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Feedback and Feedforward Auditory-Motor Processes for Voice and Articulation in Parkinson's Disease.Journal of Speech, Language, and... Dec 2021Unexpected and sustained manipulations of auditory feedback during speech production result in "reflexive" and "adaptive" responses, which can shed light on feedback and...
PURPOSE
Unexpected and sustained manipulations of auditory feedback during speech production result in "reflexive" and "adaptive" responses, which can shed light on feedback and feedforward auditory-motor control processes, respectively. Persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) have shown aberrant reflexive and adaptive responses, but responses appear to differ for control of vocal and articulatory features. However, these responses have not been examined for both voice and articulation in the same speakers and with respect to auditory acuity and functional speech outcomes (speech intelligibility and naturalness).
METHOD
Here, 28 PwPD on their typical dopaminergic medication schedule and 28 age-, sex-, and hearing-matched controls completed tasks yielding reflexive and adaptive responses as well as auditory acuity for both vocal and articulatory features.
RESULTS
No group differences were found for any measures of auditory-motor control, conflicting with prior findings in PwPD while off medication. Auditory-motor measures were also compared with listener ratings of speech function: first formant frequency acuity was related to speech intelligibility, whereas adaptive responses to vocal fundamental frequency manipulations were related to speech naturalness.
CONCLUSIONS
These results support that auditory-motor processes for both voice and articulatory features are intact for PwPD receiving medication. This work is also the first to suggest associations between measures of auditory-motor control and speech intelligibility and naturalness.
Topics: Feedback; Feedback, Sensory; Humans; Parkinson Disease; Speech; Speech Intelligibility; Speech Production Measurement; Voice
PubMed: 34731577
DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00153 -
Journal of Speech, Language, and... Nov 2022This study used a cross-sequential design to identify developmental changes in narrative speech rhythm and intonation. The aim was to provide a robust, clinically...
PURPOSE
This study used a cross-sequential design to identify developmental changes in narrative speech rhythm and intonation. The aim was to provide a robust, clinically relevant characterization of normative changes in speech prosody across the early school-age years.
METHOD
Structured spontaneous narratives were elicited annually from 60 children over a 3-year period. Children were aged 5-7 years at study outset and then were aged 7-9 years at study offset. Articulation rate, prominence spacing, and intonational phrase length and duration were calculated for each narrative to index speech rhythm; measures of pitch variability and pitch range indexed intonation. Linear mixed-effects (LME) models tested for cohort-based and within-subject longitudinal change on the prosodic measures; linear regression was used to test for the simple effect of age-in-months within year on the measures.
RESULTS
The LME analyses indicated systematic longitudinal changes in speech rhythm across all measures except phrase duration; there were no longitudinal changes in pitch variability or pitch range across the school-age years. Linear regression results showed an increase in articulation rate with age; there were no systematic differences between age cohorts across years in the study.
CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that speech rhythm continues to develop during the school-age years. The results also underscore the very strong relationship between the rate and rhythm characteristics of speech and so suggest an important influence of speech motor skills on rhythm production. Finally, the results on pitch variability and pitch range are interpreted to suggest that these are inadequate measures of typical intonation development during the school-age years.
Topics: Child; Humans; Speech; Speech Perception
PubMed: 36260352
DOI: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00124 -
International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2020Some of the more protective and favorable factors for the development and health in children and teenagers are family and sport, so family involvement in the children's...
Some of the more protective and favorable factors for the development and health in children and teenagers are family and sport, so family involvement in the children's sports activities is vital in their sports process. The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior (positive, negative, and neutral comments) of family spectators of school-age athletes regarding sociodemographic and sporting variables. The sample consisted of 190 family spectators of 215 male and female ( = 11.66; = 1.60) football, basketball, and volleyball players. The Parents' Observation Instrument at Sport Events (POISE) was used for the observation and LINCE was used to codify the verbal comments made. After registering 38,829 comments, the results showed statistically significant differences in relation to the comments made and the gender of athletes, geographical area, kind of sport, and the sporting category. The findings highlight that in a competitive environment, the comments made by spectators related to athletes do not seem to be initiators of potentially violent situations but rather are dependent on the atmosphere in question. Further research is required in this area to foster positive conduct relating to grassroots sports.
