bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Birth Control Pills and Nonprofessional Voice: Acoustic Analyses
Authors: Amir Ofer , Biron-Shental Tal , Shabtai Esther 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
Two studies are presented here. Study 1 was aimed at evaluating whether the voice characteristics of women who use birth control pills that contain different progestins differ from the voice characteristics of a control group. Study 2 presents a meta-analysis that combined the results of Study 1 with those from 3 recent studies that compared voices of women who use and do not use birth control pills.

Method
In Study 1, voice samples from 30 women with no history of voice training, who use pills with different progestins (drospirenone, desogestrel, gestodene), and 10 women who do not use the pill were recorded at specific time points across the menstrual cycle and were analyzed acoustically. In Study 2, results from Study 1 were analyzed jointly with results from three recent studies, which used similar methodologies.

Results
Results of Study 1 did not reveal acoustic differences in sustained phonation of vowels across the pill groups and controls. Results of the meta-analysis performed in Study 2 indicated that pill users exhibited lower jitter and shimmer values on sustained vowels, whereas no difference of fundamental frequency was observed among women who use the pill.

Conclusions
These results support findings from previous studies, which suggested that no adverse effect on voice was detected among nonprofessional speakers who use new-generation monophasic birth control pills, for the measures studied. Furthermore, results of the meta-analysis suggested that some acoustic properties of the voice, which are reflected in perturbation measures in sustained vowels, may be improved among women who use the pill.
Interspeaker Variation in Habitual Speaking Rate: Additional Evidence
Authors: Tsao Ying-Chiao , Weismer Gary , Iqbal Kamran 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that talkers previously classified by Y.-C. Tsao and G. Weismer (1997) as habitually fast versus habitually slow would show differences in the way they manipulated articulation rate across the rate continuum.

Method

Thirty talkers previously classified by Tsao and Weismer (1997) as having habitually slow (
n
= 15; 7 males, 8 females) and habitually fast (
n
= 15; 8 males, 7 females) articulation rates produced a single sentence at 7 different rates, using a magnitude production paradigm. Hence, the participants were not randomly assigned to conditions.

Results

Quadratic regression functions relating measured to intended articulation rates were all statistically significant, and most important, there were significant differences between the slow and fast groups in the
y
intercepts of the functions, for both males and females.

Conclusions
This study provides a constructive replication of Tsao and Weismer (1997), showing a difference between slow and fast talkers with a new set of speech materials and in a new task. The findings appear to be consistent with a biological basis for intertalker rate differences.
Prelinguistic Predictors of Language Outcome at 3 Years of Age
Authors: Watt Nola , Wetherby Amy , Shumway Stacy 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive validity of a collection of prelinguistic skills measured longitudinally in the 2nd year of life to language outcome in the 3rd year in children with typical language development.

Method

A collection of prelinguistic skills was assessed in 160 children early (
M
= 14.31 months;
SD
= 1.36) and late (
M
= 19.76 months;
SD
= 1.16) in their 2nd year by using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile Behavior Sample (A. Wetherby & B. Prizant, 2002). The relation between the prelinguistic skills and the receptive and expressive language near the 3rd birthday was examined.

Results
Significant correlations were observed between many prelinguistic skills and language outcome. Regression analyses indicated that comprehension both early and late contributed unique variance to receptive and expressive language outcome. In addition, early in the 2nd year, inventory of conventional gestures contributed uniquely to receptive language outcome, and acts for joint attention contributed uniquely to expressive outcome. Late in the 2nd year, inventory of consonants contributed uniquely to expressive outcome.

Conclusions
The findings demonstrate continuity between prelinguistic and linguistic skills and how individual differences in a number of prelinguistic skills contribute collectively and uniquely to language outcome in typically developing children.
Understanding Conservation Delays in Children With Specific Language Impairment: Task Representations Revealed in Speech and Gesture
Authors: Mainela-Arnold Elina , Evans Julia L. , Alibali Martha W. 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
The authors investigated mental representations of Piagetian conservation tasks in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing peers. Children with SLI have normal nonverbal intelligence; however, they exhibit difficulties in Piagetian conservation tasks. The authors tested the hypothesis that conservation difficulties may be due to the degree to which children with SLI rely on external perceptual features of the task as opposed to internal cognitive knowledge about transformation.

Method
Twenty-nine children participated, 12 children with SLI (ages 7;0–10;5) and 17 typically developing peers (ages 5;4–10;9) who were matched either on chronological age (CA) task or on judgments on the conservation task (conservation matched [CM]). Children solved conservation tasks and then explained their reasoning. Explanations produced in speech and gesture were analyzed.

