Healthy Communication Partners Modify Their Speech When Conversing With Individuals With Parkinson's Disease

Purpose For individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD), conversational interactions can be challenging. Efforts to improve the success of these interactions have largely fallen on the individual with PD. Successful communication, however, involves contributions from both the individual with PD and their communication partner. The current study examines whether healthy communication partners naturally engage in different acoustic–prosodic behavior (speech compensations) when conversing with an individual with PD and, further, whether such behavior aids communication success. Method Measures of articulatory precision, speaking rate, and pitch variability were extracted from the speech of healthy speakers engaged in goal-directed dialogue with other healthy speakers (healthy–healthy dyads) and with individuals with PD (healthy–PD dyads). Speech compensations, operationally defined as significant differences in healthy speakers' acoustic–prosodic behavior in healthy–healthy dyads versus healthy–PD dyads, were calculated for the three speech behaviors. Finally, the relationships between speech behaviors and an objective measure of communicative efficiency were examined. Results Healthy speakers engaged in speech characterized by greater articulatory precision and slower speaking rate when conversing with individuals with PD relative to conversations with other healthy individuals. However, these adaptive speech compensations were not predictive of communicative efficiency. Conclusions Evidence that healthy speakers naturally engage in speech compensations when conversing with individuals with PD is novel, yet consistent with findings from studies with other populations in which conversation can be challenging. In the case of PD, these compensatory behaviors did not support communication outcomes. While preliminary in nature, the results raise important questions regarding the speech behavior of healthy communication partners and provide directions for future work.

Uvula Manipulation and Resonance (UMAR) Treatment for Puberphonia

Otolaryngologists and speech therapist can be experts in managing specific puberphonia lesions to improve voice. However, not all voice problems have lesions amenable to surgical or medical therapies. Many are associated with maladaptive speech behaviors. We may employ a variety of techniques to improve vocal quality and function in patients with and without structural or neurologic laryngeal pathology. There is an alarming increase in cases of puberphonia and it’s after effects. Otolaryngologists can partner to manage a constellation of puberphonia voice problems with directed voice evaluation and therapy. We, in a small Otorhinolarygolist center in a small city, Chennai has registered and treated 600 cases of puberphonia. We are able to register the devastating problems of puberphonia. Regarding the treatment of puberphonia, in which laryngeal massage, outside the neck, is consistently highlighted as being an effective therapy technique for treating it. In addition, there have been several individual studies conducted to examine the effectiveness of laryngo pharyngeal manipulation inside the vocal tract, which also yielded positive results. A basic review of UMAR techniques and this partnership with yoga breathing trainers is presented which give almost immediate low pitch speech and give a good follow up.

Auditory-Visual Speech Behaviors are Resilient to Left pSTS Damage

ABSTRACTThe ability to understand spoken language is essential for social, vocational, and emotional health, but can be disrupted by environmental noise, injury, or hearing loss. These auditory deficits can be ameliorated by visual speech signals that convey redundant or supplemental speech information, but the brain regions critically responsible for these audiovisual (AV) interactions remain poorly understood. Previous TMS and lesion-mapping studies suggest that the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is causally implicated in producing the McGurk effect, an AV illusion in which auditory and visual speech are perceptually “fused.” However, previous research suggests that the McGurk effect is neurally and behaviorally dissociable from other visual effects on speech perception and, therefore, may not provide a generalizable index of AV interactions in speech perception more broadly. To examine whether the left pSTS is critically responsible for AV speech integration more broadly, we measured the strength of the McGurk effect, AV facilitation effects, and AV conflict effects longitudinally over 2 years in patients undergoing surgery for intrinsic tumors in the left pSTS (n = 2) or frontal lobes (control; n = 14). Results demonstrated that left pSTS lesions impaired experience of the McGurk effect, but did not uniformly reduce visual influences on speech perception. Additionally, when multisensory behaviors were affected by a lesion, AV speech perception abilities could recover over time. Our results suggest a causal dissociation between perceptual benefits produced by congruent AV speech and perceptual modulations produced by incongruent AV speech (the McGurk effect).These data are consistent with models proposing that that the pSTS is only one of multiple critical areas necessary for AV speech interactions.

Temporal and Episodic Analyses of the Story of Cinderella in Latent Aphasia

Purpose The purpose of this study was to improve our understanding of the language characteristics of people with latent aphasia using measures that examined temporal (i.e., real-time) and episodic organization of discourse production. Method Thirty AphasiaBank participants were included (10 people with latent aphasia, 10 people with anomic aphasia, and 10 neurotypical control participants). Speech material of Cinderella narratives was analyzed with Praat software. We devised a protocol that coded the presence and duration of all speech segments, dysfluencies such as silent and filled pauses, and other speech behaviors. Using these durations, we generated a range of temporal measures such as speech, articulation, and pure word rates. Narratives were also coded into episodes, which provided information about the discourse macrostructure abilities of the participants. Results The latent aphasia group differed from controls in number of words produced, silent pause duration, and speech rate, but not articulation rate or pure word rate. Episodic organization of the narratives was similar in these 2 groups. The latent and anomic aphasia groups were similar in most measures, apart from articulation rate, which was lower in the anomic group. The anomic aphasia group also omitted more episodes than the latent aphasia group. Conclusions The differences between latent aphasia and neurotypical controls can be attributed to a processing speed deficit. We propose that this deficit results in an impaired ability to process information from multiple cognitive domains simultaneously.

