Comparison of CapiFlow and frame by frame analysis for the assessment of capillary red blood cell velocity

The aim of this study was to describe the aerodynamics related to velopharyngeal function during speech in bilabial, dental, and velar articulatory positions in Swedish speakers. Repeated syllables including voiceless stop consonants and sentences including combinations of voiceless stops and nasal consonants were uttered by 11 normal adults. Oropharyngeal pressure was assessed with a miniature pressure transducer positioned transnasally, in combination with measurement of nasal pressure and nasal airflow. The corresponding velopharyngeal opening area was estimated. The results suggest that the velopharyngeal function during stop consonants is similar in different articulatory positions. Differences in oropharyngeal pressure and nasal airflow between bilabial versus dental and velar positions were found, presumably due to differences in volume and compliance of the vocal tract.     

Excess mortality and its relation to hypertension and proteinuria in diabetic patients. The world health organization multinational study of vascular disease in diabetes

The speech problem in patients born with cleft lip and palate is mainly due to the insufficiency of the velopharyngeal (VP) valving mechanism, manifested as in visually seen nasal emission, and auditorily perceived hypernasality and articulation disorders. Evaluations of resonance and VP function can be conducted by: (1) perceptual rating scale based on speech pathologist's subjective judgement and (2) objective instrumental assessment, by the use of specific instrument. Nasopharyngoscopy has been commonly used clinically to diagnose VP function. The purpose of this study is: using nasopharyngoscopy to investigate the differences in VP mechanism between those with VP competence and VP incompetence in the dimension of velar displacement, lateral pharyngeal wall (LPW) displacement, degree of VP closure and pattern of VP closure. Ninty-eight subjects were studied from June 1990 to August 1991. They were divided into 4 groups: (1) group 1: normals with normal speech; (2) group 2: cleft of lip only, with normal speech; (3) group 3: cleft palate without nasal emission, but normal articulation; (4) group 4: cleft palate with nasal emission, with or without articulation error. Age range was from 6-47 years old with equal sex distribution. Ten Chinese sentences were used for standard test sentences, and were grouped according to Mandarin phonological distinctive features into 5 categories: (1) nasals; (2) vowels; (3) plosives; (4) fricatives/affricates; (5) connected number counting. The result indicates that the insufficient velar displacement to contact posterior pharyngeal wall is a determining factor causing velopharyngeal insufficiency in group 4; however, the lateral pharyngeal wall movement is not significantly different among 4 groups. Coronal pattern of velopharyngeal closure is the most common pattern among 4 groups of speakers.     

Complete eradication of Aspergillus fumigatus from the lung in an immunocompromised patient by oral itraconazole

Fifty-three deaf subjects with a history of prelingual profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, similar language habilitation with hearing aids, and normal velopharyngeal structures underwent a study protocol including speech evaluation, behavioral pure-tone audiometry, videonasopharyngoscopy, multiview videofluoroscopy, and electromyography of the velopharyngeal muscles. Subjects were divided into two groups: the first group included 13 subjects with normal nasal resonance or mild hypernasality (four normals and nine with mild hypernasality); the second group had subjects with severe hypernasality and severe articulation deficits. Pure-tone thresholds, velopharyngeal closure patterns, and electromyographic activity of velopharyngeal muscles were similar for both groups of subjects. However, in subjects with severe hypernasality, despite normal muscle activity as observed by electromyography, velopharyngeal valving activity lacked rhythm and strength during speech. It is concluded that deaf subjects may present a functional disorder of the velopharyngeal sphincter related to absence of auditory regulation during phonation. Visual biofeedback using videonasopharyngoscopy may be useful for treating this disorder.     

A new experimental approach to assessment of velopharyngeal adequacy: nasal manometric bleed testing

A new experimental method for assessment of velopharyngeal adequacy/inadequacy, using nasal manometric pressure readings for three types of speech conditions under controlled incremental bleed conditions, is described. Cleft palate speakers (N = 30) tended to have higher nasal pressure readings than non-flect palate speakers (N = 56), with or without bleed conditions. Reduction in nasal pressure under controlled incremental bleed for non-cleft palate speakers and cleft palate adequate (CPA) speakers is compatible with an aerodynamic quadratic equation. Unlike cleft palate inadequate (CPI) speakers, non-cleft palate speakers and CPA speakers exhibit similar ability to achieve 0 cm nasal monometric pressure under a bleed bore diameter of 4 mm for a circular bleed orifice. Results for cleft palate marginal (CPM) speakers are less conclusive. Reliability of nasal manometric bleed testing was limitedly tested but not conclusively established in the present report. Further study of reliability and validity is necessary.     

