Speech and Hearing Sciences

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An investigation of motor control for speech in phonologically delayed children, normally developing children and adults.
(Queen Margaret University, 1992) Waters, D. M.
Difficulty with phonological acquisition in children is currently widely regarded as a linguistic/cognitive disability but, since speech is a motor as well as a linguistic activity, speech motor control abilities must have a bearing on acquisition of the speech sound system. On the basis of previous studies, measures of speech rate and temporal variability are regarded as indices of level of speech motor control ability. Evidence was sought concerning the possibility that slow maturation of speech motor control abilities may underlie phonological delay in children. Speech timing characteristics were compared in 12 adult speakers (Group A), 12 normal preschool children (Group N, aged 3;8 years -4;10 years, mean age 4;3 years) and 12 age-matched phenologically delayed children {Group P). Measurements were made of phrase and segment durations and temporal variability in multiple tokens of an experimental phrase. The phonological structure of the speech data was also analysed and a measure of speech rate {in segments/second) was derived. The N Group were found to exhibit slower speech rates, generally longer mean phrase and segment durations and higher levels of temporal variability than the A Group. The P Group exhibited significantly slower speech rates than the N Group and there was a trend towards longer phrase and segment durations in the P Group data. With one marginal exception, no significant differences were found between the two child groups on measures of temporal variability. The weight of evidence indicated that speech motor control was less mature in the P Group than in the N Group. The findings lend some support to the view that differences in speech motor maturity may be implicated in phonological acquisition differences. Some implications for the design of therapy procedures are explored. The importance of analysing and taking account of the phonological form of speech data in investigations of speech rate is highlighted.
Single-route and dual-route approaches to reading aloud difficulties associated with dysphasia.
(Queen Margaret University, 1999) Mack, S. K.
The study of reading aloud is currently informed by two main types of theory: modular dual-route and connectionist single-route. One difference between then theories is the type of word classification system which they favour. Dual-route theory employs the regular-irregular dichotomy of classification, whereas single-route considers body neighbourhoods to be a more informative approach. This thesis explores the reading aloud performance of a group of people with dysphasia from the two theoretical standpoints by employing a specifically prepared set of real and pseudoword stimuli. As well as being classified according to regularity and body neighbourhood, all the real word stimuli were controlled for frequency. The pseudowords were divided into two groups, common pseudowords and pseudohomophones, and classified according to body neighbourhood. There were two main phases to the study. In the first phase, the stimuli were piloted and the response time performances of a group of people with dysphasia and a group of matcehd control people were compared. In the second phase, a series of tasks was developed to investigate which means of word classification best explained the visual lexical decision and reading aloud performance of people with dysphasia. The influence of word knowledge was also considered. The data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analysis of the number of errors made indicated that classification of items by body neighbourhood and frequency provided the more comprehensive explanation of the data. Investigation of the types of errors that were made did not find a significant relationship between word type and error type, but again the results indicated that the influence of frequency and body neighbourhood was stronger than that of regularity. The findings are discussed both in terms of their implications for the two theories of reading aloud and their relevance to clinical practice.
An instrumental study of alveolar to velar assimilation in slow and fast speech using EPG and EMA techniques.
(Queen Margaret University, 2000) Ellis, Lucy A.
This thesis evaluates the widely-held notion that place assimilation is (i) more frequent at faster rates of speech and (ii) a gradual phonetic process. The latter view is based on previous small-scale EPG studies which showed evidence of partial alveolar assimilations lacking complete stop closure on the alveolar ridge but with a residual tongue body gesture. For the present study, EPG data from 10 speakers were collected. Two experimental sequences, /n#k/ and /ŋ#k/, embedded in meaningful sentences, were produced by subjects 10 times each in a slow/careful style and 10 times each in a fast/casual style. The first sequence captures the potential site of assimilation and the second is a lexical velar-velar sequence with which cases of complete assimilation can be compared. The results showed that, overall, assimilation was more frequent in fast speech than in careful speech, although timing analysis revealed that assimilation is not the automatic consequence of rate-induced changes in intergestural timing of /n#k/. In fast speech, six of the ten speakers showed relatively consistent assimilatory preferences: they either produced only complete assimilations or they never assimilated. However, four speakers showed considerable intra-speaker variability. Two of the four produced either full alveolars or complete assimilations in the manner of a categorical opposition (complete assimilations were indistinguishable from control /ŋ#k/ sequences). The other two speakers produced a continuum of forms that could be ranked from full alveolars to complete assimilations via partial assimilations. Using the same stimuli, a follow-up combined EPG/EMA study was carried out, the purpose of which was to look for reduced coronal gestures undetectable in tongue-palate contact-only data. Two 'categorical' assimilators were re-recorded and these gestures were not found. This supports the interpretation that for some speakers assimilation is determined at a higher level through the application of a cognitive rule, while for others variation is 'computed on-line' during speech production itself. Current phonological models of assimilation are found to be unable to capture both gradient effects and more radical feature-sized substitutions under a single framework.