Results
In speech, children in the SLI group expressed proportionately fewer internal explanations than the CA group, but a similar proportion of internal explanations as compared with the younger CM group. In gesture, children with SLI did not differ from either CA or CM children.

Conclusions
Children with SLI have weak internal representations of the concept of conservation, similar to those of younger children. Conservation representations appear to be closely related to language skills and verbal working memory.
Effects of Talker Variability on Vowel Recognition in Cochlear Implants
Authors: Chang Yi-ping , Fu Qian-Jie 
Published: May 2007

PurposeTo investigate the effects of talker variability on vowel recognition by cochlear implant (CI) users and by normal-hearing (NH) participants listening to 4-channel acoustic CI simulations.MethodCI users were tested with their clinically assigned speech processors. For NH participants, 3 CI processors were simulated, using different combinations of carrier type and temporal envelope cutoff frequency (noise band/160 Hz, sine wave/160 Hz, and sine wave/20 Hz). Vowel recognition was measured for 4 talkers, presented in either a single-talker context (1 talker per test block) or a multi-talker context (4 talkers per test block).ResultsCI users' vowel recognition was significantly poorer in the multi-talker context than in the single-talker context. When noise-band carriers were used in the simulations, NH performance was not significantly affected by talker variability. However, when sine-wave carriers were used in the simulations, NH performance was significantly affected by talker variability in both envelope filter conditions.ConclusionsBecause fundamental frequency was not preserved by the 20-Hz envelope filter and only partially preserved by the 160-Hz envelope filter, both spectral and temporal cues contributed to the talker variability effects observed with sine-wave carriers. Similarly, spectral and temporal cues may have contributed to the talker variability effects observed with CI participants.
On the Structure of Phoneme Categories in Listeners With Cochlear Implants
Authors: Lane Harlan , Denny Margaret , Guenther Frank H. , Hanson Helen M. , Marrone Nicole , Matthies Melanie L. , Perkell Joseph S. , Stockmann Ellen , Tiede Mark , Vick Jennell , Zandipour Majid 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
To describe cochlear implant users' phoneme labeling, discrimination, and prototypes for a vowel and a sibilant contrast, and to assess the effects of 1 year’s experience with prosthetic hearing.

Method

Based on naturally produced clear examples of “boot,” “beet,” “said,” and “shed” by 1 male and 1 female speaker, continua with 13 stimuli were synthesized for each contrast. Seven hearing controls labeled those stimuli and assigned them goodness ratings, as did 7 implant users at 1-month postimplant. One year later, these measures were repeated, and within category discrimination,
d
′, was assessed.

Results
Compared with controls, implant users' vowel and sibilant labeling slopes were substantially shallower but improved over 1 year of prosthesis use. Their sensitivity to phonetic differences within phoneme categories was about half that of controls. The slopes of their goodness rating functions were shallower and did not improve. Their prototypes for the sibilant contrast (but not the vowels) were closer to one another and did not improve by moving apart.

Conclusions
Implant users' phoneme labeling and within-category perceptual structure were anomalous at 1-month postimplant. After 1 year of prosthesis use, phoneme labeling categories had sharpened but within category discrimination was well below that of hearing controls.
The Objective and Subjective Evaluation of Multichannel Expansion in Wide Dynamic Range Compression Hearing Instruments
Authors: Plyler Patrick N. , Lowery Kristy J. , Hamby Hilary M. , Trine Timothy D. 
Published: May 2007

PurposeThe effects of multichannel expansion on the objective and subjective evaluation of 20 listeners fitted binaurally with 4-channel, digital in-the-ear hearing instruments were investigated.MethodObjective evaluations were conducted in quiet using the Connected Speech Test (CST) and in noise using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) at 40, 50, and 60 dB SPL. Subjective evaluations were conducted by having each participant (a) rate their satisfaction regarding the amount of noise reduction they perceived daily and (b) indicate which expansion condition they preferred overall after a 2-week trial. Three expansion settings were programmed into the hearing aids: 4-channel expansion, expansion restricted to Channels 1 and 2 only, and expansion off.ResultsListeners performed significantly better in quiet (CST) and in noise (HINT) for the off condition than for either multichannel condition; however, restricting expansion to Channels 1 and 2 improved objective performance in quiet and in noise relative to the 4-channel condition. Conversely, satisfaction ratings were significantly greater for both multichannel conditions than for the off condition; however, satisfaction ratings were similar for the restricted and the 4-channel conditions. Overall, listeners preferred any form of multichannel expansion to no expansion; however, overall preference was similar for the restricted and the 4-channel conditions.ConclusionsHearing instrument users prefer the use of multichannel expansion despite the fact multichannel expansion may significantly reduce the recognition of low-level speech in quiet and in noise. Although restricting expansion to Channels 1 and 2 (i.e., 2000 Hz and below) maintained subjective benefit for wide dynamic range compression hearing instrument users, the recognition of low-level speech was not completely preserved.
Children’s Weighting Strategies for Word-Final Stop Voicing Are Not Explained by Auditory Sensitivities
Authors: Nittrouer Susan , Lowenstein Joanna H. 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
It has been reported that children and adults weight differently the various acoustic properties of the speech signal that support phonetic decisions. This finding is generally attributed to the fact that the amount of weight assigned to various acoustic properties by adults varies across languages, and that children have not yet discovered the mature weighting strategies of their own native languages. But an alternative explanation exists: Perhaps children’s auditory sensitivities for some acoustic properties of speech are poorer than those of adults, and children cannot categorize stimuli based on properties to which they are not keenly sensitive. The purpose of the current study was to test that hypothesis.

