position and preceding vowel duration for stops in final position. Although the language-delayed and normal-speaking children showed equivalent linguistic sophistication (as measured by MLU), the language-delayed children's control of the acoustic-phonetic details of the voicing contrast was less mature than that of the normal-speaking children.
Better Spectrograms from Children's Speech
Authors: Huggins A. W. F.
Published: July 2014

A major problem in the spectrographic analysis of children's speech is the poor resolution of formants, which is the result of the widely spaced harmonics of the high fundamental frequency. An attempt has been made to bypass this problem by exciting a child's vocal tract with an artificial larynx, using a fundamental frequency appropriate to a man. This method has promise for tracking formants in children's speech.
Vocal Shimmer in Sustained Phonation
Authors: Horii Yoshiyuki
Published: July 2014

Vocal shimmer during the sustained phonation of/a/, /i/, /u/ was investigated for thirty-one adult male speakers using an automatic analysis program. The results showed an overall average shimmer of 0.39 dB with a critical value of 0.98 dB. Significant correlations were found among shimmer, jitter and f
o
standard deviation.
A Comparison of Contact Microphone and Electroglottograph for the Measurement of Vocal Fundamental Frequency
Authors: Askenfelt Anders , Gauffin Jan , Sundberg Johan , Kitzing Peter
Published: July 2014

Signals from a throat contact microphone or an electroglottograph often are more suited for fundamental frequency measurements with simple analog circuits than the radiated speech signal. This report compares a contact (accelerometer) microphone placed on the neck below the cricoid cartilage and an electroglottograph for measurement of fundamental frequency in connected speech. The advantages and drawbacks of the two methods are discussed.
Segmental Gestures at the Laryngeal Level in Whispered Speech
Authors: Weismer Gary , Longstreth Dana
Published: July 2014

Peak intraoral air pressure and flow were measured simultaneously for the syllables /pa/and/ba/in two speaking conditions (syllable repetitions, and in carrier phrases) and in two phonation modes (normal phonation and whisper). Results indicated that 1) the difference between the intraoral air pressure for/p/and/b/was statistically significant in normal phonation, but not in whisper, 2) the difference in peak flow for/p/and /b/was statistically significant in both normal phonation and whisper, and 3) the pressure and flow data were unaffected by speaking conditions. These data, plus a subsequent analysis of intraoral pressure slopes, are taken to indicate that the voiceless and voiced members of a stop-cognate pair are produced in whisper with unique laryngeal gestures.
Prediction of Pica Overall Score by Short Versions of the Test
Authors: Disimoni Frank G. , Keith Robert L. , Darley Frederic L.
Published: July 2014

Two short versions (SPICAs) of the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA)were developed and investigated, with specific attention to their ability to predict standard PICA overall scores of patients with aphasia. Ninety-three patients were administered three versions of the test in randomized order. Results indicate that SPICAs predict overall scores by standard administration at acceptable confidence levels in approximately one-third of the time required for the administration of the standard PICA.
Vocal Cues as Indices of Schizophrenia
Authors: Todt Ellen H. , Howell Robert J.
Published: July 2014

The hypothesis that schizophrenic patients can be differentiated from non-schizo-phrenic patients was tested. In addition, the impressions about personality characteristics conveyed by voice quality were explored. Ten schizophrenics and ten non-schizophrenic patients, all from a State hospital, were recorded individually as they read the same passage. Five judges listened to randomized recordings and completed a questionnaire on each speaker to indicate whether the subject was schizophrenic, to rate the degree of the subject's psychopathology, to rate vocal behavior with a Voice Characteristics Scale made up of six adjectives, and to rate vocal indices of personality disorder with a Voice Psychopathology Scale made up of 26 adjectives describing pathological personality characteristics. The schizophrenics were distinguished from non-schizophrenics on the basis of voice quality. The schizophrenic patients were seen as more inefficient, despondent, and moody. Information conveyed by speakers' voices was explored by a factor analytic technique. Four factors, general disintegration, dysphoria, social distance, and agitation, were identified.
Familial Stuttering Patterns Are Not Related to One Measure of Severity
Authors: Kidd Kenneth K. , Heimbuch Raymond C. , Records Mary Ann , Oehlert Gary , Webster Ronald L.
Published: July 2014

