Neurophysiology of Speech Differences in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a picture naming task of simple and complex words in children with typical speech and with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). Results reveal reduced amplitude prior to speaking complex (multisyllabic) words relative to simple (monosyllabic) words for the CAS group over the right hemisphere during a time window thought to reflect phonological encoding of word forms. Group differences were also observed prior to production of spoken tokens regardless of word complexity during a time window just prior to speech onset (thought to reflect motor planning/programming). Results suggest differences in pre-speech neurolinguistic processes.     

Dreamed Speech and Speech Muscle Activity

Polygraphic recordings were made in 20 normal adult female subjects and a total of 45 sleep records were obtained. Subjects were awakened in Stage REM or Stage 2 and, when they recalled dreaming, they were asked whether or not they had been speaking in their dreams. Polygraphic recordings enabled determination of the presence or absence of phasic EMG discharges in speech and nonspeech muscles (mimic muscle and extremity muscles) just prior to awakenings. Results were examined for correlation with presence or absence of speech recall by the subjects. When phasic discharges occurred in speech muscles during either Stage REM or Stage 2, recall of speech in dreams was prevalent, while such recall was not observed when discharges occurred in nonspeech muscles. Moreover, recall of speech in dreams was rarely observed when no muscle phasic discharges occurred. These results suggest that speech in dreams may be accompanied by phasic discharges of speech muscles.     

Speech Disorders in Parkinsonism

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Objective. To study the clinical and neurophysiological features of speech impairments in Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and...     

Speech Disorders in Right-Hemisphere Stroke

Clinical practice shows that right-hemisphere cerebral strokes are often accompanied by one speech disorder or another. The aim of the present work was to analyze published data addressing speech disorders in right-sided strokes. Questions of the lateralization of speech functions are discussed, with particular reference to the role of the right hemisphere in speech activity and the structure of speech pathology in righthemisphere foci. Clinical variants of speech disorders, such as aphasia, dysprosody, dysarthria, mutism, and stutter are discussed in detail. Types of speech disorders are also discussed, along with the possible mechanisms of their formation depending on the locations of lesions in the axis of the brain (cortex, subcortical structures, stem, cerebellum) and focus size.     

基于语音信号组合特征的语音图谱显示

为了帮助听力语言障碍者进行基于视觉语音训练,提出了一种将语音信号形成图像的新方法。首先对语音音素进行时域、频域、能量值的提取,然后通过计算得到每个采样点的组合特征值,描绘成图像。对元音音素的仿真结果表明:此方法可以较好地区分各种音素及发音过程,可用于语音的识别和辅助训练。     

Speech characteristics in the Kabuki syndrome

Six children with Kabuki syndrome were studied to investigate speech patterns associated with the syndrome. Each child's speech was characterized with regard to articulation (types of errors and intelligibility), pitch (high or low), loudness (volume of speech), and prosody (general quality of speech that combines rate and inflection). All six children had a history of delayed speech and language acquisition and were receiving speech services. All individuals had articulation errors and abnormal oral resonance, which appeared to be due to poor oral-motor coordination and hypotonia and were not felt to be due to structural abnormalities such as velopharyngeal insufficiency, dental malocclusion, or cleft palate. An intriguing finding, noted in the two individuals followed from childhood into adolescence with serial speech evaluations, was that pitch, loudness, and prosody did not mature over time and what was age appropriate performance at younger ages became inappropriate in adolescence. This raises a challenge for speech services, as by adolescence, while articulation had improved, the pitch and loudness of these individuals' speech had not and so was noticeably different from peers. Distinctive speech characteristics with a lack of normal maturation during childhood can be added to the extensive list of clinical features associated with the Kabuki syndrome and hopefully will lead to improved speech/language treatment for individuals with this syndrome.     

大学生演讲比赛选手的演讲状态焦虑研究

目的:考察不同情境下演讲比赛选手演讲状态焦虑的主观心理反应和行为反应.方法:采用窄时间段测量法用主观焦虑程度(SUD)自评和行为评估他评两法测量在实验条件和比赛现场选手的演讲状态焦虑.结果:①实验情境中,不同时段SUD差异显著,行为评估指标无差异.②现场情境中,主题演讲不同时段SUD差异显著,即兴演讲不显著;在两类演讲中,选手在多个行为指标上均表现出适应阶段焦虑水平低于正视阶段.③对两种情境下指标比较发现,SUD时段主效应显著;在行为指标上,情境和时段主效应均显著.结论:在两种情境下,选手的演讲状态焦虑在主观评定和行为指标上均表现出逐步下降的习惯化趋势,且行为指标受情境的影响更大.     

The Pocket Speech Aid

A rapid-access but limited vocabulary communication aid for the nonvocal and speech impaired is useful in some well defined situations. The design and construction of such a device is described. Three distinct situations have been identified where an aid is essential and an initial evaluation has shown the Pocket Speech Aid to be very successful.     

