A program for the prevention of vocal abuse and hoarseness was presented in four lessons to 155 second and third-graders and their teachers. The results of pre- and posttests showed that both children and teachers benefited from the program, with positive changes in vocal abuse and self-monitoring skills. (Author/CL)

Aims: To compare voice quality as defined by formant analysis using a sustained vowel in patients who have undergone a partial glossectomy with a group of normal subjects. Methods & Procedures: The design consisted of a single centre, cross-sectional cohort study. The setting was an Adult Tertiary Referral Unit. A total of 26 patients (19…

Background: Many speech and language therapists work in a multilingual environment, making cross-linguistic studies of speech disorders clinically and theoretically important. Aims: To investigate the effect of listeners' linguistic background on their perceptual ratings of hypernasality and the reliability of the ratings. Methods &…

During assessment and management of individuals with voice disorders, clinicians routinely attempt to describe or quantify the severity of a patient's dysphonia. This investigation used acoustic measures derived from sustained vowel samples to predict dysphonia severity (as determined by auditory-perceptual ratings), for a diverse set of voice…

The purpose of this study was to extend understanding of the effects of aging on the female voice by obtaining measures of both acoustic and respiratory-based performance in groups of 18-30, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-79-year-old subjects. Acoustic measures of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), pitch sigma, jitter, shimmer, and signal-to-noise…

Two experiments were conducted to assess the correlations of residue features with some perceptual properties of voice disorders. Results suggested that residue features may be useful in assessing the degree of vocal impairment, but use of residue features as correlates of voice quality requires further research. (Author/DB)

Twenty-five adult (mean age 58) speakers who were either esophageal or tracheoesophageal speakers were grouped according to gender, voice type, and speaking proficiency. Naive listener evaluation found that speaker proficiency but not voice type had a significant effect on judgment of acceptability, suggesting that postlaryngectomy speech is quite…

Results of anoral reading measure indicated that, compared to normal-hearing Ss the speech respiration of 92 hearing-impaired young adults was characterized by (1) high air consumption; (2) frequent inspirations; (3) inspirations at linguistically inappropriate places; (4) short duration of expiration; and (5) large individual differences. (CL)

A specially designed unit that provided feedback about voice volume was used to lower the voice volume in six mildly retarded adults. The apparatus indicated by color of lights when volume was too loud, too soft, or optimal. Praise was given in different schedules: for every sentence that met criterion, every three sentences, or an average of…

In an attempt to confirm earlier results with a group of mentally retarded females, 12 mentally retarded institutionalized adults (8 male, 4 female) were trained to either reduce (Loud group) or increase (Soft group) their voice volumes with a combination of visual feedback and token reinforcement. The feedback unit provided a binary light on-off…