Michael S. Cannizzaro

Voice Acoustical Measurement of the Severity of Major Depression.

A number of empirical studies have documented the relationship between quantifiable and objective acoustical measures of voice and speech, and clinical subjective ratings of severity of Major Depression. To further explore this relationship, speech samples were extracted from videotape recordings of structured interviews made during the administration of the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS; ). Pilot data were obtained from seven subjects (five males, two females) from videotapes that have been used to train expert raters on the administration and scoring of the HDRS. Several speech samples were isolated for each subject and processed to obtain the acoustic measurements. Acoustic measures were selected on the basis that they were correlated with HDRS ratings of symptom severity as seen under ideal voice recording conditions in previous studies. Our findings corroborate earlier reports that speaking rate is well correlated (negatively) with HDRS scores, with a strong correlation and nearly significant trend seen for the measure of pitch variability. A moderate pairwise correlation between percent pause time and HDRS score was also revealed, although this relationship was not statistically significant. The results from this cross-sectional study further demonstrate the ability of voice and speech signal analyses to objectively track severity of depression. In the present case, it is suggested that this relationship is robust enough to be found despite the less than ideal recording conditions and equipment used during the original videotape recording. Voice acoustical analyses may provide a powerful compliment to the standard clinical interview for depression. Use of such measures increases the range of techniques that are available to explore the neurobiological substrates of Major Depression, its treatment, and the dynamic interplay of the systems that govern the motor, cognitive, and emotional aspects of speech production.

Treatment of story grammar following traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

Recent investigations have documented a variety of discourse deficits following traumatic brain injuries (TBI). However, there is a paucity of information relating to the treatment of such deficits. The present study investigated the treatment of discourse production deficits, specifically story grammar ability, in an individual with TBI. Treatment emphasized meta-linguistic comprehension of story grammar structure and the identification and generation of episode components within stories. Over the course of treatment, a marked increase in the number of complete episodes generated by the individual with TBI was noted in story grammar probes. Follow-up probes at 1 and 3 months post-treatment, however, indicated limited carryover and poor generalization of the treatment effects. Findings are interpreted in terms of the individuals chronic cognitive deficits, disruptions in managerial knowledge, and the limitations of treating discourse acontextually.

Remote capture of human voice acoustical data by telephone: A methods study

In this pilot study we sought to determine the reliability and validity of collecting speech and voice acoustical data via telephone transmission for possible future use in large clinical trials. Simultaneous recordings of each participants speech and voice were made at the point of participation, the local recording (LR), and over a telephone line using a dedicated in‐line computerized interactive voice recording system, the remote recording (RR). All voice recordings were made from our laboratory telephone located in Groton, Connecticut to the RR system located in Madison, Wisconsin. All data points were compared on a measure‐by‐measure basis between the LR and RR recordings. The results suggest that both measures of frequency excursion and of speech motor timing are reliably captured over the telephone. Results are discussed in terms of specific acoustic measures that may be useful and accurately measured via telephone transmission, for examining disease severity and pharmacological intervention for use in a large‐scale clinical trial.

Bradyphrenia and bradykinesia both contribute to altered speech in schizophrenia: a quantitative acoustic study.

Objective:To evaluate the relative contributions of motor and cognitive symptoms on speech output in persons with schizophrenia (SZ). Background:Studies of speech production in SZ suggest that atypical prosody (eg, pause) is related to clinical symptoms manifest in flat affect and alogia. Others have suggested that a more general motor slowing, bradykinesia, leads to measurable speech changes. Method:Thirteen participants with SZ and age-matched control subjects were included for between-group and by-task comparisons. Two levels of task complexity were analyzed acoustically to determine distinct and overlapping features of speech pause. Results:For the free-speech task, group differences were found on measures of average pause duration, pause variability, percent pause, and cumulative pause time. Conversely, for the rote-speech task, group differences were found only on measures of average pause duration and pause variability. Conclusions:In persons with SZ, differences in the average and variability of pause duration may be reflected in speech motor slowing, whereas more global measures (eg, percentage pause) may better reflect a paucity of thought and idea generation related to the cognitive-linguistic aspects of free speech. These findings corroborate and extend the paucity of thought hypothesis in SZ to include an influence of motor slowing on speech production.

Understanding Why Speech-Language Pathologists Rarely Pursue a PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Masters-level speech-language pathologists in communication sciences and disorders (n = 122) completed a survey soliciting their reasons for not pursuing doctoral study. Factor analysis revealed a four-factor solution including one reflecting a lack of interest in doctoral study (Factor 2) and one reflecting practical financial concerns (Factor 3). Not surprisingly, those who did (31%) and did not (69%) seriously consider a PhD differed on Factor 2 items in the expected direction. Descriptive analyses revealed that the top two reasons cited for not pursuing the doctoral degree (i.e., a preexisting high level of satisfaction with professional goals and masters degree) were the same for both groups. Beyond that, Factor 2 items dominated the top reasons among those who never considered a PhD, whereas Factor 3 items were the top reasons among those who did consider a PhD. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are considered.

Sentence Comprehension in Agrammatic Aphasia: History and Variability to Clinical Implications.

Individuals with Brocas aphasia often present with deficits in their ability to comprehend non‐canonical sentences. This has been contrastingly characterized as a systematic loss of specific grammatical abilities or as individual variability in the dynamics between processing load and resource availability. The present study investigated sentence level comprehension in participants with Brocas aphasia in an attempt to integrate these contrasting views into a clinically useful process. Two participants diagnosed with Brocas aphasia were assessed using a sentence‐to‐picture matching paradigm and a truth‐value judgement task, across sentence constructions thought to be problematic for this population. The data demonstrate markedly different patterns of performance between participants, as well as variability within participants (e.g. by sentence type). These findings support the notion of individual performance variability in persons with aphasia. Syntactic theory was instructive for assessing sentence level comprehension, leading to a clinically relevant process of identifying treatment targets considering both performance variability and syntactic complexity for this population.