Hearing & Speech Sciences Theses and Dissertations

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A Study of Factors Influencing Improvement in Speech Reading Ability
(1954) VanBebber, Mary Lillian; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
Supportive Messages Perceived and Recevied in a Therapeutic Setting
(1994) Barr, Jeanine Rice; Freimuth, Vicki S.; Speech Communication; University of Maryland (College Park, Md); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
This study examines how communication of social support influences the behavioral change process in a particular environment. Specifically, the research question is: How is social support related to commitment to recovery from alcoholism/addiction? A one group pre-test/post-test research design was used with subjects in two addictions treatment centers. Questions were designed to measure changes that took place in individual's perception of supportiveness of messages received, the network support available to them, changes in uncertainty and self-esteem. Finally, how these variables predict commitment to recovery was examined. Results showed no relationship between strength of network at time 1 and the supportiveness of messages received. Strength of network support, self-esteem, and uncertainty reduction improved from time 1 to time 2. The major predictor of a patient's commitment to recovery was the level of self esteem at time 2. However, a strong correlation was found between self-esteem and strength of network at time 2.
Tongue-Palate Interaction in Discrete and Sequential Swallowing
(1996) Chi-Fishman, Gloria; McCall, Gerald N.; Stone, Maureen; Hearing & Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
Historically, swallowing motor control was thought to involve a central mechanism that generated patterned responses with little use of sensory input. Although increasing evidence of peripheral modulation has altered this concept, our knowledge about the flexibility in deglutitive motor control and performance is incomplete. This study sought to gain a better understanding by examining lingual motor strategies in light of changing bolus properties (volume, consistency) and task demands (discrete vs. sequential swallowing). Specifically, the timing and patterns of tongue-palate contact and the associated changes in tongue shape and action were examined in five normal adults using simultaneous electropalatography (EPG) and ultrasound. Tasks for discrete swallowing included 5 and 30 cc of water, 5 and 30 cc of gelatin, and saliva. Tasks for sequential swallowing involved drinking 200 cc of water at normal and fast rates. Two analysis schemes were used to make timing and percent-contact measurements: segmentation of the EPG time series into four stages (prepropulsion, propulsion, full contact, withdrawal), and compartmentalization of the pseudopalate into six bins (front, central, back, lateral, medial, midline). Results showed little variation in contact pattern as a function of bolus property or subject, suggesting considerable stereotypy in lingual motor strategies for movement sequencing. However, unlike the conventional description, tongue-palate contact during propulsion was multidimensional with two distinct degrees of freedom in the front-to-back and the lateral-to-midline continua. Significant (Q<. 0 I) timing differences were found in that larger and thinner boluses were propelled faster than smaller and thicker ones, and dry swallows had longer full contact than water. For sequential swallowing during continuous drinking, the tongue used faster movement speed and overlapping gestures to meet the task demands, while propulsive contact pattern remained invariant. Thus, the change was not in motor strategies per se but in the timing coordination of the "drink" and "swallow" sequences. A 3-D model of oral lingual action for swallowing was proposed. Clinical implications were discussed. In sum, results of this study support the theory that swallowing motor control includes a peripheral mechanism capable of modulating centrally generated responses, and that the deglutitive motor program has both invariant and variant parameters.