Communication in young people with intellectual impairments: the influence of partnership.
(Queen Margaret University, 2002) Walton, A. P.
Adults with intellectual impairments experience frequent communication breakdown in their everyday interactions. This can result from impairment of the linguistic skills required for effective communication and/or difficulties dealing with non-verbal information. Problems also exist, however, in the way that some non-impaired speakers, such as care providers, approach these communicative episodes. This thesis investigates communication in young adults with intellectual impairments with three different communication partners. These were a care provider, a student and a peer with intellectual impairments. Student partners were previously unknown to the main participants and not experienced in communicating with people with intellectual impairments. Communication structure and process are investigated according to the number of words and turns used to complete a co-operative problem-solving task and the types of conversational acts used by speakers and listeners. Non-verbal communication is investigated through the use of one non-verbal signal, gaze, during the task dialogues. An interactionist approach is taken to communication, where outcome or success is viewed as a product of the collaborative efforts of speakers and listeners. Communication is seen as multi-modal and involving the exchange of information via the verbal and non-verbal channels. The results show that when both parties were intellectually impaired performance was poorest. More surprisingly, dyads including a student partner communicated more effectively and efficiently than where the partner was a carer. One reason for this may be that carers used more complex, open questions to introduce new information into the task, and these were distracting rather than useful. Overusing open questions may be problematic for this population and less effective at establishing shared understanding than where listeners check their own interpretation of previous messages, a strategy preferred by student partners. Non-verbal signals can help to ease constraints on communication by providing interlocutors with feedback information on the levels of mutual understanding.
Language interaction in the bilingual acquisition of sound structure: a longitudinal study of vowel quality, duration and vocal effort in pre-school children speaking Scottish English and Russian.
(Queen Margaret University, 2006) Gordeeva, Olga
This PhD thesis contributes new empirical knowledge to the question of what paths bilingual acquisition of sound structure can take in early simultaneous bilinguals. The issues of language differentiation and interaction are considered in their relationship to language input, crosslinguistic structure and longitudinal effects. Two Russian-Scottish English subjects aged between 3;4 and 4;5 were recorded longitudinally. Russian was spoken in their families, and Scottish English in the community (Edinburgh, UK). The family environments were similar, but one subject had received substantially more input in Russian than the other one. We addressed the detail of their production of prominent syllable-nuclear vowels in Scottish English and in Russian with regard to their vowel quality, duration and vocal effort. Language differentiation and interaction patterns were derived by accounting for the language mode, and by statistical comparison of the crosslinguistic structures to the speech of monolingual peers (n=7) and adults (n=14). Subjects' bilingual results revealed both substantial language differentiation and systematic language interaction patterns. The extent of language differentiation and directionality of interaction depended on the amount of language exposure. Its directionality did not necessarily depend on the markedness of the crosslinguistic structures, and could be bi-directional for the same properties. Longitudinally, language differentiation increased, while interaction reduced. The amount of reduction depended on both language input and the structural complexity of the languages with segmental tense/lax contract and complex postvocalic vowel duration conditioning showing more persistent language interaction effects. The results confirmed the importance of language input. We showed that in bilingual phonological development language interaction should be considered as a normal but non-obligatory process. Besides, some structurally complex processes potentially explainable by 'markedness' (applied to isolated segments) could rather be explained by lexical and phonotactic factors.
An Investigation into the Ability of Adults with Post-Stroke Aphasia to Learn New Vocabulary
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2006-05-31) McGrane, Helen
Recent studies have established that adults with post-stroke aphasia can learn to establish connections between familiar words and abstract images, and nonwords with familiar objects. What has not been investigated was whether adults with aphasia could learn non-words with abstract images/ novel meanings i.e. new vocabulary. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether adults with post-stroke aphasia could learn 'novel' word forms with 'novel' word meanings, despite phonological and/or semantic impairment. Specific research questions included: Can post-stroke adults with aphasia learn new vocabulary? If so, what factors affect their capacity to learn? Is it possible to predict which individuals will learn most successfully? The methodology was developed using preliminary studies both with adults of normal language and cognitive functioning and post-stroke non-aphasic and aphasic adults. It incorporated learning theory and a cognitive neuropsychological model of language. A range of assessments was used to facilitate the capture of new learning. 'New learning' was measured not only in terms of the accurate production of the new stimuli but also the recognition and knowledge of the word forms and meanings of this new vocabulary. In the main investigation twenty novel word forms with 20 novel meanings were taught to 12 aphasic adults (< 65 years), over a four day period, using an errorless learning paradigm. Immediate recall of these newly learnt representations was investigated as well as delayed recall. Quantitative and qualitative results from a case series of 12 participants are presented and discussed. Despite semantic and phonological difficulties, all but three participants demonstrated substantial learning of the new vocabulary. The participants' range of learning ability (from both immediate and delayed recall data) was analysed in relation to severity of aphasia, cognitive factors (including attention, memory and executive function), as well as variables such as age, months post-stroke and number of years in education. With an intensive training period, these participants with aphasia demonstrate varying degrees of ability for new learning. Possible influencing factors and implications for speech and language therapy rehabilitation are discussed.
