Automated Scoring of the Speech Intelligibility Test Using Autoscore.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to develop and test extensions to Autoscore, an automated approach for scoring listener transcriptions against target stimuli, for scoring the Speech Intelligibility Test (SIT), a widely used test for quantifying intelligibility in individuals with dysarthria.

Method: Three main extensions to Autoscore were created including a compound rule, a contractions rule, and a numbers rule. We used two sets of previously collected listener SIT transcripts ( = 4,642) from databases of dysarthric speakers to evaluate the accuracy of the Autoscore SIT extensions.

Increasing Motivation Increases Intelligibility Benefits of Perceptual Training in Dysarthria.

Purpose: Perceptual training offers a promising, listener-targeted option for improving intelligibility of dysarthric speech. Cognitive resources are required for learning, and theoretical models of listening effort and engagement account for a role of listener motivation in allocation of such resources. Here, we manipulate training instructions to enhance motivation to test the hypothesis that increased motivation increases the intelligibility benefits of perceptual training.

Impact of real-world implementation of evidence-based insomnia treatment within a large payor-provider health system: initial provider and patient-level outcomes.

Study Objectives: Insomnia has substantial and wide-ranging negative effects on clinical and functional outcomes and on health care expenditures, yet few individuals receive gold-standard insomnia treatment. The current article examines provider and patient outcomes associated with real-world implementation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), as part of a pilot initiative designed to establish initial capability for evidence-based insomnia treatment within one of the largest payor-provider systems in the United States.

Methods: Provider training outcomes were assessed using the CBT-I Competency Rating Scale and self-report measures.

Clinical and financial significance of insomnia within a large payor-provider health system.

Study Objectives: Insomnia has profound negative effects on behavioral health, physical health, and functional domains. Leveraging claims data from one of the nation's largest payor-provider systems, the current study examined the real-world prevalence of insomnia, comorbidity of insomnia with behavioral health and other sleep disorders, and the impact of insomnia on total health care costs.

Methods: Prevalence and costs associated with insomnia were assessed by examining claims data on approximately 3 million insured members during the year 2022.

Association between depression symptom severity and total cost of care: Findings from a large, 2-year, claims-based, retrospective population health study.

Background: Despite the substantial impact of depression on individuals and healthcare utilization, little is known about the specific relationship between depression severity and total cost of care (TCC). This study evaluates the association between depression symptom severity and TCC and how changes in severity affect TCC.

Methods: The analysis was conducted using insurance claims data and data from electronic health records between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020.

An exploratory analysis of moderating effects in a non-randomized, quasi-experimental evaluation of a college-based mental health literacy curriculum.

To assess possible moderating variables that influence the effectiveness of a college-based mental health literacy curriculum, . Students at a Western University in the United States (MHAA treatment group:  = 474; Comparison group:  = 575). Using a non-randomized, quasi-experimental design over six semesters (2017-2019), students in the treatment and control groups reported on key demographic factors, experiences with mental health, and their knowledge, self-efficacy, and behaviors related to mental health literacy in a pretest/post-test format.

Dimensions of caregiver strain may partially mediate the relationship between youth symptomology and counseling utilization among Latinxs.

Whether Latinx families use youth mental health services (MHS) depends on complex influences of barriers and facilitators within and outside of the home. This research sought to shed light on caregiver strain as part of the equation focused on parental identification and responses to youth mental health needs. We examined multiple dimensions of caregiver strain as potential mediators between youth mental health symptom severity and psychological counseling utilization.

Conversational Speech Behaviors Are Context Dependent.

Purpose: According to the interpersonal synergy model of spoken dialogue, interlocutors modify their communicative behaviors to meet the contextual demands of a given conversation. Although a growing body of research supports this postulation for linguistic behaviors (e.g.

AI vs academia: Experimental study on AI text detectors' accuracy in behavioral health academic writing.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) language models continue to expand in both access and capability. As these models have evolved, the number of academic journals in medicine and healthcare which have explored policies regarding AI-generated text has increased. The implementation of such policies requires accurate AI detection tools.

Lexical Alignment is Pervasive Across Contexts in Non-WEIRD Adult-Child Interactions.

Lexical alignment, a communication phenomenon where conversational partners adapt their word choices to become more similar, plays an important role in the development of language and social communication skills. While this has been studied extensively in the conversations of preschool-aged children and their parents in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) communities, research in other pediatric populations is sparse. This study makes significant expansions on the existing literature by focusing on alignment in naturalistic conversations of school-aged children from a non-WEIRD population across multiple conversational tasks and with different types of adult partners.

An ecological examination of early adolescent e-cigarette use: A machine learning approach to understanding a health epidemic.

