bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kibbutz and City Children: A Comparative Study of Syntactic and Articulatory Abilities
Authors: Holdstein Ilana , Borus Judith F.
Published: July 2014

This study investigated whether there were any significant differences between the syntactic and articulatory development of kibbutz and city children in Israel. Ninety children between the ages of three and four and a half years were administered a Hebrew adaptation of the Northwestern Syntax Screening Test and a Hebrew articulation test. Receptive and expressive language ability at this age were found to be superior among kibbutz children. There was no significant difference in the overall number of articulation errors made; however, there was a significantly higher rate of sibilant disorders among the kibbutz children.
Response-Contingent Small-Step Treatment: Performance-Based Communication Intervention
Authors: Bollinger Rick L. , Stout Connie E.
Published: July 2014

Response-contingent small-step treatment is a structured clinical methodology developed for use in the management of brain-injured communication-disturbed adults. Treatment planning includes the determination of target behavior hierarchies, criterion levels of patient performance, and planned response contingencies. Treatment forms are employed to enable ease in scoring patient response, systematic treatment planning, and objective data retrieval for charting.
Developmental Assessment of Spanish Grammar
Authors: Toronto Allen S.
Published: July 2014

The Developmental Assessment of Spanish Grammar (DASG) provides a language analysis procedure for Spanish-speaking children similar to the Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) procedure in English. The DASG is not an attempted translation of the DSS but was developed independently, taking into consideration the present knowledge of Spanish language acquisition. The purpose of the DASG is to evaluate the language of children with deficient grammatical skills in Spanish and to serve as a model for structuring Spanish language therapy. Proposed syntactic hierarchies for the following six grammatical categories are presented: indefinite pronouns and noun modifiers, personal pronouns, primary verbs, secondary verbs, conjunctions, and interrogative words. Weighted scores are assigned to groups of structures within the hierarchies and are used to score Spanish sentences children use spontaneously in conversation with an adult. The DASG was standardized on 128 Spanish-speaking children between the ages of 3.0 and 6.11 years. Norms and reliability measures are presented.
Audiologic Evaluation of Deaf Children
Authors: Erber Norman P. , Alencewicz Christine M.
Published: July 2014

This paper describes an audiologic test battery for hearing-impaired children which includes otoscopic examination, tympanometry, pure-tone audiometry, speech perception testing, and hearing aid evaluation. Several of the procedures and modifications to apparatus have been developed specifically for use with deaf children. Clinical data are presented from 160 hearing-impaired children (age range three-16 years). Eighteen percent of their ears were found to contain excessive cerumen and to require ear canal irrigation. The incidence of abnormal tympanograms was high for young children but decreased with increasing age. A simple auditory speech perception test designed for use with both severely and profoundly deaf children is described, which provides for evaluation of a child’s ability to recognize words, categorize them into stress patterns, or both. The children’s word recognition and word categorization scores were found to relate to their audiometric averages. The overall test battery is easy to administer and also is efficient, in that considerable audiologic information can be obtained quickly.
The LOT Test and School-Age Children
Authors: Behnke Charles R. , Lankford James E.
Published: July 2014

The LOT test was administered to 100 normal-hearing subjects ranging in age from seven years, six months to 10 years, six months. The test was conducted at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz with 99 subjects who were able to perform the required task. The LOT test misclassified (false-positive result) only 4% of the normal-hearing children at 1000 Hz. The test misclassified 3% at 2000 Hz, 3% at 4000 Hz, and 14% at 500 Hz. A new criterion for the use of the LOT test with children is proposed which reduces the percentage of misclassification to 2% at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. The frequency of 500 Hz is not recommended for the preadolescent population.
Perilymphatic Fistula and Its Interest to Audiologists
Authors: Sung Grace S. , Kamerer Donald B. , Sung Richard J.
Published: July 2014

Forty-one patients who had sudden hearing loss associated with spontaneous perilymphatic fistulas were reviewed in this investigation. A history of physical exertion or an upper respiratory infection prior to the onset of hearing loss strongly suggests the presence of spontaneous perilymphatic fistula. However, absence of such a history does not necessarily preclude the possibility of membrane rupture. A great variation in audiologic and vestibular findings was observed. Tinnitus was present for most patients and vertigo or disequilibrium was reported by some. Findings support the need for surgical exploration in patients with sudden hearing loss when a perilymphatic fistula is suspected. Postoperative success in restoring hearing function in cases with perilymphatic fistula is good if the fistula is closed within two weeks after the initial insult. Delay in closure of such fistulas can cause irreversible loss of hearing.
The Performance of Children with Auditory Perceptual Disorders on a Time-Compressed Speech Discrimination Measure
Authors: Manning Walter H. , Johnston Kathleen L. , Beasley Daniel S.
Published: July 2014