A cross-linguistic study of affective prosody production by monolingual and bilingual children
(Queen Margaret University College, 2006-09) Grichkovtsova, Ioulia; This work would also not have been possible without funding. Financial assistance
The main objective of the research reported in the dissertation was to investigate the production of affective speech by monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in Scottish English and French. The study was designed to address several important issues with respect to affective speech. First, possibility of identifying and compar- ing acoustic correlates of affective speech in productions of monolingual children was explored in a cross-linguistic perspective. Second, affective speech of bilingual chil- dren was examined in their two languages and compared to that of their monolingual peers. Third, vocal emotions encoded by monolingual and bilingual children were tested through the identification by French and Scottish monolingual adults. Five bilingual and twelve monolingual children were recorded for a cross-linguistically comparable corpus of affective speech. Children played four emotions (anger, fear, sadness and happiness) on one token utterance with the help of visual materials, which served as the reference of the expressed emotions, and as an affect inducing material. A large number of child speakers brings better understanding of cross- language and within-language variability in vocal affective expressions. The corpus was acoustically analysed and used in a cross-linguistic perception test with Scottish and French monolingual adults. The results of the perception test support the existing view in the cross-cultural research on emotions: even if people from different cultural groups could identify each others' emotions, an in-group advantage was generally present. Another im- portant finding was that some affective states were more successfully identified in one of the languages by the two groups of listeners. Specifically, French anger, as expressed by bilingual and monolingual children, was identified more successfully by both French and Scottish listeners than anger, encoded by bilinguals and mono- linguals in Scottish English, thus suggesting that children showed some emotions more in one of the languages. The joint analysis of production and perception data confirmed the association of the studied acoustic correlates with affective states, but x also showed the variability of different strategies in their usage. While some speak- ers used all the measured acoustic correlates to a significantly large extent, other speakers used only some of them. Apparently, the usage of all the possible acoustic correlates is not obligatory for successful identification. Moreover, one of the studied affective states (fear) was characterised by more variable usage of acoustic correlates than others. Cross-linguistic differences were attested in the usage of some acoustic correlates and in the preferred strategies for the realisation of affective states. Simultaneous bilingual children could encode affective states in their two lan- guages; moreover, on average, their affective states are identified even better than those of monolingual children. This ability to successfully encode vocal emotions can be interpreted as a signal of high social competence in bilingual children. Produc- tion results show that all bilingual children realise some cross-linguistic differences in their affective speech. Nevertheless, interaction between the languages in the affec- tive speech was discovered both in the production and perception data for bilinguals. This finding comes in support of other studies which call language interaction as a characteristic feature of bilingual phonetic acquisition. The specific pattern of the affective speech realisation is individual for each bilingual child, depending on the affective state and on the used language. In this context, the theory of integrated continuum, developed by Cook (2003), is discussed for its possibility to describe the paralinguistic organisation in the bilingual mind. This thesis thus contributes to a better understanding of phonetic learning by monolingual and bilingual children in the context of affective speech. It also gives a detailed analysis of cross-language and within-language variability present in affec- tive speech. This new data will be of interest to the researchers working in speech sciences, psycholinguistics, developmental and cross-cultural psychology.
Language development and its relationship to theory of mind in children with high-functioning autism
(Queen Margaret University, 2007) Carroll, Lianne
Impairments in language, prosodic and theory of mind (ToM) ability in individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) have been widely reported. However, this PhD study is the first to investigate changes in receptive and expressive prosody skills over time. This is also the first study to report on the relationship between prosody and ToM, independent of language ability. Additionally, this study presents a new adaptation of a ToM assessment, on which prosodic and verbal input are carefully controlled. Language, prosody and ToM skills in 24 children aged 9 to 16 years with HFA were assessed approximately 2 1/2 years after participation in a study of language and prosody conducted at Queen Margaret University College (McCann, Peppe, Gibbon, O'Hare and Rutherford, 2006). The current study reports the skills and abilities of the children with HFA in the follow-up, using a battery of speech and language assessments, as well as assessments of expressive and receptive prosody and ToM abilities. The majority of the children with HFA continue to show expressive and receptive language impairments, with expressive language ability continuing to be the most impaired language skill, mirroring results at Time point 1. Children with HFA are developing language along the same, but delayed, developmental trajectory as children with typical development. Strong growth was noted on prosodic ability within structured tasks, as measured by the total score on the prosody assessment, as compared to verbal-age matched typically developing children. The statistical gap that was present between groups in the earlier study no longer remains. However, children with HFA continue to perform worse on the understanding and use of contrastive stress. Children who showed atypical sounding expressive prosody in conversational speech in the earlier study continue to do so in the follow-up. Children with HFA are developing early ToM abilities with the same developmental progress as typically developing children, but at a chronological age approximately seven years behind. However, children with HFA struggle with second-order ToM tasks. Results show that language, prosody and ToM abilities are highly correlated. Prosody and ToM show a relationship independent of language ability. Implications of these findings to theoretical understanding, future research, as well as to speech and language assessment and intervention are presented.
