Construction of the Soft Sound Test for Hearing Aid Prescription

The purpose of this study was to design a test of soft sounds that would be beneficial to patients with decreased hearing. Hearing aid fitting strategies concentrate more on hearing conversational speech levels rather than soft sounds. These soft sounds often allow a full auditory experience for the patient. Soundscape stimuli are sound exemplars that are constructed with high quality sound recordings in a specific fashion to create a real-life sounding experience. Soundscapes are a relatively new technology that are used in the field of acoustics. Little use of these stimuli have been utilized in audiology. For this study we made a series of ten one minute long soundscapes to present to participants. They were made with very strict criteria. We established ten themes to construct them and chose a background sound that may be present in the environment we were simulating. For example, one of our topics was camping, and the background sound was a fire crackling. We then proceeded to choose six micro-sounds per theme to present intermittently throughout the background clips. These were sounds that would play within the background for approximately one to five seconds at fifteen second intervals. Each background (ten themes, were repeated twice for a total of twenty), had three of the six designated sounds embedded in them while the other corresponding background sound had the remaining three. The micro-sounds were embedded at specific intensity levels that would be audible only near the sound awareness level for the micro-sound (20 dB). The test procedure should allow those with hearing loss to hear soft sounds with a hearing aid

Exploring Evidence-Based Practice in Curriculum-Based Language Interventions​

Title: Exploring Evidence-Based Practice in Curriculum-Based Language Interventions Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide intervention services to 30% of individuals with language and literacy deficits in the school setting (Hoffman, Ireland, Hall-Mills, & Flynn, 2013). According to the evidence-based practice (EBP) triad, school-based SLPs use clinical expertise, client/patient/caregiver perspectives, and external scientific evidence to achieve successful treatment outcomes (“Evidence-Based Practice”, n.d.). Curriculum-based language interventions (CBLIs) make use of the student’s curriculum to provide context for language and literacy interventions. However, not many school-based SLPs use CBLIs due to several barriers (e.g., lack of availability to EBP, few trainings on implementation). The purpose of this survey is to explore Montana (MT) school-based SLPs’ knowledge of EBP, their use of EBP when designing CBLIs, and identify barriers to implementing CBLIs. A Qualtrics survey consisting of 43 questions was shared with MT school-based SLPs and SLPAs via email and Facebook shared posts; 68 responses were gathered over the course of three weeks. Preliminary results indicate between 32-58% of respondents identified are knowledgeable about the areas of EBP. Thirty-nine percent of MT school-based SLPs use EBP when implementing CBLIs. Furthermore, most SLPs stated that the greatest barrier to implementing CBLIs was lack of time to research EBPs. Additional analyses are forthcoming and will be shared. Providing CBLIs is paramount as a means of assuring academic readiness and academic success for individuals with language and literacy deficits

Get Out, Go Wild

The goal of our capstone project is to encourage children to adopt hobbies that frequently encourage them to get outside. We will present a video contest in which children record a short video of themselves doing any outdoor activity they love. The goal is to encourage students to get outside and give them the opportunity to be creative, collaborate, and innovative. We want to promote the qualities of nature and its substantial benefits to mental health. In addition, encouraging students to participate will secure outdoor recreation and potentially lead to students discovering new hobbies. It will also give them the chance to share hobbies they love with their friends and family. The video contest: Go Out, Get Wild! will open in January through Face book, Instagram, and Flipgrid, a website that allows contestants to upload short videos, following a specific criteria. In order for videos to be eligible in the contest the submission must be between 30 seconds and 90 seconds long, include the introduction My name is __ , and this is how I go out and get wild! . Participants must be under the age of 18, and provide parental consent. The consent will provide us with the rights to publish the videos to social media, as well as present them at the University of Montana Conferance of Undergraduate Research. Our purpose is to target the development of mental health disorders related to the disconnect between children and the outdoors. Encouraging kids to be outside in whatever green space they prefer, which does not occur under a roof nor is technology-focused, addresses these coping and habit forming mechanisms for mental health disorder mitigation