Vocal Dysfunction in Young-onset Parkinson's Disease
(2004-08-10) Bassich-Zeren, Celia J.; McCall, G N.; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Vocal dysfunction is well established in persons with older-onset Parkinson's disease (PD), but has not been investigated in the young-onset PD (YOPD) population. Voice deficits associated with older-onset PD mirror the characteristics of vocal aging, suggesting that our current knowledge base of laryngeal dysfunction in the PD population is confounded by aging effects. The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine perceptual voice characteristics and the potential impact of voice symptoms on quality of life; (b) to compare YOPD and healthy control (HC) speakers' performance on two routinely used clinical tasks (sustained vowel phonation and laryngeal diadochokinesis); and (c) to experimentally manipulate and compare speakers' performance in producing phonatory offset-onset gestures as reflected in four phonetic contexts (each eliciting a different mechanism) across three speaking modes. Twelve YOPD speakers and twelve healthy control (HC) speakers participated. YOPD speakers reported voice symptoms of hypophonia, tremor, hoarseness, monotone, and impaired speech intelligibility. They demonstrated a mild to moderate voice handicap. Findings revealed no speaker group differences for speech intensity on sustained vowel phonation and reading tasks. YOPD speakers demonstrated a significantly decreased rate of syllable repetition and used a significantly greater number of pauses during production of one of two laryngeal diadochokinetic tasks. Acoustic measures associated with mechanisms of phonatory offset-onset demonstrated trends of speaker group differences, suggesting that YOPD speakers have impaired voicing control for mechanisms of phonatory offset-onset not associated with oral constriction. Intra-speaker group variability was observed for YOPD speakers. Inspection of speaker groups' performance across speaking modes suggested a disruption in the habitual setting of laryngeal posture in YOPD speakers; namely, they use a laryngeal postural setting that is similar to that observed in HC speakers when speaking in an aspirant or breathy voice mode. Speech masking facilitated a speaking mode change in YOPD speakers and could provide an effective and efficient treatment method for training persons with YOPD to speak in a projected mode. Vocal dysfunction is associated with YOPD and voice symptoms can appear early in the disease process, sometimes preceding onset of limb symptoms. Persons with YOPD should be routinely assessed for vocal dysfunction.
A PILOT STUDY TO DEVELOP DISCOURSE CODES SPECIFIC TO PREFRONTAL DYSFUNCTION
(2004-08-12) Eshel, Inbal; Ratner, Nan B.; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This pilot study developed a set of codes designed to capture the "nonaphasic" but characteristic discourse deficits that may be present following prefrontal cortex damage (PFCD). The codes were utilized based on narrative sample elicitation to investigate between-group differences in two study populations: patients with left, right, or bi-frontal PFCD and age and education-matched healthy comparison group participants. Narrative samples were coded on indices of content units, thematic units, story grammar features, and discourse errors, and analyzed using CLAN. Results of this study support the original deficit hypotheses. The coding schema demonstrated fair to good inter-rater reliability, stronger performances by the healthy comparison group across all four levels of analysis, and poorer performance overall on the retell phase than the tell phase. Qualitative analysis revealed relatively few discourse errors associated with the healthy comparison group, while various classic discourse errors were associated with the PFCD group.
Processing of Speech in Complex Listening Environments by Individuals with Obscure Auditory Dysfunction
(2006-04-25) Block, Kim; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Obscure auditory dysfunction (OAD) is a disorder characterized by patient report of excessive amounts of difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise, despite relatively normal hearing sensitivity. It has been hypothesized that OAD may be the result of mild cochlear dysfunction, central auditory processing deficits, and/or psychological disorders. To evaluate auditory processing aspects of this disorder, speech recognition was measured in complex listening conditions for 10 normal-hearing persons with self-reported problems understanding speech in noisy environments. Ten normal-hearing listeners without reported difficulty hearing speech in noise served as controls. Each participant completed a standard audiometric evaluation, the QuickSIN test (standard clinical test of speech recognition in noise), and experimental speech recognition measures in simulated background environments, which included a range and combination of competitor stimuli presented in monaural and binaural conditions. The results show that the OAD participants had poorer overall speech recognition abilities in noise than did control participants for the experimental speech recognition tasks. The pattern of performance deficits suggests that the speech-understanding problems of these OAD participants are not attributable to abnormally poor binaural hearing or to a reduction in masking release. Further, performance deficits exhibited by listeners with OAD were not identified by a standard clinical speech-in-noise measure.
The Effect of Personality on Adults' Perceived Benefit of Speech Therapy: A Pilot Study
(2006-05-10) Krcmar, Andrea Marie; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Previous research has found a link between personality and many aspects of life, including health issues, ability to cope with stress, career satisfaction, and hearing aid satisfaction. The effects of personality in the field of speech therapy have not yet been determined. It was the purpose of this study to evaluate the effect of personality on adults' perceived benefit from speech therapy. Eleven current and former speech therapy clients participated in this study. Each were administered the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and a questionnaire assessing perceived benefit from therapy via telephone. The results indicated that personality does not affect one's perception of benefit from therapy; however, several factors may have limited the results of the study, including the small sample size and the limited number of participants who clearly fit each personality type.