A time-compressed version of the PB-K 50 speech discrimination measure was administered to 20 children diagnosed as displaying auditory perceptual disorders. Results indicated that these children performed equally well at both 0 and 30% time compression. Performance decreased significantly at 60% time compression. Comparison of the results with normative data indicated that performance of the two groups of children was similar at the 30% time compression condition but that children with auditory perceptual disorders performed poorer at both 0 and 60% time compression. The results were discussed relative to short-term memory abilities.
Judgments of Grammatically by Normal and Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Liles Betty Z. , Shulman Martin D. , Bartlett Susan
Published: July 2014

Fifteen linguistically normal children and 15 linguistically deviant children were presented with three types of agrammatical sentences. The subjects were asked to judge the sentences as right or wrong and to change the sentences judged as wrong, rendering them correct. The three types of agrammatical sentences represented rule violations of syntactic agreement (Type A), lexical restrictions (Type B), and word order (Type C). The two groups of children were compared in terms of the number of sentences of each type that were recognized as agrammatical. Those productions which represented the child’s correction of agrammatical sentences were subjected to descriptive analyses (percentages) with specific reference to the number of attempted changes and the number of those changes which demonstrated corrections of the specific deviation from well formedness. Results indicated that the two groups of subjects were significantly different in their ability to recognize grammatical errors in sentence Types A and C, but did not differ in their ability to recognize errors in sentence Type B. The descriptive comparison of the groups' verbal corrections reflected this trend, in that the language-disordered subjects made corrections specific to the error on more of the Type B sentences (for example, “The dog writes the food.”) than on Types A (for example, “'She will pick some flowers last week.”) or C (for example, “Get and come your dinner.”). Linguistically normal children accurately corrected 90.7% of the sentences judged as agrammatical; this percentage did not vary more than 1% across sentence types.
Marked High-Frequency Hearing Loss in Children: A Problem in Early Identification
Authors: Coleman Ralph O. , Pelson Rodney O.
Published: July 2014

The limitations of noisemakers and speech in detecting marked high-frequency hearing impairment in young children are illustrated by special analysis. The use of high-pass filtering of noisemakers and speech at 6000 Hz and above is recommended as one practical means of identifying losses of this type in children too young for voluntary pure-tone testing.
A Cineradiography Investigation of Children’s w/r Substitutions
Authors: Kuehn David P. , Tomblin J. Bruce
Published: July 2014

Articulatory positioning and movement characteristics were compared between /w/ and intended /r/ productions in three children exhibiting w/r substitutions and one normal control subject. High-speed lateral-view cineradiography was utilized. It was found that only the control subject demonstrated significant differences in lip, jaw, and tongue positioning for /w/ compared to /r/. However, systematic patterns of articulatory variability within and between subjects suggested that the experimental subjects were possibly differentiating between /w/ and intended /r/ even though the articulatory target configuration appeared to be nondiscriminatory. Perceptual judgments of the tape-recorded utterances mirrored the physiological data in that only those intended /r/ productions involving articulatory positioning clearly different from that of /w/ were perceived as /r/.
The Verbal Environment of a Language-Impaired Child
Authors: Cramblit Nancy S. , Siegel Gerald M.
Published: July 2014

A child with a language handicap presents a potential conflict for the adults with whom he interacts. In terms of age and physical development, he may present cues that ordinarily elicit complex speech from adults. His language performance, however, may be comparable to that of a much younger child. This study involves a detailed analysis of the speech addressed to a 4.7-year-old language-impaired boy and to his normal-speaking female cousin (4.6 years) by the boy’s mother, father, and baby-sitter. Each adult interacted with each child in a five-minute free play and a five-minute story-telling situation. Quantitative measures of the speech of the adults included word rate, disfluencies, type-token ratio, and mean length of response. There was a strong tendency to present the language-impaired child with fluent, short, and simple sentence patterns, as compared to his peer. Qualitative analyses of sentence types again showed that simplifications were made in speech to the boy, and that the adults used sequential sets of sentences with the language-handicapped child that were similar to those used by mothers of normal, but much younger children.
Development and Testing of an Intraoral Electrolarynx for Laryngectomy Patients
Authors: Zwitman Daniel H. , Knorr Siegfried G. , Sonderman Judith C.
Published: July 2014

A wireless intraoral electrolarynx for laryngectomy patients has been developed. The instrument consists of an earphone receiver and a pickup coil housed in the patient’s denture. A separate transmitter with hand switch, worn under the patient’s clothing, activates the receiver. Intelligibility testing revealed that this device was comparable to the Verbalizer Electrolarynx, a transoral instrument similar to the Cooper-Rand Electrolarynx. If the long-term endurance study now in progress proves that the device can meet the communicative needs of the laryngectomee, and if the favorable results obtained in this study can be duplicated with subsequent instruments, this electrolarynx may be a viable alternative to others now available.
Speaking Fundamental Frequency Characteristics Associated with Voice Pathologies
Authors: Murry Thomas
Published: July 2014

