With reductions in the age criterion for cochlear implantation, the need for age-appropriate measures of speech perception skills has increased. One recently developed tool that shows great promise for the clinical assessment of auditory speech perception capacity in young children with cochlear implants is the On-Line Imitative Test of Speech-Pattern Contrast Perception (OlimSpac). The OlimSpac requires a child to imitate nonword utterances by providing a verbal response. The child's perceptual abilities are inferred from the child's productions through having a listener, who is masked to the stimulus select the utterance produced by the child in an eight-alternative force-choice task. Although the OlimSpac has the potential for use in children with cochlear implants, the specific role of measured speech production abilities on performance has yet to be systematically examined. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to examine the influence of speech production abilities on OlimSpac performance in an auditory-visual (A-V) and auditory-only (A-O) condition in young children with cochlear implants relative to an articulation-matched sample of normal hearing peers. A secondary objective was to determine whether the presentation modality affected a child's OlimSpac performance. A matched pair design was used to compare the OlimSpac performance of ten children with cochlear implants (ages 29 to 76 months) to normal hearing peers (ages 27 to 73 months). Each child with cochlear implants was matched to a child with normal hearing from a sampled population of 22 normal hearing participants based on word-level articulation skills, as measured by the GFTA-2, accounting for hearing age and gender. The OlimSpac software generated a score for a single contrast and a single presentation modality (A-V or A-O). The score was based on eight binary trials. Due to the small trial size, individual contrast scores were interpreted as pass/fail, given that only a score of seven or eight is significantly better than chance. Therefore, OlimSpac performance was determined by a composite score reflecting the average across all six contrasts, based on 48 binary trials. Average composite scores for both the A-V and A-O conditions were lower, albeit not significant, for young children with cochlear implants compared to their articulation-matched controls. Examination of individual phonemic contrast scores revealed that the articulation-matched sample of normal hearing participants most often failed the post-alveolar consonant place contrast, whereas children with cochlear implants most often failed the consonant voicing contrast. There were also no significant within group difference in speech perception performance between the A-V and A-O conditions of the OlimSpac. The results of this study demonstrated that children with cochlear implants achieved similar speech perception performance to their articulation-matched normal hearing peers. Although children's speech production abilities partially influenced their OlimSpac performance, knowledge of word-level articulation skills allows clinicians to make appropriate judgments when interpreting composite scores, thus validating the OlimSpac as an indirect measure of a child's speech perception capacity and a direct measure of speech perception skills. Objective scores obtained from a child's OlimSpac performance may be used to assess outcomes of cochlear implant use, guide cochlear implant mapping, and plan habilitative intervention. A greater understanding of the potential effect of speech production performance on estimates of speech perception ability may also assist in highlighting other developmental, linguistic and/or cognitive delays masked by a child's hearing loss.

Managing language choice in speech-language intervention is increasingly an issue for speech-pathologists treating bilingual children. Frequently L2 approaches only are implemented, resulting in negative effects on L1 acquisition, familial ties, and cultural transmission. This study examined the impact of a bilingual intervention on a school-aged child and her family. Providing intervention and therapy activities in the L1 resulted in increased parental engagement, increased L1 use by the child, and increased awareness of strategies for treating bilingual children among SLPs at the study site.

Research has shown that re-learning to understand speech in noise can be a difficult task for adults with hearing aids (HA). If HA users want to improve their speech understanding ability, specific training may be needed. Auditory training is one type of intervention that may enhance listening abilities for adult HA users. The purpose of this study was to examine the behavioral effects of an auditory training program called Listening and Communication Enhancement (LACE™) in the Digital Video Display (DVD) format in new and experienced HA users. No research to date has been conducted on the efficacy of this training program. An experimental, repeated measures group design was used. Twenty–six adults with hearing loss participated in this experiment and were assigned to one of three groups: New HA + training, Experienced HA + training or New HA – control. Participants in the training groups completed twenty, 30 minute training lessons from the LACE™ DVD program at home over a period of 4-weeks. Trained group participants were evaluated at baseline, after 2-weeks of training and again after 4- weeks of training. Participants in the control group were evaluated at baseline and after 4-weeks of HA use. Findings indicate that both new and experienced users improved their understanding of speech in noise after training and perception of communication function. Effect size calculations suggested that a larger training effect was observed for new HA users compared to experienced HA users. New HA users also reported greater benefit from training compared to experienced users. Auditory training with the LACE ™ DVD format should be encouraged, particularly among new HA users to improve understanding speech in noise.

