Monthly Archives: December 2009
Documentary presents inspirational story of kids with autism and Asperger’s syndrome
Millions of people around the world are achieving success every day, but no accomplishments are as impressive as those achieved by people for whom everyday life is a challenge. “Kids With Cameras,” a documentary presented by Polaris Media Group, to be released on December 15th, is a heartwarming and inspirational story of many such accomplishments achieved by kids with autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
from News-Medical.net
Study on the Use of Internet-Based Telerehabilitation for the Assessment of Motor Speech Disorders
This joint pilot study conducted by professors at the University of Queensland and doctors from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia sought out to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of an Internet-based telerehabilitation application for the assessment of motor speech disorders in adults with acquired neurological impairment.
from Presence TeleCare
For a career in speech therapy
The Mysore-based All India Institute of Speech and Hearing is one of the key institutions in the country that strives for the empowerment of persons with disabilities.
from Topix.net
Beyond stereotypes of old age: the discourse of elderly Japanese women
As with other socially categorized groups of people, the elderly do not escape being stereotyped by the more dominant groups in society. Old age is often perceived as a less significant stage of life after the peak of adulthood, one that represents decline from full physical, social, and linguistic competence. A question that presents itself is whether such stereotypical perceptions of the elderly are consistent with their actual lives and linguistic behavior. I consider this question by examining naturally occurring, informal peer conversations among the elderly, a type of conversational data that has rarely been studied. I focus on such conversations by elderly Japanese women, comparing the content and the manner of their conversations with commonly held perceptions about elderly women and their verbal behavior, such as the images of being depressed, submissive, and unconcerned about physical attractiveness. The examination reveals that the elderly women in the present study do not display such images; in fact, they can be lively and humorous even when presenting painful experiences, and they exhibit an image of being independent and conscious of their physical appearance.
Examinations of verbal presentations by elderly speakers among their peer acquaintances provide an insight into an aspect of their lives that is rarely available to younger people. The observations obtained here, it is hoped, will lead to a better understanding of social situations in which older people are placed and of their patterns of communication, and ultimately to a decrease of misunderstanding in intergenerational communication.
Managing unavoidable conflicts in caretaking of the elderly: humor as a mitigating resource
This article demonstrates how humor can be used as a resource for managing and minimizing unavoidable conflicts in caretaking of the elderly. Focusing on one particular caregiving task, the diaper change, the article shows how conflict arises in these situations due to the emotional and physical stress that both caregiver and care recipient are under. While these situations and their ensuing conflicts are unavoidable due to the institutional constraints of caregiving, the article attests that when caregiver and care recipient engage in humorous talk before initiating the diaper change, they pay more attention to each other’s needs and wishes during the diaper change and thus manage to minimize the conflict that is bound to occur.
Positioning age: focus group discussions about older people in TV advertising
As part of a larger research project on images of older people (the over sixties) in UK advertising, this article reports findings from a focus group study in which participants discussed their views on seven TV advertisements depicting older people as central characters. These were selected from a sample of TV ads broadcast in the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2004, and included a range of positive, humorous, negative, and vulnerable depictions. A total of nine focus groups each comprised of three subgroups: young, middle-aged, and older adults. In addition to the ads themselves, our analysis centers on the participants’ reactions to the ads. Our focus is on the discursive positioning of the discussants vis-à-vis the ads in terms of age stereotypes and age identity constructions for self and other. Participants not only comment on any perceived depictions of older age, they also position themselves, and others, age-wise, in relation to the depictions, and at times use their age identifications as discursive means to account for their views. The focus on how viewers align with these types of ads can be seen as an important addition to previous research on images of aging in advertising, as well as on talk about age. In our analysis, we make use of the theoretical notions of discursive construction of age and positioning theory.