This study investigated the relationship between pathologic and normal speaking fundamental frequency characteristics (SFF) in a group of 80 male subjects. The subjects were divided into four groups of 20 (1) vocal fold paralysis, (2) benign mass lesion, (3) cancer of the larynx, and (4) normal. The results of this study indicate that SFF standard deviation and semitone range of SFF are significantly reduced for patients with vocal fold paralysis as compared with normals. The parameters of mean SFF, number of frequency shifts, and age failed to separate the normals from the three groups of pathologic subjects.
Reed-Fistula Speech Following Pharyngolaryngectomy
Authors: Weinberg Bernd , Shedd Donald P. , Horii Yoshiyuki
Published: July 2014

This report describes reed-fistula speech, a surgical-prosthetic approach to speech rehabilitation for patients who have undergone extensive resection of the pharynx in association with total laryngectomy and highlights some characteristics of speech produced by four subjects who use reed-fistula speech as their primary method of oral communication. Observations supported the view that the reed-fistula approach provides functionally serviceable speech to patients who have undergone pharyngolaryngectomy. A number of speech and biomedical liabilities associated with this method of speech restoration are delineated. In recognition of these liabilities, reed-fistula speech does not currently merit consideration as a routine approach to speech restoration for all laryngectomized patients. Rather, it is regarded as a potentially promising, experimental approach to speech restoration following laryngeal amputation.
A Comparison of Home and Clinic Gathered Language Samples
Authors: Scott Cheryl M. , Taylor Alicia E.
Published: July 2014

Language samples were gathered for 12 normal children representing a range of linguistic levels in a clinic setting with unstructured clinician-child interaction, and the home setting with unstructured mother-child interaction. Comparison of the samples revealed that children with an average utterance length four to five morphemes produced significantly longer utterances in the home setting. A comparison of frequency counts for various forms and construction types indicated the presence of syntactic preferences in each setting that could be traced to the nature of the underlying interaction. Clinic sampling was conducive to the description of ongoing or imminent activity, while home sampling stimulated substantially higher frequencies of past tense and modal verb forms, complex utterances, and questions. While there were frequency of occurrence differences between settings, the variety of forms and construction types was found to be similar. The results should be useful to clinicians as they interpret the significance of the presence, absence, or frequency of various syntactic structures in clinic language samples.
The Cardiac Component of the Orienting Response: Effects of Signal Intensity, Clinical Interpretation, and Procedural Limitations
Authors: Borton T. E. , Moore W. H.
Published: July 2014

The effects of stimulus intensity on the cardiac component of the orienting response were explored in male and female subjects. The acoustic stimuli were 10 recorded repetitions of an identical consonant vowel cluster spoken by an adult male. Heart rate data were obtained for both subject groups at three sensation levels across the baseline heart rate and at 10 stimulus presentation trials. A significant main effect was noted for trials. Significant linear and quadratic trend components were observed, reflecting habituation of the orienting response as a function of trials, and indicating the nonmonotonicity of heart rate change over trials. A lower mean heart rate was observed for Condition Two (20 dB SL) than for either of the other conditions, 10 dB and 30 dB SL respectively. Analysis of group variability and individual subjects' heart rate data suggested limitations in generalizing from group to individual data, as well as a need for further investigation if proper interpretation of single subject heart rate data are to be useful in the clinical situation.
Utilization of a Central Auditory Processing Test Battery in Evaluating Residual Effects of Decompression Sickness
Authors: Miltenberger Gerald E. , Caruso Vincent G. , Correia Manning J. , Love J. Thorn , Winkelmann Paul
Published: July 2014

Six professional divers were examined as patients who presented peripheral auditory, vestibular, or central symptoms attributed to incidents which occurred while diving. Each diver received a central auditory processing (CAP) test battery consisting of: (1) a dichotic sentence listening task, (2) a monotic filtered word task, (3) a binaural fusion task, and (4) an alternating speech task. The CAP test results, in all cases, substantiated other neurological/vestibular test battery results which we have reported in detail previously.
Interpreting Ear Differences in Static Compliance Measurements
Authors: de Jonge Robert R. , Valente Michael
Published: July 2014

The value of static compliance measurements is limited by marked variability and considerable overlap of results among normal and abnormal middle ears. However, a procedure that compares static compliance measurements between the right and left ear of each individual overcomes this problem in large part. The methods and data to support the applicability of this approach for evaluating unilateral middle ear disorders are discussed further.
Effects of High-Frequency Cue Reduction on the Comprehension of Distorted Speech
Authors: Lacroix Paul G. , Harris J. Donald
Published: July 2014