Occurrence and trends in ski injuries in Norway

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the influence of velopharyngeal (VP) inadequacy on respiratory speech compensations. DESIGN: The pressure-flow technique was used to measure pressure, airflow, and timing variables associated with VP closure during the production of the initial plosive consonant /p/ in a series of the utterance "papa." SETTING: The study was conducted in the speech and breathing laboratory of the UNC Craniofacial Center. PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-two subjects with cleft lip and/or palate were assessed. The subjects were divided into two groups, those with adequate VP closure (VP size <.010 cm2) and those with inadequate VP closure (VP size >0.10 cm2). The adequate group was comprised of 62 subjects, and 20 subjects were categorized as inadequate. RESULTS: Peak intraoral pressure decreased in the inadequate group, but the difference was not significant. Nasal airflow increased (p < .01), but duration of the pressure pulse was the same for both groups. The area under the pressure curve decreased for the inadequate group (p = .04). CONCLUSION: These data contrast with previously reported published data using /p/ in the utterance "hamper." This suggests that phonetic context influences the compensatory response to velopharyngeal inadequacy. Additionally, while the findings are somewhat similar to studies that involved noncleft subjects whose oral airway was suddenly vented during the production of /p/, there is enough difference to suggest that learning also affects the compensatory outcome.     

Perception of /r/ and /l/ in a stop cluster: Evidence of cross-modal context effects.

Experiments were conducted investigating unimodal and cross-modal phonetic context effects on /r/ and /l/ identifications to test a hypothesis that context effects arise in early auditory speech processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated an influence of a preceding bilabial stop consonant on the acoustic realization of /r/ and /l/ produced within the stop clusters /ibri/ and /ibli/. In Experiment 2, members of an acoustic /iri/ to /ili/ continuum were paired with an acoustic /ibi/. These dichotic tokens were associated with an increase in "l" identification relative to the /iri/ to /ili/ continuum. In Experiment 3, the /iri/ to /ili/ tokens were dubbed onto a video of a talker saying /ibi/. This condition was associated with a reliable perceptual shift relative to an auditory-only condition in which the /iri/ to /ili/ tokens were presented by themselves, ruling out an account of these context effects as arising during early auditory processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motor speech impairment in a case of childhood basilar artery stroke: treatment directions derived from physiological and perceptual assessment

The perceptual and physiological characteristics of the speech of a nine year old child who suffered a basilar artery stroke at the age of five years were investigated using a battery of perceptual and physiological instrumental measures. Perceptual tests administered included the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, a perceptual analysis of a speech sample based on a reading of the Grandfather Passage and a phonetic intelligibility test. Instrumental procedures included: spirometric and kinematic analysis of speech breathing; electroglottographic evaluation of laryngeal function, nasometric assessment of velopharyngeal function and evaluation of lip and tongue function using pressure transducers. Physiological assessment indicated the most severe deficits to be in the respiratory and velopharyngeal sub-systems with significant deficits in the articulatory sub-system, all of which resulted in severely reduced intelligibility. These results were compared and contrasted with the subject's performance on the perceptual assessment battery. In a number of instances the physiological assessments were able to identify deficits in the functioning of components of the speech production apparatus either not evidenced by the perceptual assessments or where the findings of the various perceptual assessments were contradictory. The resulting comprehensive profile of the child's dysarthria demonstrated the value of using an assessment battery comprised of both physiological and perceptual methods. In particular, the need to include instrumental analysis of the functioning of the various subcomponents of the speech production apparatus in the assessment battery when defining the treatment priorities for children with acquired dysarthria is highlighted. Treatment priorities determined on the basis of both the perceptual and physiological assessments for the present CVA case are discussed.     

