Deaf Speech Research Articles

Writing Instruction as an Authentic Context for Targeting Speech and Language Therapy Goals for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

Purpose: This tutorial describes how a speech-language pathologist (SLP) might incorporate writing-based principles into therapy sessions to target a variety of speech and language goals for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children in addition to writing. We present an illustrative example of one SLP's experience implementing Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction (SIWI), an approach to writing instruction designed for DHH students, within a public elementary school setting. Method: We motivate this tutorial by first reviewing the literature related to the challenges for SLPs in targeting written language within therapy settings and then discuss writing and communication difficulties for DHH students. We describe the components of SIWI with illustrative examples of how one SLP applied these principles within her therapy sessions with DHH students. The SIWI instructional approach integrates well with the roles and responsibilities of an SLP in providing therapy across a variety of communication domains for the DHH students. This tutorial describes how the SLP scaffolds production of various morphological and syntactic linguistic structures as a natural part of cocreating text with her students. The highly interactive nature of SIWI allows for targeting pragmatic language goals with student–student and student–SLP interactions. Students also have opportunities for practicing articulation when generating or revising ideas for the cocreated text and when rereading the text. Conclusions: SIWI provides a framework to address DHH students' speech and language goals within authentic writing activities that may support increased generalization into classroom academic tasks. We provide suggestions about how an SLP can incorporate the principles of SIWI into therapy sessions to integrate writing instruction with the various speech and language goals they already target as a part of implementing a student's Individualized Education Program.

The Contribution of Basic Leadership Training (LDK) to the Soft Skill Competency of Students of Special School (SLB) Bina Harapan

The purpose of this study was to describe the real contribution of changes in the soft skill competence of students with special needs (deaf speech) at the Bina Harapan Special School as a result of basic leadership training. This research is included in qualitative descriptive research with a case study approach. The results of this study are 1) Students' communication competence is good, this is evidenced by the many conversations that occur in one day, both with fellow speech-impaired students and with other people who do not have special needs. 2) The competence of being able to cooperate with students is very good, as evidenced by their getting used to doing activities with other friends and supported by the habituation of group work by the school. 3) The adaptability of students is very good, as evidenced by the ratio of the number of close friends they mention is currently much higher than when they first entered school. 4) The leadership competence of students is very good, as evidenced by the way they lead themselves to be able to move others in addition to learning activities, homework and their circumstances. 5) Students' problem solving competence is well proven by the way they deal with problems that come from themselves and from others.

Employer ratings of cochlear implant users from speech samples

This study continues a project on speech-based perceptual “first impressions” of early-implanted cochlear implant (CI) users. Hiring managers with typical hearing (TH, N = 72) from various industries heard speech samples from CI users and TH young adults and rated their personalities and attractiveness as applicants for various types of jobs. As with college-student peer listeners in prior studies, employers rated TH speakers most positively, CI users with high speech intelligibility (CI-Hi) as intermediate, and CI users with lower intelligibility (CI-Lo) most negatively. Within this pattern, CI-Hi were rated somewhat lower by managers hiring for white-collar jobs (versus blue-collar) and by those who placed high importance on communication skills, who also rated CI-Lo lower on communication skills and “hirability” but higher on extroversion. These patterns underline the practical importance of CI users’ speech intelligibility on their employment opportunities, particularly when entering white-collar and highly communicative jobs, where biases may exist against deaf speech and other unfamiliar patterns. However, managers with more knowledge of and experience with deafness rated CI-Hi communication skills more positively, supporting the value of increasing opportunities for interaction at school and work, as well as education about deafness, its effects on speech, and communication-repair strategies within the workplace.

New Evidence-based Fitting Paradigm for Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

New Evidence-based Fitting Paradigm for Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

The development of sign language learning media using multimedia systems

Language is a means to communicate. The expressions in the world are diverse, one of which is sign language. There are two types of sign languages in Indonesia, namely BISINDO (Indonesian Sign Language) and SIBI (Indonesian Language System). Besides that, few people know the sign language, and the method used still uses conventional or manual methods so that it feels challenging to communicate with people who are deaf speech. This study aims to develop sign language learning applications using multimedia systems that expected to help people with hearing impairment and hearing impairment, the general public, and teachers in communicating with speech deaf people. In this study, using the Multimedia Development Life Cycle research method, Alpha testing with Black Box testing and beta testing as an application testing method to measure user satisfaction. The results of research using beta testing is an android-based sign language learning application suitable for the general public, and the deaf equipped with evaluation features and delivery of material in the form of video.

