Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology最新文献

Objective: The first aim of the study, to determine the effects of a vocal loading task (VLT) involving reading a passage at a level of 80-85 dBA_(30 cm) for 10 minute (min) on voice. The second aim is to identify the effects of three different therapeutic strategies performed immediately after the VLT on voice.

Method: The sample of the study included 32 normophonic female participants. The research procedure involved three different therapeutic strategies: sterile water nebulization, voiced oral high-frequency oscillation (VOHFO) and the combined application following three different vocal loading tasks performed for 10 min. The assessments were made using acoustic, electroglottographic, perceived vocal effort (Borg CR-10) measurement methods.

Results: The 10 min VLT did not significantly affect the acoustic (except for fundamental frequency-Fo) or electroglottographic parameters of the habitual voice, while it led to an increased level of perceived vocal effort scores and Fo values. Perturbation and perceptual effort decreased after all three therapeutic interventions, but Fo remained higher than baseline; EGG-contact quotient (CQ) decreased after VOHFO-inclusive therapeutic interventions and perceptual effort level did not decrease after nebulization but decreased after VOHFO-inclusive interventions.

Conclusion: The 10 min VLT, which was of a short duration, led to an increased level of perceived vocal effort scores and Fo values. In addition, all therapeutic interventions were found to decrease perturbation and perceived vocal effort. However, according to the EGG-CQ data, the addition of therapeutic factors such as VOHFO to superficial vocal fold hydration procedures may further enhance their beneficial effects on the voice.

Purpose: We propose that rigorous measurement practices combined with frameworks focused on functional capacity can transform physiological variability, traditionally dismissed as "noise," into diagnostic information for precision-based voice care. A conceptual framework integrating vocal capacity, demand response, reserve, and recovery enables individualized monitoring, predictive risk assessment, and proactive intervention, mirroring progress in cardiology and orthopedics where variability became diagnostic. Applied to voice, this approach can transform clinical practice: a teacher's inconsistent perturbation may signal depleted reserve requiring pacing; a singer's instability may reflect insufficient reserve under rehearsal load, guiding recovery scheduling; and a neurological patient's fluctuations may indicate variable demand response, informing targeted intervention.

Conclusions: Variability-informed models can establish individual baselines, track change trajectories, and identify functional thresholds before overt disorder emerges. Embracing physiological variability offers a path to align clinical strategies with functional sustainability, transforming uncertainty into actionable insight for research and clinical practice.

Effective voice education promotes healthy voice use, particularly for kindergarten teachers in demanding environments. This study assessed the effectiveness of a brief, workplace-based voice education program for the preschool teachers. Teachers were quasi-randomly assigned based on work schedules to either the Direct Voice Training Group (N = 31), which received a four-hour face-to-face training session and an educational booklet, or the Educational Booklet Only Group (N = 45). Outcomes were measured using the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) and blinded perceptual voice quality assessments via the GRBAS scale at baseline and three months post-intervention. Nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests assessed statistical significance, with effect sizes (r) calculated. Both groups improved significantly, but the Direct Voice Training Group showed broader improvements, with small to medium effect sizes (r = 0.25-0.38), whereas the Booklet Only Group had limited improvements (r < 0.3). Blinded evaluations confirmed greater benefits for the direct training group. These findings highlight the value of brief, targeted interventions for occupational vocal health, though small to medium effect sizes suggest that more intensive interventions may be required for clinically significant outcomes.

Purpose: This study examines differences in intrinsic laryngeal muscle control during Mandarin vowel production between native Mandarin speakers and advanced South Korean learners. By analyzing vocal fold vibrations and muscle activation patterns, it provides a biomechanical perspective on second language phonetic challenges.

Method: Twenty native Mandarin speakers (control) and twenty advanced South Korean learners (experimental), all from the same university, participated in the study. Participants produced monosyllabic words while formant frequencies were recorded. A computational vocal fold-airway model simulated vowel production, focusing on the activation of the cricothyroid (CT), thyroarytenoid (TA), and lateral cricoarytenoid (LC) muscles. Simulated formant frequencies were compared with actual recordings to identify muscle control differences.

Results: Native speakers exhibited higher CT and TA activation for /a/ and /i/, while South Korean learners showed reduced activation of these muscles and increased reliance on the LC muscle. For /u/, the native speakers' model revealed lower overall muscle activation, whereas learners over-activated all three muscles.

Conclusions: The findings reveal distinct laryngeal control patterns between native and non-native speakers, emphasizing the role of biomechanical modeling in second language phonetics research. By identifying specific muscle activation differences, this study provides insights into the physiological basis of vowel articulation challenges and lays the groundwork for future research on cross-linguistic phonetic and phonemic acquisition.

Introduction: This study investigated why teachers with voice disorders continue teaching by surveying their motives described in social capital theory.

Methods: Teachers were asked to rate their motives for continued teaching even with voice disorders using online surveys. The five key motives (social capital framework) were: Motive #1 (selfishness), Motive #2 (internal validation), Motive #3 (external validation), Motive #4 (transcendence or altruism), and Motive #5 (belonging).

Results: As teachers' income increased, so did the relative importance of the transcendence motive. Income maintenance (selfishness) accounted for 47% of the total motivation, with teachers with a master's degree and higher incomes being less likely to prioritize this motive. Teachers reporting bad voice quality were more likely to prioritize income (selfishness) and less likely to be motivated by helping others (altruism) or feel connected to other people (belonging).

