Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to study the interaction between the supralaryngeal and laryngeal components of the speech mechanism by examining vowel-related effects for a variety of vocal fold articulatory and phonatory measures. Secondary issues were to determine if vowel-related differences were influenced by the nature of the speaking task or gender. Between-vowel differences in estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow, mean phonatory air flow, air flow near the termination of the vowel, electroglottograph cycle width (EGGW), fundamental frequency, and voice onset time were examined for men and women during syllable repetitions and sentence productions. Significant vowel-related differences were found for all of the measures except mean phonatory air flow, and generally were not influenced by speaking task or gender. Vowel-related effects for estimated subglottal air pressure, peak oral air flow, fundamental frequency, and VOT were consistent with some earlier studies. New findings included vowel-related differences in EGGW and air flow near the termination of the vowel. We propose a model that includes the contribution of mechanical forces, reflexive neural activity, and learned neural activity to explain vowel-related effects. When vowel height is varied, changes in laryngeal cartilage positioning and vocal fold and vocal tract tension appear to influence laryngeal articulatory and phonatory function.

Key Words: fundamental frequency, air pressure, air flow, voice onset time (VOT), electroglottograph

Effects of Treatment for Sound Errors in Apraxia of Speech and Aphasia
Julie L. Wambaugh, Michelene M. Kalinyak-Fliszar, Joan E. West, and Patrick J. Doyle

Abstract: This investigation was designed to examine the acquisition, generalization, and maintenance effects of a treatment for sound errors in speakers with co-occurring apraxia of speech and aphasia. Three speakers with chronic apraxia of speech and aphasia were studied in the context of a multiple baseline design across speakers and behaviors. Treatment combined the use of minimal contrast pairs with traditional sound production training techniques such as integral stimulation and articulatory placement cueing and was applied sequentially to sounds that were determined to be consistently in error before training. Results revealed increased correct sound productions for all speakers in trained and untrained words. Response generalization effects across sounds and stimulus generalization effects varied, but appeared to be limited for most speakers. Although positive maintenance effects were evidenced, some loss of treatment gains was noted following cessation of treatment.

Key Words: apraxia of speech, motor speech disorder, aphasia

DECTalk and MacinTalk Speech Synthesizers: Intelligibility Differences for Three Listener Groups
Katherine C. Hustad, Ray D. Kent, and David R. Beukelman

Abstract: This study examined word level intelligibility differences between DECTalk and MacinTalk speech synthesizers using the Modified Rhyme Test in an open format transcription task. Three groups of listeners participated: inexperienced, speech-language pathologists, and speech synthesis experts. Results for between-subjects ANOVA showed that the expert group correctly identified a significantly higher number of words than each of the other listener groups. For the within-subjects factor of voice, simple effects ANOVA and post hoc contrasts within each group showed that listeners had higher intelligibility scores for the DECTalk male voice, Perfect Paul, than for the MacinTalk male voice, Bruce. No other pairwise gender/age-matched differences were found between the two synthesizers.

Key Words: speech synthesis, DECTalk, MacinTalk, intelligibility, listening experience

Guidelines for Documentation of Treatment Efficacy for Young Children Who Stutter
Janis Costello Ingham and Glyndon Riley

Abstract: The pressing need to document treatment efficacy for young children who stutter is discussed. Guidelines for such documentation are suggested and illustrated. Measures for verifying treatment effects in four realms are delineated: (a) conditions of documentation, (b) dependent variables to be measured, (c) establishment of treatment integrity, and (d) verification of the relationship between treatment and outcome. Illustrations of the application of the suggested guidelines are presented for 2 children.

