UH Faculty, Staff, and Student Works
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Browsing UH Faculty, Staff, and Student Works by Department "Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of"
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Item A comparison of speech patterns in children with cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing(2020-05) Houston, HaleyPurpose: The current study investigates the speech patterns of young children with cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing by comparing group differences on typical and atypical phonological processes, phonological whole-word measures, and segmental accuracy. Method: Data were collected from 30 English-speaking 5- to 7-year-olds (15 children with normal hearing and 15 children with cochlear implants) using a single-word elicitation task. The independent variables were hearing status group (cochlear implant users versus children with normal hearing) and typicality of phonological processes. The dependent variables included 6 typical versus 6 atypical phonological processes, phonological whole-word measures, and segmental accuracy measures. Results: Cochlear implant users versus children with normal hearing displayed differences on phonological processes, and there was a main effect of typicality of phonological processes. A statistically significant interaction between hearing status and typicality of phonological processes was also found, indicating that CI users had disproportionally higher percentage of atypical phonological processes than their peers with normal hearing. All of phonological whole-word measures and segmental accuracy measures displayed differences based on hearing status. Conclusions: Hearing status does affect phonological outcomes, but the speech patterns of cochlear implant users display unique patterns that distinguish them from their peers with normal hearing. Specific patterns emerged indicating that cochlear implant users’ speech patterns differ both quantitatively and qualitatively from patterns attested in their peers with normal hearing, providing novel and relevant insights for researchers and clinicians alike.Item A Preliminary Investigation of Speech Disfluencies in Bilingual Urdu-English Children(2019-05) Naqvi, SyedaBilingual Spanish-English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter (CWNS) are known to exceed the diagnostic criteria for developmental stuttering based on data of monolingual English speakers. While this indicates the risk of misdiagnosis amongst SE speakers, it further questions how speech disfluencies present in other bilingual speakers. Urdu, the native language of Pakistan and its surrounding areas, is currently one of the fastest growing languages in the United States (US). The purpose of this study is to examine the speech disfluencies of bilingual Urdu-English (UE) speaking CWNS during narrative and conversational samples elicited in Urdu and English to provide preliminary information about this population. Participants included 3 bilingual UE children ranging in age from 5 years to 7 years and 11 months who were recruited from the surrounding Houston, Texas area. Findings indicate that, much like SE children, bilingual UE speaking children can meet or exceed the diagnostic criteria for developmental stuttering. The study also found UE children to display stuttering-like disfluencies (SLDs) in the form of sound-syllable repetitions (SSR) and whole-word repetitions (WWR), which is identical to the findings in SE children. The results of this study may contribute to further research into the speech disfluencies of UE children, both CWS and CWNS, as well as other languages spoken in the US in order to contribute to the appropriate diagnostic criteria for stuttering amongst culturally and linguistically diverse populations.Item Bilingual Phonological Acquisition with Cochlear Implant Use: A Comparison of Vowel Production with Normal Hearing Peers(2023-04-13) Knowles, LaceyPurpose: This pilot study aims to investigate a specific aspect of how bilingualism and hearing loss may impact phonological development by examining the production of the low front unrounded lax vowel (e.g., the vowel in “cat”) by Spanish-English-speaking bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (CIs) and their Spanish-English-speaking bilingual peers with normal hearing (NH). Method: 20 Spanish-English-speaking bilingual children who use CIs (mean age of 6:0) and 20 Spanish-English-speaking bilingual children with NH (mean age of 6:1) produced single-word productions elicited through well-established techniques. The productions were recorded and saved as digital .wav files. The [æ] vowel of target words bat, cat, and hat were analyzed using established procedures in WaveSurfer. A waveform, formant plot, and pitch contour were used to determine the vowel’s duration, fundamental frequency (F0) and its first two formants (F1 & F2). A GLM repeated measure was ran with word at three levels (bat, cat, and hat) and measure at 4 levels (F1, F2, F0, and duration) as the within subject variables. CI use and NH were the between-subject variables. Result: The results showed no statistically significant difference between bilingual CI users and their bilingual peers with NH in reference to the production of the /æ/ phoneme. Conclusion: This study shows no evidence of a difference in the productions of CI users versus their peers with NH. Further investigation will include analyses of other vowels, such as /ɑ/, /i/, and /u/ in English and /ɑ/, /i/, and /u/ in Spanish.Item Civilian Voices from the Iraq War: Profiles of Iraqi Refugees in Houston(2020-04) Kazmi, Wafa-e-fatimaFollowing the Iraq War of 2003, a rich stream of information analyzing