Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item The Role of Age and Bilingualism on Perception of Vocoded Speech(2020) Waked, Arifi Noman; Goupell, Matthew J; Ratner, Nan; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the role of age and bilingualism on perception of vocoded speech in order to determine whether bilingual individuals, children, and bilingual individuals with later ages of second language acquisition show greater difficulties in vocoded speech perception. Measures of language skill and verbal inhibition were also examined in relation to vocoded speech perception. Two studies were conducted, each of which had two participant language groups: Monolingual English speakers and bilingual Spanish-English speakers. The first study also explored the role of age at the time of testing by including both monolingual and bilingual children (8-10 years), and monolingual and bilingual adults (18+ years). As such, this study included four total groups of adult and child language pairs. Participants were tested on vocoded stimuli simulating speech as perceived through an 8-channel CI in conditions of both deep (0-mm shift) and shallow (6-mm shift) insertion of the electrode array. Between testing trials, participants were trained on the more difficult, 6-mm shift condition. The second study explored the role of age of second language acquisition in native speakers of Spanish (18+ years) first exposed to English at ages ranging from 0 to 12 years. This study also included a control group of monolingual English speakers (18+ years). This study examined perception of target lexical items presented either in isolation or at the end of sentences. Stimuli in this study were either unaltered or vocoded to simulate speech as heard through an 8-channel CI at 0-mm shift. Items presented in isolation were divided into differing levels of difficulty based on frequency and neighborhood density. Target items presented at the ends of sentences were divided into differing levels of difficulty based on the degree of semantic context provided by the sentence. No effects of age at testing or age of acquisition were found. In the first study, there was also no effect of language group. All groups improved with training and showed significant improvement between pre- and post-test speech perception scores in both conditions of shift. In the second study, all participants were significantly negatively impacted by vocoding; however, bilingual participants showed greater difficulty in perception of vocoded lexical items presented in isolation relative to their monolingual peers. This group difference was not found in sentence conditions, where all participants significantly benefited from greater semantic context. From this, we can conclude that bilingual individuals can make use of semantic context to perceive vocoded speech similarly to their monolingual peers. Neither language skills nor verbal inhibition, as measured in these studies, were found to significantly impact speech perception scores in any of the tested conditions across groups.Item EFFECTS OF MEDICAID STATE PLAN DENTAL BENEFITS ON DENTAL VISITS AMONG NON-ELDERLY ADULTS(2018) Marthey, Daniel Joseph; Franzini, Luisa; Health Services Administration; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey and optional Health Care Access module, I analyzed dental visits between insurance types and between three levels of Medicaid dental coverage for non-elderly adults in each state defined as no benefits or emergency-only, offering 1-4 services and offering 5 or more service types. I find Medicaid adults are less likely to experience a dental visit compared with adults covered by private insurance. I also find a statistically significant relationship between the level of benefits offered to beneficiaries and the odds of experiencing a dental visit in the previous year. Understanding factors associated with the use of dental services is necessary to adequately address health needs of the Medicaid population and unnecessary emergency room use for non-emergency dental services.Item THE CONCORDANCE OF INFLUENZA VACCINATION BEHAVIORS AMONG ADULTS AND CHILDREN RESIDING WITHIN THE SAME HOUSEHOLD IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, AND VIRGINIA(2014) Motley, Danielle Olon; Butler, III, James; Public and Community Health; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Background: The distinctive barking sound of whooping cough and rubella's birth defects highlight vaccinations' importance as a public health initiative and medical advancement of the twentieth century. However, little research examines concordance of influenza vaccination uptake between same-household adults and children. Methods: A secondary data analysis of CDC's 2009 National H1N1 Flu Survey (NHFS) examined concordance between adults' influenza vaccination behaviors and responses to NHFS questions representing HBM constructs with the influenza vaccination of same-household children from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV). Results: Concordance existed between influenza vaccination statuses of adults and same-household children. HBM constructs of perceived susceptibility, severity, and the cue to action of physician vaccine recommendation were associated with more vaccinated children. Conclusions: This research highlights adults' influenza vaccination status impact on same-household DMV children. Future research is needed to examine parental influenza vaccination effects on influenza vaccination status of their biological children.