Key Words: stuttering in children, treatment efficacy, measurement, outcomes

Lingual Action in Normal Sequential Swallowing
Gloria Chi-Fishman, Maureen Stone, and Gerald N. McCall

Abstract: Current knowledge about the flexibility in lingual motor control and performance during swallowing is incomplete. The present study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the tongue's motor flexibility and at identifying variable versus invariant lingual motor program parameters in light of changing swallowing task demands (discrete vs. sequential). Specifically, the timing and patterns of tongue-palate contact and the associated changes in tongue shape and action were examined in 5 normal adults using simultaneous electropalatography and ultrasound. Tasks for discrete swallowing included 5 and 30 cc of water; tasks for sequential swallowing involved drinking 200 cc of water at normal and fast rates. Results showed little variation in propulsive contact pattern as a function of task or subject. However, the tongue demonstrated shorter movement duration and overlapping gestures during sequential swallowing. Thus, continuous drinking was performed without changes in motor strategies per se but with changes in the timing coordination of the "drink" and "swallow" action sequences. These findings support the theory that the deglutitive lingual motor program has both invariant and variant parameters, and that movement pattern and action sequence reflect fixed elements within the structure of the motor program, but movement timing can be modified according to the demands of the task at hand.

Key Words: sequential swallowing, tongue, swallowing physiology, electropalatography, ultrasound

Lip EMG Activity During Vowel Production in Apraxia of Speech: Phrase Context and Word Length Effects
Monica Strauss Hough and Richard J. Klich

Abstract: This investigation examined the timing relationships of EMG activity underlying vowel production in 2 normal individuals and in 2 individuals with marked-to-severe apraxia of speech of approximately two-and-one-half years duration. The timing of lip muscle activity was investigated in monosyllabic words embedded in phrases and in syllable word stems as a function of changes in word length. Specifically, the onset and offset of EMG activity of lip muscles used for production of /u/ in the monosyllables and word stems were examined. The results revealed that the relative amounts of time devoted to onset and offset of EMG activity for lip rounding are disorganized in apraxia of speech. Word length appeared to affect the timing of the onset of muscle activity for both the normal speakers and the speakers with apraxia of speech. Word length also influenced the offset of muscle activity, but its effect was less systematic for the speakers with apraxia of speech. The findings suggest that termination of EMG activity may be at least as disturbed as the initiation of EMG activity in apraxia of speech.

Key Words: apraxia of speech, vowel production, electromyography (EMG), lip EMG, timing relationships

Stuttering, Stressed Syllables, and Word Onsets
Carol P. Hubbard

Abstract: The relationship of syllabic stress, word onsets, and stuttering was examined on selected words within a set of 40 carefully controlled sentences containing bisyllabic words with contrastive stress. Ten stuttering adults displayed significantly more stuttering on the word-initial syllables than on the subsequent (word-final) syllables, whereas stressed syllables were not stuttered significantly more than unstressed syllables. Participants displayed a greater tendency to stutter on word-onsets than stressed syllables within words. These findings are discussed with respect to potential relationships of stutter events to layers of metrical structure associated with speech production.

Key Words: stuttering, syllable stress, word initiation, locations, speech rhythm

Examining the Role of Auditory Sensitivity in the Developmental Weighting Shift
Susan Nittrouer and Court S. Crowther

Abstract: Studies comparing children's and adults' labeling of speech stimuli have repeatedly shown that children's phonological decisions are more strongly related to portions of the signal that involve rapid spectral change (i.e., formant transitions) and less related to other signal components than are adults' decisions. Such findings have led to a model termed the Developmental Weighting Shift, which suggests that children initially assign particularly strong weight to formant transitions to help delimit individual words in the continuous speech stream but gradually modify these strategies to be more like those of adults as they learn about word-internal structure. The goal of the current study was to test a reasonable alternative: that these apparent age-related differences in perceptual weighting strategies for speech are instead due to age-related differences in auditory sensitivity. To this end, difference limens (DLs) were obtained from children (ages 5 and 7 years) and adults for three types of acoustic properties: dynamic-spectral, static-spectral, and temporal. Two testable hypotheses were offered: Labeling results could reflect either absolute differences in sensitivity between children and adults or relative differences in sensitivity within each group. Empirical support for either hypothesis would indicate that apparent developmental changes in perceptual weighting strategies are actually due to developmental changes in auditory sensitivity to acoustic properties. Results of this study contradicted predictions of both hypotheses, sustaining the suggestion that children's perceptual weighting strategies for speech-relevant acoustic properties change as they gain experience with a native language.