Conclusion: Voice problems can negatively impact a teacher's sense of fulfilment and motivation beyond financial constraints. These findings highlight the need for implementing preventive measures for voice disorders in schools that can address voice problems before they significantly affect teachers' performance and students' learning. Moreover, competitive teacher salaries and benefits may create a supportive environment where educators feel empowered to focus on their students' needs.

Overview: Non-word repetition (NWR) is one of the most effective predictors of language impairments in children as it has been found to correlate with various language measures and the association between NWR and vocabulary is well documented in typically developing (TD) studies. However, there is a dire need for investigations of language skills in Kuwaiti Arabic individuals with Down Syndrome, and this study set out to fill a gap in this field.

Method: In this paper, we compare the vocabulary and NWR skills of a group of 48 individuals with DS aged 6-20 years to a group of 44 TD children aged 3-10 years matched on nonverbal IQ. Furthermore, we investigate the correlations among these language measures in the two groups and examine whether NWR can predict receptive and expressive vocabulary in these two groups.

Result: Results found DS participants performed significantly less than the TD group on the three language measures (receptive vocabulary t(90)= -3.17, p < .01, expressive vocabulary t(90)= -3.27, p < .01, and NWR t(90)= -8.32, p < .01). Moreover, there were strong correlations between NWR and vocabulary (receptive and expressive) in the TD group but not the DS group.

Conclusion: Findings supported the working memory model and the phonological processing account for the TD group. On the other hand, the poor association between NWR and vocabulary in the DS group might be due to poor phonological discrimination difficulties and speech discrimination difficulties.

Purpose: Neurogenic dysphagia causes complications such as malnutrition, dehydration, and aspiration pneumonia. Therefore, early detection with clinically valid tools is essential. This study aimed to investigate the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (EAT-10) ability to detect swallowing efficiency at three different consistencies in neurogenic dysphagia.

Methods: One hundred twelve patients with neurogenic dysphagia (74 males and 38 females, mean ± SD age 61.83 ± 9.72 years) were included in the study. A Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) was performed in the clinic following EAT-10 to assess swallowing efficacy at International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI) consistencies of 0, 3, and 7. The swallowing efficiency of the patients was assessed using the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale (YPRSRS). Area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity values were calculated to evaluate the ability of EAT-10 to discriminate between participants with and without residue and between participants with and without moderate-to-severe residue.

Results: The EAT-10 significantly detected participants with and without residues for three IDDSI consistent: for IDDSI 0 residue in the vallecula and pyriform sinus (cutoff score ≥ 14, p < 0.001), for IDDSI 3 residue in the vallecula and pyriform sinus (cutoff score ≥ 13, p < 0.001), for IDDSI 7 residue in the vallecula and pyriform sinus (respectively, cutoff score ≥ 13, cutoff score ≥ 14, p < 0.001). Additionally, the EAT-10 significantly detected those with and without moderate-to-severe residue.

Conclusions: The EAT-10, frequently used in swallowing clinics, can determine swallowing efficiency in individuals with neurogenic dysphagia. Additionally, it has the power to detect moderate-to-severe pharyngeal residue.

This study aims to extend current knowledge about the possibilities and challenges encountered by Swedish speech and language pathologists (SLPs) in targeting everyday language and communication in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To explore this matter, unstructured focus groups were conducted where 15 SLPs, working with children with DLD, shared their views on the alignment between their clinical practices and children's everyday lives. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, which resulted in five themes: It's everyday life that matters; As an SLP, you're not a part of the child's everyday life; How do we merge the different worlds?; Resources at home vary, and The employer sets the framework for clinical practices. The SLPs stressed the importance of targeting everyday skills and needs, but they experienced themselves as being detached from the children's daily context. Collaboration with caregivers and (pre)school staff was emphasised; however, the resources and capacity of the caregivers and staff varied, and this was experienced as a challenge for providing the most appropriate care. Some children and their families were situated in a multifaceted context and needed more extensive care, and this group was described as increasing. However, the services that the SLPs were able to offer varied and were largely regulated by organisational constraints. Individualised services are crucial for ensuring a positive development for children with DLD and for empowering caregivers to be effective collaborative partners in intervention. Therefore, it is essential for SLPs to have the time and resources to ensure high-quality care.

Background: To the best of our knowledge, studies on the relationship between spectral energy distribution and the degree of perceived twang-like voices are still sparse. Through an auditory-perceptual test we aimed to explore the spectral features that may relate with the auditory-perception of twang-like voices.

Methods: Ten judges who were blind to the test's tasks and stimuli rated the amount of twang perceived on seventy-six audio samples. The stimuli consisted of twenty voices recorded from eight CCM singers who sustained the vowel [a:] in different pitches, with and without a twang-like voice. Also, forty filtered and sixteen synthesized-manipulated stimuli were included.

Results and conclusions: Based on the intra-rater reliability scores, four judges were identified as suitable to be included in the analyses. Results showed that the frequency of F₁ and F₂ correlated strongly with the auditory-perception of twang-like voices (0.90 and 0.74, respectively), whereas F₃ showed a moderate negative correlation (-0.52). The frequency difference between F₁ and F₃ showed a strong negative correlation (-0.82). The mean energy between 1-2 kHz and 2-3 kHz correlated moderately (0.51 and 0.42, respectively). The frequency of F₄ and F₅, and the energy above 3 kHz showed weak correlations. Since the spectral changes under 2 kHz have been associated with the jaw, lips, and tongue adjustments (i.e. vowel articulation) and a higher vertical laryngeal position might affect the frequency of all formants (including F₁ and F₂), our results suggest that vowel articulation and the laryngeal height may be relevant when performing twang-like voices.