1,042 research outputs found

    Author Impact Metrics in Communication Sciences and Disorder Research

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    Purpose: The purpose was to examine author-level impact metrics for faculty in the communication sciences and disorder research field across a variety of databases. Method: Author-level impact metrics were collected for faculty from 257 accredited universities in the United States and Canada. Three databases (i.e., Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Scopus) were utilized. Results: Faculty expertise was in audiology (24.4%; n = 490) and speech-language pathology (75.6%; n = 1,520). Women comprised 68.1% of faculty, and men comprised 31.9% of faculty. The percentage of faculty in the field of communication sciences and disorders identified in each database was 10.5% (n = 212), 44.0% (n = 885), and 84.4% (n = 1,696) for Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Scopus, respectively. In general, author-level impact metrics were positively skewed. Metric values increased significantly with increasing academic rank (p < .05), were greater for men versus women (p < .05), and were greater for those in audiology versus speech-language pathology (p < .05). There were statistically significant positive correlations between all author-level metrics (p < .01). Conclusions: These author-level metrics may serve as a benchmark for scholarly production of those in the field of communication sciences and disorders and may assist with professional identity management, tenure and promotion review, grant applications, and employment

    Altered Auditory Feedback In-The-Ear Devices

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    Purpose: This study examined objective and subjective measures of the effect of a self-contained ear-level device delivering altered auditory feedback (AAF) for those who stutter 12 months following initial fitting with and without the device. Method: Nine individuals with developmental stuttering participated. In Experiment 1, the proportion of stuttering was examined during reading and monologue. A self-report inventory inquiring about behavior related to struggle, avoidance and expectancy associated with stuttering was examined in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3, naive listeners rated the speech naturalness of speech produced by the participants during reading and monologue. Results: The proportions of stuttering events were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced at initial fitting and remained so 12 months post follow-up. After using the device for 12 months, self- reported perception of struggle, avoidance and expectancy were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced relative to pre-fitting. Naive listeners rated the speech samples produced by those who stutter while wearing the device significantly more natural sounding than those produced without the device for both reading and monologue (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: These findings support the notion that a device delivering AAF is a viable therapeutic alternative in the treatment of stuttering

    Altered Auditory Feedback

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    The purpose of the study was to determine if combining delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and frequency altered feedback (FAF) would be more fluency enhancing than either DAF or FAF alone. Ten stutterers read at normal and fast speech rates under nonaltered auditory feedback (NAF), DAF (i.e., a 50 ms delay), FAF (i.e., a one half octave downward shift), and a combination of DAF and FAF [(COMBO), i.e., a 50 ms delay plus a one half octave downward shift]. Results indicated that stuttering frequency was significantly reduced under all altered auditory conditions at both speech rates relative to the NAF condition. There was, however, no significant differences between the altered auditory feedback conditions (i.e., DAF, FAF, and COMBO). It is suggested that further studies be undertaken to explore the combination of altered auditory feedback conditions, as it may be the case that a floor effect was demonstrated with the singular presentations of DAF and FAF and further improvements in fluency enhancement could not be exhibited in the combined condition. Finally, these findings support the notion that a slowed rate of speech is not necessary for fluency enhancement under conditions of altered auditory feedback

    On chirp stimuli and neural synchrony in the suprathreshold auditory brainstem response

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    The chirp-evoked ABR has been regarded as a more synchronous response than the click-evoked ABR, referring to the belief that the chirp stimulates lower-, mid-, and higher-frequency regions of the cochlea simultaneously. In this study a variety of tools were used to analyze the synchronicity of ABRs evoked by chirp- and click-stimuli at 40 dB HL in 32 normal hearing subjects aged 18 to 55 years (mean=24.8 years, SD=7.1 years). Compared to the click-evoked ABRs, the chirp-evoked ABRs showed larger wave V amplitudes, but an absence of earlier waves in the grand averages, larger wave V latency variance, smaller FFT magnitudes at the higher component frequencies, and larger phase variance at the higher component frequencies. These results strongly suggest that the chirp-evoked ABRs exhibited less synchrony than the click-evoked ABRs in this study. It is proposed that the temporal compensation offered by chirp stimuli is sufficient to increase neural recruitment (as measured by wave V amplitude), but that destructive phase interactions still exist along the cochlea partition, particularly in the low frequency portions of the cochlea where more latency jitter is expected. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed. (C) 2010 Acoustical Society of America. [DOI: 10.1121/1.3436527

    How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in language tests?

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    Background Bilingual children are under-referred due to an ostensible expectation that they lag behind their monolingual peers in their English acquisition. The recommendations of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) state that bilingual children should be assessed in both the languages known by the children. However, despite these recommendations, a majority of speech and language professionals report that they assess bilingual children only in English as bilingual children come from a wide array of language backgrounds and standardized language measures are not available for the majority of these. Moreover, even when such measures do exist, they are not tailored for bilingual children. Aims It was asked whether a cut-off exists in the proportion of exposure to English at which one should expect a bilingual toddler to perform as well as a monolingual on a test standardized for monolingual English-speaking children. Methods & Procedures Thirty-five bilingual 2;6-year-olds exposed to British English plus an additional language and 36 British monolingual toddlers were assessed on the auditory component of the Preschool Language Scale, British Picture Vocabulary Scale and an object-naming measure. All parents completed the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory (Oxford CDI) and an exposure questionnaire that assessed the proportion of English in the language input. Where the CDI existed in the bilingual's additional language, these data were also collected. Outcomes & Results Hierarchical regression analyses found the proportion of exposure to English to be the main predictor of the performance of bilingual toddlers. Bilingual toddlers who received 60% exposure to English or more performed like their monolingual peers on all measures. K-means cluster analyses and Levene variance tests confirmed the estimated English exposure cut-off at 60% for all language measures. Finally, for one additional language for which we had multiple participants, additional language CDI production scores were significantly inversely related to the amount of exposure to English. Conclusions & Implications Typically developing 2;6-year-olds who are bilingual in English and an additional language and who hear English 60% of the time or more, perform equivalently to their typically developing monolingual peers

    A systematic scoping review of speech and language therapists’ public health practice for early language development

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    Background: There have been calls for speech and language therapists (SLTs) to work within a public-health framework to support language development. Innovative practice is reported, but the range of services remains unknown. Furthermore, the potential impact of public health practice in speech and language therapy on early child development is also currently unknown. A new method in SLT research, systematic scoping reviews enable greater breadth of focus than traditional systematic reviews when identifying innovative practice. Aim: To report scope and critically appraise evidence of family-focused health-promotion practice for early language development in this area. Methods & Procedures: Using the Cochrane Public Health Group scoping review framework, data from reports of health-promotion practice with families of children aged 0-3 years were extracted and critically appraised on service delivery, information, reach and evaluation. Main contribution: Group-based service delivery was the most popular form of service delivery. There were limited reports on the information given in services and on their reach. Questionnaires were the most popular reported evaluation method. Quality of evaluations was poor due to lack of replicability and experimental control in the studies reported. Conclusions & Implications: This method of systematic review has highlighted the scope of health-promotion practice in speech and language therapy and also demonstrated the lack of evidence for its effectiveness on child language development. It is argued that systematic scoping reviews are valuable for scoping innovative practice in areas where either there is a lack of robust evidence or there is a high level of heterogeneity in practice or evaluation. To support clinician appraisal of available evidence, recommendations are given for development of questionnaire appraisal and for categorization of evidence levels on summary databases
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