Key Words: auditory sensitivity, speech perception, speech development, developmental weighting shift

Quantification of the Ecobehavioral Impact of a Soundfield Loudspeaker System in Elementary Classrooms
Catherine V. Palmer

Abstract: Although it is widely accepted that an increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is preferable for young classroom learners, there is a paucity of data that illustrate the direct effect of enhanced audibility on children with normal hearing, and schools continue to accept less-than-ideal classroom listening environments for their students. Eight students in kindergarten, first, or second grade were observed in acoustically similar classrooms while the application of soundfield amplification was experimentally controlled. Observations of appropriate and inappropriate student behavior before, during, and after soundfield treatment were recorded by trained observers. A significant decrease in inappropriate behaviors came immediately after turning on the soundfield amplification. When the soundfield system was turned off, all of the students revealed a significant increase in inappropriate behaviors. All eight students revealed an increase in appropriate task management immediately following the use of soundfield amplification. When the soundfield treatment was removed, the effect achieved during treatment was maintained for all 8 students.

Key Words: soundfield amplification, ecobehavioral evaluation, classroom acoustics, pediatric listeners

SCAN Test-Retest Reliability for First- and Third-Grade Children
Nathan E. Amos and Larry E. Humes

Abstract: The SCAN is a popular screening test that was developed to provide a rapidly administered, standardized method for determining the potential of central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) in children between the ages of 3 and 11 years. It can be administered in 20 minutes with a portable stereo cassette player and contains three subtests: filtered words (FW), auditory figure ground (AFG), and competing words (CW). Published SCAN test-retest reliability data (Keith, 1986) used a 6-month retest interval and indicated that SCAN scores may be unreliable. No additional reliability data are available, and studies indicate that SCAN has been used by both researchers and clinicians despite reliability concerns. This investigation examined the stability of SCAN outcomes for 25 first-grade and 22 third-grade children (ages 6 to 9 years) using a 6- to 7-week retest interval. Time of day and examiner were held constant, and participants were normal-hearing, were Caucasian, and spoke English as their primary language. ANOVA outcomes indicated that both raw and standard scores improved significantly from Test 1 to Test 2 for two of the three SCAN subtests (FW and CW) and for the composite (COMP) score. Additionally, COMP-percentile-rank and age-equivalent outcomes demonstrated significant improvement from test to retest for both grades. The AFG subtest was the only SCAN measure for which a significant test-retest difference did not emerge. The highest test-retest correlation values (r) were moderately strong (0.70 < r < 0.78) and occurred for the CW and COMP scores. Implications of correlations and factor analyses are discussed. It is suggested that examiners base recommendations for additional testing, follow up, and remediation on the COMP score only. Further, it appears that second administration of the SCAN can provide a better estimate of an individual child's best performance, but lack of second-score norms confounds simple interpretation of such scores.

Key Words: central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), screening, children, SCAN, test-retest reliability

Improvements in Speech Perception by Children With Profound Prelingual Hearing Loss: Effects of Device, Communication Mode, and Chronological Age
Ted A. Meyer, Mario A. Svirsky, Karen I. Kirk, and Richard T. Miyamoto

Abstract: The present investigation expanded on an earlier study by Miyamoto, Osberger, Todd, Robbins, Karasek, et al. (1994) who compared the speech perception skills of two groups of children with profound prelingual hearing loss. The first group had received the Nucleus multichannel cochlear implant and was tested longitudinally. The second group, who were not implanted and used conventional hearing aids, was tested at a single point in time. In the present study, speech perception scores were examined over time for both groups of children as a function of communication mode of the child. Separate linear regressions of speech perception scores as a function of age were computed to estimate the rate of improvement in speech perception abilities that might be expected due to maturation for the hearing aid users (n = 58) within each communication mode. The resulting regression lines were used to compare the estimated rate of speech perception growth for each hearing aid group to the observed gains in speech perception made by the children with multichannel cochlear implants. A large number of children using cochlear implants (n = 74) were tested over a long period of implant use (m = 3.5 years) that ranged from zero to 8.5 years. In general, speech perception scores for the children using cochlear implants were higher than those predicted for a group of children with 101-110 dB HL of hearing loss using hearing aids, and they approached the scores predicted for a group of children with 90-100 dB HL of hearing loss using hearing aids.