An orbicularis oris, buccinator, zygomaticus, and risorius muscle contraction classification for lip-reading during speech using sEMG signals on multi-channels

The quantity and placement of surface electromyography cathodes have been concentrated broadly because of the need to improve the exactness of the order they complete of the expectation of development. By and by, expanding the quantity of channels utilized for this characterization frequently builds their preparing time too. This exploration work pays with a correlation of the grouping exactness dependent on the diverse quantity of surface electromyography signal put in the correct lower appendage of solid subjects (Human Beings). The examination is performed utilizing Zero Crossings (ZC), Mean Absolute Values (MAV), Slope Signal (SS), and Waveform Length (WL); these qualities contain the component vector. The calculation utilized for the arrangement is the SVM subsequent to applying a PCA to the highlights. The outcomes demonstrate that it is conceivable to arrive at over 95% of order precision by utilizing 11 or 10 channels. Also, the distinction got for 1500 tests-sample for 9, 10 and 11 channels, isn't higher than 4%, which implies that expanding the quantity of channels doesn't ensure 99.5% accuracy in the order. Therefore, these classification results the better understanding of Orbicularis Oris (OO), Buccinator (B), Zygomaticus (Z), and Risorius (R) Muscle contraction during speech of deaf and dumb patients.

Spectral analysis of english fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/ produced by people with profound hearing loss

Purpose Hearing loss not only causes restricted speech understanding, but also alters speech production resulting in poor intelligibility. This study investigated whether English fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/ spoken by people with severe-to-profound hearing loss acoustically differ from those spoken by normal hearing (NH) individuals. Methods For hearing impaired (HI) group, we analyzed a part of deaf speech corpus collected at the Speech Perception Assessment Lab (SPAL) at the University of Memphis. From the big dataset, /aSa/ and /aSha/ recordings spoken by eight females were selected. For NH control group, Shannon’s consonant set (1999) spoken by eight females was used. A set of spectral moment analysis (Mean, Variance, Skewness, Kurtosis) along with spectral peak (SP) and wiener entropy (WE) were used as measures of spectral properties of /s/ and /ʃ/. Results Variance and WE for HI were significantly higher than those for NH group (p<0.05). Mean and SP for /s/ were significantly greater in NH group, while Mean and SP for /ʃ/ were significantly greater in HI group (p<0.05). This trends suggest greater Mean and SP differences between /s/ and /ʃ/ for NH group than HI group. Conclusions Based on our finding, Variance and WE are spectral measures that are different between NH and HI individuals’ spoken /s/ and /ʃ/. We assume that HI individuals likely pronounce /s/ and /ʃ/ without making clear distinction substituting by each other due probably to lack of auditory feedback or failure of motor control. Keywords: Fricatives; Spectral moment analysis; Hearing loss; Deaf speech

Effects of Ultrasound Visual Feedback

Dr Noriko Yamane is an expert in speech production and perception based at Hiroshima University in Japan. Yamane is leading a team which is carrying out research to elucidate the precise mechanisms of the tongue and speechgestures that are required to learn English as a second language. Yamane's goal is to help people who do not respond well to traditional approaches to improving articulation. Her long-term goal is to work with engineers and develop an app available for speakers, communities of the deaf and/or atypical speech, to help them to improve their communication.

Contemporary Speech and Oral Language Care for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children Using Hearing Devices.

Contemporary speech and language interventions are not limited to disabilities but embrace the pragmatics of communication behaviors from the perspective of functional social participation. Accordingly, current speech and language therapies for deaf and hard-of-hearing children include a broad spectrum of approaches and techniques. This paper explores contemporary approaches and techniques for speech and oral language interventions for deaf and hard-of-hearing children using hearing devices, evidence of efficacy and how they are implemented in diverse clinical practices.

