Validity of Parent Ratings of Speech Intelligibility for Children with Cerebral Palsy.

Aim: To examine the relationship between subjective parent ratings of intelligibility and objectively measured intelligibility scores for children with cerebral palsy (CP) with differing levels of speech severity. Method: Fifty children (84-96 months) with CP were classified into groups based on intelligibility scores during a speech elicitation task - high intelligibility (90% or higher), mild-moderate intelligibility reduction (61-89%), and severe intelligibility reduction (60% or lower). Parent ratings of understandability (on a 7-point scale) were compared to intelligibility scores gathered from 100 naïve listeners. Results: For children with mild-moderate and severe intelligibility reduction, there was a large range of variability in parent ratings. For children with high intelligibility, ratings were consistent with intelligibility scores. There was a range of intelligibility scores within each rating, especially in the middle of the scale. Conclusions: For children with mild-moderate intelligibility deficits, parent ratings may best be used in conjunction with objective measurement of intelligibility.

Demographic Effects on Longitudinal Semantic Processing, Working Memory, and Cognitive Speed.

OBJECTIVES: To better understand and compare effects of aging and education across domains of language and cognition, we investigated whether (a) these domains show different associations with age and education, (b) these domains show similar patterns of age-related change over time, and (c) education moderates the rate of decline in these domains. METHOD: We analyzed data from 306 older adults aged 55-85 at baseline of whom 116 returned for follow-up 4-8 years later. An exploratory factor analysis identified domains of language and cognition across a range of tasks. A confirmatory factor analysis analyzed cross-sectional associations of age and education with these domains. Subsequently, mixed linear models analyzed longitudinal change as a function of age and moderation by education. RESULTS: We identified 2 language domains, that is, semantic control and semantic memory efficiency, and 2 cognitive domains, that is, working memory and cognitive speed. Older age negatively affected all domains except semantic memory efficiency, and higher education positively affected all domains except cognitive speed at baseline. In language domains, a steeper age-related decline was observed after age 73-74 compared to younger ages, while cognition declined linearly with age. Greater educational attainment did not protect the rate of decline over time in any domain. DISCUSSION: Separate domains show varying effects of age and education at baseline, language versus cognitive domains show dissimilar patterns of age-related change over time, and education does not moderate the rate of decline in these domains. These findings broaden our understanding of age effects on cognitive and language abilities by placing observed age differences in context.

Active Bilingualism in Aging: Balanced Bilingualism Usage and Less Frequent Language Switching Relate to Better Conflict Monitoring and Goal Maintenance Ability.

OBJECTIVES: Experience-related neuroplasticity suggests that bilinguals who actively manage their two languages would develop more efficient neural organization at brain regions related to language control, which also overlap with areas involved in executive control. Our aim was to examine how active bilingualism-manifested as the regular balanced use of two languages and language switching-may be related to the different domains of executive control in highly proficient healthy older adult bilinguals, controlling for age, processing speed, and fluid intelligence. METHODS: Participants were 76 community-dwelling older adults who reported being physically and mentally healthy and showed no signs of cognitive impairment. They completed a self-report questionnaire on their language background, two computer measures for previously identified covariates (processing speed as measured by two-choice reaction time (RT) task and fluid intelligence as measured by the Raven's Progressive Matrices), as well as a battery of computerized executive control tasks (Color-shape Task Switching, Stroop, Flanker, and Spatial 2-back task). RESULTS: Regression analyses showed that, even after controlling for age, processing speed, and fluid intelligence, more balanced bilingualism usage and less frequent language switching predicted higher goal maintenance (nonswitch trials RT in Color-shape Task Switching) and conflict monitoring abilities (global RT in Color-shape Task Switching and Flanker task). DISCUSSION: Results suggest that active bilingualism may provide benefits to maintaining specific executive control abilities in older adult bilinguals against the natural age-related declines.

Self-referred personal behavior profile of university professors: association with communicative and vocal self-evaluation. / Perfil de comportamento pessoal autorreferido por professores universitários: associação com a autoavaliação comunicativa e vocal.