Speech and Motor Disturbances in Rett Syndrome

Rett syndrome is a severe, genetically determined disease of early childhood which produces a defined clinical phenotype in girls. The main clinical manifestations include lesions affecting speech functions, involving both expressive and receptive speech, as well as motor functions, producing apraxia of the arms and profound abnormalities of gait in the form of ataxia-apraxia. Most investigators note that patients have variability in the severity of derangement to large motor acts and in the damage to fine hand movements and speech functions. The aims of the present work were to study disturbances of speech and motor functions over 2–5 years in 50 girls aged 12 months to 14 years with Rett syndrome and to analyze the correlations between these disturbances. The results of comparing clinical data and EEG traces supported the stepwise involvement of frontal and parietal-temporal cortical structures in the pathological process. The ability to organize speech and motor activity is affected first, with subsequent development of lesions to gnostic functions, which are in turn followed by derangement of subcortical structures and the cerebellum and later by damage to structures in the spinal cord. A clear correlation was found between the severity of lesions to motor and speech functions and neurophysiological data: the higher the level of preservation of elements of speech and motor functions, the smaller were the contributions of activity and the greater the contributions of and activities to the EEG. The possible pathogenetic mechanisms underlying the motor and speech disturbances in Rett syndrome are discussed.     

Speech motor learning in profoundly deaf adults

Speech production, like other sensorimotor behaviors, relies on multiple sensory inputs--audition, proprioceptive inputs from muscle spindles and cutaneous inputs from mechanoreceptors in the skin and soft tissues of the vocal tract. However, the capacity for intelligible speech by deaf speakers suggests that somatosensory input alone may contribute to speech motor control and perhaps even to speech learning. We assessed speech motor learning in cochlear implant recipients who were tested with their implants turned off. A robotic device was used to alter somatosensory feedback by displacing the jaw during speech. We found that implant subjects progressively adapted to the mechanical perturbation with training. Moreover, the corrections that we observed were for movement deviations that were exceedingly small, on the order of millimeters, indicating that speakers have precise somatosensory expectations. Speech motor learning is substantially dependent on somatosensory input.     

Learning Curve of Speech Recognition

Speech recognition (SR) speeds patient care processes by reducing report turnaround times. However, concerns have emerged about prolonged training and an added secretarial burden for radiologists. We assessed how much proofing radiologists who have years of experience with SR and radiologists new to SR must perform, and estimated how quickly the new users become as skilled as the experienced users. We studied SR log entries for 0.25 million reports from 154 radiologists and after careful exclusions, defined a group of 11 experienced radiologists and 71 radiologists new to SR (24,833 and 122,093 reports, respectively). Data were analyzed for sound file and report lengths, character-based error rates, and words unknown to the SR’s dictionary. Experienced radiologists corrected 6 characters for each report and for new users, 11. Some users presented a very unfavorable learning curve, with error rates not declining as expected. New users’ reports were longer, and data for the experienced users indicates that their reports, initially equally lengthy, shortened over a period of several years. For most radiologists, only minor corrections of dictated reports were necessary. While new users adopted SR quickly, with a subset outperforming experienced users from the start, identification of users struggling with SR will help facilitate troubleshooting and support.     

Speech and swallowing outcomes in buccal mucosa carcinoma

Buccal carcinoma is one of the most common malignant neoplasms among all oral cancers in India. Understanding the role of speech language pathologists (SLPs) in the domains of evaluation and management strategies of this condition is limited, especially in the Indian context. This is a case report of a young adult with recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the buccal mucosa with no deleterious habits usually associated with buccal mucosa carcinoma. Following composite resection, pectoralis major myocutaneous flap reconstruction, he developed severe oral dysphagia and demonstrated unintelligible speech. This case report focuses on the issues of swallowing and speech deficits in buccal mucosa carcinoma that need to be addressed by SLPs, and the outcomes of speech and swallowing rehabilitation and prognostic issues.     

基于ICA的重叠语音基频提取和语音增强

语音信号是一种特征时变信号,基音频率提取和语音增强是两种常见语音处理要求,独立分量分析（ICA）是一种盲信号处理方法,目的 在于将混合在观察信号中的相互独立的源信号分离出来,ICA在很多领域都有广泛的应用,在语音信号上最为成功,本文将ICA用来撮重叠语音信号中的基音频率,提出了一个基于ICA的混叠语音基频提取系统,成功地解决了基频相互接近时无法提取混合信号基频的问题,并将它应用到有音乐背景下的语音增强方面,均取得了较好的结果。     

Treatment of Speech Development Disorders in Preschool Children

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Objectives. To study the efficacy of Neuroferon in general speech development disorders (SDD). Materials and methods. A total of 30 children of preschool...     

Behavioral Impairments in Children with Speech Development Disorders

Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology - Objective. To study emotional and behavioral disorders in children with speech development disorders. Materials and methods. The study group included 60...