Competencies of a deaf educator and deaf speech and language therapist in the diagnostic and therapeutic process of a child with hearing impairment

Renata Marciniak-Firadza, Competencies of a deaf educator and deaf speech and language therapist in the diagnostic and therapeutic process of a child with hearing impairment. Interdisciplinary Contexts of Special Pedagogy, no. 25, Poznań 2019. Pp. 297-331. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-391X. DOI: https:// doi.org/10.14746/ikps.2019.25.13&#x0D; The specificity of the cognitive processes of a child with hearing impairment, and the need to apply appropriate methods and means of teaching, requires participation of a properly prepared specialist in the field of remedial and educational, preventive and therapeutic work in the didactic process. The manifestation of not only theoretical reflection on the profession of teacher and speech and language therapist, but also the effect of practical searches related to the vocational education and training of educators and speech and language therapists,as well as the assessment of their work, is the issue of professional competencies of a deaf educator and deaf speech and language therapist in the diagnostic and therapeutic process of a child with hearing impairment. Competence is understood in the article in two ways: as a range of knowledge, skills, predispositions and as a range of qualifications.

Online Subjective Assessment of the Speech of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a two-year speech production training of hearing impaired children with the help of a Speech Assistant system. It was developed as part of a research project that was carried out jointly by the University of Debrecen and the University of Miskolc within the framework of the project called 'Basic and Applied Research for Internet-based Speech Development of Deaf and Hard of Hearing People and for Objective Measurement of Their Progress'. The project is aimed at solving basic and applied research tasks to develop an application for supporting the improvement of speech production of deaf and hard of hearing people more effectively than the methods that are already known. The idea of the Speech Assistant came from an audio-visual transcoder for sound visualization developed at the University of Debrecen, and a three-dimensional head model for articulation presentation, called 'talking head', developed at the University of Miskolc. The most important aim of the research was to create a complex system to assist the speech production improvement of hearing impaired children by the visualization of speech sound and articulation. In addition, the system has many other features (such as prosody display, automatic assessment and knowledge-based systems implementation), which subsequently allow individual practice not only on computers but also on mobile devices. However, it is important to note that the personal contribution of specialized teachers cannot be replaced. The module performing the audio-visual transcoding required is language-independent, the talking head and the automatic assessment of utterance can be adapted to other languages. The online evaluation system developed for measuring the progress of children in speech production is also shown in this paper.

Quantifying speech signal of deaf speakers with territory specific utterances to understand the acoustic characteristics

Hearing loss, deafness, hard of hearing and hearing impairment are the various terms used in the deaf community as a condition for inability to hear either partial or total impairment. The hearing loss in most of the deaf persons affects the language development to lead a normal life. The acoustic characteristic of deaf speaker is estimated in comparison with the normal speakers to create an assistive method. The speech signals are procured from the 32 territory-specific normal and deaf speakers by uttering ten Tamil words. The parameters analysed are pitch, formants, jitter and shimmer. From the overall results, it is observed that acoustic characteristics differ significantly for the deaf speakers and the quantitative values of the parameters are controlled by the normal speakers. Further the acoustic parameters may be used as a correction factor for the deaf speech signal such that the listeners can understand the deaf speech.

Speech Intelligibility and Personality Peer-ratings of Young Adults With Cochlear Implants

Speech intelligibility, or how well a speaker's words are understood by others, affects listeners' judgments of the speaker's competence and personality. Deaf cochlear implant (CI) users vary widely in speech intelligibility, and their speech may have a noticeable "deaf" quality, both of which could evoke negative stereotypes or judgments from peers. In this study, college students with typical hearing (TH) used semantic differential scales to rate speech samples of highly-intelligible TH young adults and age-matched CI users with high or low intelligibility (CI-Hi, CI-Lo) on personality traits related to competence (intelligence, achievement), friendship skills (friendliness, popularity), and attractiveness as a friend (extraversion, dependability). Judges rated TH positively, CI-Lo negatively, and CI-Hi as intermediate, even though CI-Hi were as intelligible as TH. Both CI user groups were rated as friendly but unattractive as friends (insecure, shy, boring, unpopular, does not "sound like someone who could be my friend"), underlining the role of deaf speech quality in peer judgments. Such negative first impressions are likely to affect CI users' social interactions and friendships, highlighting the importance of speech intelligibility and quality for CI users and calling for education on deafness and deaf speech for TH peers.