Forty-five subjects with sharply sloping sensorineural high-frequency hearing losses were examined for comprehension with a tape containing sentences that had been time-compressed (250 words/min), interrupted, (50 msec on-50 msec off), and masked with speech-spectrum noise (+ 2 dB S/N) in that order. All subjects yielded normal speech reception thresholds, and generally normal scores on the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6. Distorted-speech testing was completed at 40 dB SL. Subjects with losses at 2 kHz and above were able to comprehend only 50, 65, and 68% of compressed, interrupted, and noise-masked sentences, respectively. In contrast, subjects with losses at 3 kHz and above performed poorer than normal controls by 11.3, 12.5, and 8 percentage points respectively, while subjects within normal hearing sensitivity at 3 kHz performed as well as controls (maximum drop of 4.6 points with noise-masking). The multiplicative hypothesis was upheld in that the performance of subjects with severe high-frequency deficiencies was much poorer than one would predict on the basis of what is known about performance on these tests with either filtering alone or other distortions alone. These subjects, most especially those with severe frequency deficiencies, outperformed by up to 29 percentage points the mean scores of groups of normals given the same test items and distortion conditions, but listening through filtering that simulated the hearing loss of subjects in this study. It was suggested that hypacusics with high-frequency hearing losses can learn to use residual cues efficiently and that it is not altogether permissible to model sensorineural high-frequencv losses with normal-hearing subjects using frequency filtering.
Bilateral Cord Dysfunctions: Abductor Type Spastic Dysphonia
Authors: Zwitman Daniel H.
Published: July 2014

Unlike cord approximation disorders such as adductor type spastic dysphonia and vocal cord paralysis, which have been well defined, abductor type spastic dysphonia has received limited attention. This report presents voice symptoms, spectrographic data, indirect laryngoscopic observations, and case histories of two cases. Questions are raised as to whether there is a spastic component to this disorder, and if there is a specific age group affected.
Planning and Self-Assessment in Articulatory Training
Authors: Ruscello Dennis M. , Shelton Ralph L.
Published: July 2014

Children misarticulating the /r/ or /s/ speech sounds or both were identified, and assigned randomly to one of two groups. Each group received speech lessons that were similar. However, during response acquisition training, Group 1 was requested to plan articulatory movements mentally, produce the target sound, and assess the production. Group 2 practiced the training units without using the planning and assessment procedures. Group 1 exceeded Group 2 on generalization measures when the planning and assessment training was in effect.
SSW and Dichotic Digit Results Pre- and Post-Commissurotomy: A Case Report
Authors: Musiek Frank E. , Wilson Donald H.
Published: July 2014

A 19-year-old right-handed male with normal peripheral hearing bilaterally, was tested on the SSW and dichotic digits before and after commissurotomy. SSW results showed a definite deficit for words presented to the left ear in both the competing and noncompeting conditions. Dichotic digit results showed complete inability on the part of the subject to report the digits presented to the left ear. These findings are similar to other dichotic test results previously reported on split-brain patients.
Test-Retest Reliability of the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language When It Is Used with Mentally Retarded Children
Authors: Anderson Jack D. , Hess Robert , Richardson Kathleen
Published: July 2014

The Carrow (1973) Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language (TACL) is used frequently as part of a test battery to assess the language skills of mentally retarded children. This study determined its reliability with this population using a test-re-test paradigm. Forty-four retarded children were given the test and then retested after a five-week interval. A reliability coefficient of 0.91 was obtained between pre-test and posttest administrations of the TACL. Internal stability was highest for total score, the subtests measuring form class and function words, and grammatical categories. The low coefficients obtained for the subtests of morphological construction and syntactic structure suggest that these should be viewed with considerable caution when considered separately from the total test results.
Northwestern Syntax Screening Test
Authors: Ratusnik David L. , Klee Thomas M. , Ratusnik Carol Melnick
Published: July 2014

The NSST was administered to 900 children aged three years to seven years, 11 months. Using a step-wise multiple regression model, the test was shortened from 20 to 11 test items receptively and expressively, while accounting for 95% of total test score variance. This shortened form, taking approximately 10 minutes to administer, was normed in six-month intervals as opposed to the one-year intervals of the original NSST. A cross validation sample of 301 children was used to demonstrate that comparable clinical decisions are made employing either form.
Frequency Response Characteristics of FM Mini-Loop Auditory Trainers
Authors: Van Tasell Dianne J. , Landin Deborah P.
Published: July 2014

Personally sized inductance loops (mini-loops) now are available for use with an FM classroom amplification system and the student's personal ear-level hearing aid. Frequency response characteristics of five commercially-available hearing aids were assessed 1) using hearing aid test equipment available in most audiology clinics, with the hearing aid on microphone setting and 2) in a public school classroom, with the hearing aid on telecoil setting and operating with an FM mini-loop system. Clinic and classroom characteristics of the conventional FM receiver-insert earphone auditory trainers also were assessed. Results showed that the personal hearing aids' classroom performance could not be predicted from their clinic performance. Results also showed that gain provided by the environmental microphone circuit of the FM receiver-insert earphone units was uniformly higher than that provided by the teacher-microphone signal route.
The Inference of Speech Perception in the Phonologically Disordered Child. Part I
Authors: Locke John L.
Published: July 2014

