Showing papers in "Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research in 2003"
TL;DR: Relations between language and nonverbal abilities at 2 years and outcome at 3 and 4 years within the ELD group were highly statistically significant, effect sizes were small, and classification of outcome on the basis of data on 2-year-olds was far too inaccurate to be clinically useful.
Abstract: Parent-based assessments of vocabulary, grammar, nonverbal ability, and use of language to refer to past and future (displaced reference) were obtained for 8,386 twin children at 2 years of age. Ch...
430 citations
TL;DR: An acoustic comparison of conversational-to-clear speech modifications across the two talkers provided insight into the acoustic-phonetic features of naturally produced clear speech that are most important for promoting intelligibility for this population of children with LDs.
Abstract: This study compared the speech-in-noise perception abilities of children with and without diagnosed learning disabilities (LDs) and investigated whether naturally produced clear speech yields perce...
353 citations
TL;DR: The performance of the children with SLI in nonword repetition, across the different tasks, indicated a limitation in simultaneous processing rather than difficulty in encoding and analyzing the phonological structure of the nonwords.
Abstract: This study examined the interaction between working memory and language comprehension in children with specific language impairment (SLI), focusing on the function of the central executive component and its interaction with the phonological loop (A. D. Baddeley, 1986) in complex working memory tasks. Thirteen children with SLI and 13 age-matched (age range = 7;0 [years;months] to 10;0) children with typical language development participated. The tasks combined traditional nonword repetition tests and sentence comprehension by using sentences that differed in length and syntactic complexity. The children with SLI exhibited larger processing and attentional capacity limitations than their age-matched peers. Increased word length and syntactic complexity resulted in a large performance decrease in nonword repetition in both groups. There were some variations in the error pattern, which may indicate qualitative differences between the 2 groups. The performance of the children with SLI in nonword repetition, across the different tasks, indicated a limitation in simultaneous processing rather than difficulty in encoding and analyzing the phonological structure of the nonwords. Furthermore, syntactic complexity had a greater effect on performance accuracy than did sentence length.
319 citations
TL;DR: Bilingual-monolingual similarities point to the possibility that SLI may not be an impediment to learning two languages, at least in the domain of grammatical morphology.
Abstract: The goal of this study was to determine whether bilingual children with specific language impairment (SLI) are similar to monolingual age mates with SLI, in each language. Eight French-English bili...
286 citations
TL;DR: Stepwise discriminant analysis revealed nonword repetition and past tense marking to be the best markers for identifying young children with SLI.
Abstract: Thirty-two 5-year-old children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 32 chronological age (CA) controls completed 4 tasks that were considered potential positive markers for SLI. Children's performance on 2 linguistic tasks (past tense and noun plurals task) and 2 processing tasks (nonword repetition and digit recall) were examined. This approach allowed the examination of more than 1 type of marker simultaneously, facilitating both comparisons between markers and also the evaluation of combinations of markers in relation to identifying SLI. Children with SLI performed significantly worse than CA controls in all 4 marker tasks. Specificity/sensitivity analysis of the 4 marker tasks revealed nonword repetition and the past tense task to have the best overall accuracy at the 25th and 16th percentile. Finally, stepwise discriminant analysis revealed nonword repetition and past tense marking to be the best markers for identifying young children with SLI.
274 citations
TL;DR: The results showed that large F0 and SPL variations in speech affected the dose measures, suggesting that accumulation of phonation time alone is insufficient and the derived safety limits for vocalization will likely require refinement based on a more detailed knowledge of the differences in hand and vocal fold tissue morphology and their response to vibrational stress, and on the effect of recovery of the vocal Fold tissue during voicing pauses.