An Investigation of Coarticulation Resistance in Speech Production Using Ultrasound
(Queen Margaret University, 2007) Zharkova, N.
Sound segments show considerable influence from neighbouring segments, which is described as being the result of coarticulation. None of the previous reports on coarticulation in vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) sequences has used ultrasound. One advantage of ultrasound is that it provides information about the shape of most of the midsagittal tongue contour. In this work, ultrasound is employed for studying symmetrical VCV sequences, like /ipi/ and /ubu/, and methods for analysing coarticulation are refined. The use of electropalatography (EPG) in combination with ultrasound is piloted in the study. A unified approach is achieved to describing lingual behaviour during the interaction of different speech sounds, by using the concept of Coarticulation Resistance, which implies that different sounds resist coarticulatory influence to different degrees. The following research questions were investigated: how does the tongue shape change from one segment to the next in symmetrical VCV sequences? Do the vowels influence the consonant? Does the consonant influence the vowels? Is the vocalic influence on the consonant greater than the consonantal influence on the vowels? What are the differences between lingual and non-lingual consonants with respect to lingual coarticulation? Does the syllable/word boundary affect the coarticulatory pattern? Ultrasound data were collected using the QMUC ultrasound system, and in the final experiment some EPG data were also collected. The data were Russian nonsense VCVs with /i/, /u/, /a/ and bilabial stops; English nonsense VhV sequences with /i/, /u/, /a/; English /aka/, /ata/ and /iti/ sequences, forming part of real speech. The results show a significant vowel influence on all intervocalic consonants. Lingual consonants significantly influence their neighbouring vowels. The vocalic influence on the consonants is significantly greater than the consonantal influence on the vowels. Non-lingual consonants exhibit varying coarticulatory patterns. Syllable and word boundary influence on VCV coarticulation is demonstrated. The results are interpreted and discussed in terms of the Coarticulation Resistance theory: Coarticulation Resistance of speech segments varies, depending on segment type, syllable boundary, and language. A method of quantifying Coarticulation Resistance based on ultrasound data is suggested.
When your native language sounds foreign: A phonetic investigation into first language attrition
(Queen Margaret University, 2008-12-22) de Leeuw, Esther
The research presented in this thesis comprises two experiments which investigated whether the domain of phonetics can undergo first language attrition, or be lost, when a second language is acquired in adulthood in a migrant context. Experiment I investigated the native speech of 57 German migrants to Anglophone Canada and the Dutch Netherlands. The bilingual migrants had grown up in a monolingual German environment and moved abroad in adolescence or adulthood. Their semispontaneous German speech was globally assessed for foreign accent by native German speakers in Germany. It was revealed that 14 bilingual migrants were perceived to be non-native speakers of German. Age of arrival to Canada or the Netherlands and contact with one's native language played the most significant roles in determining whether the German speech of the migrants was assessed to be foreign accented. Crucially, it was not only the amount of contact, but also the type of contact which influenced foreign accented native speech. Monolingual settings, in which little language mixing was assumed to occur, were most conducive to maintaining non-foreign accented native German speech. These findings prompted Experiment II, in which the speech of 10 German migrants to Anglophone Canada was examined in fine phonetic detail. The participants in this experiment had similarly grown up in a German speaking environment and migrated to Canada in late adolescence or adulthood. Segmental and prosodic elements of speech, which generally differ between German and English, were selected for acoustic analyses. Given that each phonetic element was measured according to two dimensions, it was possible to determine that in the lateral phoneme /l/, the frequency of F1 was more likely to evidence first language attrition than the frequency of F2; and that in the prenuclear rise, the alignment of the start of the rise was more likely to display first language attrition than the alignment of the end. In addition to intrapersonal variation within the same phonetic variable, interpersonal variation was observed. Two participants evidenced no first language attrition, whilst one participant realised both dimensions of the lateral phoneme /l/ and prenuclear tonal alignment according to the Englishmonolingual norm in his German. When extralinguistic variables were investigated, age of arrival (and neither amount nor type of language contact) had a significant impact on determining first language attrition, although this effect was only observed in the alignment of the prenuclear rise. While the experiments revealed stability in the native speech of late consecutive bilingual migrants, first language attrition in the domain of phonetics was observed at both the level of perception and performance. Taken together, these findings challenge the traditional concept of native speech by revealing that indeed native speakers diverge from the norms of native (monolingual) speech.
