PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Ryalls

Publications and source records attributed to J Ryalls.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Preliminary investigation of voice onset time production in persons with dysphagia.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether voice onset time (VOT) values of persons with dysphagia differed from those of a person with normal swallow function. Five male subjects with dysphagia (average age = 80.6 years) and a control subject (age = 79 years) read 18 consonant-vowel-consonant words in quasi-random order. These syllables began with the voiced and voiceless cognates from the three stop places of articulation (i.e., bilabial, alveolar, and velar). These consonants were followed by the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/. Digital audio tape recordings were performed and speech was digitized onto disk. Measurements were completed using BLISS software (Mertus J: BLISS User's Manual. Providence: Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, 1989) implemented on a 486 microcomputer. Averages and standard deviations of the VOT measures for the six stop consonants were compared between the two experimental groups. For the dysphagic speakers, average VOT values for voiceless stops were shorter, and there were larger negative VOT values for voiced stops. Standard deviations for the VOT productions pf the dysphagic subjects were smaller. Statistical comparisons showed significant differences between individual dysphagic speakers and the normal control for three of the five subjects. These preliminary data suggest that dysphagia affects the fine motor control required for accurate VOT production in speech.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

A comparison of the prosodic characteristics of the speech of people with Parkinson's disease and Friedreich's ataxia with neurologically normal speakers.

The realization of prosody (speech rate, fundamental frequency, intonation) was investigated in a group of 10 individuals with Parkinson's disease and a group of 10 individuals with Friedreich's ataxia. Data from these two neurologically disordered groups were compared to individuals without neurological impairment. Both neurologically impaired groups retained some aspects of normal speech prosody, while other aspects were affected to a significant degree. The prosodic characteristics of speakers with Parkinson's disease were distinct from those of speakers with Friedreich's ataxia. These results were interpreted in terms of prosodic competence and prosodic performance.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

A preliminary investigation of the effects of gender and race on Voice Onset Time.

Twenty individuals participated in a study of Voice Onset Time (VOT) production. Participants included equal numbers of males and females and equal numbers of African Americans and Caucasian Americans. Each individual read a set of stimuli formed from the six stop consonants (/p/,/t/,/k/;/b/,/d/,/g/) combined with the three vowels /i/,/a/, and /u/. Their productions were measured for VOT. Considerably more prevoicing (i.e., negative VOT) for voiced stops was found in the present study in comparison with past studies. Statistically significant differences were found for both gender and race. These results suggest that the normative data presently available is probably inadequate because it does not accurately reflect the normal distribution of either gender or race within the American population.

Female↗
PubMed1995

Voice onset time production in French-speaking aphasics.

VOT productions were compared for 5 Broca's aphasics and 5 Wernicke's aphasics to those for a group of 5 normal subjects of similar age. Phonetic errors were produced by both types of aphasic patients, but not by normal controls. Although previous studies have found significantly more phonetic errors in VOT production for Broca's aphasics, this study did not. Both Broca aphasics and Wernicke aphasics had somewhat less overall average difference in VOT between voiced and voiceless consonant pairs than normal speakers. Standard deviations associated with the VOT productions were also greater for both aphasic groups than for normal subjects. The results of this study are considered in light of the previous literature.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Improving fundamental frequency modulation in head trauma patients: a preliminary comparison of speech-language therapy conducted with and without IBM's Speech Viewer.

This study involves a preliminary comparison of traditional speech therapy for head trauma patients with therapy assisted by computer. Two subjects were treated in a 'crossover' design to compare the effects of each treatment. While both subjects improved, there was no obvious difference in treatment effectiveness. However, the computer support provided the measures of treatment efficacy which made this comparison possible.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Values of certain prosodic parameters obtain with French-speaking probands without communication problems].

Acoustic data are provided in order to facilitate evaluation of the speech of adult patients with prosody disorders such as dysarthria. Forty French-speaking subjects between 45 and 75 years of age, with neither neurological disease nor a communication disorder, were grouped on the basis of sex and age. Subjects were required to produce four series of 20 matched interrogative and declarative sentences. Their productions were recorded and analyzed with an IBM Speech Viewer. Measures of fundamental frequency, of variation in fundamental frequency, of rate over the entire sentence, as well as a measure of intonation (defined as the difference in fundamental frequency between the last syllable of matched declarative and interrogative sentences) are reported in tables for clinical use. These data provide information for the evaluation of the prosody of French-speaking persons.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Intonation and speech rate in dysarthric speech.