Abstract: To measure the exposure to self-induced tissue vibration in speech, three vocal doses were defined and described: distance dose, which accumulates the distance that tissue particles of the vocal folds travel in an oscillatory trajectory; energy dissipation dose, which accumulates the total amount of heat dissipated over a unit volume of vocal fold tissues; and time dose, which accumulates the total phonation time. These doses were compared to a previously used vocal dose measure, the vocal loading index, which accumulates the number of vibration cycles of the vocal folds. Empirical rules for viscosity and vocal fold deformation were used to calculate all the doses from the fundamental frequency (F0) and sound pressure level (SPL) values of speech. Six participants were asked to read in normal, monotone, and exaggerated speech and the doses associated with these vocalizations were calculated. The results showed that large F0 and SPL variations in speech affected the dose measures, suggesting that accumulation of phonation time alone is insufficient. The vibration exposure of the vocal folds in normal speech was related to the industrial limits for hand-transmitted vibration, in which the safe distance dose was derived to be about 500 m. This limit was found rather low for vocalization; it was related to a comparable time dose of about 17 min of continuous vocalization, or about 35 min of continuous reading with normal breathing and unvoiced segments. The voicing pauses in normal speech and dialogue effectively prolong the safe time dose. The derived safety limits for vocalization will likely require refinement based on a more detailed knowledge of the differences in hand and vocal fold tissue morphology and their response to vibrational stress, and on the effect of recovery of the vocal fold tissue during voicing pauses.
250 citations
TL;DR: This article compared the language profiles of adolescents with Down syndrome and children with specific language impairment matched for nonverbal cognitive ability, and investigated whether similar relationships could be established between language measures and other capacities in both groups.
Abstract: This article compared the language profiles of adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and children with specific language impairment matched for nonverbal cognitive ability, and investigated whether similar relationships could be established between language measures and other capacities in both groups. Language profiles were very similar: Expressive language was more affected than language comprehension, and grammar was more affected than vocabulary in both domains. Both groups were impaired on tests of grammatical morphology and phonological memory. There were some differences between the groups, but these could be attributed to other features of development of people with DS.
234 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia and found that patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples.
Abstract: The effect of typicality of category exemplars on naming was investigated using a single subject experimental design across participants and behaviors in 4 patients with fluent aphasia. Participants received a semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items within semantic categories, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. The order of typicality and category trained was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that patients trained on naming of atypical exemplars demonstrated generalization to naming of intermediate and typical items. However, patients trained on typical items demonstrated no generalized naming effect to intermediate or atypical examples. Furthermore, analysis of errors indicated an evolution of errors throughout training, from those with no apparent relationship to the target to primarily semantic and phonemic paraphasias. Performance on standardized language tests also showed changes as a function of treatment. Theoretical and clinical implications regarding the impact of considering semantic complexity on rehabilitation of naming deficits in aphasia are discussed.
220 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated treatment approaches aimed at rehabilitating these occupation-related voice problems and found that voice problems are a common occupational hazard of teaching school, yet few studies exist that have objectively evaluated treatment approach aimed at rehabilitation.
Abstract: Voice problems are a common occupational hazard of teaching school, yet few studies exist that have objectively evaluated treatment approaches aimed at rehabilitating these occupation-related voice...
220 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the hypothesis that training production of syntactically complex sentences results in generalization to less complex sentences that have processes in common with treated sentences and found that the hypothesis was false.
Abstract: This experiment examined the hypothesis that training production of syntactically complex sentences results in generalization to less complex sentences that have processes in common with treated st...
220 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated whether phonological or semantic encoding cues promoted better word learning for children with specific language impairment (SLI) and whether this treatment differentially affected children with SLI and normal language (NL).
Abstract: Purpose: This study investigated whether phonological or semantic encoding cues promoted better word learning for children with specific language impairment (SLI) and whether this treatment differentially affected children with SLI and normal language (NL). Method: Twenty-four preschoolers ages 4;0 (years;months) to 5;11 with SLI and 24 age- and gender-matched children with NL participated. The between-group factor was language group (NL, SLI) and within-group factors were language modality (comprehension, recognition, production) and treatment condition (phonological, semantic). Word learning was assessed during fast mapping, word learning, and posttesting with trials to criterion calculated for the number of words learned. A drawing task assessed the change in semantic representation of words. Results: The SLI group comprehended more words in the semantic condition and produced more words in the phonological condition, but the NL group performed similarly in both. The NL group required significantly few...
