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PubMed1990

Differential effects of speech prostheses in glossectomized patients.

Five patients representing different categories of glossal resection were fitted with prostheses specifically designed to improve speech. Speech recordings made for subjects with and without their prostheses were subjected to a variety of analyses. Prosthetic influence on listeners' judgments of severity level/intelligibility, number of consonants in error, and on the acoustic measure F2 range of vowels was evaluated. Findings indicated that all subjects demonstrated improvement on the speech measures. However, the extent of improvement on each measure varied across speakers and resection categories. Implications of the findings for prosthetic speech rehabilitation in this population are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Evaluation of a technique for recording temporomandibular joint sounds.

Analysis of temporomandibular joints sounds may contribute to the differential diagnosis of temporomandibular joint disorders. In this article an advanced system for the recording of joint sounds is presented. The method proved to be reliable. The problem of filtering out artifacts has been solved to a great extent but not completely. Temporomandibular joint sounds measured with this technique vary considerably in energy, frequency spectrum, and peak-to-peak amplitude over 3 months, as well as within 1 day. These differences seem to reflect natural variations in joint sounds caused by the physical impossibility of performing identical jaw movements. The results indicate that joint sound characteristics do not yet offer a solid basis for inferences concerning the development of temporomandibular joint abnormalities in the clinical setting.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics in depressive patients during recovery.

Based on a sample of 30 depressive patients, we have investigated the time course of recovery from depression in so far as this time course was assessable through changes in psychopathology syndrome scores and through changes in speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics. Specifically, our study design provided 6 repeated assessments over 2 weeks and at a fixed time in the morning each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, plus a final assessment at the patients' releases from hospital. Thus, we were able to determine the degree to which single-parameter approaches to speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics reflect the individual time course of recovery from depression. In this context, we could rely upon a calibration sample with repeated assessments on 192 healthy volunteers which yielded all necessary information concerning reproducibility and sensitivity of speech parameters. Our analysis revealed several prominent features of speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics to be closely related to the time course of recovery from depression. In particular, the parameters "F0-amplitude", "F0-6db-bandwidth" and "F0-contour" which assess important characteristics of a speaker's voice timbre, as well as the parameters "energy" and "dynamics" which assess a speaker's mean loudness and the variation of loudness over time, displayed consistently high correlations with depression syndromes. Moreover, the results of single-case analysis turned out to be in remarkable accordance with those of the cross-sectional one: in almost two-thirds of patients there existed a significant relationship over time between the global depression scores and major speech parameters. As to the remaining one-third of patients who did not fit the picture of high correlations between psychopathology and speech parameters, we found an overproportionally large number of non-improvers characterized by irregular patterns of slight improvement with subsequent deterioration, or of deterioration followed by slight improvement. In other words, one-third of patients displayed time courses of depression whose psychopathology is difficult to assess through standard exploration techniques. Accordingly, it is not clear whether the observed lack of correlation in these patients is due to insufficient data or to an actual discordance between the time development of psychopathology and that of speech parameters.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Abnormal speech articulation, psychomotor retardation, and subcortical dysfunction in major depression.

Psychomotor retardation, characterized by changes in speech, motility and cognition, is common in major depression. It is also a cardinal feature of subcortical disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Based on this observation and other data it has been hypothesized that the retardation of depression is related to mesolimbic-nigrostriatal dysfunction. To further test this hypothesis, speech articulation in major depression was compared to that in PD, where disordered articulation is related to bradykinesia and rigidity caused by striatal dopamine depletion. Thirty subjects with major depression were compared with 30 patients with PD and 31 normal controls on 3 acoustic measures of articulation. Major depression and PD groups had significantly shortened voice onset time and decreased second formant transition compared to controls, and major depression also had increased spirantization. There were no differences between the depression and PD groups on any of the acoustic measures. These findings provide indirect support for the hypothesis that nigrostriatal dysfunction is related to psychomotor slowing in major depression.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics associated with negative schizophrenia.

Based on a sample of 42 chronic schizophrenic patients and 42 carefully matched controls, we investigated potential relationships between acoustic variables on the one hand, and negative syndromes, positive syndromes and affective disturbances, on the other. A set of 12 acoustic variables automatically assessed in a standardized experimental setting allowed an almost perfect discrimination between schizophrenic patients and normal subjects. Acute side-effects of medication did not explain this finding. However, the question of whether the observed changes in speaking behavior and voice sound characteristics were caused by long-term neuroleptic treatment, for example, as a consequence of tardive dyskinesia, could not be answered by our investigation. In view of a biological validation of the negative-positive model of schizophrenia, the reliability of various psychopathological subscales was tested through repeated assessments at 14 day intervals. We found most psychopathology scores to be sufficiently stable and reproducible over time, thus representing a suitable basis for the estimation of severity with respect to the negative and positive component of schizophrenia. Using the first measurements as training samples and the second measurements of 14 days later as test samples, discriminant analysis yielded conclusive proof of a close relationship between acoustic variables and the severity of the negative and positive component of schizophrenia. In particular, by means of "objective" acoustic variables and under the constraint of reproducibility, 75.9% of patients were correctly classified as low or high scorers with respect to the negative syndrome, 71.9% of patients with respect to the positive syndrome, and 79.4% of patients with respect to their depressive symptomatology.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

On categorizing aphasic speech errors.

