Purpose: Background noise and voice problems among teachers can degrade listening conditions in classrooms. The aim of this literature review is to understand how these acoustic degradations affect spoken language processing in 6- to 18-year-old children. Method: In a narrative report and meta-analysis, we systematically review studies that…

Purpose: This study aimed to identify predictors of response to treatment for residual speech sound disorder (RSSD) affecting English rhotics. Progress was tracked during an initial phase of traditional motor-based treatment and a longer phase of treatment incorporating ultrasound biofeedback. Based on previous literature, we focused on baseline…

Increasing the proportion of children with voice, swallowing, speech, or language disorders who receive intervention services is a Healthy People 2020 goal (1). Timely receipt of intervention services is shown to be effective for treatment of communication disorders (2-5). Using data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), this…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' attitudes toward, and perceptions of personality traits of, female adolescents who presented with voice disorders. Method: For this comparative study consisting of a 25-item web-based semantic differential survey, teachers rated voice recordings of 4 female adolescents (considered…

Does behavioral voice therapy effectively improve voice quality and eliminate or reduce the size of vocal fold pathology in school-age children who have vocal nodules? An evidence-based practice intervention review was conducted to answer this research question. The following resources were searched: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health…

Voice quality and speech intelligibility of 30 deaf adolescents were related to articulatory and acoustic variables. Voice quality and speech intelligibility were closely related and abnormalities of both phonation and articulation had a mutual negative effect on intelligibility and voice quality. (Author/CL)

How speech teachers can detect voice disorders. (CH)

This paper presents an approach to voice therapy with adolescents, emphasizing the importance of psychosocial and family influences as they relate to vocal behavior. The goals of therapy for the adolescent with dysphonia usually follow an orderly sequence, first dealing with individual behavior and later with family and peer group influences. (JDD)

This study compared the speech and prosody-voice profiles for 30 male speakers with either high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS), and 53 typically developing male speakers. Both HFA and AS groups had more residual articulation distortion errors and utterances coded as inappropriate for phrasing, stress, and resonance. AS speakers…

Five cases of adolescents with functional aphonia (lack of speech despite normally appearing vocal chords) are presented. Therapeutic management is described which followed the symptomatic voice therapy approach. A consistent theme for four of the adolescents was stressful family environment, academic failure, and inadequate peer support.…

The treatment of adolescent clients with hyperfunctional voice disorders is discussed from a developmental perspective. Facilitating techniques, treatment strategies, and materials is suggested. The recommended treatment approach focuses on enhanced awareness of the relationship between voice use and interpersonal skills in addition to behavioral…

This article examines possible causes or intensifications of vocal fatigue in adolescent singers. Factors considered include the adequacy of the singing technique, the strenuousness of the musical task, the physical singing environment, the singer's general condition, and the expectations imposed by the musical leader. Possible management…

This paper discusses the research findings in voice mutation, vocal instruction, and the application of knowledge to vocal instruction. Much research involves changes in the male and female adolescent voices, especially of interest to choral directors and music educators. The research defines the vocal development categories as: (1) posture; (2)…

Speech-language pathologists planning intervention programs for high school students with voice disorders are faced with the problems of changing student attitudes and dealing with general societal apathy concerning the importance of effective voice use. This article introduces a series of papers addressing the unique developmental needs of the…