The possibility of a genetic component to the severity of stuttering was investigated using data on 184 adult stutterers and their families. Frequency of stuttering during a pre-treatment oral reading task was used as the severity measure for each of the index cases. Information on whether or not a relative ever stuttered was obtained on all first degree relatives. The family data variables, including sex and exact relationship, combined with birthdate and sex of index case were used in three types of analyses: multiple regressions, AID regressions, and stepwise regressions. None of the variables tested, including stuttering among first degree relatives, was a predictor of severity of stuttering in the index case. We conclude that this measure of severity is not related to the genetic factors which predispose to stuttering.
Frequency Selectivity in Normally-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Observers
Authors: Florentine Mary , Buus Søren , Scharf Bertram , Zwicker Eberhard
Published: July 2014

This study compares frequency selectivity—as measured by four different methods—in observers with normal hearing and in observers with conductive (non-otosclerotic), otosclerotic, noise-induced, or degenerative hearing losses. Each category of loss was represented by a group of 7 to 10 observers, who were tested at center frequencies of 500 Hz and 4000 Hz. For each group, the following four measurements were made: psychoacoustical tuning curves, narrow-band masking, two-tone masking, and loudness summation. Results showed that (a) frequency selectivity was reduced at frequencies where a cochlear hearing loss was present, (b) frequency selectivity was reduced regardless of the test level at which normally-hearing observers and observers with cochlear impairment were compared, (c) all four measures of frequency selectivity were significantly correlated and (d) reduced frequency selectivity was positively correlated with the amount of cochlear hearing loss.
An Experimental-Clinical Analysis of Grammatical and Behavioral Distinctions between Verbal Auxiliary and Copula
Authors: Hegde M. N.
Published: July 2014

The study was designed to investigate whether auxiliary is and copular is belong to a single response class. Two children acted as subjects. The auxiliary verb was trained, then reversed, and later reinstated in one of the subjects, while the copula was similarly trained, reversed, and reinstated in the other child. Both the auxiliary and the copular sentences were tested on probes. The first subject, who was trained only on the auxiliary, was able to produce the untrained copula. When the auxiliary production was reversed, the copular production also was reversed. Finally, when the auxiliary production was reinstated, the copular production also was reinstated. For the second subject, the auxiliary production was generated, reversed, and reinstated by training, reversing, and reinstating only the copula. These results suggest that the copular and auxiliary is belong to a single response class and training either of them is sufficient to generate the production of both.
The Effects of Syllable Structure on Diadochokinetic and Reading Rates
Authors: Tiffany William R.
Published: July 2014

Paragraphs with controlled phonetic structures were matched to similarly structured diadochokinetic (Maximum Repetition Rate) tasks in an effort to devise a more valid measurement for (1) assessing possible relationships between diadochokinesis and speech rate, and (2) evaluating the effects on articulation rates of such structural variables as number of consonants in a syllable, and alternating versus simple syllable repetitions. Highly stable results were obtained, suggesting the possibility of a sharp neurophysiological or biomechanical barrier which varies markedly among presumably normal speakers. Maximum repetition rates were poor predictors of normal reading rate performance. On the other hand, normal reading rates were found to be approximately the same as the maximum repetition rates—about 13.5 phones per second. The inference is that normal speech is not, as commonly supposed, obviously slower than maximum rates of syllable articulation, for equivalent syllables. The major source of variation in syllable rate measures was simply the number of phones in a syllable. The effects of articulatory place and manner appeared relatively trivial by comparison.
On the Potential Deterioration in Hearing Due to Hearing Aid Usage
Authors: Humes Larry E. , Bess Fred H.
Published: July 2014

This manuscript examines the issue of potential decline in hearing sensitivity due to hearing aid usage through an analysis of data obtained from the temporary threshold shift (TTS) paradigm. Following a critique of the traditional measures of TTS, the concept of integrated TTS (ITTS) is reviewed and data on hearing-aid-induced ITTS are presented. In addition, a series of equations relating permanent threshold shift (PTS) to a recently developed measure of noise dose (Dn) is derived and predictions for hearing-aid-induced PTS are made. Recommended gain settings established to protect the hearing of a person wearing a hearing aid from further decline following various durations of hearing aid usage are also provided.
Disambiguation of Ditropic Sentences
Authors: Van Lancker Diana , Canter Gerald J. , Terbeek Dale
Published: July 2014

In a previous study, we demonstrated that listeners were highly successful in identifying the intended meaning of spoken ditropic sentences (those which may carry either a literal or an idiomatic meaning) when speakers were instructed to convey the distinction. The present communication reports on acoustic and phonetic analyses carried out with the goal of identifying cues that distinguished the literal and idiomatic utterances. Certain prosodic differences were observed. Literal utterances were systematically longer than idioms. This was partly due to increased use of pauses, as well as to increased duration of major lexical items. Moreover, literal sentences were typically characterized by greater numbers of pitch contours (discernible rise-fall excursions of fundamental frequency) and open junctures than were idiomatic utterances. In addition to suprasegmental contrasts, articulatory distinctions—corresponding to lento-allegro phonological rules—were also observed.