Poor breath management is problematic for singing. Voice students and singing teachers typically attribute breath management issues to abdominal-diaphragmatic breathing technique. The present study seeks to determine whether glottal insufficiency may also contribute to singer’s breath management problems. Studies have revealed a relationship between incomplete vocal fold closure and inefficiency in the speaking voice. However, the effect of incomplete vocal fold closure on vocal efficiency in singers has yet to be determined. Since the larynx cannot be observed without the assistance of clinical instrumentation, not readily available in the voice studio, issues at the glottal level may be underappreciated as a contributor to poor breath management in the singer. Two groups of voice students identified with and without breath management problems underwent aerodynamic and acoustic voice assessment as well as videostroboscopy of the vocal folds to quantify the prevalence of incomplete vocal fold closure. These assessments revealed four groups: (1) those with glottic insufficiency and no perceived breathiness; (2) those with glottic sufficiency and perceived breathiness; (3) those with glottic insufficiency and perceived breathiness; and, (4) those with glottic sufficiency and no perceived breathiness. Results suggest that previously undiscovered glottal insufficiency is common, though the correlation with identified breath management problems was not statistically significant. Acoustic and aerodynamic measures including noise-to-harmonics ratio, maximum phonation time, airflow rate, subglottal pressure and laryngeal airway resistance were most sensitive to glottic insufficiency.

This study investigated the accuracy of healthy aging adults‟ self-rating of communication style, as measured by quantifiable measures of discourse performance. Ninety cognitively healthy adults participated and comprised three age cohorts (20s, 40s, 60s). Participants completed discourse tasks that included recounting a vacation, telling a story, and describing a picture. Participants also self-rated their communication style, placing them in a talkative or reserved cohort. Communication style was measured by discourse performance variables of interest: length of output (TNW) and informativeness (%IU). When presented with an unconstrained task (recounting a vacation), talkative and reserved groups, regardless of age, produced a similar TNW and %IU. When considering age and self-rating, talkative 20, 40, and 60 year olds produced a similar TNW and %IU as reserved 20, 40, and 60 year olds. Overall, adults were found to be inaccurate, due to lack of significant differences between self-rating groups. Results indicated the need for further research on the relationship between age, discourse performance, and accuracy of self-rating of communication style of healthy aging adults.

The goal of the present study was to examine changes in the speech and language performance of patients with chronic, non-fluent aphasia over the course of a three-hour group speech and language treatment session, a time allotment comparable to intensive therapy practices. Nine participants, (three groups of three), with chronic, non-fluent aphasia were seen for a single group therapy session three hours in length. Therapeutic activities were designed to be as similar as possible for each group of participants. Each participant was individually assessed before (time 1), during (time 2), and after (time 3) the group treatment session. Assessments included four verbal tests: function, naming, sentence completion, and repetition, similar to those used with the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA; Porch, 1981). Results indicated that participants performed significantly poorer on two of the four verbal tests (naming and repetition), and on an overall measure of verbal communication on the Time 2 assessment as compared to the Time 1 assessment. Findings have clinical implications for selecting candidates for intensive language therapy regimes.

