Purpose: To refute the alleged practice of "pseudoscience" by P. Finn, A. K. Bothe, and R. E. Bramlett (2005) and to illustrate their experimental and systematic bias when evaluating the SpeechEasy, an altered auditory feedback device used in the management of stuttering. Method: We challenged the experimental design that led to the seemingly predetermined outcome of pseudoscience rather than science: Limited preselected literature was submitted to a purposely sampled panel of judges (i.e., their own students). Each criterion deemed pseudoscientific was contested with published peer-reviewed data illustrating the importance of good rhetoric, testability, and logical outcomes from decades of scientific research. Conclusions: Stuttering is an involuntary disorder that is highly resistant to therapy. Altered auditory feedback is a derivation of choral speech (nature's most powerful stuttering "inhibitor") that can be synergistically combined with other methods for optimal stuttering inhibition. This approach is logical considering that in stuttering no single treatment is universally helpful. Also, caution is suggested when attempting to differentiate science from pseudoscience in stuttering treatments using the criteria employed by Finn et al. For example, evaluating behavioral therapy outcomes implements a post hoc or untestable system. Speech outcome (i.e., stuttered or fluent speech) determines success or failure of technique use, placing responsibility for failure on those who stutter.

The present experiment compared two methods of training a simple arm position using auditory feedback: capture and search. The participants were four right-handed female college students. During capture, auditory feedback was delivered by the experimenter after the participant moved along a single axis into the target position. During search, auditory feedback was produced by the computer after the participant left clicked a mouse inside the target location. The results of a multi-element design showed that participants performed more accurately during capture training than search training. Pre-training and post-training probes, during which no auditory feedback was provided, showed similar fluctuations in accuracy across probe types. A retention check, performed seven days after the final training session, showed higher accuracy scores for search than capture, across all four participants. These findings suggest that TAGteach should incorporate an approach similar to search training to improve training outcomes.

Research incorporating behavior analysis to improve sports performance has shown that various feedback types (e.g., video feedback, public posting) can increase skills. Recently, auditory feedback has been shown to be effective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of auditory feedback to improve dance movements of children with disabilities using an ABAB design embedded in a multiple baseline across participants design. The target behaviors were fundamental dance skills, individualized to each student, and scored using a task analysis to calculate the percentage of correct steps. The results showed that auditory feedback was valuable in increasing the specific dance skill for each student. Although the skills decreased during the second baseline phase, the skills increased to their respective levels following treatment withdrawal.

This thesis presents evidence from a formant perturbation experiment which supports the hypothesis that speech targets are multimodal. A real-time auditory feedback perturbation is used to gradually shift English speakers' formants from the vowel /E/ towards /I/. Most speakers compensate at the level of acoustics, adjusting their production towards /ae/ such that they hear themselves producing the correct vowel. Subjects' articulation is tracked with electromagnetic-articulography. The articulatory data shows that subjects tend to produce marginal /E/s at the level of articulation - remaining within the normal articulatory bounds for that vowel, while adjusting the position of individual articulators to a sufficient extent to create an acoustic compensation to the perturbation. The higher-order relationship between speed and curvature is shown to differ across different vowel phonemes. However, this measure remains constant under formant perturbation. These findings are argued to show that phonemic targets are multi-modal, having acoustical, kinematic, and dynamic components.

This thesis presents evidence from a formant perturbation experiment which supports the hypothesis that speech targets are multimodal. A real-time auditory feedback perturbation is used to gradually shift English speakers' formants from the vowel /E/ towards /I/. Most speakers compensate at the level of acoustics, adjusting their production towards /ae/ such that they hear themselves producing the correct vowel. Subjects' articulation is tracked with electromagnetic-articulography. The articulatory data shows that subjects tend to produce marginal /E/s at the level of articulation - remaining within the normal articulatory bounds for that vowel, while adjusting the position of individual articulators to a sufficient extent to create an acoustic compensation to the perturbation. The higher-order relationship between speed and curvature is shown to differ across different vowel phonemes. However, this measure remains constant under formant perturbation. These findings are argued to show that phonemic targets are multi-modal, having acoustical, kinematic, and dynamic components.

