Vowel identification by cochlear implant users: Contributions of duration cues and dynamic spectral cues.

A recent study from our laboratory assessed vowel identification in cochlear implant (CI) users, using full /dVd/ syllables and partial (center- and edges-only) syllables with duration cues neutralized [Donaldson, Rogers, Cardenas, Russell, and Hanna (2013). J. Acoust.

Vowel identification by cochlear implant users: contributions of static and dynamic spectral cues.

Previous research has shown that normal hearing listeners can identify vowels in syllables on the basis of either quasi-static or dynamic spectral cues; however, it is not known how well cochlear implant (CI) users with current-generation devices can make use of these cues. The present study assessed vowel identification in adult CI users and a comparison group of young normal hearing (YNH) listeners. Stimuli were naturally spoken /dVd/ syllables and modified syllables that retained only quasi-static spectral cues from an 80-ms segment of the vowel center ("C80" stimuli) or dynamic spectral cues from two 20-ms segments of the vowel edges ("E20" stimuli).

Development and evaluation of a high-fidelity canine patient simulator for veterinary clinical training.

High-fidelity human patient simulators have been used for decades in medical education to provide opportunities for students to practice technical skills, diagnostic and therapeutic planning, and communication skills in a safe environment. A high-fidelity canine patient simulator (CPS) was developed using components from a human patient simulator and a low-fidelity foam core canine mannequin. Ninety-six veterinary students participated in cardiopulmonary arrest scenarios in groups of three to five students.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm associated with systemic fungal infection in a German shepherd dog.

A 2 yr old spayed female German shepherd presented with a chief complaint of acute onset paraparesis and weight loss. At presentation, the dog was pyrexic, nonambulatory, and had generalized muscle wasting. Neurolocalization was consistent with a thoracolumbar spinal cord lesion.

Vowel identification by younger and older listeners: relative effectiveness of vowel edges and vowel centers.

Young normal-hearing (YNH) and older normal-hearing (ONH) listeners identified vowels in naturally produced /bVb/ syllables and in modified syllables that consisted of variable portions of the vowel edges (silent-center [SC] stimuli) or vowel center (center-only [CO] stimuli). Listeners achieved high levels of performance for all but the shortest stimuli, indicating that they were able to access vowel cues throughout the syllable. ONH listeners performed similarly to YNH listeners for most stimuli, but performed more poorly for the shortest CO stimuli.

Conversational and clear speech intelligibility of /bVd/ syllables produced by native and non-native English speakers.

The ability of native and non-native speakers to enhance intelligibility of target vowels by speaking clearly was compared across three talker groups: monolingual English speakers and native Spanish speakers with either an earlier or a later age of immersion in an English-speaking environment. Talkers produced the target syllables "bead, bid, bayed, bed, bad" and "bod" in 'conversational' and clear speech styles. The stimuli were presented to native English-speaking listeners in multi-talker babble with signal-to-noise ratios of -8 dB for the monolingual and early learners and -4 dB for the later learners.

Disseminated candidiasis secondary to fungal and bacterial peritonitis in a young dog.

Objective: To describe a severe case of bacterial sepsis and disseminated candidiasis in a previously healthy dog.

Case Summary: Fungal sepsis was identified in a 2-year-old dog following intestinal dehiscence 4 days after abdominal surgery. Septic peritonitis was identified at admission and evidence of dehiscence at the previous enterotomy site was found during an exploratory laparotomy.

Perception of silent-center syllables by native and non-native English speakers.

The amount of acoustic information that native and non-native listeners need for syllable identification was investigated by comparing the performance of monolingual English speakers and native Spanish speakers with either an earlier or a later age of immersion in an English-speaking environment. Duration-preserved silent-center syllables retaining 10, 20, 30, or 40 ms of the consonant-vowel and vowel-consonant transitions were created for the target vowels /i, I, eI, epsilon, ae/ and /a/, spoken by two males in /bVb/ context. Duration-neutral syllables were created by editing the silent portion to equate the duration of all vowels.

An adaptive clinical test of temporal resolution.

Purpose: It has been recommended that diagnostic and screening test batteries for auditory processing disorder (APD) include a measure of temporal gap detection using broadband noise stimuli. Although psychophysical laboratory procedures exist for the measurement of temporal resolution, none are clinically feasible. This study was designed to obtain preliminary data on a new clinical measure of gap detection, the Adaptive Test of Temporal Resolution (ATTR).

Forced-choice analysis of segmental production by Chinese-accented English speakers.

This study describes the development of a minimal-pairs word list targeting phoneme contrasts that pose difficulty for Mandarin Chinese-speaking learners of English as a second language. The target phoneme inventory was compiled from analysis of phonetic transcriptions of about 800 mono- and polysyllabic English words with examples of all the vowels, diphthongs, and syllable onsets and codas of the language. The Mandarin-specific minimal-pairs list derived from the phonetic transcription analyses contains 190 items.

Effects of noise and proficiency on intelligibility of Chinese-accented English.

This study compared the intelligibility of native and foreign-accented bilingualism English speech presented in quiet and mixed with three different levels of background noise. Two native American English speakers and four native Mandarin Chinese speakers for whom English is a second language each read a list of 50 phonetically balanced sentences (Egan, 1948). The authors speech intelligibility identified two of the Mandarin-accented English speakers as high-proficiency speakers and two as lower proficiency speakers, based on their speech intelligibility in quiet (about 95% and 80%, respectively).

Final consonant discrimination in children: effects of phonological disorder, vocabulary size, and articulatory accuracy.

Preschool-age children with phonological disorders were compared to their typically developing age peers on their ability to discriminate CVC words that differed only in the identity of the final consonant in whole-word and gated conditions. The performance of three age groups of typically developing children and adults was also assessed on the same task. Children with phonological disorders performed more poorly than age-matched peers, and younger typically developing children performed more poorly than older children and adults, even when the entire CVC word was presented.