Critique: articulatory-acoustic relations and their role in speech perception

These remarks are in response to "Role of articulation in speech perception: Clues from production"ony Bj?rn Lindblom. It is suggested that the form in which the lexicon is stored includes both segments and distinctive features, and this representation is neutral with respect to articulatory and the acoustic domains. The process by which features are determined from the sound requires that patterns of acoustic properties be identified. In developing models of speech perception, knowledge of articulatory-acoustic relations can be a guide in defining these properties, but it is not necessary for the models to assign primary status to articulation.     

Fracture of boron particles in 2219 aluminum as a known acoustic emission source

Boron particles have been introduced into 2219 aluminum using a powder metallurgy approach. The only sources of detectable acoustic emission during deformation of the resulting material are decohesion of the boron particles from the matrix and particle fracture. The energy released by fracture of the boron particles during deformation was estimated from elasticity theory using measured diameters of the individual fractures. The energy in the acoustic emission signals produced by particle fracture (the integral of the signal voltage squared) was found to be proportional to the fracture energy released. Fracture energies were in the range 1–7 ergs for the larger fractures. The relation found between fracture energy and acoustic emission signal energy can be used to estimate the energy released by other comparable acoustic emission sources in samples of similar geometry from their acoustic emission signals. During the course of the acoustic emission measurements, the response of an rms voltmeter to an individual acoustic emission signal was found to be proportional to the energy of the signal.     

Acoustic measures of temporal intervals across speaking rates: variability of syllable- and phrase-level relative timing

It has been suggested previously that at least some levels of the temporal organization for speech production are characterized by proportional timing. The proportional timing model maintains that the duration of temporal intervals within a sequence would remain proportionally invariant across changes in overall duration of the sequence. In order to test this hypothesis for the acoustic level of speech production, 18 women produced three trials of the utterance "Buy Bobby a poppy" at each of three speaking rates (i.e., slow, normal, fast). Acoustically derived temporal intervals were paired to form ratios reflecting either syllable-level or phrase-level relative timing. Findings indicated that ratios of temporal intervals at both the syllable-level and phrase-level did not remain invariant across speaking rates. Rather, statistically significant changes in the relative duration of both types of intervals were observed as a function of overall rate of production. For most of the obtained ratios, the direction of these changes was highly consistent across individual subjects.     

Predator-induced nest site preference: safe nests allow courtship in sticklebacks

The sphincter pharyngoplasty is a surgical procedure designed to correct velopharyngeal dysfunction. Its advocates cite the theoretical advantage of its induction of dynamic activity of the neovelopharyngeal port, but this dynamic activity has yet to be quantitatively demonstrated in the literature. The purpose of this study was to quantify postoperative velopharyngeal dynamism and to document the results of intervention outcome on sphincteric excursion measurements from minimal-to-maximal orifice closure. We conducted a 7-year retrospective review of speech videofluoroscopy evaluations in patients who had undergone sphincter pharyngoplasty in our center. Between 1989 and 1994, there were 58 patients so treated for postpalatoplasty velopharyngeal dysfunction by two surgeons using the same operative technique. Patients for whom sphincter pharyngoplasty was recommended fulfilled both of the following criteria: (1) velopharyngeal dysfunction caused by an anatomic, myoneural, or combined deficiency of the velopharyngeal sphincter that would not be expected to be managed by speech therapy alone, and (2) preoperative videonasendoscopy and speech videofluoroscopic studies that demonstrated large-gap coronal, circular, or bow-tie closure patterns or velopharyngeal hypodynamism. Of the original 58 patients, 24 underwent postoperative speech videofluoroscopic evaluations with basal views. Of these, 20 of the evaluations (83 percent) were of adequate quality to be included in a research study. Still images showing maximum and minimum excursion of the sphincter in basal view were obtained. To test for observer reliability, the speech videofluoroscopic studies were randomized and presented for measurement to the same individual on two occasions, each session separated by a 1-month time interval. Topographic imaging software was used to obtain maximum and minimum measurements to within 0.1 mm. Partitioning the variance of the data showed that measurement variability was a very small portion of the total, and that difference between the minimum and maximum values was the largest source of variability. Of the total variability in the data, 64.0 percent originated in the minimum/maximum difference, 34.3 percent came from patient variability, and only 1.7 percent resulted from original or repeat measurements. The patient variability may be exaggerated because of variability in the scale of measurement. Results of this study indicate a quantifiable and statistically significant difference in maximum-to-minimum excursion of sphincteric closure. Sphincter pharyngoplasty appears to be dynamic in the majority of cases.     