Bickering

This paper studies a speech behavior commonly referred to as “bickering,” which occurs primarily among interlocutors of close social distance (e.g. partners, spouses, siblings, roommates). Using ethnographic methodology, the study analyzes 100 naturally occurring sequences of familial conflict conversation supplemented by ten open-ended interviews. These data enable the disambiguation of “bickering” from other speech behaviors such as “complaining” and “nagging.” The analysis offers conclusions on the typical topics, interlocutor relationships and speech behaviors inherent in the bickering event.

A Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of Stuttering

Purpose Stuttering behaviors and moments of stuttering are typically defined by what a listener perceives. This study evaluated participants' perceptions of their own experience of moments of stuttering. Method Thirteen adults who stutter participated in a phenomenological qualitative study examining their experience of moments of stuttering. Analysis yielded several common themes and subthemes culminating in an essential structure describing the shared experience. Results Speakers experience anticipation and react in action and nonaction ways. Many speakers experience a loss of control that relates to a lack of a well-formed speech plan or agency. The experience of moments of stuttering changes through therapy, over time, with self-help, and across situations. Many speakers experience so-called typical stuttering behaviors as reactions rather than direct consequences of trying to speak. Interactions with listeners can affect the experience of stuttering. Conclusion Although research recognizes that the experience of the stuttering disorder involves more than just speech behaviors, people who stutter experience stuttering behaviors in time as involving more than just the disruption in speech. This finding has implications for both the theoretical understanding of stuttering and the clinical evaluation and treatment of the stuttering disorder.

Assessing Bilingual Children: Are Their Disfluencies Indicative of Stuttering or the By-product of Navigating Two Languages?

Clinicians commonly report difficulty determining whether the disfluencies produced by their clients are indicative of stuttering or suggestive of something else, such as cluttering, autism, language impairment, or second language learning. In our clinical decision-making process, we identify features unique to specific speech and/or language disorders. This identification enables differential diagnosis in most cases. But what happens when features appear to overlap and, as a result, compromise our clinical decision making? This article provides information to assist in the differential diagnosis of stuttering, particularly as it pertains to the assessment of children who speak more than one language. It explores similarities in the speech behaviors produced by these speakers, contrasting them with stuttering behaviors in monolingual English speakers.

Prevailing Lexical-stylistic Features in Emirati Language Learners’ Digital Discourse | Caractéristiques lexicales stylistiques dominantes dans le discours numérique des apprenants en langue émirienne

Predicting the future path of the digital classroom discourse is twofold. Today’s language classroom is undergoing an irreversible revolution and one of the most powerful drivers of this transformation is ICT. Digital classroom not only exposes the learners to grammatical language of linguistics, but rather the everyday life of the language in use (Thurlow and Mroczek, 2011). The aim of this study was to explore the nature of free digital discourse in a digital language classroom and capture lexical-stylistic features used in students’ online conversations through Blackboard-learn discussion board. To identify common or unique features of digital discourse in a paperless language classroom and to show how they affect students’ speech behaviors, mixed method case study was used. Aujourd’hui, l’enseignement des langues est entraîné dans une hyperbole irréversible, et les TIC sont l’un des moteurs les plus puissants de cette transformation. Les salles de classe numériques exposent les apprenants non seulement à la grammaire linguistique, mais aussi à la vie quotidienne de la langue en usage (Thurlow et Mroczek, 2011). Le but de cette étude était d’explorer la nature du discours numérique gratuit sur iPad dans une salle de classe numérique pour l’apprentissage linguistique et de capter les caractéristiques lexicales stylistiques utilisées dans les communications en ligne des apprenants adolescents en langue émirienne. Cette approche mixte par étude de cas a mis en œuvre un cadre théorique de détection des sentiments sur une plateforme d’apprentissage sur tableau noir pour cerner les caractéristiques communes ou uniques du discours numérique dans une salle de classe dématérialisée et démontrer comment elles affectent les comportements linguistiques des élèves de langue maternelle émirienne.

Efficacy of the Modifying Phonation Intervals (MPI) Stuttering Treatment Program With Adults Who Stutter

Purpose This study compared a new adult stuttering treatment program (Modifying Phonation Intervals, or MPI) with the standard of care for reducing stuttered speech in adults (prolonged speech). Method Twenty-seven adults who stutter were assigned to either MPI or prolonged speech treatment, both of which used similar infrastructures. Speech and related variables were assessed in 3 within-clinic and 3 beyond-clinic speaking situations for participants who successfully completed all treatment phases. Results At transfer, maintenance, and follow-up, the speech of 14 participants who successfully completed treatment was similar to that of normally fluent adults. Successful participants also showed increased self-identification as a “normal speaker,” decreased self-identification as a “stutterer,” reduced short intervals of phonation, and some increased use of longer duration phonation intervals. Eleven successful participants received the MPI treatment, and 3 received the prolonged speech treatment. Conclusions Outcomes for successful participants were very similar for the 2 treatments. The much larger proportion of successful participants in the MPI group, however, combined with the predictive value of specific changes in PI durations suggest that MPI treatment was relatively more effective at assisting clients to identify and change the specific speech behaviors that are associated with successful treatment of stuttered speech in adults.