Method
Edited-natural, synthetic-formant, and sine wave stimuli were all used, and all were modeled after words with voiced and voiceless final stops. Adults and children (5 and 7 years of age) listened to pairs of stimuli in 5 conditions: 2 involving a temporal property (1 with speech and 1 with nonspeech stimuli) and 3 involving a spectral property (1 with speech and 2 with nonspeech stimuli). An AX discrimination task was used in which a standard stimulus (A) was compared with all other stimuli (X) equal numbers of times (method of constant stimuli).

Results
Adults and children had similar difference thresholds (i.e., 50% point on the discrimination function) for 2 of the 3 sets of nonspeech stimuli (1 temporal and 1 spectral), but children’s thresholds were greater for both sets of speech stimuli.

Conclusion
Results are interpreted as evidence that children’s auditory sensitivities are adequate to support weighting strategies similar to those of adults, and so observed differences between children and adults in speech perception cannot be explained by differences in auditory perception. Furthermore, it is concluded that listeners bring expectations to the listening task about the nature of the signals they are hearing based on their experiences with those signals.
The Effect of Temporal Adverbials on Past Tense Production by Children With Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Krantz Laurie R. , Leonard Laurence B. 
Published: May 2007

Purpose

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often fail to produce past tense forms in obligatory contexts, although the factors affecting such inconsistency are not well understood. This study examined the influence of accompanying temporal adverbials (e.g.,
just, already
) on the past tense production of these children.

Method
Fifteen preschool-aged children with SLI, 15 typically developing children matched for age (TD–A) and 15 younger typically developing children matched for mean length of utterance (TD–MLU) participated in the study. The children responded to probes that obligated the use of past tense forms. The verbal context provided by the experimenter for half of the items included a temporal adverbial.

Results
Overall, the SLI and TD–MLU groups produced past tense less frequently than the children in the TD–A group, and there were no significant differences between the SLI and the TD–MLU groups. However, both the SLI and the TD–MLU participants produced past tense forms less frequently when temporal adverbials were included than when they were absent.

Conclusions
These findings suggest that the tendency to use past tense by the children with SLI and their younger MLU-matched peers may not have been independent of other types of temporal information.
The Role of Selected Lexical Factors on Confrontation Naming Accuracy, Speed, and Fluency in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter
Authors: Newman Rochelle S. , Bernstein Ratner Nan 
Published: May 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether lexical access in adults who stutter (AWS) differs from that in people who do not stutter. Specifically, the authors examined the role of 3 lexical factors on naming speed, accuracy, and fluency: word frequency, neighborhood density, and neighborhood frequency. If stuttering results from an impairment in lexical access, these factors were hypothesized to differentially affect AWS performance on a confrontation naming task.MethodTwenty-five AWS and 25 normally fluent comparison speakers, matched for age and education, participated in a confrontation naming task designed to explore within-speaker performance on naming accuracy, speed, and fluency based on stimulus word frequency and neighborhood characteristics. Accuracy, fluency, and reaction time (from acoustic waveform analysis) were computed.ResultsIn general, AWS demonstrated the same effects of lexical factors on their naming as did adults who do not stutter. However, accuracy of naming was reduced for AWS. Stuttering rate was influenced by word frequency but not other factors.ConclusionsResults suggest that AWS could have a fundamental deficit in lexical retrieval, but this deficit is unlikely to be at the level of the word’s abstract phonological representation. Implications for further research are discussed.
Phonological Neighborhood and Word Frequency Effects in the Stuttered Disfluencies of Children Who Stutter
Authors: Anderson Julie D. 
Published: May 2007