Elongation and folding of nascent ricin chains as peptidyl-tRNA on ribosomes: the effect of amino acid deletions on these processes

This paper is an investigation of articulatory-acoustic correlations differing in degree of articulatory constraint. Data on F2 and on dorsopalatal contact (electropalatographic, EPG) were collected for the sequences /iCi/ and /aC./ with seven Catalan consonants differing in place and manner of articulation (velarised /l/, /n/, /n/, /s/, /f/, /l/, /p/). These consonants are characterised by different degrees of tongue dorsum constraint depending on their production requirements (dorsals > non-dorsals, fricatives > non-fricatives, etc.). The results showed an inverse relationship between vowel-dependent coarticulation and the degree of consonant-dependent articulatory constraint. F2 and dorsopalatal contact size were found to be positively correlated across consonants and speakers, and across consonants for each individual speaker. Correlation values were much lower for each consonant across speakers. These findings are discussed in the light of the acoustic theory of speech production and possible clinical applications are suggested.     

Physiological and perceptual features of dysarthria in Moebius syndrome: directions for treatment

The functioning of the major subsystems of the speech production apparatus of a 12 year old female with Moebius syndrome was investigated using a battery of perceptual and physiological instrumental measures. Perceptual tests administered included: The Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech; the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment; and a perceptual analysis of a speech sample based on a reading of the Grandfather Passage. Instrumental procedures included: spirometric and kinematic analysis of speech breathing; electroglottographic and aerodynamic evaluation of laryngeal function; nasometric assessment of velopharyngeal function; and evaluation of lip and tongue function using a variety of strain-gauge and pressure transducers. Consistent with the pathophysiological basis of Moebius syndrome, the major dysfunctions of the speech production mechanism were found at the level of the articulatory valve. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, impaired function was also identified at the level of the velopharyngeal and laryngeal valves by both the perceptual and instrumental assessments and at the level of the respiratory system by the physiological analysis alone. The results are discussed with reference to the neurological basis and clinical features of Moebius syndrome. The implications of the findings for the treatment of congenital dysarthria associated with Moebius syndrome are also discussed. The advantage of instrumental analysis over perceptual assessments in defining treatment goals for children with congenital dysarthria is highlighted.     

The child with lip, maxillary, palatal cleft

Clefting of lip, alveolus and palate may occur in multiple variations. It causes aesthetic and functional detractions. Soft palate clefts may result in hearing-, speech- and swallowing-disorders. Therefore the otolaryngologist is a very important member in the interdisciplinary team directory. A cleft-palate child belongs to an interdisciplinary consulting hour in special hospitals, where different medical specialties are involved. Most important for a sufficient medical rehabilitation are maxillofacial surgery, otolaryngology, paediatrics, plastic surgery, speech therapy, psychology and human genetics. Also many other specialties may be involved. The cleft demands a complete follow up from the child's birth until it is grown up. Hearing disorders are caused by eustachian tube disfunction. There is a high prevalence of hearing loss and middle ear diseases in cleft palate patients. Hearing losses due to middle ear effusions in the very young child. Without therapy up to 50% of the cleft palate population will develop chronic middle ear diseases with and without cholesteatomas. Early and consequent therapy with myringotomy and insertion of a tympanostomy ventilation tube is necessary and helps to avoid chronic hearing problems. There is no general accepted system of speech disorders in cleft palate patients because of the difference in shaping of the cleft and rehabilitation development. Essential for speech rehabilitation are an intact velopharyngeal system and a keen sense of hearing. Both of it is disturbed in cleft palate children. Speech disorders are treated by speech therapists with prior consultation of the interdisciplinary team. The author presents a system of primary, secondary and tertiary speech disorders in cleft palate children. Primary speech disorders are caused by faulty velopharyngeal valving, offering in hypernasality, weak plosives, fricatives and affricates. Secondary speech disorders are substitute mechanisms for plosives, nasal and pharyngeal sounds. Tertiary speech disorders are hyper- and hypofunctional dysphonias following primary and secondary speech dysfunctions.     

Cardiovascular concomitants in ultrasound production during cold exposure in infant rats.