No description available.

<p>Mice produce many ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) in the 30 - 100 kHz range including pup isolation calls and adult male songs. These USVs are often used as behavioral readouts of internal states, to measure effects of social and pharmacological manipulations, and for behavioral phenotyping of mouse models for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders; however, little is known about the biophysical and neurophysiological mechanisms of USV production in rodents. This lack of knowledge restricts the interpretation of data from vocalization-related experiments on mouse models of communication disorders and vocal medical conditions. Meanwhile, there has been increased interest in the social communication aspect of neural disorders such as autism, in addition to the common disorders involving motor control of the larynx: stroke, Parkinson's disease, laryngeal tremor, and spasmodic dysphonia. Therefore, it is timely and critical to begin assessing the neural substrate of vocal production in order to better understand the neuro-laryngeal deficits underlying communication problems.</p><p>Additionally, mouse models may generate new insight into the molecular basis of vocal learning. Traditionally, songbirds have been used as a model for speech learning in humans; however, the model is strongly limited by a lack of techniques for manipulating avian genetics. Accordingly, there has long been strong interest in finding a mammalian model for vocal learning studies. The characteristic features of accepted vocal learning species include programming of phonation by forebrain motor areas, a direct cortical projection to brainstem vocal motoneurons, and dependence on auditory feedback to develop and maintain vocalizations. Unfortunately, these features have not been observed in non-human primates or in birds that do not learn songs. Thus, in addition to elucidating vocal brain pathways it is also critical to determine the extent of any vocal learning capabilities present in the mouse USV system.</p><p>It is generally assumed that mice lack a forebrain system for vocal modification and that their USVs are innate; however, these basic assumptions have not been experimentally tested. I investigated the mouse song system to determine if male mouse song behavior and the supporting brain circuits resemble those of known vocal learning species. By visualizing activity-dependent immediate early gene expression as a marker of global activity patterns, I discovered that the song system includes motor cortex and striatal regions active during singing. Retrograde and anterograde tracing with pseudorabies virus and biodextran amines, respectively, revealed that the motor cortical region projects directly to the brainstem phonatory motor nucleus ambiguus. Chemical lesions in this region showed that it is not critical for producing innate templates of song syllables, but is required for producing more stereotyped acoustic features of syllables. To test for the basic components of adaptive learning I recorded the songs of mechanically and genetically deaf mice and found that male mice depend on auditory feedback to develop and maintain normal ultrasonic songs. Moreover, male mice that display natural strain specific song features may use auditory experience to copy the pitch of another strain when housed together and stimulated to compete sexually. I conclude that male mice have neuroanatomical and behavioral features thought to be unique to humans and song learning birds, suggesting that mice are capable of adaptive modification of the spectral features of their songs.</p> / Dissertation

This dissertation considers the interactions of users who have been diagnosed with Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in adults 65 years and older. The investigation focused on the quantification of behaviors and strategies used by this growing subset of computer users. Participants diagnosed with AMD and age-matched controls without any ocular disease completed a series of visual search, icon selection and manipulation tasks with desktop or handheld PCs. Participants searched, selected and manipulated familiar playing card icons under varied icon set sizes, inter-icon spacing, icon sizes and auditory feedback. A comprehensive account of the interaction was made using a collection of efficiency, accuracy and information processing metrics. While all participants demonstrated a high rate for successful task completion, analyses revealed participants' overall task efficacy to be coupled with features of the interface and also strongly linked with measures of ocular health and personal factors. The outcomes of this study contribute to a growing body of work which informs a framework of performance thresholds for critical graphical user interface interactions based on visual profile, interface features and supplemental non-visual cues, including the following: The impact of auditory feedback on task interaction and information processing for visually impaired versus visually healthy older adults; The observed of use of the mouse pointer or stylus as means to direct attention during visual search and the implications of manual dexterity on visual search; The presence of speed accuracy trade-offs in handheld PC interaction performance for individuals based on their contrast sensitivity and near visual acuity; The shifting impact of increased icon spacing on visual search and movement times, versus its role in the accuracy of icon release; The utility for non-clinically acquired summaries of visual health to effectively predict performance decrements in handheld or desktop interaction; Emergent differences between handheld and desktop interaction and the most influential visual factors informing performance on each; and Empirical evidence that older adults, even with visual impairments can interact with small handheld displays, in spite of the size images.

