Voice therapy techniques adapted to treatment of habit cough: a pilot study.

Patients with long-standing habit cough having no organic basis can be successfully treated with a combination of psychotherapy and speech therapy. Techniques for speech therapy are adapted from those used with hyperfunctional voice disorders to fit this debilitating laryngeal disorder.

Vocal-cord dysfunction presenting as asthma.

We identified five patients with a functional disorder of the vocal cords that mimicked attacks of bronchial asthma. Paroxysms of wheezing and dyspnea were refractory to standard therapy for asthma. During episodes of wheezing, the maximal expiratory and inspiratory flow-volume relationship was consistent with a variable extrathoracic obstruction. Laryngoscopy confirmed that wheezing was due to adduction of the true and false vocal cords throughout the respiratory cycle. During asymptomatic periods the maximal flow-volume relationship and laryngoscopic examination were normal. Provocation tests for bronchial asthma were negative. A variety of personality styles and psychiatric diagnoses were represented; patients were not aware of the vocal-cord dysfunction, which uniformly and dramatically responded to speech therapy and psychotherapy. This syndrome may be a form of conversion reaction.

Auditory discrimination abilities of emotionally disturbed children in day psychiatric treatment: a replication study.

The abilities of 17 emotionally disturbed children enrolled in a day psychiatric treatment center were studied using the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination, replicating an earlier study (Blager, J. Audit. Res., 1978, 18, 221-227) and extending it to other factors possibly influencing auditory discrimination abilities. It was confirmed that, as a group, such children perform less well than the GFW normative sample both in quiet and in noise conditions. Despite normal HTLs, their performance more closely resembles that of the GFW "poor discriminator" normative group. Age, sex, socioeconomic status, severity of disturbance, and intelligence were shown not to be significantly associated with test performance. Although there were 7 children whose rank orders in the group of 17 were better when the GFW was administered in noise than in quiet, and might have been thought to form a subgroup of those less impaired by noise than usual, this hypothesis was not borne out (p = .07) as in the previous study it had been. Several questions regarding the GFW were raised and suggestions for future research discussed.

Correlation between visual--spatial ability and speechreading.

Evidence seems to exist that the ability to speechread correlates with visual-spatial perceptual processing abilities. Using the Utley Speech Reading Test and the Revised Minnesota Paper Form Board Test results showed a significant correlation between the RMPFB Test and the ability to speechread words. Since the use of a static visual image correlated with the ability to speechread words, the ability to read connected speech may correlate to a kinetic visual-perceptual stimulus. Individual differences in visual-perceptual processing abilities may be a significant factor in explaining the ease or difficulty experienced by the hearing impaired to learn speechreading.