James C. Montague

The Effect of Task on Determination of Habitual Pitch

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was an effect of task on determination of habitual pitch, or speaking fundamental frequency (SFF). Seven tasks commonly used to elicit habitual pitch in clinical voice evaluations were compared. Three groups of normal subjects (N = 36) were examined (adult males, adult females, and male and female prepubescent children). For the adult male (n = 12) and pediatric (n = 12) subjects, no significant effect of task was found. For the adult female (n = 12) subjects, a statistically significant (P < .001) effect of task was found. All tasks were found to have high (>0.90) test-retest reliability for all subjects. Implications of the use of one task for determination of habitual pitch are discussed, as is the possibility of a task effect on determination of other voice parameters.

The effect of task on determination of maximum phonational frequency range.

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was an effect of task on determination of maximum phonational frequency range (MPFR). Two tasks commonly used to elicit MPFR in clinical voice evaluations were compared. Normal adult females (N = 30) were examined. No statistically significant effect of task was found. Both tasks (glissando and discrete-step) were found to have a high positive correlation (0.84). Implications of the use of one task for determination of maximum phonational frequency range are discussed, as is the possibility of a task effect on determination of other voice parameters.

Tracheoesophageal speech : with and without tracheostoma valve

The tracheostoma valve, developed by Blom and Singer1 combines the advantages of pulmonary air for phonation with hands‐free speech. Patients have anecdotally reported “more normal speech” with the use of the valve. This study was designed to objectively determine if speech acoustic and temporal measures existed between tracheoesophageal puncture using the valve, and those without the valve prosthesis, during speech production among the same subjects.

Mid-Basal-to-Ceiling Versus Mid-Ceiling-to-Basal Elicitation of Maximum Phonational Frequency Range

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was an effect of task on the determination of maximum phonational frequency range (MPFR). Two tasks commonly used to elicit MPFR in clinical voice evaluations were compared. Normal adult females (n = 30) were examined. No statistically significant effect of task was found. Both tasks (mid-basal-to-ceiling and mid-ceiling-to-basal) were found to have a high positive correlation (0.89). Implications of the use on one task to determine maximum phonational frequency range are discussed, as is the possibility of a task effect on determination of other voice parameters.

A comparative study of language delayed preschool children's ability to recall symbols from two symbol systems

This study compared the acquisition of two graphic symbol systems, Rebus and Bliss, with language delayed preschool children. Subjects were 26 black children between the ages of 4 and 6 with language delays ranging from 7 months to 2 years, 5 months. Training in Rebus and Bliss was administered to each subject using a crossover design. The Rebus pre- and post-test scores suggested that the more iconic Rebus symbols were easier to identify initially than were the more ideographic Blissymbols. However, with training, a greater amount of improvement occurred from Bliss pre- to posttest. Rebus and Bliss scores were not affected by the order of test administration.

Perceived age and sex characteristics of voices of institutionalized children with Down's syndrome.

It was hypothesized that the voices of children with Downs syndrome would be perceived as younger than their true chronological age and that perceptual auditors would have considerable difficulty in identifying the correct sex of these children by voice alone. Perceived age and sex were investigated in 20 institutional children with Downs syndrome who were matched for sex and age with a control group of 20 normal children. Randomized matched verbal samples were played backwards to a group of 16 listener/judges who rated the samples as to age and sex. The results indicated that the voices of these Down syndrome children were perceived as being more than 2 yr. younger than their group mean age and that there was a negative correlation between the biological sex of such children and their perceived sex.

Self-concepts of institutional and non-institutional educable mentally retarded children.

20 public school special education and 20 institutionalized educable mentally retarded children were compared on an experimental I Feel—Me Feel self-perception scale. No significant differences in self-concept were found between the institutional and non-institutional groups or between sexes. All children had generally good self-concepts.

Variables related to communicative disorders in an adult prison sample

Abstract Speech, language, and hearing assessment data were correlated with fourteen independent variables for fifty-six incoming adult prison inmates. Descriptive data supported the elevated prevalence of all categories of communicative disorders, with the exception of stuttering. Significant results were reported on correlational analysis of language processing subtests and the independent variables of I.Q., chronological age, years of education, and number of siblings. However, no significant correlations were found between these independent variables and the results of articulation, language production, voice, or hearing assessments. Theoretical, clinical, and future research implications are discussed.

Correlation of SPINE test scores with measures of tongue deviancy computed from formant frequencies in hearing‐impaired speakers

When the first three formant frequencies are given in vowel production, plausible midsagittal vocal tract shapes may be generated easily [D. C. Wold, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 78, S55 (1985)]. As a measure of tongue deviancy, this technique was used to compute the root‐mean‐square deviation with vocal‐tract widths computed from measured formant frequencies and the standard widths computed from average formant frequencies for adults. The vowels selected for analysis were /i/,/u/, and /a/. A perceptual speech intelligibility test for the hearing‐impaired, called SPINE for speech intelligibility evaluation, was administered to 28 hearing‐impaired speakers. The Pearson product‐moment correlation was computed between the SPINE test scores of the subjects and the inverse of the tongue deviancy. The preliminary results were positive with r equal to 0.53 (p<0.01), 0.02, 0.27, and 0.54 (p<0.01) for /i/,/u/,/a/, and the vowels combined, respectively. Thus verbal speech intelligibility scores for the hearing‐impa...