Topics: Adolescent; Athletes; Basketball; Child; Female; Humans; Male; Soccer; Verbal Behavior; Volleyball
PubMed: 32079273
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17041286 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Aug 2023Hearing impairment affects many older adults but is often diagnosed decades after speech comprehension in noisy situations has become effortful. Accurate assessment of...
Hearing impairment affects many older adults but is often diagnosed decades after speech comprehension in noisy situations has become effortful. Accurate assessment of listening effort may thus help diagnose hearing impairment earlier. However, pupillometry-the most used approach to assess listening effort-has limitations that hinder its use in practice. The current study explores a novel way to assess listening effort through eye movements. Building on cognitive and neurophysiological work, we examine the hypothesis that eye movements decrease when speech listening becomes challenging. In three experiments with human participants from both sexes, we demonstrate, consistent with this hypothesis, that fixation duration increases and spatial gaze dispersion decreases with increasing speech masking. Eye movements decreased during effortful speech listening for different visual scenes (free viewing, object tracking) and speech materials (simple sentences, naturalistic stories). In contrast, pupillometry was less sensitive to speech masking during story listening, suggesting pupillometric measures may not be as effective for the assessments of listening effort in naturalistic speech-listening paradigms. Our results reveal a critical link between eye movements and cognitive load, suggesting that neural activity in the brain regions that support the regulation of eye movements, such as frontal eye field and superior colliculus, are modulated when listening is effortful. Assessment of listening effort is critical for early diagnosis of age-related hearing loss. Pupillometry is most used but has several disadvantages. The current study explores a novel way to assess listening effort through eye movements. We examine the hypothesis that eye movements decrease when speech listening becomes effortful. We demonstrate, consistent with this hypothesis, that fixation duration increases and gaze dispersion decreases with increasing speech masking. Eye movements decreased during effortful speech listening for different visual scenes (free viewing, object tracking) and speech materials (sentences, naturalistic stories). Our results reveal a critical link between eye movements and cognitive load, suggesting that neural activity in brain regions that support the regulation of eye movements are modulated when listening is effortful.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Aged; Speech; Eye Movements; Speech Perception; Auditory Perception; Noise; Speech Intelligibility
PubMed: 37491313
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0240-23.2023 -
Advances in Physiology Education Dec 2022A filler is any word or sound that interpolates (i.e., is inserted into) the main message of a speaker. Common fillers include "um", "ah," "like," "so," and "you know?"...
A filler is any word or sound that interpolates (i.e., is inserted into) the main message of a speaker. Common fillers include "um", "ah," "like," "so," and "you know?" among others. Excessive use of fillers in scientific presentations can reduce the credibility of the speaker as well as impair the comprehension of the speaker's message by the audience. Primary causes of fillers include nervousness/speaking too quickly, inadequate preparation time, and infrequently used words that are difficult for the speaker to remember while presenting. Recommendations for reducing the use of fillers include self-awareness of the problem, reinforcing feedback, and active intervention to render pauses silent (instead of verbal) by "chunking" content, increasing preparation time, and slowing presentation pace. Excessive use of fillers is an obstacle to becoming an effective public speaker, and therefore, efforts to reduce filler use should be a goal of professional development. Although many articles exist on the use of filler words during public speaking, to our knowledge this is the first comprehensive discussion of the issue in the context of scientific presentations and speech in biomedical research. This Personal View discusses the problem of excessive filler use, the underlying causes, and tips for reducing fillers based on a combination of available literature and personal advice from a laboratory with nearly 40 years of experience in mentoring.