Age categories as an argumentative resource in conflict talk: evidence from a Greek television reality show
Drawing on tools from ethnomethodological conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, this article shows how age identities are constructed through talk-in-interaction. The data analyzed come from a Greek television reality show and involve two participants: a 53-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man. Although their chronological age would not strictly classify them as old people, the identity old person actually becomes relevant for them on various occasions. This identity is either invoked by the two participants themselves or by younger participants and is argumentatively exploited as a means to various ends: to construct their own arguments or have arguments with other participants, and in defending themselves or accusing others of certain behaviors. The data analysis shows how speakers can distance themselves from an age category (most often the category old person) and, on a di¤erent occasion, endorse the same category if this is required by the context of the interaction or helps them evoke specific identity features. Broadly, this article will show that chronological age alone does not determine a speaker’s age identity: age identities are collaboratively negotiated or resisted by conversationalists and/or attributed to them in specific contexts during social interaction. Thus, aging is largely a socially established process, a contextualized interactional achievement.
Age categories as an argumentative resource in conflict talk: evidence from a Greek television reality show
Drawing on tools from ethnomethodological conversation analysis and membership categorization analysis, this article shows how age identities are constructed through talk-in-interaction. The data analyzed come from a Greek television reality show and involve two participants: a 53-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man. Although their chronological age would not strictly classify them as old people, the identity old person actually becomes relevant for them on various occasions. This identity is either invoked by the two participants themselves or by younger participants and is argumentatively exploited as a means to various ends: to construct their own arguments or have arguments with other participants, and in defending themselves or accusing others of certain behaviors. The data analysis shows how speakers can distance themselves from an age category (most often the category old person) and, on a di¤erent occasion, endorse the same category if this is required by the context of the interaction or helps them evoke specific identity features. Broadly, this article will show that chronological age alone does not determine a speaker’s age identity: age identities are collaboratively negotiated or resisted by conversationalists and/or attributed to them in specific contexts during social interaction. Thus, aging is largely a socially established process, a contextualized interactional achievement.
Preventing perseveration in language production
This paper investigates the effect of the repetition of phonological elements on accuracy in spontaneous language production. Using a corpus of naturalistic speech errors, it is shown that repetition of a whole segment doubles the error rate on the second token (a perseveratory effect), for onset consonants, vowels, and coda consonants; the effect is present (at a reduced magnitude) in the speech of young children. Repetition also leads to an increased error rate on the first token (an anticipatory effect), but only for word-initial consonants and only for adults. Repetition of subsegmental features has an effect only for word-initial consonants and only perseveratorily. There are no effects of repetition of larger units (e.g., syllable onsets) or for general segmental similarity. It is argued that the effect is largely due to mechanisms designed to prevent perseveration (by e.g., shifting average activation values downward), and affects early-accessed information (whole segments; onset consonants) more than later-accessed information (subsegmental features; vowels and coda consonants).
Benefit from spatial separation of multiple talkers in bilateral hearing-aid users: Effects of hearing loss, age, and cognition
To study the spatial hearing abilities of bilateral hearing-aid users in multi-talker situations, 20 subjects received fittings configured to preserve acoustic cues salient for spatial hearing. Following acclimatization, speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for three competing talkers that were either co-located or spatially separated along the front-back or left-right dimension. In addition, the subjects’ working memory and attentional abilities were measured. Left-right SRTs varied over more than 14 dB, while front-back SRTs varied over more than 8 dB. Furthermore, significant correlations were observed between left-right SRTs, age, and low-frequency hearing loss, and also between front-back SRTs, age, and high-frequency aided thresholds. Concerning cognitive effects, left-right performance was most strongly related to attentional abilities, while front-back performance showed a relation to working memory abilities. Altogether, these results suggest that, due to raised hearing thresholds and aging, hearing-aid users have reduced access to interaural and monaural spatial cues as well as a diminished ability to ‘enhance’ a target signal by means of top-down processing. These deficits, in turn, lead to impaired functioning in complex listening environments.
from the International Journal of Audiology
Perception of speech by prelingual pre-adolescent and adolescent cochlear implant users
This study was undertaken to assess the speech perception benefits, 24 months after cochlear implantation (CI), in 20 young people (age at CI, 8–18.5 years) with prelingual profound hearing loss, in addition to the use of a proposed CI candidacy assessment profile. Speech perception was evaluated in terms of word and sentence perception before CI, and at six-monthly intervals for two years after CI. Before undergoing CI, all participants were tested on a pre-implantation assessment profile. Compared to the pre-CI findings, group results over 24 months post-CI demonstrated improved speech perception abilities reaching, on average, 46% for word recognition, 71.3% for sentences in quiet, and 33.6% for sentences in noise. Pre-CI profile scores correlated significantly with all speech perception results obtained 24 months after CI. Thus, despite their relatively late ages at implantation, all participants showed gradually improving performance in speech perception. The results showed a high variability in the outcomes of the participants. The pre-CI profile appeared to be useful in formulating realistic expectations of CI outcome during pre-implantation consultations, suggesting that expectations can and should be managed according to each patient’s pre-implantation assessment.