Voice quality of children and young people with Down's Syndrome and its impact on listener judgement
(Queen Margaret University, 2009) Rodger, Rebecca
Background: Voice quality in Down's syndrome (DS) is accepted as unusual, often perceived as harsh and whispery with lower pitch and altered nasal resonance. Less is known about the resulting impact, particularly in relation to how children and young people with DS are accepted by their peers. Method: This is a quantitative study of the voice quality of children and young people with DS compared to age-matched typically-developing (TD) controls. Expert raters use the Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme to perceptually rate voice, which is compared to instrumental analysis of fundamental frequency, perturbation measures and spectral tilt. The impact of typical and atypical voice quality is evaluated in a study of listener judgments of character, ability, age, gender and social desirability using a specially designed semantic-differential questionnaire completed by special-needs and mainstream education staff and TD peers based on audio-recordings. Results: Perceptually, a number of features, including lip, tongue and jaw settings, pharyngeal constriction and respiratory support were found to be atypical compared to controls, whilst other features, notably phonation type and nasality, echoed typical patterns but were more severe in presentation in the speakers with DS. Contrary to hypotheses only spectral tilt differed significantly in instrumental analysis. All groups of raters judged the speakers with DS significantly more negatively than controls across all questionnaire parameters. TD peers showed a strong preference for the company of TD children over those with DS. Conclusions: Perceptual differences are evident in the voices of children with DS, but these are not always supported by instrumental findings, perhaps indicating that the constellation of differences give rise to more negative perception. Close agreement between education staff groups suggests that children with DS are no more disadvantaged by the perception of teachers in mainstream than in special-schools; however particular difficulties are highlighted for the development of friendships with TD peers.
The relationship between language skills, social cognition and externalising behaviour in Primary school aged boys
(Queen Margaret University, 2010) Mackie, Leila
There is evidence of a high incidence of language difficulties (LD) amongst boys with externalising behaviour (EB); however we still have little understanding about why they co-occur. This 3 part study investigates aspects of this relationship framed within a biopsychosocial model and with a focus on pragmatic language skills and social cognition. Firstly, this study seeks to replicate recent research that has indicated a close association between pragmatic language skills and EB. It is the first study to consider the strength of this association while controlling for other variables known to commonly co-occur with LD and EB: aspects of the child's ability (word decoding and nonverbal cognitive skills), and aspect of their environment (parenting stress, maternal education and family set up). Secondly, this study furthers our understanding of the social cognitive and friendship skills of boys with LD, in both areas through investigating reasons for variance in ability. A better understanding of an LD population feeds into our understanding of EB due to the high proportion of boys with EB who have coexisting LD. Thirdly, this study measures social cognition of boys EB while accounting for the role of LD, thus investigating whether difficulty with these tests is associated with the high rate of LD in this population. Previous studies have not adequately considered this. Method: Boys aged 8 to 11 years receiving additional support in school were assessed for LD and EB and two groups (not mutually exclusive) were identified: boys with LD (n=31) and boys with EB (n=35). A control group of typically developing boys matched for age and SES were also identified (n=42). For part one, participants completed assessments of language skills, word decoding and non-verbal cognitive ability. Teachers completed a checklist to provide a measure of pragmatic language skills. Parents completed questionnaires to provide measures of parenting stress, family set-up and maternal education. For the second and third part of the study participants' social cognition was assessed and parent and teachers completed a checklist for measurement of emotional and behavioural difficulties including friendship skills. Results and discussion: In the first part of this study, all variables measured were found to be significantly associated with EB, as would be expected within a biopsychosocial model in which many factors interact with each other in the development of EB. However, particularly close associations were found between pragmatic language skills and EB (replicating previous research in this area), followed by language skills. This indicates a close and specific association between communication skills and EB, even when other closely associated variables are accounted for. In part two, amongst boys with LD, different social cognition assessments were found to be associated with different aspects of communication skills. One was most closely associated with structural (particularly expressive) language and the other two with pragmatic language. This indicates that they are tapping different constructs and highlights the difficulty using a proxy to give an indicator of social cognition; it is not easy to assess. Variability in friendship skills of boys with LD was not associated with any aspect of communication skills. Significant correlations were found with two of the social cognition test scores only. This is at variance with research indicating a link between friendship and receptive language skills. In part 3, the EB group scored significantly lower than the Control group in tests of social cognition, however EB was not found to be linked with social cognition score. Only boys with LD (with or without EB) scored significantly lower than the Control group. This has implications for previous research into the social cognition of boys with EB which has not fully considered the high proportion with LD and the extent this may be contributing to their low social cognition scores. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Ultrasound and acoustic analysis of lingual movement in teenagers with childhood apraxia of speech, control adults and typically developing children
(Queen Margaret University, 2010) Kocjancic, Tanja
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a neurological motor speech disorder affecting spatiotemporal planning of speech movements. Speech characteristics of CAS are still not well defined and the main aim of this thesis was to reveal them by analysing acoustic and articulatory data obtained by ultrasound imaging. Ultrasound recording provided temporal and articulatory measurement of duration of syllables and segments, amount and rate of tongue movement over the syllables and observation of the patterns of tongue movement. Data was provided by three teenagers with CAS and two control groups, one of ten typically developing children and the other of ten adults. Results showed that, as a group, speakers with CAS differed from the adults but not from the typically developing children in syllable duration and in rate of tongue movement. They did not differ from either of the control groups in amount of tongue movement. Individually, speakers with CAS showed similar or even greater consistency on these features than the control speakers but displayed different abilities to adapt them to changes in the syllable structure. While all three adapted syllable duration and rate of tongue movement in the adult-like way, only two showed mature adaptation of segment durations and of the amount of tongue movement. Observing patterns of tongue movement showed that speakers with CAS produce different patterns than speakers in the control groups but are at the same time, like adults, very stable in their articulations. Also, speakers with CAS may move their tongues less in the oral space than speakers in the control groups. The differences between the control groups were similar to those found in previous studies. The results provide support for the validity of the methods used, new information about CAS and a promising direction for future research in differential diagnostic and therapy procedures.