Topics: Comprehension; Humans; Speech
PubMed: 36074921
DOI: 10.1152/advan.00110.2022 -
The Journals of Gerontology. Series B,... Dec 2022There is evidence that loneliness is detrimental to cognitive health. Most studies, however, do not consider the association between loneliness and cognition in the...
OBJECTIVES
There is evidence that loneliness is detrimental to cognitive health. Most studies, however, do not consider the association between loneliness and cognition in the context of close relationships, such as a spouse or romantic partner. This study examines loneliness, experienced by both the individual and their romantic partner, and cognitive performance.
METHODS
Data were from 24,689 opposite-sex couples (49,378 participants) from 28 countries in the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe. Each couple participant reported loneliness and completed memory and verbal fluency tasks. A multilevel sex-stratified analysis was used to account for the nested data structure and evaluate actor and partner effects of loneliness on cognitive performance for male and female partners.
RESULTS
Consistent with the literature, there were small actor effects of loneliness on memory and verbal fluency for both males and females: A person's own loneliness was associated negatively with their cognitive performance on both tasks. There were also small partner effects: A person with a partner who was lonely tended to have worse cognitive performance above and beyond their own loneliness. Actor and partners effects were similar for male and female partners, replicated in most countries, and generally held controlling for age, education, household size, and disease burden. For memory, loneliness effects were slightly stronger among older participants.
DISCUSSION
Both the experience of loneliness and loneliness of a partner have a negative association with cognitive health.
Topics: Female; Humans; Male; Aging; Loneliness; Memory, Episodic; Multilevel Analysis; Sexual Partners; Surveys and Questionnaires; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 35758343
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac086 -
International Journal of Environmental... Nov 2022Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is one of the strongest evidence-based treatments for young children with behavior problems. Despite the efficacy of PCIT, many...
Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is one of the strongest evidence-based treatments for young children with behavior problems. Despite the efficacy of PCIT, many families fail to complete treatment, with attrition rates ranging from 30 to 69 percent. Preliminary research on attrition in PCIT treatment studies has linked maternal distress, negative verbal behavior (critical and sarcastic comments towards the child), lower socioeconomic status (SES), and fewer child major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnoses with premature termination from PCIT. However, more research is still needed to identify the range of reasons for treatment discontinuation. The purpose of the present study was to explore the range of reasons for premature termination from PCIT by conducting in-depth interviews with parents who discontinued PCIT using a qualitative design methodology. Results yielded eight themes, which were organized into three constructs: child-directed interaction (CDI) successes, difficulties with treatment, and the need for more clarity and orientation. Several existing treatment strategies that emerged from the data could be applied to PCIT to further enhance it and potentially reduce dropout (e.g., reconceptualizing dropout from PCIT, micro-orienting strategies used in other cognitive and behavioral therapies and dialectical behavior therapy). Understanding the reasons why parents drop out of PCIT and exploring different adaptations that can be made can further enhance this evidence-based treatment and increase its accessibility.
Topics: Humans; Child, Preschool; Depressive Disorder, Major; Parent-Child Relations; Problem Behavior; Behavior Therapy; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 36361216
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192114341 -
Neurology India 2021Verbal fluency test is a short psychometric test, which is sensitive to verbal ability and executive control impairment. We did not find studies that analyze verbal...
INTRODUCTION
Verbal fluency test is a short psychometric test, which is sensitive to verbal ability and executive control impairment. We did not find studies that analyze verbal fluency in relation to the neurodevelopmental disorders in Spanish-speaking children with letters P-M. Our objective was to analyze the verbal fluency of Spanish-speaking children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
METHOD
We carried out a retrospective cross-sectional study to analyze the performance of children who had undergone a neuropsychological assessment.