Personality Type and Self-perception of Hearing Aid Benefit
(2006-06-02) Segar, Allyson Adrianne; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Hearing aid benefit is frequently assessed using subjective measures in which the patient is asked to respond to a series of questions regarding how much benefit they feel they are receiving from their hearing aids. Previous research has shown that audiological factors are related to the amount of self-reported benefit from hearing aids, but these factors do not explain all of the variance in hearing aid benefit scores. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the relationship between several non-audiological factors, including personality, mood, and gender, to self-reports of hearing aid benefit. Measures of hearing aid benefit, personality, and mood were obtained from 20 older adult listeners with sensorineural hearing loss who were experienced hearing aid users. The two measures of hearing aid benefit were the Hearing Aid Performance Inventory (HAPI) (Walden, Demorest, & Hepler, 1984) and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) (Cox & Alexander, 1995); the two measures of personality were the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and the Keirsey Four Types Sorter (Keirsey, 1998); and the mood assessment was the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988). The results demonstrated significant relationships between extraversion/introversion and self-reported hearing aid benefit, and between mood and self-reported hearing aid benefit. Overall, the measures of mood, Keirsey personality type, and gender were predictors of difficulty communicating in a reverberant environment while wearing hearing aids, and accounted for 71 percent of the variance on this subscale. The results of this study have provided evidence that self-reported hearing aid benefit is associated with certain non-audiological factors including extraversion/introversion preference, certain Keirsey personality types, mood, and gender. Although these factors explained a relatively small amount of the variance in HAPI and APHAB scores, they still provide support for the notion that the amount of benefit an older adult individual reportedly receives from his or her hearing aids is not entirely dependent on hearing sensitivity, but on other attributes that characterize an individual. The findings suggest that certain dimensions of personality should be considered when developing an individualized treatment plan for a patient prior to hearing aid delivery.
Early Understanding of Negation: The Word "Not"
(2006-06-05) Loder, Lisa Sue; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Few experimental studies provide data on early comprehension of negation. Commonly accepted norms are based on parental report and observational studies using a small number of participants. The purpose of this study was to determine if 18-month-olds (n=24) understand the word not. The study used a preferential looking paradigm, in which children saw two video screens showing a puppet performing a different action in each video. They then heard a voice, telling them to "Look! The ____'s not ____ing." For the three sets of videos used in the study, children only looked significantly longer at the matching video during one set of trials. However, for no set of trials did the children look longer at the puppet overtly named in the auditory stimulus. These results suggests that although children did not demonstrate a clear understanding of the word not, they may be developing an understanding of not at this age.
Keep it simple: Accelerating the verb learning process
(2007-05-03) Weinberg, Stephanie Michelle; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
For early word learners, verbs are more difficult to learn than nouns. Previous research suggests that a simple agent of an action facilitates verb learning. The present investigation was designed to replicate this finding with real-world stimuli. Twenty-four 18-month-old English-learning children participated in one of two conditions. Children either saw a block (simple agent) or a woman (complex agent) perform a novel action named simultaneously as the action occurred. All children were tested in the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm to determine whether they learned the verb. Verb learning was not achieved in either condition; the results indicate that the block did not provide a verb learning advantage at this age. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research have been highlighted.