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine (a) the role of neighborhood density (number of words that are phonologically similar to a target word) and frequency variables on the stuttering-like disfluencies of preschool children who stutter, and (b) whether these variables have an effect on the type of stuttering-like disfluency produced.MethodA 500+ word speech sample was obtained from each participant (N= 15). Each stuttered word was randomly paired with the firstly produced word that closely matched it in grammatical class, familiarity, and number of syllables/phonemes. Frequency, neighborhood density, and neighborhood frequency values were obtained for the stuttered and fluent words from an online database.ResultsFindings revealed that stuttered words were lower in frequency and neighborhood frequency than fluent words. Words containing part-word repetitions and sound prolongations were also lower in frequency and/or neighborhood frequency than fluent words, but these frequency variables did not have an effect on single-syllable word repetitions. Neighborhood density failed to influence the susceptibility of words to stuttering, as well as the type of stuttering-like disfluency produced.ConclusionsIn general, findings suggest that neighborhood and frequency variables not only influence the fluency with which words are produced in speech, but also have an impact on the type of stuttering-like disfluency produced.
Ranking Hearing Aid Input–Output Functions for Understanding Low-, Conversational-, and High-Level Speech in Multitalker Babble
Authors: Chung King , Killion Mead C. , Christensen Laurel A. 
Published: May 2007

PurposeTo determine the rankings of 6 input–output functions for understanding low-level, conversational, and high-level speech in multitalker babble without manipulating volume control for listeners with normal hearing, flat sensorineural hearing loss, and mildly sloping sensorineural hearing loss.MethodPeak clipping, compression limiting, and 4 wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) input–output functions were compared in a repeated-measure design. Interactions among the compression characteristics were minimized. Speech and babble were processed and recorded at 3 input levels: 45, 65, and 90 dB sound pressure level. Speech recognition of 3 groups of listeners (n= 6/group) was tested for speech processed by each input–output function and at each input level.ResultsInput–output functions that made low-level speech audible and high-level speech less distorted by avoiding peak clipping or severe compression yielded higher speech recognition scores. These results are consistent with previous findings in the literature.ConclusionWDRCs with the low compression ratio region extended to a high input level or with a high compression limiting threshold were the best for speech recognition in babble when the hearing aid user cannot or does not want to manipulate the volume control. Future studies on subjective preferences of different input–output functions are needed.
Physiologic Development of Tongue–Jaw Coordination From Childhood to Adulthood
Authors: Cheng Hei Yan , Murdoch Bruce E. , Goozée Justine V. , Scott Dion 
Published: May 2007

PurposeThis investigation aimed to examine the development of tongue–jaw coordination during speech from childhood to adolescence.MethodElectromagnetic articulography was used to track tongue and jaw motion in 48 children and adults (aged 6–38 years) during productions of /t/ and /k/ embedded in sentences.ResultsThe coordinative organization of the tongue and jaw exhibited changes until the age of 8–11 years and continued to undergo refinement into late adolescence. The tongue–tip and tongue–body were observed to develop unique kinematic relations with the jaw. While tongue–tip movement became increasingly synchronized with jaw movement, tongue–body and jaw retained movement independence but developed a more consistent kinematic relation.ConclusionThe present results support the notion that speech motor development is nonuniform, with a refinement period from mid-childhood to late adolescence.
Speaking-Related Dyspnea in Healthy Adults
Authors: Hoit Jeannette D. , Lansing Robert W. , Perona Kristen E. 
Published: May 2007

Purpose
To reveal the qualities and intensity of speaking-related dyspnea in healthy adults under conditions of high ventilatory drive, in which the behavioral and metabolic control of breathing must compete.

Method

Eleven adults read aloud while breathing different levels of inspired carbon dioxide (CO
2
). After the highest level, participants provided unguided descriptions of their experiences and then selected descriptors from a list. On a subsequent day, participants read aloud while breathing high CO
2
as before, then rated air hunger, physical exertion, and mental effort (with definitions provided). Recordings were made of ventilation (with respiratory magnetometers), end-tidal partial pressure of CO
2
, transcutaneous PCO
2
, oxygen saturation, noninvasive blood pressure, heart rate, and the speech signal.

Results

Unguided descriptions were found to reflect the qualities of air hunger, physical exertion (work), mental effort, and speech-related observations. As CO
2
stimulus strength increased, participants experienced increased perception of air hunger, physical exertion, and mental effort. Simultaneous increases were observed in ventilation, tidal volume, end-inspiratory and end-expiratory volumes, expiratory flow during speaking, nonlinguistic junctures, and nonspeech expirations.

Conclusion
Two qualities of speaking-related dyspnea—air hunger and physical exertion—are the same as those reported for many other types of nonspeech dyspnea conditions and, therefore, may share the same physiological mechanisms. The mental effort quality associated with speaking-related dyspnea may reflect a conscious drive to balance speech requirements and ventilatory demands. These findings have implications for developing better ways to evaluate and manage clients with respiratory-based speech problems.