The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is responsible for maintaining clear vision on a target in the presence of head motion. A functional VOR driven by a healthy peripheral and central allows for three assumptions: eye velocity and head velocity are equal; eye rotation and head rotation occur in equal and opposite axes; and movements of the head and eye are synchronous. Caloric irrigations have served as the gold standard for assessing lateral semicircular canal function, and until recently video technology inadequately captured eye movement. With the advent of lighter, better-fitting goggles and improved video resolution, the video head impulse test (vHIT) is capable of recording saccades during and following high velocity, low amplitude head thrusts. The purpose of this project was to determine specificity of the EyeSeeCam video head impulse system on young normal participants. Normal vestibular function was confirmed with caloric irrigations, and asymmetry across all subjects was found to be 4%, suggesting sufficient specificity for clinical use pending sensitivity data in a clinical population.

Background/Purpose: <p>Research evidence regarding the efficacy of voice rest after microflap excision of benign vocal fold lesions is limited. This both results from and contributes to a lack of agreed-upon practice patterns regarding voice rest among physicians. Patients report decreased quality of life during voice rest. Basic science findings increasingly support vocal fold mobilization after the inflammatory phase of healing (3-5 days postoperatively). The purpose of the present study was to determine if longer durations of postoperative voice rest were associated with improved postsurgical outcomes. <p>Methods: <p>Retrospective chart review of 74 patients (mean age of 43 years; 53% male, 47% female) who underwent direct microlaryngoscopy with microflap surgery to remove a nodule, polyp, or cyst between June 1, 2009 and May 31, 2014. Outcomes were measured by changes in total Voice Handicap Index (VHI) score and by changes in the stroboscopic parameters mucosal wave and closure. <p>Results: <p>VHI scores improved by an average of 22.5 points after microflap surgery and voice rest. No statistically significant associations between prescribed or actual duration of voice rest and postsurgical outcomes were found. Patients who completed more preoperative voice therapy sessions were statistically more likely to complete more postoperative therapy sessions and to experience less improvement in VHI scores after surgery. Females completed more therapy sessions and experienced less improvement in VHI severity than males. <p>Conclusions: <p>Microflap surgery is an effective treatment of benign vocal fold lesions. The efficacy of postoperative voice rest is still unknown and warrants a well-designed prospective study. Pre- and postoperative voice therapy, adherence, gender, and age may be relevant to patient outcomes.

Tinnitus affects approximately 50 million people in the United States (U.S.) and can be a challenging problem to address. Many treatments for tinnitus have been proposed, including acupuncture and hypnosis. Efficacy studies regarding these two treatments for tinnitus have either failed to show a positive effect of treatment or have suffered from significant design flaws. This project aimed to determine the attitudes and practice patterns of acupuncturists and hypnotists regarding their treatments in tinnitus management as well as to determine the attitudes of audiologists and otologists about these treatments. Acupuncturists, hypnotists, audiologists, and otologists anonymously completed surveys via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). The results of the surveys suggested that there is likely a wide range of opinions and practice patterns by professionals who offer acupuncture and/or hypnosis for the treatment of tinnitus and that a majority of audiologists and otologists who responded would recommend or might recommend these treatments for tinnitus.

The cervical vestibular myogenic potential (cVEMP) is a sound-evoked sonomotor response that can be recorded from the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles in the neck. There is general agreement that the cVEMP provides information about the integrity of the saccule and/or inferior vestibular nerve. Since the amplitude of the cVEMP is correlated with the degree of tonic activation, the level of EMG can influence interaural asymmetries and lead to possible misdiagnoses of unilateral impairment. Thus, amplitude correction, or normalization, was created as a mathematical process to remove the influence of EMG on cVEMP amplitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the use of amplitude correction techniques would reduce significantly the P13-N23 interaural amplitude asymmetry data in otologically and neurologically intact adults when the level of EMG was varied. Participants included 20 adults, age 21-29. cVEMP testing was completed using EMG target levels ranging from 100 to 400 μV. Results indicated that statistically significant EMG level-dependent differences in cVEMP amplitude disappeared after amplitude normalization was applied. No significant differences in mean amplitude were observed between 300-400 μV EMG target levels though significant differences in EMG existed. The results of this study support the use of amplitude normalization to reduce the statistical upper limits of cVEMP interaural asymmetry measurement variables.

This study examined the predictive value of orthographic processing versus orthographic knowledge for spelling proficiency. Third-grade students with typical language and literacy skills completed measures of orthographic knowledge, orthographic processing, and spelling. Results showed that neither orthographic processing nor orthographic pattern knowledge predicted spelling proficiency. These results may help guide future research and inform spelling instruction.

<p> Stuttering and social anxiety disorder (SAD) share characteristics such as fear and anxiety toward social situations. Despite similarities, the underlying cognitive biases that perpetuate these characteristics in SAD have only begun to be studied in stuttering. We investigated judgment bias, the overestimation of probability and cost of negative outcomes for social situations, in a sample of persons who stutter (PWS) and a sample of age- and gender-matched typically fluent controls (NPWS). There were no between-group differences for trait anxiety. Although results indicated no between-group differences in judgment bias for social situations, further investigation revealed significant differences in judgment bias for social situations between PWS with high FNE and PWS with low FNE. Group differences were observed between PWS with high FNE, PWS with low FNE, and NPWS for distribution of judgment bias for different types of situations. PWS with high FNE perceived positive and mildly negative social scenarios as more threatening that the other two groups did. Future directions to evaluate potential treatment options for PWS such as measurement of faulty attention or interpretation bias in PWS are discussed.</p>

<p> Caregivers interacting with young children in natural settings have been found to provide language input that is in tune with the child's output in terms of mean length of utterance (MLU). Previous research suggests that caregivers provide language input within the child's proximal zone of language development, that is 2.0-3.0 morphemes ahead of their child's MLU. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate whether speech-language pathologists (SLP) working in early intervention tailor their input in the same way. </p><p> Communication interactions between six speech-language pathologists and their toddler aged clients between the ages of 28 and 33 months were audio recorded during one of their regularly scheduled speech and language intervention sessions. MLUs for the SLPs and the children were calculated for each intervention dyad via the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) version 2012 computer software program. The MLU of each SLP was then compared to the MLU of her client. Data analysis revealed that three of the six SLPs directed their language input to the child at levels within the child's proximal zone of language development, between 2.0 and 3.0 morphemes greater than the child's MLU. The other three SLPs provided input at levels that exceeded the 2.0 to 3.0 morpheme range. Qualitative analysis suggest that factors other than the children's MLUs, such as their language comprehension levels, may have been a factor in the complexity levels of the SLPs input. Future research, employing larger sample sizes and careful measures of the children's language comprehension and cognitive levels, is indicated.</p>

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