Key Words: cochlear implants, speech perception, hearing aids, profound prelingual hearing loss

Language Skills of Children and Adolescents With Down Syndrome: II. Production Deficits
Robin S. Chapman, Hye-Kyeung Seung, Scott E. Schwartz, and Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird

Abstract: Hypotheses that children and adolescents with Down syndrome show (a) a specific expressive language impairment, (b) a "critical period" for language acquisition, (c) a "simple sentence syntactic ceiling" in production, and (d) deficit in grammatical morphology were investigated cross-sectionally. Conversational and narrative language samples from 47 children and adolescents with Down syndrome (Trisomy 21), aged 5 to 20 years, were compared to those from 47 control children aged 2 to 6 years matched statistically for nonverbal mental age. Children with Down syndrome appear to have a specific language impairment, compared to control children, in number of different words and total words (in the first 50 utterances) and in mean length of utterance (MLU). Total utterance attempts per minute were more frequent in the Down syndrome group. Narrative samples contained more word tokens, more word types, and longer MLU than conversation samples, for both groups. Intelligibility of narratives was significantly poorer for the Down syndrome group than controls. Analyses of narrative language sample by age sub-group showed no evidence of a critical period for language development ending at adolescence, nor of a "syntactic ceiling" at MLUs corresponding to simple sentences for the Down syndrome group. Omissions of word tokens and types were more frequent in the older Down syndrome than the younger control sample, matched on MLU.

Key Words: Down syndrome, mental retardation, language development, language disorders, language production

An Electrophysiological Study of Infants' Sensitivity to the Sound Patterns of English Speech
Valerie L. Shafer, David W. Shucard, Janet L. Shucard, and LouAnn Gerken

Abstract: The study explores 10- to 11-month-old infants' sensitivity to the phonological characteristics of their native language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained for tones that were superimposed on two versions of a story: an Unmodified version containing normal English function morphemes, and a Modified version in which the prosodic and segmental properties of a subset of function morphemes were changed to make them atypical. The 11-month-olds exhibited significantly lower amplitude ERPs to the tones during the Modified story than to the Unmodified story, whereas the 10-month-olds showed no differences. These results suggest that the 11-month-olds discriminated the two versions of the story based on their representations of the phonological properties of English. Further, the tone-probe ERP method can successfully be used to study the development of speech perception in the pre-linguistic infant.

Key Words: language development, event-related potentials (ERPs), prosody, infants

Communication Between Deaf Children and Their Hearing Mothers: The Role of Language, Gesture, and Vocalizations
Amy R. Lederberg and Victoria S. Everhart

Abstract: In the present longitudinal study, 20 deaf and 20 hearing children were observed during free play with their hearing mothers when the children were 22 months and 3 years of age. Compared to hearing children, deaf children were severely language delayed, with deaf 3-year-olds using less language (speech or sign) than hearing 22-month-olds. Deaf children communicated primarily through nonlinguistic vocalizations, with increasing use of gesture from 22 months to 3 years of age. Although mothers of deaf children used more visual communication than mothers of hearing children, they still primarily communicated through speech. In addition, deaf children did not visually attend to much of their mothers' communication. Therefore, deaf children received much less communication than hearing children. These results suggest that intervention efforts should be focused on increasing the quantity of perceived linguistic input by the child.

Key Words: deaf children, language development, gesture, sign

Interactions of African American Infants and Their Mothers: Relations With Development at 1 Year of Age
Ina F. Wallace, Joanne E. Roberts, and Diane E. Lodder

Abstract: The relationships between aspects of mother-infant interaction and both communication and cognitive skills at 1 year of age were examined in 92 African American dyads, of whom 64 (70%) fell below the poverty line. Ratings of warmth, sensitivity, responsiveness, encouragement of initiative, stimulation, and elaborativeness during a semistructured play interaction were correlated with measures of global cognition, expressive and receptive communication, and communication use. The overall quality of the home environment and maternal ratings of stimulation and elaborativeness were the most consistent correlates of infant communication measures. Relationships were stronger in middle-income than lower-income dyads. These results support the linkage of didactic and functional aspects of maternal behavior to cognitive and communication skills at 1 year of age for African American infants.

