Stephen C. McFarlane

Novel Stimuli for Obtaining Nasalance Measures from Young Children

The use of novel stimuli for obtaining nasalance measures in young children was the focus of this study. The subjects were 20 children without a history of communication disorders and 20 children at risk for velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI). Each subject recited three passages; the standard Zoo Passage, and two novel stimuli that were named the Turtle Passage and the Mouse Passage. Like the Zoo Passage, the Turtle Passage contained no normally nasal consonants. The Mouse Passage was about 11% nasal consonants, which is similar to the Rainbow Passage. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the mean nasalance for the Zoo Passage and the Turtle Passage for either the subjects without risk of VPI (15.4% vs 15.7%) or for those at risk (30.4% vs 28.8%). Nasalance measures for the Mouse Passage were significantly higher than for either the Zoo Passage or the Turtle Passage. Listeners rated the stimuli on a 5-point equal-appearing intervals scale. The correlation coefficient between listener judgments of hypernasality and nasalance was significant for the Zoo Passage (r = 0.70) and for the Turtle Passage (r = 0.51) but not significant for the Mouse Passage (r = 0.32). Using cut-off scores of 22% for nasalance and 2.25 for hypernasality, the sensitivity for the Zoo Passage was 0.72, and for the Turtle Passage, 0.83.

Effects of vocal loudness on nasalance measures

The effects of vocal loudness on measures of nasalance was evaluated. Subjects were 30 young adult females with no history of communication disorder who spoke two stimulus passages at three levels of vocal loudness. One passage contained no nasal consonants (Zoo Passage) and the other contained about 35% nasal consonants (Nasal Sentences). The results indicate that there was no significant difference in nasalance measures across the three levels of vocal loudness for either passage. However, when the nasalance measures for the three conditions of vocal loudness were ranked from low to high for each subject, there was an interesting tendency for a subjects lowest nasalance score to occur in the loudest vocal condition on the Nasal Sentences but not for the non-nasal speech material of the Zoo Passage. The implications of these findings with regard to velopharyngeal function are discussed.

Implications of evaluating and intervening with incipient stutterers

Abstract A study was conducted to investigate the factors involved in the recovery from incipient stuttering without therapeutic intervention. Fifteen subjects were seen on two occasions, once for an initial evaluation after the reported onset of stuttering, and for a second evaluation to determine if they had recovered or become chronic stutterers. Within the constraints of a small sample, several findings are presented: (1) 80% of the children recovered spontaneously from stuttering, (2) subjects who exhibited more types and frequencies of disfluencies upon onset had a poorer prognosis for recovery, (3) the age of onset, if under 4 years, had little bearing on recovery, and (4) children who were seen professionally soon after disfluency onset had the greatest prognosis for recovery. Possible implications of these results are discussed.

Unilateral Vocal Fold ParalysisPerceived Vocal Quality Following Three Methods of Treatment

Voice samples of 16 adult patients with vocal fold paralysis and 6 normal adults were recorded and evaluated by 27 listeners (9 speech-language pathologists, 9 otolaryngologists, and 9 lay listeners). The listeners rated the voices of the speakers on a 10-point scale on six vocal parameters (pitch, loudness, hoarseness, vocal roughness, breathiness, and overall quality). The 16 patients represented three different treatment approaches (teflon injection, 4; voice therapy, 6; and muscle-nerve reinnervation surgery, 6). Voice therapy and muscle nerve reinnervation surgery were both rated more successful than teflon injection in terms of improvement from pretreatment to posttreatment voices for all six vocal parameters. Normal speakers’ voices were rated higher than the voices of any treatment group. Speech-language pathologists were more reliable listeners than the other two listener groups. A case is made for using a period of trial voice therapy while waiting for possible spontaneous nerve healing in unila...

A demographic description of laryngeal contact ulcer patients

Summary The voice literature suggests that the “typical” person with contact ulcer of the larynx is a 40–60-year-old man in a vocally demanding occupation who uses a loud, low-pitched voice with a long history of excessive smoking and drinking. A review of 57 contact ulcer case histories revealed that in contrast 21% were female, 44% were younger than 40 or older than 59, 47% were in low-to-average vocal demand occupations, and the incidence of smoking and drinking did not exceed what would be expected in the general population. The findings suggest that contact ulcer patients are similar to patients with other disorders of laryngeal hyperfunction. Voice therapy, pharyngolaryngeal reflux therapy, and surgical removal of granulomas were the most frequently recommended treatments.

Facilitating Reading Development with Speech- and Language-Impaired Children

Because reading is a language-based skill and many communicatively handicapped youngsters experience difficulties with it, speech-language pathologists have important roles in assisting with readin...