RESULTS
We included 164 patients. There were 55 (33.54%) patients with low intellectual performance (LIP), 19 (11.59%) patients with dyslexia , and 90 (54.88%) patients had an ADHD. Patients with LIP showed lower phonological fluency than patients with ADHD. As for semantic fluidity, differences were observed between patients with LIP and ADHD and also between LIP and dyslexia. The probability of having LIP was 9.6 times greater when somebody had a scale score lower than 7 in the PF task and it was 16.7 times greater when the scale score was lower than 7 in the SF task.
CONCLUSIONS
There was a direct relationship between FSIQ and the performance in verbal fluency test, which is a brief and effective neuropsychological test in revealing deficits in executive functions, verbal abilities, and LIP.
Topics: Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Linguistics; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Neuropsychological Tests; Retrospective Studies; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 33642279
DOI: 10.4103/0028-3886.310066 -
Reproductive Health Mar 2020Effective communication by maternity care staff can help a woman during labor and birth have a positive birth experience. Due to limited knowledge regarding this topic...
Role of verbal and non-verbal communication of health care providers in general satisfaction with birth care: a cross-sectional study in government health settings of Erbil City, Iraq.
BACKGROUND
Effective communication by maternity care staff can help a woman during labor and birth have a positive birth experience. Due to limited knowledge regarding this topic in Iraqi Kurdistan, therefore, this study assessed: 1) The level of women's satisfaction regarding verbal and non-verbal communication of midwives and physicians in the delivery room and 2) the association between this satisfaction level and socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics of the women and their general satisfaction with care during labor and delivery.
METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenient sample of 1196 women recruited between January and March 2019 from Erbil city, Iraq, who gave birth in the year before that. Data were collected from women through direct interview. A questionnaire which included sociodemographic, obstetrical information and 28 items related to verbal and non-verbal communication of physicians and midwives in the delivery room was used. Chi-square tests were used to find the association between dependent and independent variables.
RESULTS
Although 58.4% of the women were generally satisfied with communication of midwives and physicians in the delivery room, a large percentage (41.6%) were not satisfied. Only 14.6 and 27.3% of the women were completely satisfied with verbal and non-verbal communication of health care providers, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between women's satisfaction with care during labor and their satisfaction with health care providers' communication; 70.4% of women who were satisfied with care during birth were also satisfied with the communication of delivery room staff. There were statistically significant associations between the satisfaction of women with the communication of midwives and physicians and their level of education, parity, having stillbirth or neonatal death, and the setting of the last delivery.
CONCLUSIONS
Women's satisfaction with verbal and nonverbal communication of health care providers in the delivery room is associated with their satisfaction with birth care. Improving communication skills of health care providers can be a considerable part of improving care in delivery room.
Topics: Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Delivery, Obstetric; Female; Hospitals, Public; Humans; Iraq; Nonverbal Communication; Nurse Midwives; Patient Satisfaction; Physician-Patient Relations; Pregnancy; Socioeconomic Factors; Verbal Behavior; Young Adult
PubMed: 32151284
DOI: 10.1186/s12978-020-0894-3 -
Medecine Sciences : M/S Feb 2020Human oro-pharyngeal feeding is old as mammals's (150 millions years). This fonction is performed and coordinated by the central and peripheric nervous system. Thus,...
Human oro-pharyngeal feeding is old as mammals's (150 millions years). This fonction is performed and coordinated by the central and peripheric nervous system. Thus, eating and speaking use the same anatomic ducts and ways. To that purpose, the Broca praxic language area is close to the praxic area of the motor mastication and swallowing control in brain cortex. This area, a new innovation of human evolution, is connected directly with the old motor ways of preexisting oral feeding. The brain connectome and Foxp2 gene have contributed with efficiency to this linking when the language came.
Topics: Adult; Animals; Biological Evolution; Brain Mapping; Child; Child Development; Eating; Feeding Behavior; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Language Development; Nerve Net; Speech; Verbal Behavior
PubMed: 32129753
DOI: 10.1051/medsci/2020015