This paper considers the rationale and presents some criteria for assessing the speech perception of children with disorders at the phonological level of language. An examination of conventional test procedures suggests that none is useful in identifying clinically relevant perceptual disorders. However, readers are encouraged to inspect Part II (Locke, 1980), which describes procedures with more clinical promise.
Palilalia
Authors: Lapointe Leonard L. , Horner Jennifer
Published: July 2014

Palilalia is an acquired speech disorder characterized by reiteration of utterances in a context of increasing rate and decreasing loudness. The condition has been associated with bilateral subcortical neuropathology. The relationship of palilalia to other adult disfluency syndromes, aphasia, and motor speech disorders requires a thorough understanding of the nature of palilalic case report systematically describes seven distinct types of reiteration, frequency (severity) of reiteration relative to seven types of speech tasks, and consistency and adaptation effects observed in a 29-year-old male.
Identifying Behavior Associated with Verbal Self-Corrections of Aphasic Clients
Authors: Marshall Robert C. , Tompkins Connie A.
Published: July 2014

The purposes of this study were to define certain behaviors associated with verbal self-correction efforts of aphasic clients and to determine the accuracy with which these behaviors might be identified by clinical observers. Seven explicit definitions were written for behaviors associated with aphasic clients' self-correction attempts on single-word and short-answer language production tasks. To determine the accuracy with which defined behaviors could be identified, observers (N=7) were asked to view 400 randomly selected speech samples and to code the type of self-correction event for each sample. The accuracy of these judgments was ascertained by calculating the percentages of observers' agreements with judgments made previously by the experimenters. Results showed observers were able to identify explicitly defined behaviors at levels of accuracy ranging from 73%–99%. When observers' judgments did not agree with those of the experimenters, inaccuracies tended to be logical and to cluster in particular categories. Findings suggest a need for further study of behaviors associated with aphasic individuals' self correction efforts, particularly with reference to the significance of these behaviors to recovery from aphasia, and to aphasic symptomatology in general.
Regression to the Mean in Pretreatment Measures of Stuttering
Authors: Andrews Gavin , Harvey Robin
Published: July 2014

Pre-post treatment evaluation designs are common in stuttering research. Their propriety depends on the assumption that spontaneous remission is not likely. There are six studies to the literature in which stutterers have been measured on two occasions some months apart. In all studies there was a trend to less stuttering on the second assessment, but in no study was the difference between scores significant.

One hundred and thirty-two stutterers awaiting treatment were assessed when they were first seen and then at the beginning of treatment 1–23 months later. There was a small but significant improvement between the two assessments. The size of the improvement was comparable to those reported in the six published studies. This spontaneous improvement occurs mainly in the three months following the first assessment, and there is little change thereafter. It is concluded that pre-post studies of subjects who waited more than three months for treatment are valid and that the observed improvement can be due solely to the effects of treatment. Studies that assess improvement from the time subjects are first seen should allow for spontaneous remission to determine the improvement due to treatment.
Auditory Processing in Aging Listeners
Authors: Marshall Lynne
Published: July 2014

Many aspects of auditory processing in aging listeners are poorly understood. Methodological problems encountered with the aging population, ranging from ear canal collapse to a conservative criterion, have rarely been considered in past research. The relation between pure-tone thresholds and other aspects of auditory functions is unclear. There have been few studies of frequency and temporal analysis in aging listeners. There is disagreement on the effect of age on speech discrimination abilities in various listening conditions, and the cause of speech perception problems in aging listeners has not been adequately investigated. Areas of importance for clinical consideration and auditory research with aging listeners are discussed.
The Cry Characteristics of an Infant Who Died of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Authors: Colton R. H. , Steinschneider A.
Published: July 2014

Fourteen cries of a four day old infant who subsequently died suddenly of unexplained causes were analyzed on nine acoustic characteristics including f
o
, duration, formant frequencies and sound pressure level. In comparison to a group of newborn controls, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) victim's cries exhibited a lower f
o
, longer duration, lower formant frequencies and greater sound pressure level throughout the spectrum. Cry duration and sound pressure levels, however, deviated in excess of one standard deviation from the mean of the other newborns. Similar findings resulted when the SIDS infant was compared to a group of full term infants who were siblings of SIDS victims, although the magnitude of the differences was slightly less especially with respect to sound pressure level. Measurement of selected acoustic variables in a newborn's cry may be of value in our understanding of SIDS and for identifying infants at risks.
A Comparison of Request-Response Sequences in the Discourse of Normal and Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Brinton Bonnie , Fujiki Martin
Published: July 2014