PTSD in American soldiers, the realities of war, and other important narratives began to appear. However, in part because journalists were embedded primarily with the American military, not enough attention was given to civilians in Iraq. Few Americans know how the war affected infrastructure, communities, and daily routines of ordinary Iraqis were affected. Equally lacking are intimate, complex narratives about the lives of those Iraqis who fled the war, many of whom came to the United States. With the exception of comprehensive and illuminating refugee profiles by writers such as Kimberly Myer and Peter Holley, the few narratives about Houston’s refugee population lean towards blithe notions of the American dream, rather than the experience of living in the wake of war. This project serves to elicit voice from those whose narratives are nearly invisible in the American mainstream. In this regard it centers the experience of Iraqi civilians in a context that has tended to marginalize them. In this creative nonfiction piece, I explore how the Iraq War (2001-2011) impacted civilian life in Iraq, especially with regard to curfews, family life, access to healthcare, and physical and mental health changes both during the invasion and its aftermath. The profiles also show how Western reports of the war differed from Iraqi civilian accounts of what was happening on the ground, and the larger implications of this dissonance. Through the narratives of a mother, a translator, and a journalist, the continuous theme of violence against civilians is presented, as well as an understanding of how Western media’s negligence in representing an accurate civilian narrative led to growing tensions in Iraq.Item Education as a Fundamental Cause of Health(2022-04-14) Chavana, CitlaliMy project is over racial/ethnic health and educational disparities through the sociological perspective. I chose this topic because I have an interest in both the education and health fields. In my Sociology of Health Care course that was taught by Dr. Kate Anderson, my now mentor, I learned that racial/ethnic minorities are in poorer health when compared to white populations. The biggest influence to this phenomenon is socioeconomic status.Item Effectiveness of Key Wording on Story Comprehension and Visual Attention for People with Aphasia(2023-04-13) Bernadel, LaurentAphasia is a neurogenic disorder affecting the language centers of the brain. People with aphasia(PWA) experience deficits in expressive and/or receptive language which make it difficult to participate in everyday conversation. One technique that is used by communication partners of PWA to facilitate conversation is key wording. Key wording occurs when a communication partner provides written and spoken information simultaneously to support the comprehension of a PWA. Although key wording is a commonly used technique, guidance is lacking in regarding how much text is necessary to provide to PWA for optimal comprehension support. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of three levels of input (i.e. full transcription, noun and verb, and no key words) on the story comprehension and visual attention of PWA. In each condition, participants will view on an eye-tracker monitor a person reading a short story while one of three texts levels is presented on the screen next to the reader: full transcription of the spoken words, only the nouns and verbs read in the story, and no text. We will also use eye-tracking technology to analyze participants' visual attention allocation during each condition. We anticipate PWA will demonstrate significantly better comprehension when presented solely with nouns and verbs, and that no significant differences in comprehension will be noted between the full transcript and no key wording conditions. We also expect that PWA will visually attend more to the text during the noun and verb condition than the full transcription condition.Item Evaluating the Effectiveness of Dual Language Programs for English Learners in Texas Secondary Schools(2020-09-29) Patel, SaloniCompared to traditional English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, Dual Language (DL) programs offer a promising approach for schools to help their English Learners (EL) become English proficient. This research project will compare the effectiveness of Dual Language and ESL programs for English Learners in secondary schools throughout Texas. Aggregate STAAR data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) was used to gather a list of 57 Texas secondary schools that offer both DL and ESL programs. The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) dataset was used to measure the average percentage of English Learners who progressed at least one proficiency level on the TELPAS from the 2017-2018 academic year to the 2018-2019 academic year. A propensity score match was conducted, in which the treatment group consisted of the 57 secondary schools that offer DL and ESL programs, and the control group consisted of the remaining secondary schools (4,565) that only offer ESL programs. After the matched control group was identified, the TELPAS “yearly progress” data was pulled for the English Learners in the treatment and matched control groups. On average, a higher percentage of English Learners in the treatment group progressed at least one proficiency level on the TELPAS compared to the English Learners in the matched control group. These results suggest that, in Texas secondary schools, Dual Language programs are more effective than ESL programs in helping English Learners improve their English proficiency from one academic year to the next.Item Phonological Processes Produced by Spanish-English Bilingual Children who Have