Reliability and Test Environment of the SCAN-A with Children Ages 12-15
(2007-07-30) Spencer, Michele Lynn; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The SCAN-A is a widely utilized auditory processing screening tool for use with adolescents and adults 12-to-50 years of age. The SCAN-A consists of four subtests: Filtered Words, Auditory Figure-Ground, Competing Words, and Competing Sentences, and takes about 20 minutes to administer. Other versions of this screening tool exist (e.g., SCAN and SCAN-C) that are standardized for use with children under 12 years of age. However, previous reports indicate that test-retest reliability is poor and test environment affects performance by young children. In this study, the effect of test environment (sound attenuating booth versus quiet room) and test-retest reliability for the 12-to-15 year old age group was investigated. Thirty participants, ages 12-to-15 years old, who were normally developing, were tested using the SCAN-A four times, twice in both a quiet room and a sound attenuating booth, with testing in both environments conducted one month apart. A high false-positive rate (43% of participants) was found for the first administration of the SCAN-A, with fewer participants identified with possible APD with subsequent test administrations. Results revealed a significant main effect of test administration time, and no significant main effect of test environment or significant interaction, for the Filtered Words, Auditory Figure-Ground, Competing Words, and Total Test standard score. No significant main effects or interaction was found for the Competing Sentences subtest. This investigation demonstrates that the SCAN-A has low specificity, a high false-positive rate, and poor test-retest reliability.
The benefits of closed captioning for elderly hearing aid users
(2007-08-02) Callahan, Julia Susan; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of closed captioning and hearing aid use on word recognition of televised materials in a sample of 15 older adults with hearing loss, who use hearing aids. Participants viewed television segments in four viewing conditions: 1) without hearing aids or closed captioning (BSLN), 2) with hearing aids (HA), 3) with closed captioning (CC), and 4) with hearing aids and closed captioning (HA+CC). Three types of programming (game show, drama, and news) comprised the stimulus sentences. Anecdotal reports suggest older hearing impaired people do not use closed captioning, despite its potential benefit in understanding television. The extent to which listeners use closed captioning and hearing aids on a daily basis was examined. It was expected that listeners would have considerable difficulty in the BSLN condition, because the primary cue is speechreading alone. The HA condition was expected to produce significantly higher scores, because listeners would be able to combine information from two modalities: vision (speechreading) and hearing. It was predicted that CC would yield higher scores than these two conditions, because the visual text signal provides unambiguous information, and that the combined HA+CC condition would produce the highest scores. In addition, differences in speech recognition scores were expected for different program types. One prediction was that drama programming would result in consistently lower speech recognition scores due to reduced availability of visual cues compared to game show or news programming. Results indicated that 77% of participants reported never using the closed captioning when watching television, although most wore hearing aids during television viewing. There was a significant effect of listening/viewing condition for all three program types. For all program types, participants achieved higher word recognition scores in the CC and HA+CC conditions than in HA or BSLN conditions. There was no significant difference in performance between the BSLN and HA conditions. These findings indicate older people with hearing loss do not receive significant benefit from hearing aid use while watching television. However, closed captioning appears to provide significant benefit to older hearing aid users, even though they seldom use this technology.
The Impact of Rheumatoid Arthritis on Middle Ear Function
(2007-08-03) Roberts, Caroline Marie; Fitzgerald, Tracy; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and swelling of the joints. Middle ear joints may be subject to rheumatic involvement similar to other joints in the body. Results from previous studies examining audiological characteristics in individuals with RA have varied with respect to incidence and type of hearing loss, as well as incidence and type of middle ear involvement (increased or decreased stiffness). The purpose of this study was to compare audiometric, immittance, distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and energy reflectance (ER) results between participants with RA and normal control (NC) participants to further examine the effects of RA on middle ear function. Twenty-one participants with RA (38 ears) were matched 1:1 based on age and gender to 21 individuals (38 ears) without RA. The following measures were completed for all participants: pure-tone air- and bone-conduction thresholds, 226-, 678- and 1000-Hz tympanograms, acoustic reflex thresholds, acoustic reflex decay, and middle ear resonant frequency. ER and DPOAEs were measured for a subset of 16 RA (28 ears) and 16 NC (28 ears) matched participants. No significant difference in prevalence of hearing loss was found between groups. Individuals with hearing loss in both groups presented with sensorineural-type hearing loss, which was typically a mild to moderate high-frequency hearing loss. No significant differences were found between groups for air- and bone-conduction thresholds. A significantly greater number of ears from the RA group had thresholds poorer than the 95th percentile for their age range and gender across the audiometric test frequencies. Generally, younger individuals with RA had poorer thresholds at 1000 and 2000 Hz compared to normative data for age and gender. No differences were found between groups for static admittance, the number of notched versus single-peaked 678- and 1000-Hz tympanograms, acoustic reflex thresholds, ER, and DPOAE measurements. The RA group had a significantly lower mean resonant frequency, consistent with an increase in the laxity or an increase in the mass dominance of the middle ear system. These significant findings revealed the importance of considering audiological assessment of individuals with RA.