Two experiments explored the cardiovascular consequences of extreme cold exposure and their relationship with ultrasound production in infant rats. Experiment 1 addressed the thermoregulatory and cardiovascular concomitants of ultrasound production during cold exposure in rats pretreated with saline or the ganglionic blocker chlorisondamine (5 mg/kg). For both groups, emission of ultrasound was associated with hypothermia and bradycardia. Experiment 2 explored whether the hypothermia experienced by pups in Experiment 1 is associated with increased blood viscosity, which is an important factor affecting venous return to the heart. Blood viscosity increased significantly as temperature decreased from 38°C to 22°C. These experiments suggest that, during extreme cold exposure, decreased cardiac output and increased blood viscosity combine to diminish venous return. The authors have hypothesized that pups respond to decreased return by recruiting the abdominal compression reaction, a physiological maneuver that propels blood back to the heart, resulting in emission of ultrasound as an acoustic by-product. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parameterization of the voice source by combining spectral decay and amplitude features of the glottal flow

A new method is presented for the parameterization of glottal volume velocity waveforms that have been estimated by inverse filtering acoustic speech pressure signals. The new technique, Parameter for Spectral and Amplitude Features of the Glottal Flow (PSA), combines two features of voice production, the AC value and the spectral decay of the glottal flow, both of which contribute to changes in vocal loudness. PSA yields a single parameter that characterizes the glottal flow in different loudness conditions. By analyzing voices of 8 speakers it was shown that the new parameter correlates strongly with the sound pressure level of speech.     

Damage accumulation stages in a low-carbon steel during uniaxial tension

The kinetics of damage accumulation during tension of a low-carbon steel with an edge notch has been studied by acoustic emission, ultrasonic attenuation, and replicas. The criteria of damage, fracture mechanics, percolation, and fractal dimension are estimated and used to distinguish the stages of fracture.     

Estimating phonation threshold pressure

Phonation threshold pressure (PTP) is the minimum subglottal pressure required to initiate vocal fold oscillation. Although potentially useful clinically, PTP is difficult to estimate noninvasively because of limitations to vocal motor control near the threshold of soft phonation. Previous investigators observed, for example, that trained subjects were unable to produce flat, consistent oral pressure peaks during/pae/syllable strings when they attempted to phonate as softly as possible (Verdolini-Marston, Titze, & Druker, 1990). The present study aimed to determine if nasal airflow or vowel context affected phonation threshold pressure as estimated from oral pressure (Smitheran & Hixon, 1981) in 5 untrained female speakers with normal velopharyngeal and voice function. Nasal airflow during /p/occlusion was observed for 3 of 5 participants when they attempted to phonate near threshold pressure. When the nose was occluded, nasal airflow was reduced or eliminated during /p/;however, individuals then evidenced compensatory changes in glottal adduction and/or respiratory effort that may be expected to alter PTP estimates. Results demonstrate the importance of monitoring nasal flow (or the flow zero point in undivided masks) when obtaining PTP measurements noninvasively. Results also highlight the need to pursue improved methods for noninvasive estimation of PTP.     

Acoustic cues to grammatical structure in infant-directed speech: cross-linguistic evidence

Several theorists have suggested that infants use prosodic cues such as pauses, final lengthening, and pitch changes to identify linguistic units in speech. One potential difficulty with this proposal, however, is that the acoustic shape of an utterance is affected by many factors other than its syntax, including its phonetic, lexical, and discourse structure. This has raised questions about how the infant could use timing and pitch as cues to any aspect of linguistic structure without simultaneously factoring out other effects. Acoustic analyses of connected samples of spontaneous speech addressed to 13.5-14-month-old infants by American English- and by Japanese-speaking mothers revealed that both utterance- and phrase-level acoustic regularities were large enough to be detected in spontaneous speech without correcting for other influences on the same acoustic features. (1) Utterance-final vowels were lengthened and underwent exaggerated pitch changes in both languages, and (2) local acoustic changes in duration (English) or pitch (Japanese) were reliably associated with some phrase boundaries within utterances. These findings suggest that a naive listener could estimate a rough prosodic template for each language based on robust acoustic patterns in observed sentences. We discuss ways in which the learner could combine acoustic and distributional analyses across utterances to acquire language-specific variations in prosodic bracketing cues and to obtain indirect perceptual evidence for the internal structure of utterances.