PURPOSE: Describe the self-referred personal behavior profiles of university professors and verify the association of these profiles with the self-assessment of communicative aspects and vocal symptoms. METHODS: Study conducted with 334 professors at a public university who responded to an online questionnaire regarding voice use in teaching practice. Personal behavior profile classification was the response variable, which was divided into four types: pragmatic, analytical, expressive and affable. Explanatory variables were vocal self-perception, vocal resources, and communicative aspects. Descriptive data analysis was performed with application of the Pearson's Chi-squared and Fisher's Exact tests. RESULTS: University professors identified themselves more with the affable and expressive personal behavior profiles. Overall, professors presented good self-perception about vocal and communicative aspects, in addition to having reported few vocal symptoms. Profiles differed for some of the assessed variables, namely, pragmatic professors reported high speech velocity and sporadic eye contact; expressive professors demonstrated self-perception about their voice and strong voice intensity; those in the analytical profile self-reported negative perception about vocal quality, weak voice intensity, poor articulation and rapid speaking rate; the other professors mostly reported voice tiredness symptoms and difficulty projecting the voice. CONCLUSION: University professors identify themselves mostly with the affable and expressive profiles. Self-perception analysis of the personal behavior profile in university professors showed the influence of self-reported personality characteristics on communicative skills in the classroom.

OBJETIVO: Descrever o perfil de comportamento pessoal autorreferido por professores universitários, e verificar a associação destes perfis com a autoavaliação dos aspectos comunicativos e sintomas vocais. MÉTODO: Estudo realizado com 334 professores de uma universidade pública que responderam um questionário online referente ao uso da voz na docência. A variável resposta foi a classificação do perfil de comportamento pessoal, identificado em quatro tipos: pragmático, analítico, expressivo e afável, e as variáveis explicativas foram: autopercepção vocal, recursos vocais e aspectos comunicativos. Foi realizada a análise descritiva dos dados, além dos testes Quiquadrado de Pearson e Exato de Fisher. RESULTADOS: Os professores universitários se identificaram mais com os perfis de comportamento pessoal afável e expressivo. De forma geral, os docentes demonstraram boa autopercepção dos aspectos vocais e comunicativos, além de terem relatado poucos sintomas vocais. Os perfis se diferenciaram em algumas variáveis estudadas: o pragmático relatou velocidade de fala rápida e, às vezes, realizar contato de olhos; o expressivo demonstrou autopercepção positiva de sua voz e intensidade forte. Professores com perfil analítico autorreferiram percepção negativa da qualidade vocal, intensidade fraca, articulação ruim e velocidade de fala rápida e, entre os demais perfis, foi o que mais relatou sintomas de cansaço na voz e dificuldade para projetar a voz. CONCLUSÃO: Professores universitários se identificam predominantemente com os perfis afável e expressivo. A análise da autopercepção do perfil de comportamento pessoal em professores universitários mostra a influência das características da personalidade autorreferidas sobre as habilidades comunicativas em sala de aula.

Perfil de comportamento pessoal autorreferido por professores universitários: associação com a autoavaliação comunicativa e vocal / Self-referred personal behavior profile of university professors: association with communicative and vocal self-evaluation

RESUMO Objetivo Descrever o perfil de comportamento pessoal autorreferido por professores universitários, e verificar a associação destes perfis com a autoavaliação dos aspectos comunicativos e sintomas vocais. Método Estudo realizado com 334 professores de uma universidade pública que responderam um questionário online referente ao uso da voz na docência. A variável resposta foi a classificação do perfil de comportamento pessoal, identificado em quatro tipos: pragmático, analítico, expressivo e afável, e as variáveis explicativas foram: autopercepção vocal, recursos vocais e aspectos comunicativos. Foi realizada a análise descritiva dos dados, além dos testes Quiquadrado de Pearson e Exato de Fisher. Resultados Os professores universitários se identificaram mais com os perfis de comportamento pessoal afável e expressivo. De forma geral, os docentes demonstraram boa autopercepção dos aspectos vocais e comunicativos, além de terem relatado poucos sintomas vocais. Os perfis se diferenciaram em algumas variáveis estudadas: o pragmático relatou velocidade de fala rápida e, às vezes, realizar contato de olhos; o expressivo demonstrou autopercepção positiva de sua voz e intensidade forte. Professores com perfil analítico autorreferiram percepção negativa da qualidade vocal, intensidade fraca, articulação ruim e velocidade de fala rápida e, entre os demais perfis, foi o que mais relatou sintomas de cansaço na voz e dificuldade para projetar a voz. Conclusão Professores universitários se identificam predominantemente com os perfis afável e expressivo. A análise da autopercepção do perfil de comportamento pessoal em professores universitários mostra a influência das características da personalidade autorreferidas sobre as habilidades comunicativas em sala de aula.

