14.4 ‘Innovation for speech language pathology’ - a new educational seminar

‘Innovation for SLP’ is a semester-long educational seminar we have recently developed for advanced speech language pathology (SLP) students in Slovenia. The seminar is designed to provide students with tools for creative problem solving in their future professional environment

14.4 ‘Innovation for speech language pathology’ - a new educational seminar

‘Innovation for SLP’ is a semester-long educational seminar we have recently developed for advanced speech language pathology (SLP) students in Slovenia. The seminar is designed to provide students with tools for creative problem solving in their future professional environment

Formant frequencies in children with normal hearing and profound or severe hearing impairments

The purpose of the present study was to discover the differences in vowel formant production (F1 and F2) in 33 children, aged 5-9 years, with a different hearing status (11 children with normal hearing (NH), 9 children with prelingual severe (SHI) (mean of hearing loss in dBHL, better ear=68,53, SD=18.90) and by 13 children with prelingual profound hearing impairment (PHI) (mean of hearing loss in dBHL, better ear=106.70, SD=4.82). Formant frequencies associated with 7 Slovenian vowels (/i/, closed /e/, open /e/, /a/, open /o/, closed /o/, /u/), produced during naming pictures or reading words from the Slovenian articulation test were obtained. All first formant and second formant frequencies of high front and back vowels of the speakers with hearing impairment were significantly different from those of the normal-hearing children. The findings suggest the role of the auditory feedback in vowel production in speakers with hearing impairment. The knowledge may be used in speech therapy in visual monitoring of vowel production in HI speakers and in acoustical engineering, to give more stress on high frequencies during acoustic processing

Writing in a Digital World: Self-Correction While Typing in Younger and Older Adults

This study examined how younger and older adults approach simple and complex computerized writing tasks. Nineteen younger adults (age range 21–31, mean age 26.1) and 19 older adults (age range 65–83, mean age 72.1) participated in the study. Typing speed, quantitative measures of outcome and process, and self-corrections were recorded. Younger adults spent a lower share of their time on actual typing, and demonstrated more prevalent use of delete keys than did older adults. Within the older group, there was no correlation between the total time spent on the entire task and the number of corrections, but increased typing speed was related to more errors. The results suggest that the approach to the task was different across age groups, either because of age or because of cohort effects. We discuss the interplay of speed and accuracy with regard to digital writing, and its implications for the design of human-computer interactions

Formant frequencies in children with normal hearing and profound or severe hearing impairments

Namen raziskave je analiza razlik v formantni produkciji (F1 in F2) 33 otrok, starih od 5 do 9 let, ki so polnočutni (11 otrok), naglušni (9 otrok, boljše uho=68,53, SD=18.90) ali gluhi (13 otrok, boljše uho=106.70, SD=4.82). Sedem samoglasnikov slovenskega jezika (polglasnik smo opustili) smo analizirali iz zvočnih posnetkov imenovanja ali branja besed artikulacijskega testa. Vsi prvi in drugi formanti sprednjih zgornjih ter zadnjih samoglasnikov otrok z izgubo sluha se statistično pomembno razlikujejo od formantov polnočutnih otrok. Rezultati opozarjajo na vlogo slušne povratne zanke za samoglasniško produkcijo. Podatke lahko uporabimo pri logopedski terapiji ob vidnem spremljanju samoglasniškega izgovora ter v zvočnih aplikacijah, ter opozarjajo na večje upoštevanje visokih frekvenc pri akustičnem procesiranju.The purpose of the present study was to discover the differences in vowel formant production (F1 and F2) in 33 children, aged 5-9 years, with a different hearing status (11 children with normal hearing (NH), 9 children with prelingual severe (SHI) (mean of hearing loss in dBHL, better ear=68,53, SD=18.90) and by 13 children with prelingual profound hearing impairment (PHI) (mean of hearing loss in dBHL, better ear=106.70, SD=4.82). Formant frequencies associated with 7 Slovenian vowels (/i/, closed /e/, open /e/, /a/, open /o/, closed /o/, /u/), produced during naming pictures or reading words from the Slovenian articulation test were obtained. All first formant and second formant frequencies of high front and back vowels of the speakers with hearing impairment were significantly different from those of the normal-hearing children. The findings suggest the role of the auditory feedback in vowel production in speakers with hearing impairment. The knowledge may be used in speech therapy in visual monitoring of vowel production in HI speakers and in acoustical engineering, to give more stress on high frequencies during acoustic processing