This study compared several discourse characteristics of linguistically normal and language-disordered children. In order to examine interactive skills, several types of request-response sequences were considered. These included choice questions, product questions, requests for clarification, and the responses elicited by these speech acts. While neither the linguistically normal nor the language-disordered groups had achieved an adult level of competence, normal children were much more aware of the interactive nature of discourse than language-disordered children. Normals most often responded within the boundaries of an acceptable adult response. Language-disordered children frequently ignored and responded inappropriately to requests. Their responses were occasionally contrary to fact or totally unrelated to the expected information. Some language-disordered subjects also demonstrated linguistic strategies that facilitated the flow of conversation, but showed no understanding of the content of the communicative interchange. The clinical implications of these findings and the need for further research are discussed.
Intra-Subject Variability in F
o
-SPL
min
Voice Profiles
Authors: Stone R. E. , Krause Ferch Pamela A.
Published: July 2014

Representations of a subject's minimum vocal intensities (SPL
min
)at selected levels of pitch range are called, F
o
-SPL
min
Profiles. Such displays potentially are an indirect means of documenting a person's change in laryngeal function and status. The potentiality is limited by insufficient evidence that subjects' performances are replicable on repeated testing. As a pilot study, four normal adults produced their SPL
min
at 1/3 octave increments of pitch range on three occasions over a 2-week period. It appears that F
o
-SPL
min
Profiles are replicable. The magnitudes of SPL
min
seem to correlate with increments of pitch range at which subjects phonated and increase at a rate of 8 to 12 dB/octave starting around 65 dB (3.8 cm from the lips).
Stuttering Treatment
Authors: Andrews Gavin , Tanner Susan
Published: July 2014

The regulated-breathing method, a potentially cost effective treatment, was used in six adult subjects. Results in the short- and long-term were clinically disappointing and do not support the adoption of this technique as an feasible treatment.
Effectiveness of a Modified Version of Airflow Therapy
Authors: Falkowski Glenn L. , Guilford Arthur M. , Sandler Jack
Published: July 2014

Utilizing airflow therapy, Schwartz (1976) has claimed an 89% success rate with stutterers following treatment and an 83% success rate at one year follow-up. Such claims have yet to be documented in the scientific literature. The purposes of this study were: (a) to investigate the effectiveness of a modified version of airflow therapy; (b) to examine the relative importance of its two main components—passive airflow and elongation of the first vowel spoken. The speech of two adult male stutterers with a lengthy history of stuttering, was assessed with spontaneous speaking and reading tasks. Results indicated marked improvement in both subjects' speech on the reading task was maintained at follow-up 10 weeks later. For spontaneous speech, results were generally weaker and less durable. Effects of the two treatment components were cumulative and did not allow determination of any differential effectiveness between components. Implications of these findings were considered and directions for future research discussed.
The Effects of Self-Evaluation Training on Maintenance and Generalization during Stuttering Treatment
Authors: Ingham Roger J.
Published: July 2014

Training in self-evaluation of speech performance was combined with a self-managed, performance-contingent maintenance schedule during the treatment of two young adult stutterers. A multiple baseline design was used to investigate the effect of introducing this procedure to a variety of speaking situations. Covert and overt assessment indicated that whenever the self-evaluation training procedure was introduced to the maintenance schedule, it was associated with substantially reduced stuttering which was sustained over a period of at least six months across speaking situations. Some implications of these findings for treatment and self-management research are discussed.
Sound as a Reinforcer for Infants' Manipulations of Toys
Authors: Rosenberg Robin A. , Butler Robert A.
Published: July 2014

We investigated the effectiveness of sound as a reinforcer of manipulative responses by infants. Fifty subjects, 4–12 months of age, were presented five different toys: (a) a barbell rattle; (b) a rattle shaped in the form of a whale; (c) a bracelet with bells; (d) a rubber pig that squeaked when squeezed; and (e) a drum that resonated when struck. The noise-making component of another set of identical toys was either removed or modified so that shaking the toy or striking it resulted in either no sound or a sharply attenuated one. Toys were presented singly for two minutes. Two observers, each equipped with a microswitch, recorded manipulations of each toy. The data were registered on magnetic tape and later displayed graphically. Noisy toys were manipulated significantly more frequent than quiet ones with infants from 6 to 10 months old. They were relatively more responsive to noisy toys than were our younger and older subjects. Since infants show a strong proclivity to make sounds, a reasonable assumption is that this propensity could be incorporated into a behavioral test for hearing. Simply stated, infants with profound hearing losses would not prefer noisy toys over quiet ones. Further research would be required for adapting the test situation to infants with more moderate hearing losses.
A Tactic for Facilitating Social Interaction with Laryngectomees
Authors: Blood Gordon W. , Blood Ingrid M.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of the present investigation was to explore the tactic of acknowledging the handicap in interactions between laryngectomized and nonlaryngectomized individuals. Two male laryngectomees were videotaped under two experimental conditions. One condition they acknowledged their laryngectomy, use of esophageal speech, problems, etc. The other condition they did not acknowledge their problem. Results indicated that listeners preferred the speaker when he discussed the handicap. Limitations of the study and clinical implications are discussed.
Stutterings
Authors: Andrews Gavin , Tanner Susan
Published: July 2014