Speech and Prosody in developmental disorders: Autism and Down's Syndrome
(Queen Margaret University, 2010) Cleland, Joanne
Language impairment is a key characteristic of many developmental disorders, with the relationship between linguistic and cognitive ability a critical topic for research in this field. Speech (articulation and phonology) and prosody have largely been absent from these discussions, perhaps because they are not universally impaired. The portfolio of published research critically appraised here addresses the relationships between speech and prosody and other domains, such as language and cognition, in two conditions in which disordered speech is common: primarily at the suprasegmental level in autism and at the segmental level in Down’s syndrome. Speech disorders were found in both conditions, though speech was much more severely impaired in Down’s syndrome. Errors were typically categorised as delayed phonological processes, implying a linguistic cause. However, through fine phonetic transcription and instrumental techniques it was shown that both conditions also presented with distortions that were more phonetic in nature and with non-developmental errors. Severity of speech disorder was not related to cognitive or linguistic ability as measured by standardised assessments, suggesting that a generalised delay in language or cognition was not the cause of disordered speech. In autism minor delays and distortions may be due to a lack of ability to identify with peers and impaired theory of mind, whereas in Down’s syndrome anatomical differences and difficulty with motor planning are likely causes. Both linguistic and paralinguistic prosody were found to be disordered in children with autism and correlations with linguistic ability were found. However, disordered prosody is more likely to be due to impaired theory of mind or weak central coherence than a result of delayed language. Both autism and Down’s syndrome present with speech that is disordered rather than simply delayed and this is unlikely to be due to delayed language, suggesting that specific, targeted intervention may be warranted.
Articulatory characteristics of sibilant production in young people with Down's syndrome
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2014) Timmins, Claire
Speech production in children with Down’s syndrome (DS) has been found to be variable and inconsistent. Errors are concentrated in consonants that are typically late developing, such as fricatives. It has been suggested that inconsistency in speech production in DS is a result of a motor speech deficit but there is little detailed articulatory evidence to support this claim. This study (with data from MRC grant ‘Assessment and Treatment of Impaired Speech Motor Control in Children with Down's syndrome’ (G0401388)) provides a detailed phonetic analysis of the voiceless sibilants /s/ and /ʃ/, in a group of young people with DS, by means of auditory and articulatory analysis. The aim of the study is to assess fine motor ability and articulation variability at word level production in a group of speakers with well-established difficulties in speech articulation. The study analysed data from 25 children with DS, 10 typically developing children and 8 adult speakers, recorded using EPG. Perceptual measures were compared with quantitative analyses of EPG data, along with visual analysis of articulation patterns based on a new set of articulation taxonomies. The data is presented by group and in the form of 5 case studies. The case studies provide a means to analyse the relationship between articulation and auditory information in detail and to compare these with supplementary motor control measures. The results show presence of atypical articulation patterns for speakers with DS for both perceptually acceptable tokens, and those in error. Higher levels of within-speaker articulation variability are presented in comparison to the TD control group. Further findings suggest presence of articulation patterns in the TD speakers previously unidentified in EPG studies. Similar to previous studies, the results find that speakers with DS are a highly variable group and that speakers display a combination of typical and atypical speech patterns, influenced by speech motor control difficulties.
