College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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Item Determining the Mechanisms of Spoken Language Processing Delay for Children with Cochlear Implants(2023) Blomquist, Christina Marie; Edwards, Jan R; Newman, Rochelle S; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The long-term objective of this project was to better understand how shorter auditory experience and spectral degradation of the cochlear implant (CI) signal impact spoken language processing in deaf children with CIs. The specific objective of this research was to utilize psycholinguistic methods to investigate the mechanisms underlying observed delays in spoken word recognition and the access of networks of semantically related words in the lexicon, which are both vital components for efficient spoken language comprehension. The first experiment used eye-tracking to investigate the contributions of early auditory deprivation and the degraded CI signal to spoken word recognition delays in children with CIs. Performance of children with CIs was compared to various typical hearing (TH) control groups matched for either chronological age or hearing age, and who heard either clear or vocoded speech. The second experiment investigated semantic processing in the face of a spectrally degraded signal (TH adult listeners presented with vocoded speech) by recording event-related potentials, specifically the N400. Results children with CIs show slower lexical access and less immediate lexical competition, and while early hearing experience supports more efficient recognition, much of these observed delays can be attributed to listening to a degraded signal in the moment, as children with TH demonstrate similar patterns of processing when presented with vocoded speech. However, some group differences remain, specifically children with CIs show slower speed of lexical access and longer-lasting competition, suggesting potential effects of learning from a degraded speech signal. With regards to higher-level semantic processing, TH adult listeners demonstrate more limited access of semantic networks when presented with a degraded speech signal. This finding suggests that uncertainty due the degraded speech signal may lead to less immediate cascading processing at both the word-level and higher-level semantic processing. Clinically, these results highlight the importance of early cochlear implantation and maximizing access to spectral detail in the speech signal for children with CIs. Additionally, it is possible that some of the delays in spoken language processing are the result of an alternative listening strategy that may be engaged to reduce the chance of incorrect predictions, thus preventing costly revision processes.Item Infant-Directed Speech: Maternal Pitch Variability, Rate of Speech, and Child Language Outcomes(2015) Raneri, Daniele Palma; Ratner, Nan B; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research regarding the influence of specific features typical of infant-directed speech (IDS) and their potential role in facilitating children’s language development is still needed. Very little evidence links features of IDS to specific or general language outcomes. Surprisingly, given their pervasive description, the potential impacts of slowed speech rate and increased pitch variability of IDS on child language outcomes have not been examined. This study asks whether decreased speech rate and increased pitch variability in IDS among 42 mother-infant dyads at 7, 10/11, 18, and 24 months predicts language outcomes at two years. Decreased maternal speech rate at seven months related to increased child expressive language outcomes at two years. Contrary to hypotheses, children who were exposed to IDS characterized by decreased pitch variability at seven months had greater expressive language outcomes at two years than children who were exposed to IDS with increased pitch variability. Possible interpretations and clinical ramifications are discussed.Item The effects of maternal depression on speech to pre-school children: Implications for language development(2012) Miller, Anna; Newman, Rochelle; Hearing and Speech Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)We examined whether a past history of maternal depression affects the manner in which mothers speak to their children, and whether any differences relate to child language development. To do this, we measured acoustic, temporal and content-based speech/language characteristics of 40 pre-school-aged children and mothers with and without a history of depression. Results indicated that children of mothers with a past history of depression exhibited significantly lower vocabulary scores than children of mothers unaffected by depression. However, no maternal speech/language variables appeared to account for this difference. Maternal pitch variability and number of negative utterances both were found to correlate with child vocabulary scores; however, neither variable was found to relate to prior depression status. We discuss possible explanations for these findings and implications for child language development.