Acoustic studies of voice-onset-time in aphasics' speech suggest that fluent aphasics' errors are misselected phonemic targets whereas nonfluent aphasics' errors are of articulatory origin. However, we must be cautious when extrapolating a theory from only one measure of articulation. In this experiment, I examined utterances produced by five fluent aphasics, five nonfluent aphasics and two controls. First, the voice-onset-time findings were replicated. Second, I examined the duration of vowels preceding word-final stop consonants as an index of the consonant's voicing category. The pattern of voice-onset-times produced did not predict the pattern of vowel durations. Thus, voice-onset-time cannot be used to characterize more generally the output of the speaker.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Stop consonant production in isolated and repeated syllables in Parkinson's disease.

To determine if Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have increasing difficulty as speech tasks become longer or more complex, the timing and accuracy of isolated syllables and repeated sequences of syllables were studied. Acoustic measures of PD patient's syllables were similarly impaired relative to normal controls for both isolated and repeated syllable sequences. Listeners' identification scores were equally high for both types of productions. Unlike previous studies of other types of movements in PD, speech accuracy and timing does not deteriorate as items become longer or more complex.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Asymmetric performances in binaural localization of sound in space.

Twenty right-handers and 20 left-handers were tested on a sound localization task. Broadband noise was presented from either the left or right hemifield. Localization accuracy was significantly greater (P = 0.002) when sounds emanated from the left hemifield thereby suggesting a paramount role played by the right hemisphere. Correcting for front-rear reversals, attributable to impoverished spectral cues and/or faulty processing of such cues, rendered differences in error scores linked to hemifield nonsignificant. The data were interpreted to mean that the special contribution of the right hemisphere to this task was its greater fidelity in processing spectral cues. No differences in localization proficiency between right- and left-handers were observed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Startle-inducing acoustic stimuli evoke ultrasonic vocalization in the rat.

The present study demonstrates that acoustic stimuli which induce a startle response (ASR) also evoke ultrasonic vocalization in the rat. Sound recordings were done on three consecutive days of testing during sessions of 20 acoustic stimuli each and on the following day for three minutes following 5 acoustic stimuli (nonstimulus condition). Startle-inducing stimuli evoked continuous ultrasonic calling which was maintained throughout testing. Immediately following each acoustic stimulus, however, vocalization was interrupted by a period of silence (gap). The mean duration of sounds was reduced and the interpulse interval tended to increase during acoustic stimulation as compared to the nonstimulus condition. It is concluded that startle-eliciting stimuli induce a state of fear in the rat and that the acoustic-startle-elicited ultrasonic vocalization may provide a novel model in the study of anxiety.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Twenty-two kHz alarm cries to presentation of a predator, by laboratory rats living in visible burrow systems.

When a cat was presented to groups of 3 male and 2 female laboratory rats in the open area of a visible burrow system, the rats retreated to the burrow system and showed high levels of 18-24 kHz ultrasonic cries during the cat presentation and for 30 min following removal of the cat. Latency to make ultrasonic vocalizations, durations of these vocalizations, and duration in the burrow systems were all strikingly and reliably different during and after cat exposure in comparison to similar periods with a control (stuffed cat toy) stimulus. However, when individual rats were exposed to a cat in an open area of similar size, ultrasonic cry production was minimal. Also rats exposed individually to a cat in an apparatus providing an escape chamber similarly showed no ultrasonic cries, indicating that concealment per se is not a sufficient condition for their appearance. These results suggest that the production of ultrasonic vocalizations during and after exposure to a predator is greatly facilitated by the presence of familiar conspecifics, and may serve as alarm cries. While the alarm cry hypothesis also suggests a possible function for 18-24 kHz ultrasounds in the context of copulation and intraspecies aggression, the sonographic and functional relationships among the cries emitted in these different situations remain to be analyzed.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Ultrasonic vocalization of laboratory rats in response to handling and touch.

The goal of the study was to investigate the ultrasonic vocalization induced in freely behaving, naive rats by gentle touch with a human hand. Thirty-nine rats were tested in an unfamiliar experimental cage with repeatable hand touch. Vocalization appeared with an average latency of 4.6 +/- 5.0 s (SD). The nape of the neck was the most effective area, and after a couple of stimuli applied, 66.7% of rats emitted 21-32 kHz ultrasonic vocalization. It consisted of multiple series of long calls, about 70% of which exceeded 300 ms. The responses quickly habituated from session to session to extinction. Significantly more rats housed in single cages vocalized ultrasonically than animals housed in community cages. The long latencies of the vocalization, their appearance in multiple series to a single touch, and quick habituation to the stimuli indicate that 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalization of rats reflects a distress caused by a potential danger to the animal and it does not necessarily reflect physical discomfort or pain. This vocalization may, therefore, play an adaptive role in increasing chances of survival by conveying information about potential threats to other conspecifics.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Analysis of 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalization in laboratory rats: long and short calls.