ABSTRACT Purpose Describe the self-referred personal behavior profiles of university professors and verify the association of these profiles with the self-assessment of communicative aspects and vocal symptoms. Methods Study conducted with 334 professors at a public university who responded to an online questionnaire regarding voice use in teaching practice. Personal behavior profile classification was the response variable, which was divided into four types: pragmatic, analytical, expressive and affable. Explanatory variables were vocal self-perception, vocal resources, and communicative aspects. Descriptive data analysis was performed with application of the Pearson's Chi-squared and Fisher's Exact tests. Results University professors identified themselves more with the affable and expressive personal behavior profiles. Overall, professors presented good self-perception about vocal and communicative aspects, in addition to having reported few vocal symptoms. Profiles differed for some of the assessed variables, namely, pragmatic professors reported high speech velocity and sporadic eye contact; expressive professors demonstrated self-perception about their voice and strong voice intensity; those in the analytical profile self-reported negative perception about vocal quality, weak voice intensity, poor articulation and rapid speaking rate; the other professors mostly reported voice tiredness symptoms and difficulty projecting the voice. Conclusion University professors identify themselves mostly with the affable and expressive profiles. Self-perception analysis of the personal behavior profile in university professors showed the influence of self-reported personality characteristics on communicative skills in the classroom.

Individualized Patient Vocal Priorities for Tailored Therapy.

Purpose: The purposes of this study are to introduce the concept of vocal priorities based on acoustic correlates, to develop an instrument to determine these vocal priorities, and to analyze the pattern of vocal priorities in patients with voice disorders. Method: Questions probing the importance of 5 vocal attributes (vocal clarity, loudness, mean speaking pitch, pitch range, vocal endurance) were generated from consensus conference involving speech-language pathologists, laryngologists, and voice scientists, as well as patient feedback. The responses to the preliminary items from 213 subjects were subjected to exploratory factor analysis, which confirmed 4 of the predefined domains. The final instrument consisted of a 16-item Vocal Priority Questionnaire probing the relative importance of clarity, loudness, mean speaking pitch, and pitch range. Results: The Vocal Priority Questionnaire had high reliability (Cronbach's α = .824) and good construct validity. A majority of the cohort (61%) ranked vocal clarity as their highest vocal priority, and 20%, 12%, and 7% ranked loudness, mean speaking pitch, and pitch range, respectively, as their highest priority. The frequencies of the highest ranked priorities did not differ by voice diagnosis or by sex. Considerable individual variation in vocal priorities existed within these large trends. Conclusions: A patient's vocal priorities can be identified and taken into consideration in planning behavioral or surgical intervention for a voice disorder. Inclusion of vocal priorities in treatment planning empowers the patient in shared decision making, helps the clinician tailor treatment, and may also improve therapy compliance.

Frequencies in Perception and Production Differentially Affect Child Speech.

Purpose: Frequent sounds and frequent words are both acquired at an earlier age and are produced by children more accurately. Recent research suggests that frequency is not always a facilitative concept, however. Interactions between input frequency in perception and practice frequency in production may limit or inhibit growth. In this study, we consider how a range of input frequencies affect production accuracy and referent identification. Method: Thirty-three typically developing 3- and 4-year-olds participated in a novel word-learning task. In the initial test block, participants heard nonwords 1, 3, 6, or 10 times-produced either by a single talker or by multiple talkers-and then produced them immediately. In a posttest, participants heard all nonwords just once and then produced them. Referent identification was probed in between the test and posttest. Results: Production accuracy was most clearly facilitated by an input frequency of 3 during the test block. Input frequency interacted with production practice, and the facilitative effect of input frequency did not carry over to the posttest. Talker variability did not affect accuracy, regardless of input frequency. The referent identification results did not favor talker variability or a particular input frequency value, but participants were able to learn the words at better than chance levels. Conclusions: The results confirm that the input can be facilitative, but input frequency and production practice interact in ways that limit input-based learning, and more input is not always better. Future research on this interaction may allow clinicians to optimize various types of frequency commonly used during therapy.

Clear speech adaptations in spontaneous speech produced by young and older adults.

The study investigated the speech adaptations by older adults (OA) with and without age-related hearing loss made to communicate effectively in challenging communicative conditions. Acoustic analyses were carried out on spontaneous speech produced during a problem-solving task (diapix) carried out by talker pairs in different listening conditions. There were 83 talkers of Southern British English. Fifty-seven talkers were OAs aged 65-84, 30 older adults with normal hearing (OANH), and 27 older adults with hearing loss (OAHL) [mean pure tone average (PTA) 0.250-4 kHz: 27.7 dB HL]. Twenty-six talkers were younger adults (YA) aged 18-26 with normal hearing. Participants were recorded while completing the diapix task with a conversational partner (YA of the same sex) when (a) both talkers heard normally (NORM), (b) the partner had a simulated hearing loss, and (c) both talkers heard babble noise. Irrespective of hearing status, there were age-related differences in some acoustic characteristics of YA and OA speech produced in NORM, most likely linked to physiological factors. In challenging conditions, while OANH talkers typically patterned with YA talkers, OAHL talkers made adaptations more consistent with an increase in vocal effort. The study suggests that even mild presbycusis in healthy OAs can affect the speech adaptations made to maintain effective communication.