I denna studie undersöktes effekten av förstärkt hörselåterkoppling (enhanced auditoryfeedback, EAF) på observerbar stamning och upplevd känsla av talflyt hos vuxna personer som stammar. Så vitt vi vet finns inga tidigare studier av effekten av förstärkt hörselåterkoppling vid stamning. Mycket forskning finns dock på andra typer av hörselåterkoppling, som exempelvis frekvensförändrad hörselåterkoppling (frequencyaltered feedback, FAF), där man sett positiv effekt på talflytet hos personer som stammar. Deltagargruppen bestod av 14 personer i åldrarna 20-43 år, som stammade. Deltagarna fick läsa högt under olika förhållanden av hörselåterkoppling, de olika förhållandena som testades var förstärkt hörselåterkoppling och FAF mot normal hörselåterkoppling. Testtillfällena spelades in och procent stammade stavelser (%SS) räknades för en objektiv bedömning av talflytet. Deltagarna fick också skatta hur de upplevde talflytet under de olika förhållandena. Såväl observerbar stamning som skattning av upplevt talflyt visade en positiv tendens vid både förstärkt hörselåterkoppling och FAF. Förändringen var statistiskt signifikant för observerbar stamning vid FAF (p = 0,002), och för skattningen av upplevt talflyt vid både förstärkthörselåterkoppling (p = 0,0053) och FAF (p = 0,021). Att förändringen i observerbarstamning vid förstärkt hörselåterkoppling inte var statistiskt signifikant (p = 0,117) kanbero på relativt låg power hos studien, särskilt som två deltagare inte uppvisade någon stamning alls i testsituationen. De positiva resultaten gällande skattningen samt de positiva tendenserna i observerbar stamning (%SS) i denna studie motiverar fortsatt forskning om förstärkt hörselåterkoppling vid stamning. / This study examined the effects of enhanced auditory feedback (EAF) on observable stuttering and perceived sense of speech fluency in adults who stutter. To our knowledge there are no previous studies on the effects of EAF on stuttering. There are numerous studies on other types of altered auditory feedback, such as frequency altered feedback (FAF), in which a positive effect on speech fluency in people who stutter has been shown. The group of participants consisted of 14 people aged from 20-43 years, who stuttered. Participants were asked to read aloud during different conditions of auditory feedback, the different conditions tested were EAF and FAF compared to normal auditory feedback. The testing was recorded and the percentage of syllables stuttered (% SS) was calculated for an objective assessment of speech fluency. Participants were also asked to estimate how they perceived their speech fluency during the various conditions. Both observable stuttering and the ratings of experienced speech fluency showed a positive trend in both EAF and FAF. The change was statistically significant for observable stuttering in FAF (p = 0.002), and for the estimation of experienced speech fluency in both EAF (p = 0.0053) and FAF (p = 0.021). The lack of statistical significance for the change in observable stuttering during EAF (p = 0.117) may be due to relatively low power of the study, particularly as two participants showed no stuttering at all during the test conditions. The positive results regarding the estimation and the positive trends of observable stuttering (% SS) in this study motivates for further research on the effects of enhanced auditory feedback on stuttering.

This study examined the effects of training with real-time auditory feedback in precision shooting. Top-level shooters (N=9) were randomly assigned to the feedback or nonfeedback group. Each group performed a pre-test, a 4-week training intervention and a post-test. The feedback group was provided with augmented real-time auditory feedback based on postural and rifle barrel stability during training sessions. Increases in performance were measured through changes in postural stability, rifle barrel stability, shot outcome and shot group diameter. Real-time auditory feedback did not increase postural or rifle barrel stability in the feedback group. No meaningful differences were found related to shot outcome or shot group diameter in air rifle testing. The feedback group was able to reduce shot group diameter during smallbore testing. In summary, the augmented real-time auditory feedback did not improve postural or rifle barrel stability. Future research should focus on examining the effects of auditory feedback on smallbore performance.