There is a remarkable variation in the length of single ultrasonic calls emitted by adult rats. The duration of calls is likely to convey information for conspecifics. The goal of the present study was to analyze 22 kHz calls emitted by naive laboratory rats in response to contact with the human hand and to measure their acoustic features, with a particular emphasis on call duration. Repeated hand touch applied to the nape of the neck of rats induced ultrasonic calls, 97.4% of which were within the range of 20-29 kHz and 2.6% of which were within 44-67 kHz. Distribution of duration of 6765 calls revealed two subpopulations of 22 kHz calls: 20-300 ms calls with its peak at 150 ms and calls above 310 ms with highest values at approximately 500-600 ms without a clear peak. These two call populations were referred to as short and long calls, respectively. The short and the long vocalizations contained 80% and 100% of calls within the range of the 22 kHz frequency, respectively. The findings indicated that, in the situation studied, the 22 kHz vocalization of adult rats consists of two distinguishable subpopulation of calls: short and long with the boundary between them at 300 ms.

Animal Communication↗
PubMed1993

Sound levels in rooms housing laboratory animals: an uncontrolled daily variable.

High sound levels are known to have adverse effects on the behaviour and physiology of laboratory animals, yet their acoustic environment is rarely monitored. In particular, high-frequency sounds that are above the limit of human hearing, but are well within the limits of many laboratory species (i.e., ultrasounds), are usually ignored. In this study, the acoustic environment of laboratory animals was investigated in a variety of different animal facilities. Sound pressure levels (dB SPL) were monitored for periods up to 24 h over two frequency ranges: a relatively low range (0.01-12.5 kHz), and a high range (12.5-70 kHz). While background sound levels in undisturbed situations were generally low (i.e., below 50 dB SPL), marked increases in sound levels often occurred during the working day, producing characteristic daily variations in the sound profile. Peak SPLs commonly reached values of 80-95 dB in the low-frequency range and 50-75 dB in the higher range. In most cases, sound levels were low over weekends. The results suggested that human activities were a very important source of sound in most animal facilities. In a few situations (e.g., rabbits, marmosets, dogs), the animals themselves provided a significant contribution to the acoustic environment. It is clear that the acoustic environment of laboratory animals is a daily variable that is usually uncontrolled and that may have important implications for behavioural and physiological experiments and for animal welfare.

Animal Welfare↗
PubMed1994

Dissociation of androgen-dependent sociosexual behaviors in response to castration in Long-Evans rats.

Copulatory behavior and associated social behaviors such as ultrasonic vocalizations and scent marking are reduced in frequency following castration and are restored by exogenous administration of androgens. In the present study, we report the behavior of a subgroup of male Long-Evans rats in which there was a dissociation between the responses of androgen-dependent behaviors to castration. Five weeks after castration, 52% of the males tested (13 of 25) had higher 50 kHz vocalization frequencies than during precastration tests. This group continued to emit vocalizations after castration and actually increased their number of vocalizations over postcastration tests (pretest: 34.5 +/- 4.8 to week 15: 62.8 +/- 10.9/10 min test). The remaining males (n = 12) exhibited a decline in vocalizations (pretest: 29.7 +/- 5.1 to week 15: 6.5 +/- 2.7) that we typically observe in our laboratory. Both groups showed the expected decline in scent-marking frequency over the postcastration tests and were impaired in performance of copulatory behavior. Seminal vesicle and adrenal gland weights did not differ between the two groups. The 25 males were of the same genetic strain as previous animals in our laboratory except that they were born and raised in a different location prior to shipment to our laboratory. Androgens, therefore, may be only one of the possible influences mediating ultrasonic vocalizations.

Androgens↗
PubMed1986

Effects of lung volume and airflow on the frequency spectrum of vesicular lung sounds.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the vesicular lung sound frequency spectrum is affected by changes in lung volume and airflow. Nine healthy young nonsmokers were studied. The dependent variables were the points that divide the power spectrum of the vesicular lung sound into quarters (1st, 2nd and 3rd quartiles (Q1, Q2 and Q3]. Recording sites were the right upper anterior (RUL) and lower posterior (RLL) chest wall. Lung sounds were high-pass filtered at 100 Hz. To evaluate the effect of volume, lung sounds were recorded during an inspiratory vital capacity (VC) maneuver at near constant airflow rates. The spectral parameters were determined at each sixth of the VC. To assess the effects of airflow, 5 of the subjects breathed from resting lung volume at peak inspiratory airflows of between 1 and 3.0 L/sec for a total of 16 breaths each and the frequency parameters of the lung sounds occurring during peak inspiratory airflows were determined. RESULTS: Volume effects: only at the RUL was there a small but significant decrease in all three parameters with increasing lung volume. Airflow effects: all parameters were independent of airflow except for a weakly positive relationship (r = 0.285, P less than 0.05) for Q3 at the RUL location. Individually, there were weakly significant trends in three of the five subjects. These data suggest that the frequency composition of the vesicular lung sound in groups of healthy adults is not systematically affected by changes in lung volume or airflow.

Adult↗