Biomedical subjects

D Jeffery Higginbotham

Publications and source records attributed to D Jeffery Higginbotham.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

The development of an automated method for analyzing communication rate in augmentative and alternative communication.

A significant barrier to evidence-based practice in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is the lack of validated performance measures that can be used by speech-language pathologists and rehabilitation engineers to evaluate the communication and device use of AAC consumers. Recently an effort has been made to develop automated data-logging techniques to facilitate the transcription and analysis of the AAC speaker's device use. A major source of error for the automated measurement of communication rate is the presence of excessive Inter-Selection Intervals (ISIs) (i.e., pause times), for which no communicative activity is occurring. The goal of this study was to develop an automated technique to filter out extreme ISIs, while preserving true communication rate performance. AAC data log files were obtained from seven individuals participating in a 1-month field trial of an AAC technology. Two temporal filtering techniques (arbitrary and individual) were compared for their ability to eliminate excessive ISIs. Results indicated that use of an individualized temporal filter was more sensitive to performance variability than use of an arbitrary temporal filter. Further, the individualized temporal filter elevated the participants' communication rate (measured by words per minute) by a factor of 1.8 to 34.5 greater than that of the unfiltered communication rate estimate. In addition, the first AAC communication rate performance estimates taken from the field are presented. Implications for further research and the valid use of automated data logging and analysis are discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2004

The AuD program at the University at Buffalo.

The doctor of audiology (AuD) program at the University at Buffalo is summarized in this article. We begin with a description of the city of Buffalo and the University at Buffalo. This is followed by a brief history of the university and the Department of Communicative Disorders & Sciences. We then summarize the timeline and the process required to develop the AuD program. Admissions policies and prerequisites are then reviewed. We discuss the faculty active in our AuD program and present the requirements (clinical, academic, research) for the degree. The article ends with a delineation of the challenges we face, as well as a description of some of the factors that make the audiology program at the University at Buffalo unique.

Audiology↗

PubMed2002

Discourse comprehension test performance of elders with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Spoken language comprehension, including comprehension for inferential material in narrative discourse, is diminished in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). There are, however, no empirical data concerning comprehension by adults with DAT of main ideas versus details in narratives. Evidence from other groups with and without brain damage has shown that comprehension for main ideas is relatively better than for details and that comprehension for stated material is relatively better than comprehension for inferential material. Participants in the present investigation were 24 older adults, 8 with early-stage DAT (EDAT), 8 with middle-stage DAT (MDAT), and 8 with no brain damage (NBD). Selected narratives and associated sets of yes-no questions from the Discourse Comprehension Test (DCT) (Brookshire and Nicholas, 1993) were presented on videotape. Participants with EDAT and MDAT had significantly poorer overall comprehension of DCT narratives than did those in the NBD group (p < .0001), but they did not differ significantly from each other. Responses to DCT narratives by participants in the NBD, EDAT, and MDAT groups followed the same pattern of relatively better comprehension for main ideas than for details and relatively better comprehension for stated than for implied information. Working memory and episodic memory were shown to be significantly associated with DCT overall scores. Together, these findings suggest that although overall narrative comprehension is diminished in those with DAT, individuals appear to retain a mental representation for narratives that facilitates better comprehension of main ideas than of details as well as better comprehension of stated information than of implied information. This interpretation is consistent with schema-based accounts of narrative comprehension.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

AAC performance and usability issues: the effect of AAC technology on the communicative process.

In this article, Clark's theory of language use is applied to the study of conversations of augmented speakers and their addressees. Discussion focuses on how shared meaning--called common ground--is achieved, the process of grounding utterances under real-time constraints, and how the media characteristics of devices affect the grounding process. A joint action analysis of grounding will be applied to examples of word-board and Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA)-mediated conversations to show how participants organize their talk around specific media constraints to conduct their conversations and solve communication problems. The authors argue that this model of device-mediated communication performance, or some variety of it, has the potential to reconcile many of the individual research findings in this field within a single explanatory framework. If successful, this approach could be used to evaluate future research with an empirically-based model of communication performance.

Communication↗