Key Words: communication development, maternal interaction, infancy

Information Processing by School-Age Children With Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From a Modality Effect Paradigm
Ronald B. Gillam, Nelson Cowan, and Jeffrey A. Marler

Abstract: School-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) and age-matched controls were tested for immediate recall of digits presented visually, auditorily, or audiovisually. Recall tasks compared speaking and pointing response modalities. Each participant was tested at a level that was consistent with her or his auditory short-term memory span. Traditional effects of primacy, recency, and modality (an auditory recall advantage) were obtained for both groups. The groups performed similarly when audiovisual stimuli were paired with a spoken response, but children with SLI had smaller recency effects together with an unusually poor recall when visually presented items were paired with a pointing response. Such results cannot be explained on the basis of an auditory or speech deficit per se, and suggest that children with SLI have difficulty either retaining or using phonological codes, or both, during tasks that require multiple mental operations. Capacity limitations, involving the rapid decay of phonological representations and/or performance limitations related to the use of less demanding and less effective coding and retrieval strategies, could have contributed to the working memory deficiencies in the children with SLI.

Key Words: specific language impairment, memory, phonological coding, capacity limitations, retrieval strategies

Negotiation Skills of Children With Specific Language Impairment
Bonnie Brinton, Martin Fujiki, and Lara McKee

Abstract: This study examined the ability of 6 children with specific language impairment (SLI), ages 8;10 to 12;5 (yr; mon) to participate in a negotiation sequence with 2 same-age peers in triadic interactions. Negotiation sequences were analyzed using a system based on Selman's interpersonal negotiation strategies (INS) model (Selman, 1981). The negotiation skills of children with SLI were compared to those of 6 children matched for chronological age (CA) and 6 children of similar language (LS) abilities, participating in the same task. Children with SLI did not produce significantly fewer utterances than the partners with whom they interacted. However, they did produce a significantly smaller percentage of the negotiation strategies produced by their triads. They also used developmentally lower level strategies than either of the partners in their triads. Children interacting within the CA and LS triads did not produce similar differences.

Key Words: language impairment, social competence, negotiation, social skills, language disorders

The Perception of Correctly and Incorrectly Produced /r/
Linda I. Shuster

Abstract: Twenty-six children and adolescents who were unable to produce /r/ correctly were administered a listening task. They were asked to listen to a tape of 200 words containing /r/ in a variety of contexts. Half of the words had been produced by the subjects themselves and half by another speaker who produced /r/ incorrectly. In addition, half of the words from each speaker contained an /r/ that was incorrect whereas the other half contained an /r/ that was edited so that it sounded correct. Subjects made judgments for each word regarding the correctness of the /r/ and the identity of the speaker. Subjects performed significantly more poorly in judging their own incorrect utterances than on any other category of utterance. When judging their own "corrected" utterances, they were more successful at deciding whether the /r/ was correct than in identifying the identity of the speaker. The results provide support for a relationship between speech perception and production in some individuals with a phonological disorder.

Key Words: phonological disorders, speech perception, articulation disorders

Criteria for SLI: The Stark and Tallal Legacy and Beyond
Elena Plante

Abstract: Since it first appeared, the Stark and Tallal (1981) criteria for the selection of children with specific language impairment (SLI) has had a profound influence on research with this population. A review of the recent literature indicates that these criteria continue to be used, in part or in whole, in current research. However, the recent literature also provides illustrations of the use and interpretations of norm-referenced tests that can serve to update current best practices in subject selection. The original criteria for IQ and language test scores, along with their more recent adaptations, are reconsidered in light of current information on the use of tests with SLI.

Key Words: assessment, language, research methods, IQ scores

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

---

back to main page
back to Language Disorders page