TL;DR: The results showed that the poor language of children with language impairments was very likely to persist during the primary school years when the conditions for regression to the mean were controlled.
Abstract: The rates of change in the language status of children with language impairment unaccompanied by other developmental or sensory disorders (primary language disorder) were studied in a longitudinal ...
TL;DR: Assessment of temperamental characteristics of children who do (CWS) and do not (CWNS) stutter using a norm-referenced parent-report questionnaire suggests that CWS are more apt, when compared to CWNS, to exhibit temperamental profiles consistent with hypervigilance.
Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to assess the temperamental characteristics of children who do (CWS) and do not (CWNS) stutter using a norm-referenced parent-report questionnaire. Participant...
TL;DR: The promise of this Stage 2 clinical trial has led the authors to initiate a Stage 3 randomized controlled trial of the Camperdown Program, a reconceptualized PS treatment model that requires fewer clinician hours than traditional programs and has no formal transfer phase.
Abstract: Considerable research has been directed at the outcomes of prolonged-speech (PS) treatment for the control of chronic stuttering, but little research to date has focused on the PS treatment process. This report examines a Stage 2 clinical trial of a reconceptualized PS treatment model known as the Camperdown Program. This program requires fewer clinician hours than traditional programs and has no formal transfer phase. Additionally, it incorporates the following treatment process innovations, which replace treatment process components that are intuitively and empirically problematic: (a) PS is taught without incorporating target behaviors in clinician instruction, (b) participants learn to control stuttering without programmed instruction, and (c) the treatment process does not involve clinician identification of stuttering moments. Thirty participants were initially enrolled in the trial. Final outcome data are presented for the 16 participants who completed all trial requirements, including 12 months posttreatment data collection. These 16 participants showed minimal or no stuttering in everyday speaking situations for up to 12 months after entering the maintenance program, with speech rates in the normal range. Speech naturalness and social validation data were also favorable. Although self-report data generally confirmed the speech data, the results were not as positive. The present outcomes were achieved in a mean of 20 hours of clinic attendance per participant, which is much fewer than the hours required by treatment programs reported recently that run intensively over 2-3 weeks. The promise of this Stage 2 clinical trial has led the authors to initiate a Stage 3 randomized controlled trial of the Camperdown Program.
TL;DR: Mean trait anxiety levels were significantly higher than levels generally found in society, though differences were not large, and implications of these results are discussed.
Abstract: The question of whether people who stutter are generally more anxious than people who do not stutter has not yet been resolved. One major methodological barrier to determining whether differences exist has been the type of stuttering sample used. Studies investigating anxiety levels of those who stutter have mostly assessed people referred to stuttering therapy clinics, which is arguably a biased sample. To date, no studies have been published that have measured the anxiety levels of people who stutter in the community using random selection procedures. Such a sample is more likely to be representative of the population of people who stutter. The present study involved a random selection and telephone interview of people in 4,689 households. The telephone respondent was given a description of stuttering and asked if any person living in their household stuttered. If yes, a number of corroborative questions were asked, and permission was requested to tape the speech of the person believed to stutter over the telephone. A definite case of stuttering was based on (a) a positive detection of stuttering from the tape and (b) at least one of the corroborative questions supporting the diagnosis. A total of 87 people were identified as definite cases of stuttering across all ages, and 63 participants who were 15 years or older completed a trait anxiety questionnaire over the telephone. Mean trait anxiety levels were significantly higher than levels generally found in society, though differences were not large. Implications of these results are discussed.