The ineluctable modality of the audible: perceptual determinants of auditory verbal short-term memory.

Classical cognitive accounts of verbal short-term memory (STM) invoke an abstract, phonological level of representation which, although it may be derived differently via different modalities, is itself amodal. Key evidence for this view is that serial recall of phonologically similar verbal items (e.g., the letter sounds b, c, g, and d) is worse than that of dissimilar items, regardless of modality of presentation. Here we show that the effect of such phonological similarity in STM can be fully accounted for by the joint action of articulatory similarity, leading to errors in speech planning processes, and acoustic similarity within auditorily presented lists, which modulates their perceptual organization. The results indicate that key evidence used to argue for the existence of abstract phonological representation can in fact be fully accounted for by reference to modality-specific perceptual and motor planning mechanisms.

Public speaking in social phobia: a pilot study of self-ratings and observers' ratings of social skills.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate whether patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) differ from controls in the quality of skill-related behaviors displayed during a speech and in overall behavioral adequacy as perceived by observers and by the patients themselves. DESIGN: A total of 18 SAD patients and 18 controls were screened by a diagnostic interview and took part in a 3-minute speech of their own choosing. For each videotaped speech, observers rated the adequacy of the skill-related behaviors and overall performance adequacy. After the experiment, participants were asked to rate their own overall performance adequacy. RESULTS: The results showed that SAD patients exhibited significantly worse voice intonation and fluency of the speech, however no differences were found in global self-ratings. Moreover, the performance evaluations of the SAD group were consistent with the observers, while the controls evaluated their performance lower than the observers. CONCLUSIONS: The results are inconsistent with the cognitive model, because patients with SAD did not underestimate their performance. Compared with spontaneous interactions, the clear rules established for such social situations as speeches may result in less cognitive distortion for SAD patients.

Perception and action de-coupling in congenital amusia: sensitivity to task demands.

Theories that purport the existence of a distinct auditory action stream have received support from the finding that individuals with congenital amusia, a disorder of pitch perception, are able to reproduce the direction of a pitch change that they are unable to identify (Loui, Guenther, Mathys, & Schlaug, 2008). Although this finding has proved influential in theorizing about the existence of an auditory action-stream, aspects of the original study warrant further investigation. The present report attempts to replicate the original study's findings across a sizeable cohort of individuals with amusia (n=14), obtaining action (production) and perception thresholds for pitch direction. In contrast to the original study, we find evidence of a double dissociation: while a minority of amusics had lower (better) thresholds for production compared to perception of pitch, more than half showed the reverse pattern. To explore the impact of task demands, perception thresholds were also measured using a two alternative, criterion-free, forced choice task that avoided labeling demands. Controls' thresholds were task-invariant while amusics' thresholds were significantly task-dependent. We argue that the direction and extent of a perception/production dissociation in this population reflects individual differences in the mapping of pitch representations to labels ("up"; "down") and to the vocal apparatus, as opposed to anything intrinsically yoked to perception or action per se.

Measurement of trained speech patterns in stuttering: interjudge and intrajudge agreement of experts by means of modified time-interval analysis.

UNLABELLED: Improved fluency after stuttering therapy is usually measured by the percentage of stuttered syllables. However, outcome studies rarely evaluate the use of trained speech patterns that speakers use to manage stuttering. This study investigated whether the modified time interval analysis can distinguish between trained speech patterns, fluent speech, and stuttered speech. Seventeen German experts on stuttering judged a speech sample on two occasions. Speakers of the sample were stuttering adults, who were not undergoing therapy, as well as participants in a fluency shaping and a stuttering modification therapy. Results showed satisfactory inter-judge and intra-judge agreement above 80%. Intervals with trained speech patterns were identified as consistently as stuttered and fluent intervals. We discuss limitations of the study, as well as implications of our findings for the development of training for identification of trained speech patterns and future outcome studies. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to (a) explain different methods to measure the use of trained speech patterns, (b) evaluate whether German experts are able to discriminate intervals with trained speech patterns reliably from fluent and stuttered intervals and (c) describe how the measurement of trained speech patterns can contribute to outcome studies.

Parental mode of communication is essential for speech and language outcomes in cochlear implanted children.

CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates a very strong effect of the parental communication mode on the auditory capabilities and speech/language outcome for cochlear implanted children. The children exposed to spoken language had higher odds of scoring high in all tests applied and the findings suggest a very clear benefit of spoken language communication with a cochlear implanted child. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with speech and language outcomes for cochlear implanted children and also to estimate the effect-related odds ratio for each factor in relation to the children's speech and language performances. METHODS: Data relate to 155 prelingually deafened children with cochlear implant (CI). A test battery consisting of six different speech and language tests/assessments was used. Seven different factors were considered, i.e. hearing age, implantation age, gender, educational placement, ear of implantation, CI center, and communication mode. Logistic regression models and proportional odds models were used to analyze the relationship between the considered factors and test responses. RESULTS: The communication mode at home proved essential to speech and language outcome, as children exposed to spoken language had markedly better odds of performing well in all tests, compared with children exposed to a mixture of spoken language and sign support, or sign language.

Distributional stress regularity: a corpus study.

The regularity of stress patterns in a language depends on distributional stress regularity, which arises from the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, and durational stress regularity, which arises from the timing of syllables. Here we focus on distributional regularity, which depends on three factors. Lexical stress patterning refers to normal stress patterns within words; interlexical stress patterning refers to patterns that arise from word combinations; and contextual stress patterning refers to adjustments in normal lexical stress patterns (such as the well-known phenomenon of "stress clash avoidance"). A corpus study was done to assess the effect of these three factors on distributional stress regularity in conversational and formal spoken English, by comparing the degree of stress regularity in stress-annotated corpus data to randomly manipulated versions of the data and to "citation-form" stress patterns drawn from a phonetic dictionary. The results show that both lexical and interlexical patterning contribute significantly to stress regularity in English; contextual stress patterning does not, and in fact significantly reduces regularity in comparison to citation-form stress patterns.

Interference and facilitation in overt speech production investigated with event-related potentials.

We report an event-related potential study investigating the neural basis of interference and facilitation in the picture-word interference paradigm with immediate overt naming. We used the high temporal resolution of the electrophysiological response to dissociate general and specific interference processes, by comparing unrelated word distractors to nonlinguistic (a row of Xs), surface feature denoting, and category member distractors. Our results first indicate that the increased naming latencies for linguistic relative to nonlinguistic distractors are because of general conflict-monitoring processes, associated with early event-related potential effects (120-220 ms) and increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. Next, distractors specifying a surface feature of the picture seem to facilitate its identification within the same time window, which involves widespread networks. Finally, nonlinguistic and surface feature distractors also reduced the N400 amplitude, relative to unrelated word distractors. Taken together our results support the view that several distinct processes give rise to the reaction time results often observed in picture naming.

Mutational falsetto: intervention outcomes in 45 patients.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of therapeutic intervention in patients with mutational falsetto, by applying perceptual and acoustic analysis before and after voice therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five consecutive patients with mutational falsetto were studied retrospectively. Acoustic analysis (i.e. fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and formants one, two and three) was performed using the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program. Perceptual voice analyses were performed, including graded severity-roughness-breathiness-aesthenicity-strain assessment. RESULTS: Subjects' fundamental frequency, voice formants one, two and three, jitter, and shimmer were greater before than after treatment. There were statistically significant differences between pre- and post-treatment average values for fundamental frequency, jitter and shimmer. There were also statistically significant differences between pre- and post-treatment average values for formants one and two. These results were maintained after six months of follow up, and there was no significant difference between results at three- and six-month follow up. According to perceptual evaluation, each subject's voice had altered from mutational falsetto to chest voice by completion of the intervention. Thus, all of the patients successfully lowered their modal speaking voice to an appropriate level. CONCLUSION: In the light of objective evaluations, and by applying the study treatment protocol, these results suggest that normal voice can be maintained after intervention, at six months' follow up.

Acceso léxico en producción del lenguaje: el caso bilingüe / Lexical Access in Speech Production: the Bilingual Case

En este artículo se revisan modelos de acceso léxico en producción de lenguaje en hablantes bilingües. Nos centramos en dos aspectos fundamentales del acceso léxico: a) cómo se alcanza la selección léxica , y b) si el acceso léxico implica estadios de procesamiento discretos o en cascada.Comenzamos considerando supuestos importantes sobre el funcionamiento?A. Costa et al. 432 del acceso léxico en monolingües, para después discutirlos en el contexto de los hablantes bilingües. Se describen los modelos teóricos y la evidencia empírica reciente acorde a estos supuestos (AU)