Students' views and experiences of the training and use of phonetic transcription in speech and language therapy - the Irish perspective.

Phonetic transcription is an essential skill for a practising speech and language therapist (SLT) required during the assessment, diagnosis and management of clients with speech difficulties. It is vital that appropriate training is received by student SLTs to ensure that they carry out phonetic transcription accurately and reliably once out in the workplace. This study investigates the views and experiences of final year SLT students regarding the training in phonetic transcription they received in university, with the aim to identify what poses difficulties for them and what could be done to enhance their learning. Responses from 40 participants representing one cohort of SLT students, graduates of a particular year, were collected using an online questionnaire. The majority of the respondents consider phonetic transcription an important professional skill and plan on maintaining it after graduating. Learning phonetic transcription was easy/quite easy for 57% of the respondents; however, the confidence in transcription skills was rather low: 70% of them reported not being confident and fully equipped to enter the workforce with their transcription skills. The main difficulties were associated with narrow (impressionistic) transcription and transcription of disordered speech. 58% of the respondents found the teaching environment suitable; however, a recurring theme is the need for small-group tutorials during which the lecturers could provide feedback to individual students more efficiently. Participants' responses suggest that more clinically relevant transcription practice of disordered speech, the opportunity to refresh and apply phonetic transcription skills throughout the four-year curriculum and smaller group teaching would benefit their learning and enhance their confidence using transcription on placements and in the workforce.

Voice assessment practices of speech and language therapists in Ireland.

Evidence supports the need for a multiparametric voice assessment incorporating objective and subjective assessment types. European guidelines and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recommend a comprehensive voice assessment protocol; however, currently in Ireland, no national standards exist. This study investigates voice assessment practices of speech and language therapists (SLTs) in Ireland, with a particular interest in the use of objective instrumentation. It further elucidates what may act as barriers to the use of instrumental techniques, which has not been addressed in earlier studies. An online questionnaire was distributed to SLTs who work with voice disordered clients, via social media outlets of the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapy (IASLT) and the Voice Special Interest Group to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data. Forty-five questionnaires were returned; the results of 33 completed questionnaires are presented here. The results suggest that subjective measures (auditory assessment protocols) are more commonly used by SLTs in Ireland than instrumental techniques. Limited access to equipment, the cost of equipment and low prioritization of voice clients in a large caseload were most frequently named as barriers to the use of instrumental assessment. The SLTs acknowledged the need for and expressed interest in more training on the use of instrumental techniques in the assessment of voice disorders. The results provoke discussion surrounding evidence-based practice in voice assessment and have implications for how instrumental techniques are incorporated in the curriculum of SLT training courses and in the continual professional development.

Cross-language differences in how voice quality and f 0 contours map to affect.

The relationship between prosody and perceived affect involves multiple variables. This paper explores the interplay of three: voice quality, f 0 contour, and the hearer's language background. Perception tests were conducted with speakers of Irish English, Russian, Spanish, and Japanese using three types of synthetic stimuli: (1) stimuli varied in voice quality, (2) stimuli of uniform (modal) voice quality incorporating affect-related f 0 contours, and (3) stimuli combining specific non-modal voice qualities with the affect-related f 0 contours of (2). The participants rated the stimuli for the presence/strength of affective colouring on six bipolar scales, e.g., happy-sad. The results suggest that stimuli incorporating non-modal voice qualities, with or without f 0 variation, are generally more effective in affect cueing than stimuli varying only in f 0. Along with similarities in the affective responses across these languages, many points of divergence were found, both in terms of the range and strength of affective responses overall and in terms of specific stimulus-to-affect associations. The f 0 contour may play a more important role, and tense voice a lesser role in affect signalling in Japanese and Spanish than in Irish English and Russian. The greatest cross-language differences emerged for the affects intimate, formal, stressed, and relaxed.

Voice quality in affect cueing: does loudness matter?

In emotional speech research, it has been suggested that loudness, along with other prosodic features, may be an important cue in communicating high activation affects. In earlier studies, we found different voice quality stimuli to be consistently associated with certain affective states. In these stimuli, as in typical human productions, the different voice qualities entailed differences in loudness. To examine the extent to which the loudness differences among these voice qualities might influence the affective coloring they impart, two experiments were conducted with the synthesized stimuli, in which loudness was systematically manipulated. Experiment 1 used stimuli with distinct voice quality features including intrinsic loudness variations and stimuli where voice quality (modal voice) was kept constant, but loudness was modified to match the non-modal qualities. If loudness is the principal determinant in affect cueing for different voice qualities, there should be little or no difference in the responses to the two sets of stimuli. In Experiment 2, the stimuli included distinct voice quality features but all had equal loudness to test the hypothesis that equalizing the perceived loudness of different voice quality stimuli will have relatively little impact on affective ratings. The results suggest that loudness variation on its own is relatively ineffective whereas variation in voice quality is essential to the expression of affect. In Experiment 1, stimuli incorporating distinct voice quality features consistently obtained higher ratings than the modal voice stimuli with varied loudness. In Experiment 2, non-modal voice quality stimuli proved potent in affect cueing even with loudness differences equalized. Although loudness per se does not seem to be the major determinant of perceived affect, it can contribute positively to affect cueing: when combined with a tense or modal voice quality, increased loudness can enhance signaling of high activation states.