Focal cranial dystonia.

In the neurologic literature there has been a growing recognition of a syndrome of focal cranial dystonias referred to variously as blepharospasm-oromandibular dystonia, Brueghel's syndrome, or Meige's syndrome. Typically, this syndrome presents as an isolated and idiopathic dystonia of facial or oromandibular muscles occasionally prompting a referral to a speech pathologist. Our findings in a group of 10 patients with this diagnosis are presented, and the negligible effect of an intensive program of speech management for one subject is described.

Effect of prior exposure to stimulus material on identification of speakers' sex, height, and weight.

The purpose of this series of experiments was to determine the effect of prior exposure to taped stimulus material on listeners' judgments of speakers' sex, height, and weight. Two series of listening experiments, one concerned with sex identification and one with height and weight identification, were conducted. Results indicate that prior exposure to stimulus material improved the accuracy of listeners' judgments of speakers' sex, height, and weight. However, they also indicate that it is not necessary to receive prior exposure to the complete set of stimuli to achieve accurate judgments. Prior exposure to the stimulus material improved listeners' confidence in their estimates of height and weight but not in their judgments of speakers' sex.

Language enhancement in the developmentally delayed child through a cognitive/receptive mode.

An approach to enhancing the language comprehension of young developmentally delayed children utilizing receptive language tasks presented in a cognitive, 'problem-solving' context is described. Over a 2 year period 16 language impaired and developmentally delayed children were provided with 8 weeks of concentrated instruction in five language areas: nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions and syntax. Instruction consisted of systematic verbal stimulation without overt attempts to elicit expressive language. Responses by the subjects were in the form of motor behaviours of picture/object identifications. Results indicated a marked increase in the number of stimuli to which these children could provide appropriate responses at the end of the 8 week instructional period. The gains were also maintained 3 months after termination of instruction and the learned material was considered to have become part of these children's verbal repertoire.

A comparison of the contributions of two voice quality characteristics to the perception of maleness and femaleness in the voice.

Comparisons were made between the contributions of the fundamental frequency (F0) on one hand, and vocal tract resonances on the other, to a perception of maleness and femaleness in the adult voice. In the first of two experiments, the F0 of natural voice was found to be very highly correlated with the degree of maleness and femaleness in the voice. The vocal tract resonances were less highly correlated and it is apparent that in the presence of the natural laryngeal tone, these perceptions are based on the frequency of the F0. In the second experiment, a tone produced by a laryngeal vibrator was substituted for the normal glottal tone at simulated F0's representing both males (120 Hz) and females (240 Hz). When listeners were asked to identify the sex of the speakers some inconsistently with the findings of the first experiment was seen. The female F0 was a weak indicator of female voice quality when combined with male vocal tract resonance although the male F0 retained the perceptual prominence seen in the first experiment. This finding may be indicative of some basic difference in the normal glottal characteristics of males and females.