from the International Journal of Audiology
Sentence recognition in noise: Variables in compilation and interpretation of tests
Tests of sentence recognition in noise constitute an essential tool for the assessment of auditory abilities that are representative of everyday listening experiences. A number of recent articles have reported on the development of such tests, documenting different approaches and methods. However, both the development and interpretation of these tests require careful consideration of many variables. This article reviews and categorizes the stimulus, presentation, subject, response, and performance variables influencing the development and interpretation of tests of sentence recognition in noise. A systematic framework is utilized to document published findings on these variables. Recommendations and guidelines, based on test performance requirements and test objectives, are provided concerning the interpretation of results and the development of new test materials.
from the International Journal of Audiology
Trends in listening to personal stereos
Long term use of personal stereo players (PSP) is now established as a potential risk to hearing health if exposure levels are not maintained at what are accepted as safe levels. Comparison of PSP user test results indicate that mean listening levels (LAeq) have decreased from 86.1 dB in 2002/03 to 81.3 dB in 2008 and mean exposure levels (LAeq,8h) have decreased from 79.8 dB to 74.7 dB over the same time period, in a user population whose mean age has increased from 23.6 years (SD = 5.7) to 26.0 years (SD = 10.5). This reduction in exposure level of 5 dB also means that the percentage of user population at risk of noise injury and subsequent hearing loss has decreased from 25% to 17% when judged by criterion commonly used for workplace occupational noise exposure standards.
from the International Journal of Audiology
The effect of frequency-dependent microphone directionality on horizontal localization performance in hearing-aid users
Frequency-dependent microphone directionality alters the spectral shape of sound as a function of arrival azimuth. The influence of this on horizontal-plane localization performance was investigated. Using a 360° loudspeaker array and five stimuli with different spectral characteristics, localization performance was measured on 21 hearing-impaired listeners when wearing no hearing aids and aided with no directionality, partial (from 1 and 2 kHz) directionality, and full directionality. The test schemes were also evaluated in everyday life. Without hearing aids, localization accuracy was significantly poorer than normative data. Due to inaudibility of high-frequency energy, front/back reversals were prominent. Front/back reversals remained prominent when aided with omnidirectional microphones. For stimuli with low-frequency emphasis, directionality had no further effect on localization. For stimuli with sufficient mid- and high-frequency information, full directionality had a small positive effect on front/back localization but a negative effect on left/right localization. Partial directionality further improved front/back localization and had no significant effect on left/right localization. The field test revealed no significant effects. The alternative spectral cues provided by frequency-dependent directionality improve front/back localization in hearing-aid users.
from the International Journal of Audiology
Improved sensitivity of electrocochleography in the diagnosis of Meniere’s disease
ECochG has long been shown to complement the diagnosis of MD, primarily through measurement of the SP/AP amplitude ratio. While reported in the literature to be highly specific to this disorder, ECochG’s sensitivity in the general MD population remains relatively low (ranging from 20–65%). The current study assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the ECochG protocol we employ for suspected MD patients, which includes measuring both the amplitudes and areas of the SP and AP to clicks (to derive the SP/AP amplitude and area ratios), and the SP amplitudes to 1000 and 2000 Hz tone bursts. A retrospective chart review was conducted to compare ECochG results from 178 suspected MD patients with their eventual diagnoses. Measurements of highest sensitivity and specificity (determined using a logistic regression analysis) included: SP amplitude, SP area, SP/AP area ratio, and total SP-AP area. Sensitivity and specificity values associated with these measures were 92% and 84%, respectively. The sensitivity value is considerably higher than previously reported, and is attributable to the inclusion of area measurements in our protocol.
from the International Journal of Audiology