A DEAF BODY: OPPRESSION AND RESISTANCE IN A BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVE

&lt;p&gt;Deafness, legal rights, language, teaching and learning are topics strictly related to deaf life and wellbeing.&lt;br /&gt;This article aims to discuss the history of deafness and some teaching proposals using Brazil and a&lt;br /&gt;Brazilian Institute of Deaf Education in a study case. On that purpose we analyzed didactic and scientific&lt;br /&gt;materials and their influence on Brazilian deaf education. Thus, we focused on the deaf speech also&lt;br /&gt;approaching pathology and epistemology perspectives present in the narratives of the institute curriculum,&lt;br /&gt;questioning these representations. Historical aspects in the educational, pathological and epistemological&lt;br /&gt;approaches in Brazil are also reported including different language teaching perspectives including&lt;br /&gt;bimodalist, total communication and bilingualism. Our study observed the importance of deaf political&lt;br /&gt;movement and their struggle to guarantee the right for a good and long-awaited dreamed bilingual&lt;br /&gt;education&lt;/p&gt;

Corpus of deaf speech for acoustic and speech production research.

A corpus of recordings of deaf speech is introduced. Adults who were pre- or post-lingually deafened as well as those with normal hearing read standardized speech passages totaling 11 h of .wav recordings. Preliminary acoustic analyses are included to provide a glimpse of the kinds of analyses that can be conducted with this corpus of recordings. Long term average speech spectra as well as spectral moment analyses provide considerable insight into differences observed in the speech of talkers judged to have low, medium, or high speech intelligibility.

Analysis of Dravidian words uttered by deaf speakers using clustering techniques: deaf speech enhancement

A novel method for grouping the fundamental speech features of normal and deaf speakers using a new Modified Self Organising Map (M-SOM) clustering algorithm, and deaf speech enhancement using distance measure is presented. The M-SOM algorithm will automatically categorise the normal and deaf speaker speech features into two different clusters. Its performance is analysed in comparison with SOM and NMTF algorithms. The result obtained reveals that the M-SOM algorithm which is developed by combining the adaptive features of SOM and the Ward clustering methods provides lowest intra and highest inter-clustering and appears to be the best method for deaf speech signals. After clustering estimation of distance metric, termed as correction measure facilitates enhancement of the unclear deaf speech so that it could be understandable to normal speakers. Hence it can be inferred that the suggested method effectively enhances the deaf speech signal for better understanding by a normal listener.

Analysis of Dravidian words uttered by deaf speakers using clustering techniques: deaf speech enhancement

A novel method for grouping the fundamental speech features of normal and deaf speakers using a new Modified Self Organising Map (M-SOM) clustering algorithm, and deaf speech enhancement using distance measure is presented. The M-SOM algorithm will automatically categorise the normal and deaf speaker speech features into two different clusters. Its performance is analysed in comparison with SOM and NMTF algorithms. The result obtained reveals that the M-SOM algorithm which is developed by combining the adaptive features of SOM and the Ward clustering methods provides lowest intra and highest inter-clustering and appears to be the best method for deaf speech signals. After clustering estimation of distance metric, termed as correction measure facilitates enhancement of the unclear deaf speech so that it could be understandable to normal speakers. Hence it can be inferred that the suggested method effectively enhances the deaf speech signal for better understanding by a normal listener.

New Diagnostic Criteria for Infantile Nystagmus. An Upgraded Nystagmus Clinical Approach