Hearing Loss and Use Cochlear Implants Compared to their Normal Hearing Peers(2023-04-13) Ramirez, ClaudiaPhonological processes are patterns of speech errors. In communication, there are typical and atypical phonological processes that may affect the intelligibility of speech. Typical phonological processes are more common and may resolve on their own. Atypical phonological processes are less likely to resolve on their own and typically require speech therapy. Cochlear implants are hearing devices that can be used to improve speech perception in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss. This study examined the difference between phonological process usage between Spanish-English bilingual children who had normal hearing and those who used cochlear implants. My research question was: Do bilingual Spanish-English speaking cochlear implant users display significantly different percentages of occurrence for phonological processes compared to their normal hearing peers? A literature review was conducted to examine previous research. Ten phonological processes common among bilingual and cochlear implant populations were chosen for analysis within this study. Data was analyzed over the speech of 40 participants using LIPP, or the Logical International Phonetic Program. Twenty children used cochlear implants and twenty children had normal hearing. The analysis showed that children who had cochlear implants used a significantly larger amount of phonological processes. There were small differences in phonological process usage based on language; however, these differences are largely due to differences in structures between the two languages. This research is essential to speech-language pathologists to better inform speech therapy practices for diverse populations and is essential as the Hispanic population within the United States grows.Item Spectral Power Density Analysis of Patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia Using Resting-State Electroencephalography(2023-05-09) Quinn, Christina NikolePrimary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome with insidious speech and language deficits that gradually worsen as the disorder progresses. Once a general diagnosis of PPA is confirmed, it is further broken down into three variants indicated by the presence or absence of specific speech and language characteristics: nonfluent/agrammatic, semantic, and logopenic. Application of non-invasive neuroimaging techniques can help to confirm diagnosis of PPA and its three variants. The application of resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) to analyze neural oscillations via spectral power density may be more accessible to patients who are otherwise unable to use traditional imaging techniques or who struggle with task-based neuroimaging. Oscillatory slowing, characterized by an increase of relative spectral power density in the low frequency delta and theta bands, along with a reduction in spectral power in the high frequency alpha and beta bands, has been observed in persons with PPA. This study examines relative power spectral density across all three variants of PPA in the delta, theta, delta-theta, alpha, beta, and low gamma frequency bands in eyes open and eyes closed resting-state conditions to see if discernible differences were observed in each variant. The results of this study were similar to findings in previous studies for the logopenic variant, with a significant increase in relative spectral power in the low frequency delta and theta bands and a significant reduction in the high frequency beta band. In contrast to other studies, we did not observe the same decrease in spectral power for the logopenic variant in the alpha band. We did not observe the same increase in spectral power for the low frequency delta and theta bands for nonfluent or semantic variant, nor did we observe a reduction of power in the high frequency bands for these two variants, as has been observed in other studies. The high frequency low gamma band, which previous studies have not studied across the three PPA variants, showed a significant increase in spectral power in semantic variant. Our results suggest that resting-state EEG may prove useful as a biomarker for early and more accurate diagnosis of PPA.Item Speech Sound Production of Bilingual Children With Cochlear Implants(2019) Perez, ElizabethThis study addresses the need to better understand speech and language development in bilingual children with hearing loss (HL) who use cochlear implants (CIs)Item The Impact of COVID-19 School Closures and Home Language on the Spanish and English Receptive Vocabulary Trajectories in Bilingual Children(2021-04-01) Martinez, Damaris; Ronderos, JulianaPurpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and the home language on bilingual children’s receptive vocabulary in both languages. Method: 113 bilingual children between 4-8 years old with and without developmental language disorders (DLD) participated in the first year of the longitudinal study all with face-to-face (F2F) language assessment sessions. 