Research
Margaret Lehman Blake, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Contextual bias and inferencing in adults with right hemisphere brain damage.
There is conflicting evidence regarding whether and how well adults with right brain damage (RHD) use contextual cues during comprehension. Two studies have been conducted to examine predictive inference generation in stories with varying contextual bias. The first study used a thinking-out-loud task, and the second employed an on-line reading time task. Results from the two studies combined indicate that adults with RHD can generate inferences both when contexts strongly suggest an inference and when the inference is only moderately-suggested. Discrepancies across the two studies can be explained by the level of activation of predictive inferences, which appears to be influenced by the level of contextual bias.
Contextual bias versus personal preference in adults with right brain damage
Adults with damage to the right hemisphere of the brain often have difficulty with comprehension of discourse, in which cues from various sources have to be integrated to determine the intended meaning. The current study is designed to examine whether internal, personal preferences regarding story outcomes may affect comprehension and if the preferences might interfere with using contextual cues. Such interference may be important to address in rehabilitation programs designed to aid comprehension and communication.
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Lynn S. Bliss, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Narrative Discourse: An Organizational Framework
The purposes of this project are to describe the process of discourse organization from a working memory framework, present examples of impaired discourse that reflect reduced organizational abilities and discuss intervention applications of this information.
Multidimensional aspects of childhood language disorders
Profiles of students with language learning disorders will be described with respect to their discourse, literacy, social, and behavioral abilities. Parent, teacher, and clinician ratings will be used to describe their abilities. This project is undertaken with individuals associated with a school in the Houston area that enrolls children with language learning disorders. The results will be compiled for eight children. Clinical and educational implications will be derived from the data.
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Lynn M. Maher, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Functional Brain Organization and Stroke: Constraint induced language therapy
This project is a collaboration with investigators at UT Medical school in Texas Medical center and is funded as part of a Program Project through NIH/NINDS. WE are exploring the impact of principles of use dependent learning using constraint induced language therapy (CILT) in individuals with chronic aphasia, and utilizing magnetoencephalography (MEG) we are comparing behavioral changes with changes in neural activity. Participants with aphasia undergo three weeks of intensive CILT and neural imaging pre and post treatment, and three months after treatment has ceased.
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Monica McHenry, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
An acoustic analysis of physician-patient interactions
This work is being conducted in collaboration with a research team at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. We are analyzing dialogues between physicians and patients with metastasized cancer of unknown primary. Because this is considered to be one of the most stressful cancer diagnoses, we are analyzing acoustic characteristics associated with increased stress, such as vocal pitch and speaking rate. Our goal is to relate these acoustic characteristics of the physician’s voice and speech with patient perceptions of the interaction. We hope to be able to provide physicians with strategies on how best to present medical information to patients.
The effectiveness of vocal warm-up with and without aerobic exercise
We have several projects underway to determine the most effective warm up strategies for actors and singers. All involve a component of aerobic exercise. We are pursuing known differences in the response of males and female actors to exercise, and will be extending the study to classically trained singers.
The effect of aerobic exercise on the vocal symptoms of muscle tension dysphonia
The personality characteristics of individuals with muscle tension dysphonia parallels those of individuals whose psychological symptoms are reduced with aerobic exercise. Our goal is to determine if aerobic exercise will improve the voice in individuals with muscle tension dysphonia.
The ecological validity of intelligibility assessment
We are currently analyzing data to determine which method of intelligibility assessment is most predictive of the perception of everyday listeners.
Hearing aid fitting for the professional singer
We have just completed data acquisition to determine the impact of two types of hearing aids on a singer’s pitch perception and pitch production.
Development of additional unpredictable sentences for intelligibility assessment
This project is an extension of the initial development of an unpredictable intelligibility test. Because typical intelligibility tests contain predictable elements, they tend to inflate a speaker’s intelligibility score. Pilot work has shown that less predictable sentences relate best to an everyday listener’s perception of a person’s speech. We are validating additional sentences to be included in the unpredictable sentence intelligibility test.
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Martha Dunkelberger, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Raising a Reader
An investigation of predictable outcomes of parent education on children in Head Start programs across the city of Houston. The interaction between phonological and literacy development and disorders.
