A longitudinal study of very young children's vowel production.

Purpose: Ecologically realistic, spontaneous, adult-directed, longitudinal speech data of young children were described by acoustic analyses.

Method: The first 2 formant frequencies of vowels produced by 6 children from different American English dialect regions were analyzed from ages 18 to 48 months. The vowels were from largely conversational contexts and were classified according to dictionary pronunciation.

Sagittal area of the vocal tract in young female children.

Objective: To measure the sagittal areas of the front and back cavities of the vocal tract in children acquiring speech.

Patients And Methods: Ten female children were selected from the Serial Experimental collection of the Burlington Growth Centre in Toronto, Canada. Each of the 10 children was seen annually from ages 3 through 8.

Implications of peripheral muscular and anatomical development for the acquisition of lingual control for speech production: a review.

Objectives: Normally developing children learn to produce intelligible speech during rapid, non-uniform growth of their articulators and other vocal tract structures. The purpose of this review is to focus attention on the consequences of peripheral growth and development for the acquisition of lingual control for speech production. This paper (1) reviews physiological underpinnings of tongue shaping and movements that are likely to be changing in young children; (2) estimates, from previously published studies, the net consequences of growth of multiple vocal tract structures on lingual control; (3) integrates our findings with the example of [R] production, and (4) highlights areas where further investigations would be most helpful.

'The sick note': a qualitative study of sickness certification in general practice in Ireland.

Background: Sickness certification is a common task undertaken by General Practitioners (GPs) in most developed countries. Research suggests that they find this task complex and difficult. Primary health care structures and sickness certification practices differ across Europe and little research explores GPs certifying practices in the Republic of Ireland.

Work related stress and European policy--a comparative exploration of contextual stressors in the rehabilitation sector in five European countries.

Background: Dealing with work related stress is a declared priority of European Union mental health policy. A particularly under-researched sector in this regard is the community vocational support sector for people with mental health and intellectual disability problems.

Aims: To report on the organisational profile of the vocational support and rehabilitation sector for people with mental health and intellectual disabilities as this relates to occupational stress, in five European countries (Austria, Ireland, Italy, Romania and UK).

Developing a web-based stress management intervention for occupational support workers.

Background: Occupational support workers in the mental healthcare sector are exposed to considerable occupational stress and have little access to stress management facilities.

Aims: This article describes the process behind creating a web-based stress management intervention (SMI) for occupational support workers in the mental healthcare sector.

Method: Mixed methods were used to inform the content of the web-based SMI, following MRC strategy for designing interventions and PRIMA-EF guidelines for best practice in SMI design.

Perception and production of /r/ allophones improve with hearing from a cochlear implant.

Tongue shape can vary greatly for allophones of /r/ produced in different phonetic contexts but the primary acoustic cue used by listeners, lowered F3, remains stable. For the current study, it was hypothesized that auditory feedback maintains the speech motor control mechanisms that are constraining acoustic variability of F3 in /r/; thus the listener's percept remains /r/ despite the range of articulatory configurations employed by the speaker. Given the potential importance of auditory feedback, postlingually deafened speakers should show larger acoustic variation in /r/ allophones than hearing controls, and auditory feedback from a cochlear implant could reduce that variation over time.

The use of computer assisted technology to enhance student psychiatric nurses learning during a practice placement.

Despite the available literature that identifies the value of integrating computer-assisted learning into the curriculum, psychiatric nurse education lags behind in this area of curriculum development. The purpose of this paper is to report on a pilot project involving the use of a computer assisted learning (CAL) interactive multimedia (IMM) package called 'Admissions,' as a self-directed learning tool with two-second year psychiatric nursing students. The students were on a practice placement in an Irish mental health service.

Effects of short- and long-term changes in auditory feedback on vowel and sibilant contrasts.

Purpose: To assess the effects of short- and long-term changes in auditory feedback on vowel and sibilant contrasts and to evaluate hypotheses arising from a model of speech motor planning.

Method: The perception and production of vowel and sibilant contrasts were measured in 8 postlingually deafened adults prior to activation of their cochlear implant speech processors, 1 month postactivation, and 1 year postactivation. Measures were taken postactivation both with and without auditory feedback.

Interactions of speaking condition and auditory feedback on vowel production in postlingually deaf adults with cochlear implants.

This study investigates the effects of speaking condition and auditory feedback on vowel production by postlingually deafened adults. Thirteen cochlear implant users produced repetitions of nine American English vowels prior to implantation, and at one month and one year after implantation. There were three speaking conditions (clear, normal, and fast), and two feedback conditions after implantation (implant processor turned on and off).

Time course of speech changes in response to unanticipated short-term changes in hearing state.

The timing of changes in parameters of speech production was investigated in six cochlear implant users by switching their implant microphones off and on a number of times in a single experimental session. The subjects repeated four short, two-word utterances, /dV1n#SV2d/ (S = /s/ or /S/), in quasi-random order. The changes between hearing and nonhearing states were introduced by a voice-activated switch at V1 onset.

Matching purpose with practice: revolutionising nurse education with mita.

Multiple intelligences have only recently entered the teaching dialogue in nurse education and research. It is argued that despite the rhetoric of a student centred approach nurse education remains wedded to conventional teaching approaches that fail to engage with the individual and unwittingly silence the student's voice. This paper will examine the concept of multiple intelligences (MI) and outline Gardner's contention that the brain functions using eight intelligences which can be employed to improve learning at an individual level.

On the structure of phoneme categories in listeners with cochlear implants.

Purpose: To describe cochlear implant users' phoneme labeling, discrimination, and prototypes for a vowel and a sibilant contrast, and to assess the effects of 1 year's experience with prosthetic hearing.

Method: Based on naturally produced clear examples of "boot," "beet," "said," and "shed" by 1 male and 1 female speaker, continua with 13 stimuli were synthesized for each contrast. Seven hearing controls labeled those stimuli and assigned them goodness ratings, as did 7 implant users at 1-month postimplant.

Effects of masking noise on vowel and sibilant contrasts in normal-hearing speakers and postlingually deafened cochlear implant users.

The role of auditory feedback in speech production was investigated by examining speakers' phonemic contrasts produced under increases in the noise to signal ratio (N/S). Seven cochlear implant users and seven normal-hearing controls pronounced utterances containing the vowels /i/, /u/, /e/ and /ae/ and the sibilants /s/ and /I/ while hearing their speech mixed with noise at seven equally spaced levels between their thresholds of detection and discomfort. Speakers' average vowel duration and SPL generally rose with increasing N/S.

Effects of bite blocks and hearing status on vowel production.

This study explores the effects of hearing status and bite blocks on vowel production. Normal-hearing controls and postlingually deaf adults read elicitation lists of /hVd/ syllables with and without bite blocks and auditory feedback. Deaf participants' auditory feedback was provided by a cochlear prosthesis and interrupted by switching off their implant microphones.

Psychosocial interventions for panic disorder after coronary artery bypass graft: a case study.

It is increasingly recognized that patients with cardiovascular disease may also suffer from concurrent psychological problems. Many patients present to emergency services and cardiologists with a history of panic disorder. Because of the similarity of presenting symptoms, these patients are often undiagnosed and consequently have slower recovery times and are costly to the healthcare system.