Brief treatments for stuttering would be available if they could produce long term benefits. Six clients were given training in a variant of an airflow technique. Treatment required eight hours of clinician time per client. Significant improvement occurred after four days of treatment, but relapse was considerable and by the end of the year speech was unimproved in respect to pretreatment scores. Presently, proven effective treatments require 30 hours of clinician time per client and shorter treatments do not appear to produce comparable results.
Inappropriate Word Extensions in the Speech of Young Language-Disordered Children
Authors: Chapman Kathy , Leonard Laurence B. , Rowan Lynne E. , Weiss Amy L.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of inappropriate word extensions in the spontaneous speech of young language-disordered children, and how these extensions should be characterized. Inappropriate word extension were identified and tested, first in a production task and then in a comprehension task for nine language-disordered children (age 2:8 to 3:4). Results indicated that the percentage of inappropriate word extensions seen in the speech of these children was comparable to that seen in normal children at the same level of linguistic development. As with normal children, these inappropriate word extensions reflected varying levels of lexical knowledge. The findings of this study are discussed in terms of their clinical applicability for lexical training with language-disordered children.
Reading Problems in Chronic Aphasia
Authors: Webb Wanda G. , Love Russell J.
Published: July 2014

Thirty-five aphasic subjects who were 1 year or longer post onset of brain injury were given a battery of reading tests which was composed of recognition and oral reading tests for letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs, and comprhension tests for sentences and paragraphs. Results indicated a residual reading disorder or alexia in all subjects, with comprehension tests producing the highest error rate, oral reading tests second, and then recognition tests. Reading ability was found to be related to overall language skill, level of education, and oral reading ability. Results are discussed in light of current theories of reading and future research needs.
Accuracy of Adaptive Procedure Estimates of PB-Max Level
Authors: Kamm Candace A. , Morgan Donald E. , Dirks Donald D.
Published: July 2014

A measure of maximum speech recognition ability (PB max) is often obtained in the clinical audiologic evaluation of patients. However, without developing a complete performance-intensity function (PIF), it is often difficult to determine an appropriate intensity level for measuring PB max.

Levitt (1978) has described an adaptive procedure designed to estimate an intensity level at which maximum speech recognition performance could be measured. We have investigated the accuracy of this procedure by comparing speech recognition performance on a CNC word list presented at the level estimated by the adaptive procedure with maximum performance as measured on the listener's performance-intensity function. Using the presentation level indicated by the adaptive procedure, PB max scores were obtained for 12 of 16 normally hearing subjects and 19 of 25 listeners with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Similar accuracy was obtained for the hearing-impaired subjects using a single presentation level of 95 dB SPL, while use of a 40 dB SL speech level would have resulted in a lower proportion of PB-max measurements. Although PB max is most accurately estimated by delineating the entire performance-intensity function, the current results suggest that, if speech recognition is to be measured only at a single level, scores obtained at the level estimated by the adaptive procedure or at 95 dB SPL may serve as reasonable estimates of PB max for listeners with primarily cochlear hearing losses of ⩽ 50 dB.
Perception and Production of Misarticulated /r/
Authors: Hoffman Paul R. , Stager Sheila , Daniloff Raymond G.
Published: July 2014

Twelve children who consistently misarticulated consonant [r] and five children who correctly articulated [r] were recorded while repeating sentences which differed only in a single /r/–/w/ contrast. All /r/ and /w/ productions were spectrographically analyzed. Error productions were judged for their similarity to [w]. Each child identified all of the recorded sentences via a picture-pointing task. Misarticulated [r] was identified as /w/ at above chance levels only by the children who did not misarticulated [r]. The subject groups did not differ in their perception of correctly articulated /r/ and /w/ phones. Children whose misarticulated [r] phones were judged to be /w/?like were most likely to misperceive their own productions of /r/. Children whose misarticulated [r] productions were characterized by higher second formant frequencies were better able to identify their productions of /r/. Results suggest that a subpopulation of children who misarticulate [r] may mark it acoustically in a nonstandard manner.
Test of the Assumptions Underlying Comparative Hearing Aid Evaluations
Authors: Walden Brian E. , Holum-Hardegen Laura L. , Crowley Joanne M. , Schwartz Daniel M. , Williams Dennis L.
Published: July 2014