Investigation of Frequency Characteristics of DPOAEs Using Suppressors of Varying Bandwidth and Center Frequency Presented in a Forward Masking Paradigm
(2007-08-03) McAlister, Erin Christine; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Fitzgerald, Tracy; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This study was designed to investigate the effect of the bandwidth and center frequency of narrowband noise suppressors presented in a forward masking paradigm on distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) level. Young adult female listeners with normal hearing participated. DPOAEs were recorded for two different pairs of primary frequencies (f1 = 1666 Hz, f2 = 2000 Hz and f1 = 3333 Hz, f2 = 4000 Hz) in an unsuppressed condition and three suppressed conditions for each of two experiments. In Experiment 1, the three noise suppressors were centered at the f2 frequency and had bandwidths selected to be equal to, narrower than, and wider than the estimated equivalent rectangular bandwidth (ERB) at that frequency. It was hypothesized that increasing the suppressor bandwidth from less than the estimated ERB to equal to the ERB would provide a significant increase in magnitude of suppression, but that a further increase in suppressor bandwidth beyond the estimated ERB would provide little if any additional suppression. In Experiment 2, the three noise suppressors had a constant bandwidth and were centered at the f2 frequency, ½ octave below the f2 frequency, and ½ octave above the f2 frequency. It was hypothesized that suppressors centered at the f2 frequency would cause greater suppression than suppressors centered above and below the f2 frequency. Results of Experiment 1 revealed a significant effect of the suppressors compared to the unsuppressed condition, but there were no significant differences between the suppressor bandwidths. Results of Experiment 2 support the hypothesis that a narrowband suppressor centered at the f2 frequency would have a greater suppressive effect than suppressors centered above or below the f2 frequency, at least for f2 = 2000 Hz. These results demonstrate that significant DPOAE suppression can be recorded using noise suppressors presented in a forward masking paradigm. Implications of these results for advancing understanding of the frequency tuning of the cochlea and the medial olivocochlear system are discussed.
A Voxel Based Approach to Identifying Lesion Sites in Aphasia: Comprehension and Production Deficits in Syntax, Semantics and Phonology
(2007-08-20) Kling, Therese Danielle; Shah, Yasmeen; Braun, Allen; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The cortical regions of the brain traditionally associated with deficits of production and comprehension in language are Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Recent evidence suggests that other brain regions are involved and may be specific to linguistic areas of syntax, semantics and phonology. This paper describes the MRI results and language scores of 31 left hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia. Patients' lesions obtained from these MRI scans were reconstructed onto templates and entered into a voxel-based analysis program called Analysis of Brain lesion (ABLe) (Solomon, Raymont, Braun, Butman & Grafman, 2007) along with language scores. The results provided evidence for five key neuroanatomical regions of interest. These include the insula, the planum temporale, the operculum, the temporoparietal occipital (TPO) junction and the putamen. The results revealed common as well as unique areas of brain lesion for each of the behaviors.
The effects of phonological neighborhoods on spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese
(2007-08-27) Tsai, Pei-Tzu; Bernstein Ratner, Nan; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Spoken word recognition is influenced by words similar to the target word with one phoneme difference (neighbors). In English, words with many neighbors (high neighborhood density) are processed more slowly or less accurately than words with few neighbors. However, little is known about the effects in Mandarin Chinese. The present study examined the effects of neighborhood density and the definition of neighbors in Mandarin Chinese, using an auditory naming task with word sets differing in density levels (high vs. low) and neighbor types (words with neighbors with a nasal final consonant vs. words without such nasal-final neighbors). Results showed an inhibitory effect of high neighborhood density on reaction times and a difference between nasal-final neighbors and vowel-final neighbors. The findings suggest that neighbors compete and inhibit word access in Mandarin Chinese. Yet, other factors at the sublexical level may also play a role in the process.