TL;DR: The results suggest that wideband ER may be useful as a diagnostic tool in the assessment of middle-ear disorders and that a correction for middle ear pressure will be important for the clinical application of ER.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine wideband energy reflectance (ER) at ambient pressure in adults with a variety of middle-ear disorders. The ER results from 9 participants with middle-ear disorders and 1 participant with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss were compared with data provided by a group of 40 young adults with normal hearing sensitivity. Wideband ER results for the participant with sensorineural hearing loss followed the typical pattern of the data for young adults with normal hearing. For the 9 participants with middle-ear disorders (13 ears), the wideband ER responses fell outside the 5th to 95th percentile of the normative data for some portion of the frequency range in patterns that were distinct for otitis media with effusion, otosclerosis, ossicular discontinuity, and perforation of the tympanic membrane. Two ears with hypermobile 226-Hz tympanograms and normal hearing sensitivity had low-frequency ER patterns similar to that of a patient with ossicular discontinuity. One participant with negative middle-ear pressure had high ER in the low frequencies. This distinct ER pattern was similar to the patterns produced by participants with otosclerosis, demonstrating that a correction for middle ear pressure will be important for the clinical application of ER. Overall, the results suggest that wideband ER may be useful as a diagnostic tool in the assessment of middle-ear disorders.
TL;DR: In this article, healthy older individuals have demonstrated elevated taste thresholds for sweet, sour, and salty taste at suprathreshold levels, such individuals have also shown less abilit...
Abstract: Recent studies done on healthy older individuals have demonstrated elevated taste thresholds for sweet, sour, and salty taste. At suprathreshold levels, such individuals have also shown less abilit...
TL;DR: Family aggregation of SLI was examined for a unique sample of children who were ascertained before 6 months of age and thus did not have SLI, but were born into a family with a positive history of SLI (FH+).
Abstract: Substantial evidence continues to accrue for familial transmission of specific language impairment (SLI). The incidence in families with a history of SLI is estimated at approximately 20%-40%, whereas in the general population the estimated incidence is about 4%. Typical aggregation studies compare data on the speech and language status of parents and siblings of individuals with SLI (the probands) to similar data from family members of control individuals with no speech or language disorder history. In the present study, family aggregation of SLI was examined for a unique sample of children who were ascertained before 6 months of age and thus did not have SLI, but were born into a family with a positive history of SLI (FH+). No study to date has examined the pattern of affectance in families of children ascertained at such a young age. In addition, the ratio of boys to girls born into such families was investigated, as previous studies have suggested alterations in the expected gender ratios. Consistent with prior research, SLI was found to aggregate in families; the average affectance rate in FH+ families was 32%, with significantly more boys (41%) reported as having SLI than girls (16%). A comparison of FH+ and control families (FH-) on sociodemographic factors and medical history revealed differences in the overall rate of autoimmune diseases; FH+ families reported a significantly higher incidence (35%) compared to FH- families (9%). Finally, the 3-year language abilities of a subset of 32 children from FH+ families were compared with those of 60 children from FH- families. Children from FH+ families scored significantly lower on standardized measures of language and were more likely to fall below the 16th percentile (28%) than children from FH- families (7%). These results provide converging evidence that children from FH+ families are indeed at greater risk of developing language delay compared to children from control families.
TL;DR: Inter- and intratalker variation in the production of lexical tones may contribute to acoustic overlap among tone categories and give rise to perceptual ambiguity and whether listeners are able to reduce this ambiguity using contextual information.
Abstract: Inter- and intratalker variation in the production of lexical tones may contribute to acoustic overlap among tone categories. The present study investigated whether such category overlap gives rise...
TL;DR: The findings have delineated specific and similar patterns of aging changes in human vocal tract configurations in speakers of both genders, including the oral cavity length and volume of elderly speakers increased significantly compared to their young cohorts.
