Patient and caregiver satisfaction regarding telepractice versus in-person services at a university speech, language, and hearing clinic

Sojung Kim,Aaron M. Roman,Alexandra Moore 한국언어재활사협회 2022 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.7 No.3

Effect of Channel Interaction and Presentation Level on Speech Recognitionin Simulated Bilateral Cochlear Implants

Yang-soo Yoon,Aiguo Liu,You-Ree Shin,Jae-sook Gho,Candace Hicks,Qian-Jie Fu,Allison Coltisor 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Purpose: The present study used the acoustic simulation of bilateral cochlear implants to investigate the effect of presentation level (EXP 1) and channel interaction (EXP 2) on binaural summation benefit in speech recognition. Methods: The acoustic 6-channel processors were constructed, and the envelope of each band was used to modulate a sinusoid (EXP 1) or band-pass filtered white noise (EXP 2) with a frequency matching the center frequency of the carrier band. Presentation level was fixed for one ear and varied for the other. Channel interaction was simulated by altering filter slopes while keeping interaural spectral peaks matched in the carrier bands. Two separate groups of ten adult subjects with normal hearing participated in EXP 1 and EXP 2. Sentence recognition was measured with left ear alone, right ear alone, and both ears in quiet and in noise at +5 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Results: A significant binaural summation benefit occurs only in noise, regardless of interaural mismatch in channel interactions and presentation levels. Conclusions: Results suggest that factors other than channel interaction are important and that matching interaural loudness is an unimportant factor in binaural summation benefit in noise. For both EXP 1 and EXP 2, the data trend is indicative of speech information perceived in quiet being fully coded by the better performing ear alone, which leads to no binaural summation benefit. The results of current and future studies could have implications in programming of bilateral cochlear implant users.

Spectral and Cepstral Based Acoustic Features of Voices with Muscle Tension Dysphonia

Hee-Jeong Shim,Hun Jung,Rajinder Koul,Do-Heung Ko 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the cepstral and spectral acoustic features of patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). Methods: A total of 30 patients with MTD and 30 healthy women (control group) were enrolled. All participants were asked to vocalize a sustained vowel /a/ for more than 3 seconds, which was recorded and analyzed using the Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice program. Results: Compared with the control group, patients with MTD had significantly lower cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and CPP F0, and significantly higher cepstral and spectral index of dysphonia (CSID) and a low- to high-frequency spectral energy ratio. Additionally, in patients with MTD, there was a high correlation between CPP and perceptual parameters such as grade, roughness, breathiness and strain. Receiver operating characteristic analysis found that a threshold of 11.815 for CSID achieved a good classification for MTD, with 73.3% sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: By applying cepstral and spectral analysis and identifying the acoustic features of patients with MTD, this study demonstrated the feasibility and usefulness of cepstral parameters in clinical practice.

Perceived Benefits for Family Members of Group Participation by Their Relatives with Aphasia

Annette Rotherham,Tami Howe,Gina Tillard 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Purpose: Aphasia impacts family members. Therefore family members may also derive indirect benefits when their relative with aphasia chooses to participate in a group. The current study explored the benefits for family members of their relative with aphasia participating in a variety of types groups post-stroke as perceived by family members and their relatives with aphasia. Methods: The study used a qualitative descriptive research approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixteen participants: six family members and ten adults with aphasia post-stroke. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts. Member checking, peer debriefing, and triangulation of data sources was used to enhance the rigour of the study. Results: The participants identified 10 benefits that family members may experience as a result of their relative with aphasia participating in various types of groups post-stroke: improves communication between the family member and the individual with aphasia at home, provides support for family members, provides an opportunity for social contact for family members, enables access to aphasia-related information, reduces individual with aphasia’s reliance on the family member for socialization, provides an opportunity for the family member to have time on their own, enables the family member to experience positive feelings, allows family members to focus on their role in the family, provides a meaningful role for the family member, and increases participation for the family member. Conclusions: These indirect benefits may help to address some of the psychosocial, information, communication, and participation needs of family members of individuals with aphasia.

The Speed of the Hyoid Excursion in Normal Swallowing

Mary C. Ragland,Taeok Park,Gary McCullough,Youngsun Kim 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Purpose: To examine the speed of hyolaryngeal excursion in different age and gender groups during normal swallowing. Methods: Temporal and biomechanical measurements of hyolaryngeal excursion were calculated using videofluoroscopic swallowing examinations (VFSEs) of 37 healthy individuals. Statistical comparisons were made by two-way repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) with between subject variables being age and gender, and within subject variable being bolus volume (5 mL and 10 mL thin liquids). Significance level was set as p<0.025. Results: The speed of hyoid excursion in older populations was significantly slower than in younger ones. There was no gender or bolus volume difference or interaction in the speed of hyoid excursion. Conclusions: Slower hyoid excursion may put older populations at higher risk for aspiration in case of illness or accident. The preventive approach is essential.