102 of these children returned for sessions in the second year of the study (2019-2020), due to the COVID-19 pandemic 46 of these sessions were conducted F2F and 56 via telehealth. We examined change in receptive vocabulary scores in both languages, including the effect of the language spoken in the home. Results: Using multi-level models analysis, we predicted the raw scores for receptive vocabulary in each language including fixed effects for age, delivery, language spoken at home, and diagnostic classification and random effects for child. Results suggest that only age and diagnostic classification were significant predictors for receptive vocabulary in both languages. Conclusion: Results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic did not adversely impact children’s receptive vocabulary growth. Perhaps children were able to adapt from face-to-face learning to online learning for receptive vocabulary regardless of language spoken at home through other forms of exposure. It seems that suspension of learning due to COVID-19 was not long enough to impact receptive vocabulary growth. However, receptive vocabulary may be less sensitive to loss than other language measures not explored in this study.Item Virtual Therapy Experiences of Speech-Language Pathologists Working with Clients with Aphasia(2023-04-13) Gomez, AlejandraDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) made the abrupt transition from in-person therapy to virtual platforms. Even after the pandemic, virtual therapy has made its mark on service provision and continues to be a practical option for many. The purpose of this research project was to document the experiences and viewpoints of SLPs who conduct virtual therapy with people with aphasia (PWA). Aphasia is a neurological language disorder that results in expressive and receptive language impairment. Due to the complexity of aphasia, SLPs must provide multimodal supports (e.g., written words, images) to improve language comprehension and expression. Therefore, it is necessary to identify methods to improve service provision via telepractice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with SLPs with experience providing services to PWA virtually. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and four themes emerged from the dataset. Themes included the importance of shared communication space, the need for just-in-time supports, the importance of visuals, and technological challenges experienced by PWA and SLPs.Item Word Length and Syllable Shape Effects On Segmental Accuracy in Bilingual Children With Cochlear Implants and Their Peers With Normal Hearing(2020-05) Perez, ElizabethPurpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze speech production patterns of bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking bilingual children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants and their peers with normal hearing by specifically focusing on how hearing status, language, syllable complexity, and word length affect segmental accuracy. Method: Forty bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking children between the ages of 5;3 and 7;9 (years; months) from the greater Houston metropolitan area participated in the study. Twenty participants were cochlear implant users and 20 had normal hearing. The participants were matched across groups on chronological age, gender and socio-economic status as closely as possible. Cochlear implant users received their implants before they turned 3 years old (i.e., early implanted) and had at least 3 years of implant experience. A single-word elicitation task was used to prompt the target words in each language, using culturally- and age-appropriate items consisting of about 80 words in each language. A subset of the items was selected for the analyses to test the effects of hearing status (cochlear implant users versus their age-matched peers with normal hearing), language (Spanish versus English), word length in syllables (monosyllabic, disyllabic, and trisyllabic), and syllable complexity (no clusters versus including clusters) on segmental accuracy (percent segments correct). A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted with hearing status as the between-subjects variable as well as three within-subjects factors: language, word length in syllables, and syllable complexity with segmental accuracy (percent segments correct) as the dependent variable. Results: There was a statistically significant main effect of hearing status [F (1, 35) = 40.24 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.54], language [F (1, 35) = 4.57 at p = 0.040 , partial η² = 0.12], word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 13.42 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.28], and syllable complexity [F (1, 35) = 52.63 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.60] on segmental accuracy. Statistically significant interactions included hearing status by word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 5.88 at p = 0.004, partial η² = 0.14], hearing status by syllable complexity [F (1, 35) = 18.20 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.34], language by word length in syllables [F (2, 70) = 18.03 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.34], language by word length in syllables by hearing status [F (2, 70) = 4.63 at p = 0.013, partial η² = 0.12], language by word length in syllables by syllable complexity [F (2, 70) = 10.67 at p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.23]. Conclusions: Hearing status, language, word length in syllables, and syllable complexity all had statistically significant effects on segmental accuracy, as predicted. Furthermore, interdependence between hearing status by syllable complexity suggests that more complex syllables are disproportionally more challenging for bilingual cochlear implant users than their peers with normal hearing. The interactions of hearing status by syllable complexity, language by word length, language by word length by hearing status, as well as language by word length by syllable complexity indicate the interdependence of these factors, painting a complex picture that is as informative for researchers in the field as it is for practicing speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and educators who work with bilingual children with hearing loss and their peers with normal hearing.