Verbal pragmatic characteristics of 4-5 year-old Saudi boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD)
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2014) Al-Dakroury, Wael
This study investigated verbal pragmatic skills in Saudi Arabian children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It examined quantitatively the verbal output, turns, topic related skills, and interlocutor impact in the children with ADHD compared to age-matched typically developing (TD) children. Also, a qualitative approach was used to investigate the mother-child interaction in children with ADHD compared to TD children with respect to conversational contributions and repair by the mother and the complexity of responses from the child. Another goal of the study was developing an audio-visual language sample database for Saudi Arabian Arabic speaking children. The participants were twenty 4-5 year old Saudi boys. Ten were typically developing and ten had a diagnosis of ADHD. A 30 minute sample of speech during free play was collected from each child in conversation with an unfamiliar adult interlocutor and a 15 minute sample of speech was collected during free play with a familiar interlocutor (the mother). All sessions were recorded on DVD using two video cameras. Transcription and coding systems were used to analyze the data. Comparisons were made between the TD children and the children with ADHD using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results of the quantitative study showed that children with ADHD have a reduced verbal output with respect to total number of words, total number of verbal turns and average number of words per turn compared to typically developing children of similar age. Also, participants with ADHD showed a significantly higher topic initiation to topic maintenance ratio compared to TD participants in the sessions with the unfamiliar interlocutor. No significant effect of interlocutor was found. The results of the qualitative study revealed that verbal skills are more challenging for children with ADHD relative to their unaffected peers which is presented by more frequent “no verbal response” than TD participants and use of more single word productions during their interactions with FI. However the incidence of “mazes” did not differentiate the children with ADHD from TD children. The mothers of children with ADHD were found to be more directive in conversation, to use "what" and "yes/no" questions more frequently and they had a greater tendency to use non-verbal cues. The differences were interpreted as evidence of the negative effect of the core behavioural characteristics of ADHD on verbal pragmatic skills and the presence of weak discourse skills in children with ADHD compared to TD age-matched children. The results also reveal the importance of investigating mother-child interaction variables in an attempt to understand the effect of parental style on the verbal skills of the children with ADHD. We have at this stage no means of telling whether the reduced verbal productivity is merely a by-product of non-linguistic core behavioural characteristics of this disorder or whether it stems from a core linguistic pragmatic deficit which is (or can be) an integral part of the disorder itself. The clinical implications are that very careful attention is needed in assessing children with ADHD to determine the nature and the extent of their language-use difficulties. Language-use difficulties exhibited by children with ADHD may be associated with a lack of social competence, which will be reflected in their conversational skills. The analysis provides the speech language pathologist with information that could assist them, by giving them a better understanding of children with ADHD, which would lead to more comprehensive assessments and more effective intervention and parent training programs.
Testing the roles of disfluency and rate of speech in the coordination of conversation
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2014) Finlayson, Ian R.
This thesis is concerned with two different accounts of how speakers coordinate conversation. In both accounts it is suggested that aspects of the manner in which speech is performed (its disfluency and its rate) are integral to the smooth performance of conversation. In the first strand, we address Clark's (1996) suggestion that speakers design hesitations, such as filled pauses (e.g. uh and um), repetitions and prolongations, to signal to their audience that they are experiencing difficulties during language production. Such signals allow speakers to account for their use of time, particularly when they experience disruptions during production. The account is tested against three criteria, proposed by Kraljic and Brennan (2005), for evaluating whether a feature of speech is being designed: That it be produced with regularity, that it be interpretable by listeners, and that its production varies according to the speaker's communicative intention. While existing literature offers support for the first two criteria, neither an experiment with dyads nor analyses of dialogue in the Map Task Corpus (MTC; Anderson et al., 1991) found support for the third criterion. We conclude that, rather than being signals of difficulty, hesitations are merely symptoms which listeners may exploit to aid comprehension. In the second strand, we tested Wilson and Wilson's (2005) oscillator theory of the timing of turn-taking. This suggests that entrainment between conversational partners' rates of speech allow them to make precise predictions about when each others' turns are going to end, and, subsequently, when they can begin a turn of their own. As a critical test of the theory, we predicted that speakers who were more tightly entrained would produce more seamless turn-taking. Again using the MTC, we found no evidence of a relationship between how closely entrained speakers were and how precisely they timed the beginning of their turns relative to the ends of each others' turns.
Experiences of acquiring hearing loss: lessons for rehabilitation.
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2016) DePlacido, Christine
Acquired hearing impairment affects one in six people in the United Kingdom. The process of becoming hearing impaired and seeking help is different for each individual and consequently very little is known about their personal experience of this journey. The aim of this thesis was to explore the essence of the experience of acquiring hearing impairment from the individual’s perspective, in order to better understand and meet the needs of clients seeking aural rehabilitation. Data was generated in the Phenomenological tradition using unstructured interviews and analysed using a constant comparison method drawn from Grounded Theory. Participants were recruited from the UK and the USA. Individual participant’s experience ranged from those who had not yet approached services, to those who had worn hearing aid/s for several years. Data is comprised of 24 recorded interviews, reflective journals, field notes and memos. Each interview, journal, field note and memo was coded and analysed to identify a core category. The results produced categories that identified stages the individual experiences when acquiring hearing impairment, and a core category, “Preserving the social identity” emerged. Most of the data was generated from interviews and focus groups but additionally a comprehensive audiological assessment was carried out with ten of the participants in order to compare their perception of their hearing before and after assessment. The assessment included taking a detailed medical and social history, performing otoscopy, pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, speech testing and the random gap detection test. This thesis adds to the body of knowledge about the personal experience of acquiring hearing impairment within the framework of Social Identity Theory. It proposes a theory of how individuals experience and adapt to changes in their social identity, and proposes that rehabilitation needs to be available at a much earlier stage than hearing aid fitting. It must also be multifaceted and multidisciplinary in order to meet the needs of the individual and their significant others at various stages in their journey. Finally it identifies an unmet need within Audiology provision and suggestions are made for service development and further areas of research.
