Hearables Devices

It seems like everyone is working on a “hearable” device these days. This article, published by Wearable, provides a glimpse into rumored and planned products from Samsung, Google, and Microsoft.

Tweet

from #Audiology via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1UERIu6
via IFTTT

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Brain Imaging Investigation of Phonological Awareness and Passage Comprehension Abilities in Adult Recipients of Cochlear Implants

Purpose

The aim of this study was to examine how the brains of individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) respond to spoken language tasks that underlie successful language acquisition and processing.

Method

During functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging, CI recipients with hearing impairment (n = 10, mean age: 52.7 ± 17.3 years) and controls with normal hearing (n = 10, mean age: 50.6 ± 17.2 years) completed auditory tasks—phonological awareness and passage comprehension—commonly used to investigate neurodevelopmental disorders of language and literacy.

Results

The 2 groups had similar reaction time and performance on experimental tasks, although participants with CIs had lower accuracy than controls. Overall, both CI recipients and controls exhibited similar patterns of brain activation during the tasks.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that CI recipients show an overall neurotypical pattern of activation during auditory language tasks on which individuals with neurodevelopmental language learning impairments (e.g., dyslexia) tend to show atypical brain activation. These findings suggest that advancements in functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging with CI recipients may help shed new light on how varying types of difficulties in language processing affect brain organization for language.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XyW31b
via IFTTT

Assessing Measurement Invariance for Spanish Sentence Repetition and Morphology Elicitation Tasks

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate evidence supporting the construct validity of two grammatical tasks (sentence repetition, morphology elicitation) included in the Spanish Screener for Language Impairment in Children (Restrepo, Gorin, & Gray, 2013). We evaluated if the tasks measured the targeted grammatical skills in the same way across predominantly Spanish-speaking children with typical language development and those with primary language impairment.

Method

A multiple-group, confirmatory factor analytic approach was applied to examine factorial invariance in a sample of 307 predominantly Spanish-speaking children (177 with typical language development; 130 with primary language impairment). The 2 newly developed grammatical tasks were modeled as measures in a unidimensional confirmatory factor analytic model along with 3 well-established grammatical measures from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fourth Edition, Spanish (Wiig, Semel, & Secord, 2006).

Results

Results suggest that both new tasks measured the construct of grammatical skills for both language-ability groups in an equivalent manner.

Conclusions

There was no evidence of bias related to children's language status for the Spanish Screener for Language Impairment in Children Sentence Repetition or Morphology Elicitation tasks. Results provide support for the validity of the new tasks as measures of grammatical skills.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1Mcs6mO
via IFTTT

Relations Among Detection of Syllable Stress, Speech Abnormalities, and Communicative Ability in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Purpose

To date, the literature on perception of affective, pragmatic, and grammatical prosody abilities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been sparse and contradictory. It is interesting to note that the primary perception of syllable stress within the word structure, which is crucial for all prosody functions, remains relatively unexplored in ASD. Thus, in the current study, we explored syllable stress perception sensitivity and its relationship to speech production abnormalities and communicative ability in adults with ASD.

Method

A same–different syllable stress perception task using pairs of identical 4-syllable words was delivered to 42 adults with/without high-functioning ASD, matched for age, to investigate primary speech perception ability in ASD. Speech production and communicative ability in ASD was measured using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (Lord et al., 2000).

Results

As predicted, the results showed that adults with ASD were less sensitive in making judgments about syllable stress relative to controls. Also, partial correlations revealed a key association of speech production abnormalities with stress perception sensitivity, rather than communicative ability.

Conclusions

Our findings provide empirical evidence for deficits on primary syllable stress perception in ASD and its role on sociocommunicative difficulties. This information could facilitate the development of effective interventions for speech and language therapy and social communication.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XyW0Co
via IFTTT

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Brain Imaging Investigation of Phonological Awareness and Passage Comprehension Abilities in Adult Recipients of Cochlear Implants

Purpose

The aim of this study was to examine how the brains of individuals with cochlear implants (CIs) respond to spoken language tasks that underlie successful language acquisition and processing.

Method

During functional near-infrared spectroscopy imaging, CI recipients with hearing impairment (n = 10, mean age: 52.7 ± 17.3 years) and controls with normal hearing (n = 10, mean age: 50.6 ± 17.2 years) completed auditory tasks—phonological awareness and passage comprehension—commonly used to investigate neurodevelopmental disorders of language and literacy.

Results

The 2 groups had similar reaction time and performance on experimental tasks, although participants with CIs had lower accuracy than controls. Overall, both CI recipients and controls exhibited similar patterns of brain activation during the tasks.

Conclusions

The results demonstrate that CI recipients show an overall neurotypical pattern of activation during auditory language tasks on which individuals with neurodevelopmental language learning impairments (e.g., dyslexia) tend to show atypical brain activation. These findings suggest that advancements in functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging with CI recipients may help shed new light on how varying types of difficulties in language processing affect brain organization for language.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XyW31b
via IFTTT

Assessing Measurement Invariance for Spanish Sentence Repetition and Morphology Elicitation Tasks

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate evidence supporting the construct validity of two grammatical tasks (sentence repetition, morphology elicitation) included in the Spanish Screener for Language Impairment in Children (Restrepo, Gorin, & Gray, 2013). We evaluated if the tasks measured the targeted grammatical skills in the same way across predominantly Spanish-speaking children with typical language development and those with primary language impairment.

Method

A multiple-group, confirmatory factor analytic approach was applied to examine factorial invariance in a sample of 307 predominantly Spanish-speaking children (177 with typical language development; 130 with primary language impairment). The 2 newly developed grammatical tasks were modeled as measures in a unidimensional confirmatory factor analytic model along with 3 well-established grammatical measures from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fourth Edition, Spanish (Wiig, Semel, & Secord, 2006).

Results

Results suggest that both new tasks measured the construct of grammatical skills for both language-ability groups in an equivalent manner.

Conclusions

There was no evidence of bias related to children's language status for the Spanish Screener for Language Impairment in Children Sentence Repetition or Morphology Elicitation tasks. Results provide support for the validity of the new tasks as measures of grammatical skills.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1Mcs6mO
via IFTTT

Relations Among Detection of Syllable Stress, Speech Abnormalities, and Communicative Ability in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Purpose

To date, the literature on perception of affective, pragmatic, and grammatical prosody abilities in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been sparse and contradictory. It is interesting to note that the primary perception of syllable stress within the word structure, which is crucial for all prosody functions, remains relatively unexplored in ASD. Thus, in the current study, we explored syllable stress perception sensitivity and its relationship to speech production abnormalities and communicative ability in adults with ASD.

Method

A same–different syllable stress perception task using pairs of identical 4-syllable words was delivered to 42 adults with/without high-functioning ASD, matched for age, to investigate primary speech perception ability in ASD. Speech production and communicative ability in ASD was measured using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (Lord et al., 2000).

Results

As predicted, the results showed that adults with ASD were less sensitive in making judgments about syllable stress relative to controls. Also, partial correlations revealed a key association of speech production abnormalities with stress perception sensitivity, rather than communicative ability.

Conclusions

Our findings provide empirical evidence for deficits on primary syllable stress perception in ASD and its role on sociocommunicative difficulties. This information could facilitate the development of effective interventions for speech and language therapy and social communication.

from #Audiology via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1XyW0Co
via IFTTT