Thesis (M. Communication Pathology)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Summary in English and Afrikaans. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.L.P.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-76) and index.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:49:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-01-26 / Avaliar a freqüência de ocorrência e caracterizar a tipologia das disfluências em indivíduos com DP, correlacionando-as com a disartria e as alterações práxicas verbais e não-verbais. Métodos: foi realizado um estudo transversal com amostra composta por 60 adultos pareados por sexo, idade e escolaridade. O grupo I foi formado por 30 adultos com DP idiopática, freqüentadores do setor de Distúrbios do Movimento da Disciplina de Neurologia da Universidade Federal de São Paulo e o grupo II por 30 adultos sadios. Para a avaliação da fluência da fala foi solicitada a emissão de uma narrativa a partir de uma seqüência de figuras que formam “A estória do cachorro” e realizada a trascrição de 200 sílabas fluentes para verificação das disfluências e da velocidade de fala. Para a avaliação dos aspectos motores da fala foi utilizado o protocolo de disartria e para a avaliação da praxia de fala, foi utilizada a tarefa de agilidade oral do teste de Boston para o Diagnóstico da Afasia. O desempenho dos sujeitos com DP foi comparado ao do grupo controle. Resultados: não houve diferença entre os grupos estudados com relação ao sexo, idade e escolaridade. O GDP apresentou maior número de disfluências atípicas e totais na fala e pior desempenho práxico verbal e não-verbal comparado ao GC. Todos sujeitos do DP apresentaram disartria hipocinética. As disfluências típicas e as típicas da fala foram relacionadas mais fortemente ao quadro de disartria do que o quadro de praxia verbal e não-verbal. Conclusão: as disfluências atípicas estão presentes na fala de pacientes com DP, estando mais relacionadas à disartria. / Purpose: to characterize the frequency of occurrence and typology of disfluencies in individuals with PD verifying their relationship with the dysarthria and praxis verbal and nonverbal. Methods: This was a transversal observational study in which were analyzed 60 subjects, over 60 years, paired by their age and gender. The group was composed by 30 normal controls patients and 30 with PD. In order to evaluate the speech fluency, it was requested to the patients to narrate a story based on a picture description with seven pictures and was realized a transcript of 200 fluent syllables for verification of disfluencies and speech rate. So it was able to evaluate the speech praxis by the Boston Diagnosis of Aphasia, a dysarthria protocol. The patient’s performance was compared with the control group. Results: there was no difference between groups regarding gender, age and education. The PDG presented a greater number of total and atypical disfluencies in speech and worst praxis verbal and nonverbal compared to CG. All subjects with PD presented hypokinetic dysarthria. Typical and atypical disfluencies of speech were highly related to the dysarthria frame than to the praxis verbal and non-verbal ones. Conclusion: the atypical disfluencies are present in the speech of PD patients and they are more related to the dysarthria. / TEDE

M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering) / This research aims at identifying technologies which could be used to produce a communication aid for the speechless severely disabled person. A number of techniques are investigated which would enable the disabled to communicate by means of decoding eye movements. The tracking of the disabled's eye positions by means of two dimensional image processing and pattern recognition forms the basis of the input mechanism. A complete comparison between a number of candidate edge detectors is done to ensure that the system would function in as closeto real-time as is possible. Ancillary techniques such as a reduced grammar and a Markov model for letter posterior probabilities are developed and shown to improve the communication channel bandwidth. Simulated resultsshowwhat communication rate gains could be achieved. It appears that a possible communication aid could be built to perform at rates exceeding present day communication aids for the severely disabled at prices that could make such a device an economic possibility.

The purpose of this study is to aid in the personal development of abnormal speech defective personalities by determining the effects of crippled speech upon certain individuals.

It was the purpose of this research project to compare a combined program of speech and myofunctional therapy for correcting an anterior lisp with a traditional speech approach and a myofunctional only approach. The project sought to answer the following questions: 1) Which of the three methods will effect the greater change in articulatory patterns for the /s/ and /z/ phonemes? and 2) Will six weeks of intensive management cause any significant difference in a client's speech patterns?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of voice disorders among kindergarten and first-grade students in some schools in Portland, Oregon, during the Fall of 1974. The study was designed to determine the following information: 1) the percentage of voice disorders, 2) the percentage of each type of voice disorder, 3) the severity of each voice disorder, and 4) the percentage of males and of females exhibiting voice disorders. The essential questions to be answered by the present study were: What is the incidence of voice disorders in a kindergarten and first-grade (approximately five to seven years of age) sample? What are the types of voice deviations? What is the severity of each voice problem? Was the incidence similar for males and females?

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of occurrence of specific speech disfluencies in 4-year-old Alaska Native children to those of 4-year-old Caucasian children. Specifically, eight disfluency types were investigated: part-word repetition, word repetition, phrase repetition, interjection, revision-incomplete phrase, disrhythmic phonation, tense pause, and intrusive schwa. The questions addressed in the study were: 1. Do 4-year-old Alaska Native children exhibit a higher frequency of disfluencies than 4-year-old Caucasian children? 2. Do 4-year-old Alaska Native children exhibit a greater frequency of specific disfluencies, in terms of part-word repetition, word repetition, phrase repetition, interjection, revision-incomplete phrase, disrhythmic phonation, tense pause, or intrusive schwa than 4-year-old Caucasian children? 3. Do 4-year-old Alaska Native and Caucasian children exhibit a higher frequency of low risk disfluency types (word repetition, phrase repetition, interjection, and revision-incomplete phrase) when compared to high risk disfluency types (part-word repetition, disrhythmic phonation, tense pause, and intrusive schwa)?

Hoarseness seems to be the primary type of voice disorder occurring in school-aged children. Voice experts have suggested measurement of maximum phonation times as a clinical tool for assessing vocal function (Fairbanks, 1940; Westlake and Rutherford, 1961; Irwin, 1965; Boone, 1971). Most of the studies on duration of phonation have used adults as subjects; few investigations have involved children. An apparent need, therefore, existed to investigate duration of phonation in young children.

The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of specific disfluencies in 3 year old and 5 year old normal male children in terms of part-word repetitions, word repetitions, phrase repetitions, interjections, revision-incomplete phrases, disrhythmic phonations and tense pauses. The disfluencies were observed while each child spontaneously interacted with an investigator in a clinical room. Two questions were addressed: 1. Do three-year-old male children exhibit a higher overall frequency of disfluencies than five-yearold male children? 2. Do three-year-old male children exhibit a greater frequency of certain disfluencies than five-year old male children?