Purpose: CEMAS group has classified nystagmus comprehensively in 2001. From that time, attempts to make the subject as uniform as possible, needed continuous upgrading. This manuscript is an upgraded clinical approach for diagnosis of Irreversible Congenital Nystagmus, which is in addition to its being one of the major clinical features of intrinsic ocular diseases, is also a sign of inborn errors of myelination. Design: We will accompany the way to the diagnosis of congenital irreversible nystagmus of non-intrinsic eye disease origin, by highlighting all the symptoms and signs, which lead us to ascertain the exact etiologies, despite the important past classifications of nystagmus. Methods: We reviewed the appropriate relevant medical literature and looked for all the diseases, syndromes and triads in which the congenital nystagmus is one of their main components. We brought here in addition, a case report of an infant suffering from nystagmus for further refreshment. Results: In addition to its being a feature of several pediatric ophthalmic syndromes, congenital irreversible nystagmus (ICN) is also one of the exclusively important features in several nonophthalmic diseases, but not necessarily the first to appear. It is a main component for the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, as well as other Leukodystrophies diagnosis, and to a lesser frequency in other syndromes. Conclusions: We recommend for Ophthalmologists to use the policy of “wait and see”, in infants complaining of irreversible nystagmus, which is not caused by local ophthalmic diseases. The appearance of characteristics, such as deafness, axial hypotonia, tremor and staccato speech and so on, in parallel with hyperreflexia, is the core of our upgraded flow chart of nystagmus clinical approach.

Normal-like motor speech parameters measured in children with long-term cochlear implant experience using a novel objective analytic technique.

Although voice has been studied extensively in children who use cochlear implants (CIs), speech production has not been studied in this population using the Motor Speech Profile. Whether children who receive CIs gain normal speech production abilities is unknown. To assess speech and articulation in deaf, long-term CI users who had undergone early unilateral cochlear implantation, compared with their normal-hearing peers. Cross-sectional study at a tertiary pediatric hospital of 16 children aged 8 to 17 years who had undergone early implantation, are longstanding users, and had excellent audiogram and speech perception scores. Results were compared with a historical pediatric normal-hearing group. Unilateral cochlear implantation. The Motor Speech Profile, an objective method for assessing motor speech in children. The CI users had normal articulation and timing but poorer than normal intonation stimulability, particularly frequency variability. Diadochokinesis rates were within the 95% confidence interval of age-matched pediatric norms for 11 of 16 (69%) and 11 of 15 (73%) children with CI when they were performing /pa/ and /pataka/ tasks, respectively. The magnitude and rate of the second formant transitions were within normal limits for 9 of 16 (56%) and 10 of 12 (83%) children, respectively. The variability in frequency and amplitude of intonation stimulability domains were within normal limits for 7 of 16 (44%) and 16 of 16 (100%) children, respectively. The syllabic rate and duration were both within normal limits for 14 of 16 children (88%). Despite significant improvements in speech after cochlear implantation, abnormalities remain, particularly in frequency variability. Such deviations can present as a decreased expression of emotion in speech and likely reflects decreased auditory frequency resolution provided by the CI. These deficits have been the focus of ongoing work to advance CI technologies and speech-processing strategies.

How is the McGurk effect modulated by Cued Speech in deaf and hearing adults?

Speech perception for both hearing and deaf people involves an integrative process between auditory and lip-reading information. In order to disambiguate information from lips, manual cues from Cued Speech may be added. Cued Speech (CS) is a system of manual aids developed to help deaf people to clearly and completely understand speech visually (Cornett, 1967). Within this system, both labial and manual information, as lone input sources, remain ambiguous. Perceivers, therefore, have to combine both types of information in order to get one coherent percept. In this study, we examined how audio-visual (AV) integration is affected by the presence of manual cues and on which form of information (auditory, labial or manual) the CS receptors primarily rely. To address this issue, we designed a unique experiment that implemented the use of AV McGurk stimuli (audio /pa/ and lip-reading /ka/) which were produced with or without manual cues. The manual cue was congruent with either auditory information, lip information or the expected fusion. Participants were asked to repeat the perceived syllable aloud. Their responses were then classified into four categories: audio (when the response was /pa/), lip-reading (when the response was /ka/), fusion (when the response was /ta/) and other (when the response was something other than /pa/, /ka/ or /ta/). Data were collected from hearing impaired individuals who were experts in CS (all of which had either cochlear implants or binaural hearing aids; N = 8), hearing-individuals who were experts in CS (N = 14) and hearing-individuals who were completely naïve of CS (N = 15). Results confirmed that, like hearing-people, deaf people can merge auditory and lip-reading information into a single unified percept. Without manual cues, McGurk stimuli induced the same percentage of fusion responses in both groups. Results also suggest that manual cues can modify the AV integration and that their impact differs between hearing and deaf people.