Ten dysarthric speakers of various etiologies, type, and severity were compared to age-matched and gender-matched nondysarthric speakers on 40 short sentences. These sentences were presented in both declarative and interrogative versions. Measures of (1) mean intonation difference (average difference in fundamental frequency between the last syllables of interrogative and declarative sentences) and (2) speech rate were obtained using the IBM Speech Viewer system. Analyses of variance were performed on the resulting measures with subject group, sentence type, and sentence sets as independent variables. Results indicate that (1) intonation values are significantly reduced in the dysarthric group as compared to those for the nondysarthric group; (2) rate varies as a function of subject group, sentence type, and sentence set. Moreover, intonation varies with severity of dysarthria, but not speech rate. These findings concur with the notion that dysarthria is a deficit in performance rather than in competence. The results are also discussed in reference to "breath-group" theory for intonation (Lieberman, 1967).

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1993

Anticipatory co-articulation in the speech of young normal and hearing-impaired French Canadians.

The anticipatory co-articulation in the speech of a group of 10 normal young French Canadians (5 boys, 5 girls) was compared to that found in age-matched groups of 10 moderately hearing-impaired and 10 profoundly hearing-impaired French Canadians. The speech stimuli were the syllables /ti/, /tu/, /ki/, and /ku/, elicited five times each in random order. Acoustic evidence (F2 and centroid frequency measures) of co-articulation was found for all groups; however, the degree of co-articulation was smaller and less consistent across consonants for the two hearing-impaired groups. In particular, the moderately hearing-impaired subjects exhibited a reversal of the expected pattern for [ki] and [ku] stimuli; the profoundly hearing-impaired subjects did not produce sufficient [ki] and [ku] stimuli to measure co-articulatory effects reliably. In general, the profoundly hearing-impaired subjects exhibited the smallest acoustic changes as a result of the vocalic influence on the preceding consonant. Results are considered in relation to theories of speech production deficits in hearing-impaired speakers.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Acoustic integrity of speech production in children with moderate and severe hearing impairment.

Ten normally hearing and 10 age-matched subjects with moderate-to-severe hearing impairment were recorded producing a protocol of 18 basic syllables [/pi/,/pa/,/pu/;/bi/,/ba/,/bu/; /ti/,/ta/,/tu/ ;/di/,/da/,/du/; /ki/,/ka/,/ku/; /gi/,/ga/,/gu/] repeated five times. The resulting 90 syllables were digitized and measured for (a) total duration; (b) voice-onset time (VOT) of the initial consonant; (c) fundamental frequency (F0) at midpoint of vowel; and (d) formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3), also measured at midpoint of vowel. Statistical comparisons were conducted on (a) average values for each syllable, and (b) standard deviations. Although there were numerical differences between normally hearing and hearing-impaired groups, few differences were statistically significant.

Belgium↗
PubMed1992

The effects of speech and language therapy for a case of dysarthria associated with Parkinson's disease.

We report the results of a single-subject multiple baseline across behaviours experiment of a 74-year-old woman presenting with Parkinson's disease. Her speech was typical of a hypokinetic dysarthria. The main features of her dysarthric speech were: a restriction in the modulation of fundamental frequency, an inappropriate pitch level and a rate disturbance. Three measures of prosody were operationally defined as follows: (1) linguistic modulation of fundamental frequency, (2) mean fundamental frequency and (3) rate. Treatment focused on ameliorating these aspects employing a multiple baseline design. Measures during and post-therapy documented improvement for each of these three aspects of prosody. Independent judges were also more capable of understanding her speech and her speech prosody after therapy. Upon follow-up measures 10 weeks later, most of the improvement was maintained.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

[Voice onset time in Friedreich dysarthria].

This study concerned VOT measurements of voiced and voiceless occlusives produced in a sample of spontaneous language from 16 French speakers with Friedreich's ataxia. The results revealed that average VOT values were positive for voiceless stops and negative for voiced stops and thus were in agreement with published data for French. There was, however, a reduction of the difference between the two voicing categories and large between-subject variability. The factors that could have contributed to the increase in between-subject variability and to the reduction of the difference between the two categories are discussed. Finally, some leads for the use of VOT in the therapeutic process are proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

An acoustic comparison of normal and right-hemisphere-damaged speech prosody.

A group of 19 male right-brain-damaged (RBD) and 9 male control subjects were recorded repeating the same 5 non-emotional sentences after the same investigator. These recordings then underwent acoustic analysis for extraction of the fundamental frequency of phonation (FO) and duration. The resulting pitch plots were analyzed for (a) average FO, (b) range of FO, (c) adjusted FO range, (d) slope of FO declination, and (e) overall sentence duration. Statistical comparisons were then conducted comparing these acoustic characteristics for (1) right-hemisphere-damaged (RBD) subjects versus normals; (2) anteriorly lesioned RBD subjects versus those with posterior lesions; and (3) early post-onset patients (less than 100 days) versus late post-onset patients (100 days or more). In no case, were differences found to reach statistical significance. The results are discussed in regard to recent hypotheses for a privileged role of the right hemisphere in the organization of speech prosody.

Aged↗