Abstract: This investigation used a derivation of acoustic reflection (AR) technology to make cross-sectional measurements of changes due to aging in the oral and pharyngeal lumina of male and female speakers. The purpose of the study was to establish preliminary normative data for such changes and to obtain acoustic measurements of changes due to aging in the formant frequencies of selected spoken vowels and their long-term average spectra (LTAS) analysis. Thirty-eight young men and women and 38 elderly men and women were involved in the study. The oral and pharyngeal lumina of the participants were measured with AR technology, and their formant frequencies were analyzed using the Kay Elemetrics Computerized Speech Lab. The findings have delineated specific and similar patterns of aging changes in human vocal tract configurations in speakers of both genders. Namely, the oral cavity length and volume of elderly speakers increased significantly compared to their young cohorts. The total vocal tract volume of elderly speakers also showed a significant increment, whereas the total vocal tract length of elderly speakers did not differ significantly from their young cohorts. Elderly speakers of both genders also showed similar patterns of acoustic changes of speech production, that is, consistent lowering of formant frequencies (especially F1) across selected vowel productions. Although new research models are still needed to succinctly account for the speech acoustic changes of the elderly, especially for their specific patterns of human vocal tract dimensional changes, this study has innovatively applied the noninvasive and cost-effective AR technology to monitor age-related human oral and pharyngeal lumina changes that have direct consequences for speech production.
TL;DR: The findings suggest that inferencing errors made by children with LI occur during the early stages of social processing and may contribute to social difficulties often experienced by this group of children.
Abstract: Anticipating and responding to a partner’s emotional reactions are key components in the comprehension of daily social discourse. Kindergarten children with language impairment (LI) and age-matched...
TL;DR: The results paralleled those of the previous noun-learning study, with common sound sequences being learned more rapidly than rare sound sequences and the reported discrepancy between noun and verb learning in English being reported.
Abstract: Phonotactic probability, a measure of the likelihood of occurrence of a sound sequence, appears to facilitate noun learning (H. L. Storkel, 2001). Nouns and verbs, however, tend to differ in rate o...
TL;DR: The communication difficulties between individuals with Alzheimer's disease and their caregivers are commonly reported and caregivers carry the burden of managing breakdowns in communication.
Abstract: Communication difficulties between individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their caregivers are commonly reported. Caregivers carry the burden of managing breakdowns in communication because people with AD are often unable to modify their communicative behavior. To assist caregivers in this endeavor, clinicians and caregiving professionals have offered a variety of strategies aimed at accommodating the individual's declining abilities. Many of these strategies are intuitively appealing, but they lack empirical support. This study investigated the effectiveness of 10 frequently recommended communication strategies when employed by family caregivers of persons with AD. In particular, we assessed (a) which strategies family caregivers report using and with what degree of success, (b) which of these strategies are used by caregivers in actual interactions with their spouses, and (c) which strategies contribute to improved communication. The study included a self-report questionnaire and wireless audio-recorded interactions between 18 persons with AD and their spousal caregivers during activities of daily living. The findings validate the effectiveness of certain communication strategies (e.g., simple sentences) but not others (e.g., slow speech). The results should be of interest to both family members and professionals who want to enhance communication and the quality of their interactions with persons with Alzheimer's disease.
TL;DR: The results support the view that intonation is relatively discrete from other levels of speech and language while suggesting some specific areas of possible vulnerability: auditory memory for longer prosodic strings and the of prosody for pragmatic/interactional purposes.
Abstract: Intonation has been little studied in children with speech and language impairments, although deficits in related aspects of prosody have been hypothesized to underlie specific language impairment....
TL;DR: The design and testing of a device for unobtrusive, long-term ambulatory monitoring of voice use, named the Portable Vocal Accumulator (PVA), which contains a digital signal processor for analyzing input from a neck-placed miniature accelerometer.
Abstract: This research note describes the design and testing of a device for unobtrusive, long-term ambulatory monitoring of voice use, named the Portable Vocal Accumulator (PVA). The PVA contains a digital signal processor for analyzing input from a neck-placed miniature accelerometer. During its development, accelerometer recordings were obtained from 99 participants with normal or dysphonic voices. The recordings were used to (a) test the specifications and capabilities of the PVA for monitoring normal and dysphonic voices and (b) explore potentially useful displays for the large quantity of data generated by long-term monitoring. The current prototype PVA is pocket-sized (12 x 8.5 x 2 cm), lightweight (200 g), and capable of sampling 11 hr of voice-use data, including estimates of fundamental frequency, sound pressure level, and phonation duration.