These distinctions directly reflect the structural differences intrinsic to the two types of utterances. A literal sentence is formulated by the organization of constituent words and phrases. Idioms, on the other hand, are holistic units, largely nontransparent to syntactic structure or the usual meaning of the lexical members.
Word-Retrieval Difficulty and Disfluent Speech in Adult Anomic Speakers
Authors: Brown Catherine S. , Cullinan Walter L.
Published: July 2014

The relationships existing between measures of disfluency and measures of word-retrieval ability in adult anomic aphasic and adult non-brain-damaged subjects were investigated. Subjects produced single-word naming responses for pictured stimuli consisting of objects, colors, and actions. The obtained number of correct naming responses and word-retrieval latency measurements were related to the number and types of disfluencies present in the subjects' connected speech samples. The major findings of the investigation include the following: (a) the anomic subject group presented significantly more disfluencies than did the nonaphasic group; (b) the number of disfluencies increased as word-retrieval difficulty increased for the anomic subjects; (c) when word-retrieval difficulty was measured by the number of correct responses those anomic subjects who tended to be most disfluent and to have the greatest word-retrieval difficulty also tended to have the highest proportions of those disfluencies most likely to be considered "stutterings" (part-word repetitions, vocal segregate repetitions, and prolongations) and the lowest proportions of hesitations; and (d) the proportion of stutterings increased as the total number of disfluencies increased for anomic and tot nonaphasic subjects. Implications of results for testing of aphasic patients are discussed.
Disfluencies of Normally Speaking Two-Year-Old Children
Authors: Yairi Ehud
Published: July 2014

The spontaneous verbal output of 33 2-year-old children was analyzed to identify disfluencies. The results showed large individual variability and no significant sex differences. A substantial number of children were disfluent only infrequently. Certain disfluency types not reported in previous studies of 2-year-olds were exhibited by the children. The most prominent disfluency element was repetition of short segments, one syllable or less.
Muscle Activity for Jaw Closing during Speech
Authors: Folkins John W.
Published: July 2014

The incidence and timing of activity in the jaw-closing muscles was investigated during speech. Electromyographic activity was analyzed from the masseter, anterior temporalis, medial pterygoid, and lateral pterygoid muscles in four normal adults. Jaw movement was transduced with a strain-gauge system as the subjects read the Rainbow Passage, 11 different syllables, and trains of the same syllables at four rates. Medial pterygoid was active for all jaw-closing movements. Masseter and temporalis were often active. The incidence of lateral peak electromyographic activity were noted between muscles; however, the duration of activity in medial pterygoid was longer than in masseter and temporalis. A large amount of variability in the relative degree of activity between muscles was observed for repetitions of the same syllable with similar parameters of jaw movements. These data are discussed in relation to series of muscle coordination.
Temporal Characteristics Related to the Discrimination of Stutterers' and Nonstutterers' Speech Samples
Authors: Prosek Robert A. , Runyan Charles M.
Published: July 2014

Measurements of the difference in average speaking rate, average number of pauses, average pause duration, and average duration of the vowels that received primary stress were obtained from the speech samples of 35 stutterers and 35 nonstutterers. The samples had been screened to ensure that they contained no instances of overt stuttering, audible respirations, or inappropriate voicing. The measurements were used as the predictors in multiple linear regression analyses. The criterion variable was the average percent-correct discriminations of 40 subjects who listened to the samples in pairs and indicated which member of each pair was the stutterer. The results showed that the difference in speaking rate combined with either pause measure accounted for approximately 70% of the variance in the listeners' responses. The findings indicate that speaking rate and pauses are potential perceptual cues for listeners attempting to discriminate the speech of stutterers from that of nonstutterers.
Acoustical Characteristics of Intended Syllabic Stress in Excellent Esophageal Speakers
Authors: McHenry Monica , Reich Alan , Minifie Fred
Published: July 2014