Infant speech perception in noise and vocabulary outcomes
(2008) Singer, Emily R.; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This study attempted to investigate the relationship between infant speech perception in noise and vocabulary outcomes. Newman (2005) conducted a series of studies to determine if infants were able to perceive their own name in the context of background noise. It was found that at five months, infants could perceive their own name when the signal-to-noise ratio was at least 10 dB and at thirteen months, infants were able to perceive their own name with a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 5 dB. Children who had participated in this study as infants returned to be assessed in terms of vocabulary and non-verbal intelligence at approximately five years of age. Children were divided into two groups depending on their success as infants and compared on these measures. No significant relationship was found between any of the measures of vocabulary or non-verbal intelligence and initial performance on the speech perception task.
Infant speech perception in noise and early childhood measures of syntax and attention abilities
(2008) Blayney, Elizabeth Sarah Sanford; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Childhood outcomes in syntactic and attention abilities were measured for 23 children (mean age = 5:3) who, as infants, had either succeeded or failed at identifying their name in the presence of multitalker background noise. Children from the unsuccessful infant group were rated by parents as having significantly more difficulty with attention-related behaviors than children from the successful infant group. The two groups did not perform significantly differently on standardized measures of morphosyntactic ability, but the unsuccessful group was found to have significantly lower MLUs on narrative language samples than the successful group.
Nasometric Assessment of Bilingual Spanish/English Speakers
(2008) Doetzer, Ruthanne; Tian, Wei; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of native language on speech tasks requiring velopharyngeal closure, particularly the standardized Nasometric assessment of voice resonance. Comparison of ten native-English-speaking adults (N) and ten bilingual Spanish/English speakers (B) indicates that native language did not significantly influence standardized assessment scores, although the effect of gender remains ambiguous, with female participants generally producing higher nasalance scores. Within-subject comparison of the bilingual speakers' individual scores on the English and Spanish stimuli indicated significant differences in the scores obtained on the nasal sentence sets and the oro-nasal paragraphs. Highly fluent bilingual English/Spanish speakers, like the participants of this study, can be accurately assessed using the standardized English nasometry passages. Nevertheless, future researchers and diagnosticians investigating velopharyngeal movement and voice resonance should be aware of the possible gender effect and its potential interaction with native language.
Temporary Changes in Auditory Function Among College Marching Band Members
(2008-04-18) Libbin, Barbara; Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The purpose of this study was to evaluate temporary changes in auditory function associated with marching band practice among college-aged marching band participants. Each eligible musician was tested before and after two practices in the time span of one week. Sound level recordings at a location close to the center of the marching band were documented to be 85 - 105 dB(A), with peaks measured at 114 dB(A). Pure-tone thresholds and transient evoked (TEOAE) and distortion product (DPOAE) otoacoustic emissions were tested to evaluate if any changes occurred as a result of the marching band practices. If clinically significant changes were noted from pre- to post-practice testing, the band member returned the following morning to evaluate if any recovery had occurred. The principal finding was a significant effect of test time (pre versus post-practice), which was observed in the pure-tone data (3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 Hz), DPOAE data (3000 Hz, left ear only) and TEOAE data (narrowband and broadband) in the marching band group. For those participants who showed clinically significant changes in auditory function, these changes were found to recover by the next morning. The results suggest that the measured changes in this study are temporary in nature; however, they might be an early indication of future permanent changes. Comparison of data from the marching band members and the control group participants revealed a significant difference between the groups in two measures: pure-tone thresholds at 8000 Hz and TEOAEs (broadband and narrowband). Overall, participation in the two-hour, outdoor marching band practice was not found to be more detrimental to auditory functioning than everyday noise exposure. However, there is evidence that exposure to marching band music produces subtle changes in auditory functioning, particularly as measured with pure-tone thresholds and TEOAEs.