Christina Knuepffer

Adaptive Multi-Rate Compression Effects on Vowel Analysis

Signal processing on digitally sampled vowel sounds for the detection of pathological voices has been firmly established. This work examines compression artifacts on vowel speech samples that have been compressed using the adaptive multi-rate codec at various bit-rates. Whereas previous work has used the sensitivity of machine learning algorithm to test for accuracy, this work examines the changes in the extracted speech features themselves and thus report new findings on the usefulness of a particular feature. We believe this work will have potential impact for future research on remote monitoring as the identification and exclusion of an ill-defined speech feature that has been hitherto used, will ultimately increase the robustness of the system.

Reduced N400 semantic priming effects in adult survivors of paediatric and adolescent traumatic brain injury

The immediate and long-term neural correlates of linguistic processing deficits reported following paediatric and adolescent traumatic brain injury (TBI) are poorly understood. Therefore, the current research investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited during a semantic picture-word priming experiment in two groups of highly functioning individuals matched for various demographic variables and behavioural language performance. Participants in the TBI group had a recorded history of paediatric or adolescent TBI involving injury mechanisms associated with diffuse white matter pathology, while participants in the control group never sustained any insult to the brain. A comparison of N400 Mean Amplitudes elicited during three experimental conditions with varying semantic relatedness between the prime and target stimuli (congruent, semantically related, unrelated) revealed a significantly smaller N400 response in the unrelated condition in the TBI group, indicating residual linguistic processing deviations when processing demands required the quick detection of a between-category (unrelated) violation of semantic expectancy.

Chat-bots for people with Parkinson’s disease: science fiction or reality?

People with Parkinsons disease are known to have difficulties in language and communication. This paper proposes the use of an artificial conversational agent, commonly known as a chat-bot that runs on a smart-phone device and performs two-way conversation with the user. In this paper, initial work on a Parkinsons disease themed chat-bot that interacts with the user relative to their symptoms is presented. Potential dialogues are provided to illustrate the various roles chat-bots can play in the management of Parkinsons disease. The chat-bot can be used for measuring voice and communication outcomes during the daily life of the user, and for gaining information about challenges encountered. Moreover, it is anticipated that it may also have an educational and support role. The chat-bot is now ready for usability testing with a clinical population.

Reduced N400 Semantic Priming Effects in Adult Survivors of Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

Endogenous free radical production by NADPH oxidase 2 contributes to the secondary injury cascade after traumatic brain injury in miceAccepted Abstracts from the International Brain Injury Association’s Ninth World Congress on Brain InjuryObjectives: Studies have shown that occupational therapy interventions for clients with cognitive impairment following acquired brain injury (CIABI) have a positive effect on performance of activities of daily living, although the exact nature of the interventions are not clearly described. A better understanding of current practice is therefore needed to move further in the search for evidence based occupational therapy for clients with CIABI. Research on occupational therapists’ (OTs’) practice can play an important role to explore and describe current practice and furthermore define and evaluate the effectiveness of different components in OT interventions. The aim of this study was to survey Swedish OTs’ practice patterns for clients having CIABI.Methods: The study had a cross-sectional design using a questionnaire developed in two former studies. A stratified random sample was done with 250 OTs each from the following areas: regional care, somatic county care, primary care and municipal eldercare. The questionnaire was sent out using on-line survey software and 462 participants responded. Data is currently analyzed by descriptive and comparative statistics.Results: Preliminary results show that the interventions targeted a wide range of cognitive impairments and its consequences. Interventions were both remedial and compensatory with graded activity as the most common remediating intervention. To compensate for activity limitations prescription, or recommendation, of assistive devices (AD) as well as supporting clients in finding internal strategies were used extensively. The ADs used consisted of both high and low technology devices. Eighty-two percent also included different specific interventions to improve clients’ decreased self-awareness in their practice. A vast majority of the OTs (94%) preferred to use observations in daily activities to assess both activity limitations and cognitive impairment. Almost all participants also used interviews and sixty-two percent used tests on impairment level. To support practice general Occupational Therapy models were widely used while theories focusing on cognitive impairments specifically were used less. The participants’ answers reflected a client-centered attitude with collaborative goal-setting and feedback discussions after each session. Eighty- four percent felt dependent on relatives to reach a successful outcome and most of them worked deliberately to involve relatives in the rehabilitation. The OTs responses were evenly distributed over the spheres of activity. Ninety-two percent of the participants worked in team and the most common diagnoses were stroke and traumatic brain injury. There were some differences in responses between the spheres.Conclusions: Preliminary conclusions are that the OTs practice patterns included interventions targeting most cognitive impairments and their consequences in daily activities. The use of daily activities as a mean was preferred irrespective of whether the interventions were remediative or compensatory. Interventions targeting decreased self-awareness as well as the use of ADs were common. A client-centered approach was dominating including collaboration with relatives.For personalcentered approach was dominating including collaborationwith relatives.Diagnosis of Disorders of Consciousness : Evoked Potentials and Behavioural Assessment in clinical practice