This study investigated the lifespan influences of task type and working memory on the syntactic complexity of narrative discourse production. Participants included 180 healthy adults across three age cohorts: 20-29 years (Young Group), 60-69 years (Older Group) and 75-89 years (Elderly Group). Participants completed standardized working memory measures and four discourse tasks (single/sequential picture description, storytelling and personal recount). Syntactic complexity for each sample was measured via clausal density yielding a complexity index. For analysis, participants were placed into one of two groups based on working memory scores above (High Working Memory Group) or below (Low Working Memory Group) the mean. Significant differences in syntactic complexity between working memory groups were found for the single picture description and the storytelling; individuals in the high working memory group produced language with greater syntactic complexity. When the effects of cohort and working memory were investigated with a two-way ANOVA, working memory group was no longer significantly related to syntactic complexity. However, there was a significant relationship between cohort and syntactic complexity for the single picture description and storytelling tasks. Analyses indicate that the relationships between syntactic complexity, age, and working memory are dependent on task type.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate, and expain, the effects of an intervention known as “The Five Task Approach” (TFTA); a cognitive intervention hereby utilized within the realm of the geriatric population, as a means of taxing and strengthening cortical areas associated with memory, and visual processing. This study revealed that even short-term exposure to cognitive activities, and therapeutic cueing known to tax areas connected to visual perception, may have an effect on one’s global cognition, generalized memory, and the accuracy of one’s visual perception. It was demonstrated that even brief cognitive intervention geared at taxing cortical areas associated with memory and visual processing, in conjunction with the therapuetic cueing utilized in this study, has the potential to significantly increase participant performance in terms of global cognitive function, including skills associated with executive functioning, working memory, visual processing, visual processing speed, auditory processing, and global cognitive status.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the factors that constitute a positive and negative supervisor-supervisee relationship as perceived by speech-language pathology graduate students. Clinical practicum experiences were analyzed using qualitative methods via recorded in-depth participant interviews. After the data were collected and transcribed, the narratives were analyzed to draw useful inferences and discover underlying themes using a phenomenological methodology approach. Two overlaying themes, ASHA’s Task 1 of Supervision and Anderson’s Continuum Model of Supervision, were identified from the participants’ interviews and were used to categorize the data. Results indicate the most likely factors attributed to a positive clinical experience included constructive feedback, respect, positive praise, clear expectations and structured clinical guidance while the factors that were most likely attributed to a negative experience were lack of constructive feedback, lack of perceived respect, negative criticism, unclear expectations, and minimal clinical guidance.

Nonlinear frequency compression is a signal processing technique used to increase the audibility of high frequency speech sounds for hearing aid users with sloping, high frequency hearing loss. However, excessive compression ratios may reduce spectral contrast between sounds and negatively impact speech perception. This is of particular concern in infants and young children, who may not be able to provide feedback about frequency compression settings. This study explores use of an objective cortical auditory evoked potential that is sensitive to changes in spectral contrast, the auditory change complex (ACC), in the verification of frequency compression parameters. We recorded ACC responses in adult listeners to a spectral ripple contrast stimulus processed with a range of frequency compression ratios (1:1 to 4:1). Vowel identification, consonant identification, speech recognition in noise (QuickSIN), and behavioral ripple discrimination thresholds were also measured under identical frequency compression conditions. In Experiment 1, these measures were completed in ten adult normal hearing individuals to determine the effects of this type of signal processing in individuals with optimal hearing. In Experiment 2, these same measures were repeated in ten adults with sloping, high frequency hearing loss, which is the clinical population for whom this signal processing technique was intended. No significant relationship of compression ratio and vowel identification was found in the normal hearing listeners, though a significant negative effect of increasing frequency compression ratio was observed in the hearing impaired group. Significant effects of compression ratio on ACC amplitude, consonant identification, ripple discrimination threshold, and speech perception in noise were found for both the normal hearing and hearing impaired groups. These results indicate that the ACC response, like speech and non-speech perceptual measures, is sensitive to frequency compression ratio. Further investigation of this technique with hearing impaired individuals is needed to determine optimal stimulus and recording parameters for the ACC in both adults and children.