Visualising articulation: real-time ultrasound visual biofeedback and visual articulatory models and their use in treating speech sound disorders associated with submucous cleft palate
(2018) Roxburgh, Zoe
Background: Ultrasound Tongue Imaging (UTI) is growing increasingly popular for assessing and treating Speech Sound Disorders (SSDs) and has more recently been used to qualitatively investigate compensatory articulations in speakers with cleft palate (CP). However, its therapeutic application for speakers with CP remains to be tested. A different set of developments, Visual Articulatory Models (VAMs), provide an offline dynamic model with context for lingual patterns. However, unlike UTI, they do not provide real-time biofeedback. Commercially available VAMs, such as Speech Trainer 3D, are available on iDevices, yet their clinical application remains to be tested. Aims: This thesis aims to test the diagnostic use of ultrasound, and investigate the effectiveness of both UTI and VAMs for the treatment of SSDs associated with submucous cleft palate (SMCP). Method: Using a single-subject multiple baseline design, two males with repaired SMCP, Andrew (aged 9;2) and Craig (aged 6;2), received six assessment sessions and two blocks of therapy, following a motor-based therapy approach, using VAMs and UTI. Three methods were used to measure therapy outcomes. Firstly, percent target consonant correct scores, derived from phonetic transcriptions provide outcomes comparable to those used in typical practice. Secondly, a multiplephonetically trained listener perceptual evaluation, using a two-alternative multiple forced choice design, to measure listener agreement provides a more objective measure. Thirdly, articulatory analysis, using qualitative and quantitative measures provides an additional perspective able to reveal covert errors. Results and Conclusions: There was overall improvement in the speech for both speakers, with a greater rate of change in therapy block one (VAMs) and listener agreement in the perceptual evaluation. Articulatory analysis supplemented phonetic transcriptions and detected covert articulations and covert contrast as well as supporting the improvements in auditory outcome scores. Both VAMs and UTI show promise as a clinical tool for the treatment of SSDs associated with CP.
THE AUDITORY BRAINSTEM RESPONSE IN HEALTHY ADULTS AND ADULTS WITH ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE SYNDROME
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2018) Johnson, Christine
The Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) assesses brainstem function. This thesis explores the click and speech ABR in both healthy adults and adults with alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). Experiment One undertook auditory-cognitive assessment including ABRs, of 60 healthy adults (30 women), aged 18-30 years. For waves III and V of the click ABR, women’s responses were earlier than men’s by 0.14ms and 0.19ms. For the speech ABR, onset and offset measures were earlier in women by at least 0.43ms. No effect for left vs. right ear was found in either case. Inter-rater reliability was found to be high (ICC2,1 ≥0.89) for the click ABR and good (ICC2,1 ≥0.75) for six of the seven peaks of the speech ABR. A comparison of ABRs to those from an older group of 12 adults aged 31-49 years (six women, matched control group for Experiment Two) found the stimulus to response lag for the speech ABR, was earlier (0.78ms) in the older women but within the expected range. Click and speech ABRs were repeated after 12 weeks and the representation of F0 for women was greater by 4.8 μV at the second recording. Experiment Two assessed the auditory-cognitive profile and ABRs of 16 adults (six women) aged 29-49 years, undergoing a treatment and rehabilitation programme for people with ADS. All participants had hearing thresholds within normal limits, but exhibited deficits in auditory-cognitive profiles compared to matched, healthy adults, including their click and speech ABRs. For the click ABR, men had significant delays in wave III (0.18ms) and wave V (0.22ms). For women there were significant delays for wave I (0.11ms) and wave V (0.22ms). For the speech ABR, men had significant delays in the onset measures of waves V (0.40ms) and A (0.36ms). Women had significant delays in waves V (0.45ms), A (0.48ms) E (0.66ms) and O (0.42ms). Testing was repeated after 12 weeks of abstinence and significant improvements in the click and speech ABR were observed. For men, average click ABR latencies improved for wave III (0.12ms) and wave V (0.22ms) and for women, wave V (0.08ms) improved. Significant improvements were also found for discrete peak and onset measures of the speech ABRs for both men and women. For men, average speech ABR latencies improved for wave A (0.23ms) and the duration of the VA complex (0.15ms). For women there were improvements in wave V (0.10ms), A (0.12ms) and E (0.33ms). These results add to the body of knowledge about the ABR and support its value as a clinical tool. They also provide new information about auditory-cognitive function in adults with ADS, for whom beneficial effects of abstinence are demonstrated. The ABR has a potential role in identifying people most at risk of alcohol related brain damage and in monitoring recovery with abstinence. Keywords Auditory Brainstem Response, Frequency Following Response, Speech ABR, Reliability, Alcohol Dependence Syndrome, Abstinence.