TL;DR: A study to investigate the learning demands of dynamic display systems that differed in system layout and language organization for children approximately 2 1/2 years old found evidence that the children failed to generalize their knowledge of the vocabulary to facilitate learning of novel vocabulary items.
Abstract: The current generation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is largely based on conceptual models of adults who are not disabled (J. Light & P. Lindsay, 1991). As a resu...
TL;DR: Results demonstrate that when LIs occur within families of SLI probands, these impairments generally co-occur with RIs, consistent with prior findings that males show impairments more often than females.
Abstract: Two family aggregation studies report the occurrence and co-occurrence of oral language impairments (LIs) and reading impairments (RIs). Study 1 examined the occurrence (rate) of LI and RI in children with specific language impairment (SLI probands), a matched control group, and all nuclear family members. Study 2 included a larger sample of SLI probands, as well as their nuclear and extended family members. Probands and their family members who met specific criteria were classified as language and/or reading impaired based on current testing. In Study 1, the rates of LI and RI for nuclear family members (excluding probands) were significantly higher than those for control family members. In the SLI families, affected family members were more likely to have both LI and RI than either impairment alone. In Study 2, 68% of the SLI probands also met the diagnostic classification for RI. The language and RI rates for the other family members, excluding probands, were 25% and 23% respectively, with a high degree of co-occurrence of LI and RI (46%) in affected individuals. Significant sex ratio differences were found across generations in the families of SLI probands. There were more male than female offspring in these families, and more males than females were found to have both LIs and RIs. Results demonstrate that when LIs occur within families of SLI probands, these impairments generally co-occur with RIs. Our data are also consistent with prior findings that males show impairments more often than females.
TL;DR: For known verbs, there were no differences in the children's use of individual verbs, regardless of the specific patterns of verb use modeled in the language they heard, and for novel verbs, the results show that for novel verb use, the children’s patterns of verbs use were closely related to the patterns of Verb use modeledIn the language to which they were exposed.
Abstract: During the early stages of language acquisition, children pass through a stage of development when they produce both finite and nonfinite verb forms in finite contexts (e.g., "it go there," "it goes there"). Theorists who assume that children operate with an abstract understanding of tense and agreement marking from the beginnings of language use tend to explain this phenomenon in terms of either performance limitations in production (e.g., V. Valian, 1991) or the optional use of finite forms in finite contexts due to a lack of knowledge that tense and agreement marking is obligatory (the optional infinitive hypothesis; K. Wexler, 1994, 1996). An alternative explanation, however, is that children's use of nonfinite forms is based on the presence of questions in the input ("Where does it go?") where the grammatical subject is immediately followed by a nonfinite verb form. To compare these explanations, 2 groups of 24 children aged between 2 years 6 months and 3 years were exposed to 6 known and 3 novel verbs produced in either declaratives or questions or in both declaratives and questions. The children were then questioned to elicit use of the verbs in either finite or nonfinite contexts. The results show that for novel verbs, the children's patterns of verb use were closely related to the patterns of verb use modeled in the language to which they were exposed. For known verbs, there were no differences in the children's use of individual verbs, regardless of the specific patterns of verb use modeled in the language they heard. The implications of these findings for theories of early verb use are discussed.
TL;DR: The pattern of results suggests that information from the auditory and visual modalities is used to access common, multimodal lexical representations in memory in postlingually deafened adults with cochlear implants.
Abstract: The present study examined how postlingually deafened adults with cochlear implants combine visual information from lipreading with auditory cues in an open-set word recognition task. Adults with normal hearing served as a comparison group. Word recognition performance was assessed using lexically controlled word lists presented under auditory-only, visual-only, and combined audiovisual presentation formats. Effects of talker variability were studied by manipulating the number of talkers producing the stimulus tokens. Lexical competition was investigated using sets of lexically easy and lexically hard test words. To assess the degree of audiovisual integration, a measure of visual enhancement, Ra, was used to assess the gain in performance provided in the audiovisual presentation format relative to the maximum possible performance obtainable in the auditory-only format. Results showed that word recognition performance was highest for audiovisual presentation followed by auditory-only and then visual-only ...