The ability of excellent esophageal speakers to manipulate acoustical characteristics associated with intended syllabic stress was studied. Five excellent esophageal speakers and five sex- and age-matched normals produced 10 sentence pairs, each containing a bisyllabic stimulus item differing only in primary stress placement. The mean fundamental frequency, sound pressure level, and duration of the stressed and unstressed vowel nuclei were analyzed. Although some differences in absolute levels were apparent, only sound pressure level differences reached statistical significance. For both groups, intended primary stress was associated with a comparable pattern of increased fundamental frequency, sound pressure level, and duration. The present findings suggest that excellent esophageal speakers are capable of producing some correlates of primary syllabic stress in a fashion remarkably similar to but somewhat less consistent than normals. The implications of these data for long-range clinical planning are discussed.
Relationships of Vowel Characteristics to Listener Ratings of Breathiness
Authors: Klich Richard J.
Published: July 2014

This experiment was designed to investigate the relationships of listener ratings of breathiness to vowel duration, speaking rate, and the relative energy in three frequency ranges (100–500, 1500–2500, and 3500–4500 Hz) in vowel spectra. The effects of vowel SPL also were considered. Listeners used a seven-point equal-appearing interval scale to rate a sentence spoken by each of 10 young adult females in each of four voice qualities: normal speech, mildly breathy, severely breathy, and whisper. Significant Pearson correlations to the ratings were found only for mean SPL and the relative energy in the 100–500 and 3500–4500 Hz ranges. After the effects of mean SPL were accounted for in partial correlation and multiple regression analyses, all vowel parameters were related significantly to the mean ratings. The partial correlations for vowel duration were as high as those for the three frequency ranges. Vowel duration may be as important as spectral characteristics of vowels when breathiness is judged from samples of connected discourse.
Visual Evoked-Response Correlates of Speechreading Performance in Normal-Hearing Adults
Authors: Samar Vincent J. , Sims Donald G.
Published: July 2014

The relationship between the latency of the negative peak occurring at approximately 130 msec in the visual evoked-response (VER) and speechreading scores was investigated. A significant product-moment correlation of -.58 was obtained between the two measures, which confirmed the fundamental effect but was significantly weaker than that previously reported in the literature (-.90). Principal components analysis of the visual evoked-response waveforms revealed a previously undiscovered early VER component, statistically independent of the latency measure, which in combination with two other components predicted speechreading with a multiple correlation coefficient of S4. The potential significance of this new component for the study of individual differences in speechreading ability is discussed.
Oral vs. Manual Tapping with Delayed Auditory Feedback as Measures of Cerebral Dominance
Authors: Elman Jeffrey L.
Published: July 2014

Two sets of findings have been reported which make contradictory claims about the cerebral lateralization of mechanisms for coordinating auditory feedback with motor control. One difficulty in evaluating the two sets of claims is that they result from experiments involving methodologies which are different enough to make direct comparisons difficult. The present study reports results of an experiment using a technique which partially bridges the gap between two of these paradigms. This technique involves examining the effect of delayed auditory feedback (DAF) on performance of both an oral and a manual tapping task. Ear of delivery of DAF, subject language background, and nature of the auditory stimulus were the experimental variables. The findings support the claim that the left hemisphere is differentially involved in the use of auditory feedback to control oral, but not manual, motor activity. No evidence was found to indicate that this functional cerebral asymmetry is stimulus- or language-dependent.
Threshold Inaccuracies in an Elderly Clinical Population
Authors: Randolph Loren J. , Schow Ronald L.
Published: July 2014

In a sample of 80 persons in the 60–79-year age range, threshold shifts suggestive of collapsible car canals were found in over one third of the subjects. A very conservative interpretation of the data suggests that at least 10–16% of these 60–79-year old elderly subjects have collapsible, ear canals. Neither sex nor age was related significantly to prevalence. Results of this study indicate in testing elderly persons there are threshold inaccuracies, relating possibly to collapsible ear canals, which, if not taken into account, may cause unacceptably large errors in both clinical and research applications.
Performative and Presuppositional Skills in Language-Disordered and Normal Children
Authors: Rowan Lynne E. , Leonard Laurence B. , Chapman Kathy , Weiss Amy L.
Published: July 2014

The presuppositional and performative abilities of language-disordered and normal children were compared, controlling for the children's ability to use the lexical items required in the experimental task. Subjects were 36 children, 18 normal and 18 language-disordered, functioning at a single-word level of linguistics development. Results revealed that both the language-disordered and the normal children showed a tendency to encode changing rather than unchanging situational elements. The two groups of children also demonstrated similar levels of imperative and declarative performative intent. For both groups, performative and presuppositional behaviors were usually in the form of word productions. Discrepancies between the findings of this and other investigations are discussed with respect to the size of the children's lexicons, their expressive command of the lexicon, chronological age, and representational skills.