From the Editor

Samuel Do-Heung Ko 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Comparisons in Consonant Confusions with and without gain for the Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Yang-soo Yoon,David M. Gooler,Jont B. Allen,Jae-sook Gho 한국언어재활사협회 2017 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.2 No.1

Purpose: The present study aimed determining the effect of audibility on a consonant-by-consonant perception and on perceptual confusions per hearing-impaired (HI) listener. Methods: Six participants with sensorineural hearing loss participated. Sixteen consonant-vowel (CV) syllables with the common vowel /a/ were presented as a function of signal-to-noise ratio. Gains were computed with subject’s hearing thresholds by using National Acoustics’ Laboratory - Revised Compensation Rule. Then the gains were applied to each of the 16 CV syllables. Consonant confusions were measured without and with gain. Results: We identified three levels of difficulty in CV perception regardless of applying gain: Easy- /ga/, /ka/, /ma/, /na/, /pa/, /∫a/; Moderate - /da/, /fa/, /sa/, /ta/, /ʒa/, /za/; Difficult- /ba/, /va/, /δa/, and /θa/. Enhanced audibility improved performance most for Moderate set and little for the Easy set, but created negative effect on performance for the Difficult set. The effect of gain is also listener-specific: three out of the six listeners received benefit while other three listeners experienced negative effect from CVs with gain. The confusion analysis showed that subjects who benefited had the same primary competitors between gain and no-gain conditions, while subjects who did not benefit had additional competitors with gain. Conclusions: The preliminary results of this study indicate that audibility is one of the primary factors influencing speech recognition of HI listeners, but reduced audibility alone cannot explain the difficulty of HI listeners to understand speech-in-noise. A more affirmative conclusions can be made with further analyzing data from larger sample size.

Joint Attention Profiles for Children with Autism in Interactions with Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems

John W McCarthy,Jamie A Broach,Joann P Benigno 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Seven preschool children (M age=3;11; range=2;10–5;7) with autism or related pragmatic difficulties participated in two structured interactions with an AAC system. In the aligned interaction, the system was placed at the chest level of the experimenter with the actual book to the side. In the divided interaction, the system was placed to one side of the experimenter and the book was placed to the other side. Based on states of joint attention (JA) engagement during the AAC interactions, two subgroups emerged: beginning coordinators and active coordinators. JA engagement states with the caregiver, performance on the Early Social Communication Scales, and caregiver report of language and communication skills supported the observations during the AAC interactions. Future research directions and implications for therapy are discussed.

Aerodynamic Parameters and the Airflow Regression Slope (ARS) in Patients with Vocal Polyps before and after Laryngomicrosurgery according to Perceptual Judgment

Young Ae Kang,Cheol Woo Jo,Jaeock Kim,Jae Won Chang 한국언어재활사협회 2017 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.2 No.1

Purpose: The aims of this study were to explore changes in aerodynamic measures after vocal polyp removal and to determine whether the airflow regression slope (ARS) was a useful aerodynamic measurement. Methods: Thirty-nine patients (14 males and 25 females) between the ages of 19 and 76 years (median=47.62 years, SD=12.20 years) were evaluated; their details were logged in the database of Chungnam National University Hospital from March 2015 to May 2016. All patients were diagnosed with vocal polyps and underwent laryngomicrosurgery (LMS) with voice evaluation 1 week before and 1 month after LMS. Such evaluation included perceptual ratings of breathiness and strain (using the GRABS scales) and aerodynamic measurements. Aerodynamic measures included maximum phonation time (MPT), mean expiratory airflow (MEAF), mean peak air pressure (MPAP), aerodynamic resistance (ARES), aerodynamic efficiency (AEFF), and the ARS. All aerodynamic measures were compared pre- and post-LMS. Additionally, three patient subgroups (improved, worsened, and unchanged) were identified by reference to changes in the breathiness and strain ratings pre- and post-LMS. The aerodynamic measures of the three subgroups were compared. Results: All aerodynamic measures including the ARS improved significantly after LMS. The three groups did not differ significantly in any aerodynamic measure except the ARS. Conclusions: The ARS, a newly developed slope parameter, changed after LMS, and differed among the three subgroups divided by their strain ratings after LMS. Thus, the ARS identifies a strained voice.

Phonetic Categories of English and Korean Stops in 3-year-old Sequential Korean-English Bbilingual Children

Sue Ann Lee 한국언어재활사협회 2016 Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders Vol.1 No.1

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine phonetic categories of stop consonants produced by 3-year-old sequential Korean-English bilingual (KEB) children (n=12). Methods: Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) and vowel-onset fo (fo) of Korean and English stops were acoustically examined in each language separately. Then, their English and Korean stops were compared cross-linguistically. Results: KEB children produced English voiced and voiceless stops as well as Korean fortis distinctively at all three places of articulation. However, they distinguished Korean lenis and aspirated stops with fo value, but not with VOT. In terms of English and Korean stops across languages, only English voiced and Korean fortis stops were distinctively produced whereas the other stops with long lag VOT were produced with similar VOT and fo values. Conclusions: The findings of the current study suggest that sequential bilingual children possess two linguistic systems similar to simultaneous bilingual children.