Comparative hearing aid evaluations using NU-6 monosyllabic word lists were administered to adults with predominately high-frequency sensorineural hearing impairments who were randomly assigned to one of two experiments. In the first, three instruments were used that were electroacoustically similar and appropriate to the patients' hearing losses. In the second, the three hearing aids employed were electroacoustically quite different. Following an initial comparative hearing aid evaluation, the patients used the instruments during a trial-use week after which they ranked the aids in terms of benefit provided in daily communication. Following the trial-use week, the comparative hearing aid evaluation was repeated. The results suggest that significant interaid performance differences on the hearing aid evaluation are not likely to occur very often when the aids being evaluated are relatively homogeneous electroacoustically. In contrast, when electroacoustically heterogeneous instruments are evaluated, significant performance differences may occur frequently. Under such circumstance, however, the same instrument(s) would likely provide the best performance to most patients. The results further suggest that the reliability of standard monosyllabic word lists may not be adequate to detect typical interaid differences that occur in a comparative hearing aid evaluation and that the performance hierarchy is likely to change as the patient adjusts amplification. Finally, the comparative hearing aid evaluation will not be a good predictor of success in daily communication unless relatively large performance differences exist among the instruments.
Learning of Blissymbols and Manual Signs
Authors: Bristow Diane , Fristoe Macalyne
Published: July 2014

Blissymbols and manual signs are two representational systems widely used as alternatives to spoken communication for persons unable to speak understandably. They were compared to determine if there is any advantage of one over the other in ease of learning or in retention. Immediate and 1-day posttest measures were obtained from 20 7- and 8-year-old children engaged in a paired-associate transfer-of-training task using manual signs and Blissymbols. Results showed no overall difference between signs and symbols in number of correct responses on either the immediate or 1-day posttest.
Hypothesis-Testing and Nonlinguistic Symbolic Abilities in Language-Impaired Children
Authors: Kamhi Alan G. , Catts Hugh W. , Koenig Linda A. , Lewis Barbara A.
Published: July 2014

This study sought to clarify further the cognitive abilities of language-impaired children by examining their hypothesis-testing and nonlinguistic symbolic abilities. A discrimination learning task and a concept formation task were used to measure hypothesis-testing abilities, and a haptic (touch) recognition task was used to assess nonlinguistic symbolic abilities. Subjects were 10 language-impaired and 10 language-normal children matched for performance Mental Age. Measures of expressive and receptive language were also obtained from each child. The language-impaired children were found to perform significantly poorer than their MA controls on the haptic recognition task and on a portion of the discrimination learning task. No differences were found between the two groups' concept formation abilities. Correlational analyses revealed a particularly strong positive relationship between performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the haptic recognition task. It was speculated that this relationship was motivated by the symbolic demands of these tasks. One implication O f this speculation is that a symbolic representational deficit might better explain the receptive language deficit than the expressive one.
Generalization Following the Remediation of Early- and Later-Developing Consonant Clusters
Authors: Powell Thomas W. , Elbert Mary
Published: July 2014

Three pairs of matched subjects, ages 4:4 to 6:3 (yrs:mos), who consistently misarticulated word-initial consonant clusters were taught to produce either earlier-developing (stop + liquid) clusters or later-developing (fricative + liquid) clusters. Sixty untrained probe items were administered imitatively during baseline and periodically throughout treatment to assess articulation change over time. Five of the six subjects performed with essentially equal accuracy on both cluster categories during the final probe administration regardless of the nature of their treatment. Additional analysis revealed the liquid segment ([r] or [l]) as the apparently decisive factor in four subjects' learning patterns.
On the Prediction of Phonologic Generalization Learning Patterns
Authors: Elbert Mary , Dinnsen Daniel A. , Powell Thomas W.
Published: July 2014

The purpose of this study was to obtain information on six children's misarticulation of consonant clusters in order to illustrate how certain factors influence generalization learning patterns. While all subjects evidenced generalization, individual differences in learning patterns did emerge. These patterns were explained in terms of the following three factors: (1) information about the children's unique knowledge about the phonologic system, (2) the linguistic relationships among sounds, and (3) the interaction of these factors with the treatment target. The implications of this explanation are discussed as they relate to the selection of treatment targets that will facilitate generalization.
Auditory Processing Tests for Children
Authors: Berrick Janet M. , Shubow Gerri Feuer , Schultz Martin C. , Freed Helene , Fournier Steven R. , Hughes James P.
Published: July 2014

Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) test results were studied in 93 normally achieving children and 97 children referred to a learning disabilities clinic. All subjects were 8–11 years of age. The SSW test was found to differentiate between the normally achieving children and those experiencing classroom learning difficulties. Further, it was found that the performance of the normally achieving group was generally better than current test norms would imply. This finding suggests the use of stricter criteria in determining when a child is at risk for central auditory processing difficulties. Results for children with classroom learning difficulties show a progression toward better performance with age, except for the Left-Competing condition. This makes it unclear whether one can or cannot expect some resolution of auditory processing difficulties by age 11.