E-cigarette use among adolescents is a national health epidemic spreading faster than researchers can amass evidence for risk and protective factors and long-term consequences associated with use. New technologies, such as machine learning, may assist prevention programs in identifying at risk youth and potential targets for intervention before adolescents enter developmental periods where e-cigarette use escalates. The present study utilized machine learning algorithms to explore a wide array of individual and socioecological variables in relation to patterns of lifetime e-cigarette use during early adolescence (i.

Prevalence and Cost of Routine Preoperative Care for Low-Risk Cataract Surgery a Decade after Choosing Wisely.

Purpose: Examine the frequency and cost of procedural clearance tests and examinations in preparation for low-risk cataract surgery among members of a commercial healthcare organization in the United States. Determine what characteristics most strongly predict receipt of preoperative care and the probability that preoperative care impacts postsurgical adverse events.

Design: Retrospective healthcare claims analysis and medical records review from a large, blended-health organization headquartered in Western Pennsylvania.

Barriers to accessing telepsychology services questionnaire: Structure and language-based performance in a sample of Latinx caregivers.

A lack of validated measures to examine barriers to youth telepsychology services among Latinx families limits research that could identify targets for reducing mental health disparities. We developed and validated the Latinx Barriers to Accessing Telepsychology Services (Latinx BATS) questionnaire, a brief multidimensional measure for caregivers of youths. Participants included 511 Latinx caregivers of youths Ages 6-18 (English = 275, Spanish = 236) who completed the Latinx BATS and reported on telepsychology service utilization and youth mental health problems.

The Influence of Sensorineural Hearing Loss on the Relationship Between the Perception of Speech in Noise and Dysarthric Speech.

Purpose: The ability to understand speech under adverse listening conditions is highly variable across listeners. Despite this, studies have found that listeners with normal hearing display consistency in their ability to perceive speech across different types of degraded speech, suggesting that, for at least these listeners, global skills may be involved in navigating the ambiguity in speech signals. However, there are substantial differences in the perceptual challenges faced by listeners with normal and impaired hearing.

Perceptual Learning of Dysarthria in Adolescence.

Purpose: As evidenced by perceptual learning studies involving adult listeners and speakers with dysarthria, adaptation to dysarthric speech is driven by signal predictability (speaker property) and a flexible speech perception system (listener property). Here, we extend adaptation investigations to adolescent populations and examine whether adult and adolescent listeners can learn to better understand an adolescent speaker with dysarthria.

Method: Classified by developmental stage, adult ( = 42) and adolescent ( = 40) listeners completed a three-phase perceptual learning protocol (pretest, familiarization, and posttest).

Speech Entrainment in Adolescent Conversations: A Developmental Perspective.

Purpose: Defined as the similarity of speech behaviors between interlocutors, speech entrainment plays an important role in successful adult conversations. According to theoretical models of entrainment and research on motoric, cognitive, and social developmental milestones, the ability to entrain should develop throughout adolescence. However, little is known about the specific developmental trajectory or the role of speech entrainment in conversational outcomes of this age group.

The Application of Time-Frequency Masking To Improve Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech in Background Noise.

Purpose: Background noise reduces speech intelligibility. Time-frequency (T-F) masking is an established signal processing technique that improves intelligibility of neurotypical speech in background noise. Here, we investigated a novel application of T-F masking, assessing its potential to improve intelligibility of neurologically degraded speech in background noise.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy measures of neural activity in children with and without developmental language disorder during a working memory task.

Introduction: Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) exhibit cognitive deficits that interfere with their ability to learn language. Little is known about the functional neuroanatomical differences between children developing typically (TD) and children with DLD.

Methods: Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we recorded oxygenated hemoglobin (O hb) concentration values associated with neural activity in children with and without DLD during an auditory N-back task that included 0-back, 1-back, and 2-back conditions.

Cognitive Predictors of Perception and Adaptation to Dysarthric Speech in Young Adult Listeners.

Purpose: Although recruitment of cognitive-linguistic resources to support dysarthric speech perception and adaptation is presumed by theoretical accounts of effortful listening and supported by cross-disciplinary empirical findings, prospective relationships have received limited attention in the disordered speech literature. This study aimed to examine the predictive relationships between cognitive-linguistic parameters and intelligibility outcomes associated with familiarization with dysarthric speech in young adult listeners.

Method: A cohort of 156 listener participants between the ages of 18 and 50 years completed a three-phase perceptual training protocol (pretest, training, and posttest) with one of three speakers with dysarthria.

Values engagement as a predictor of eating disorder severity in a residential sample of female adolescents with eating disorders.

Values are freely chosen life directions and/or qualities of being that can motivate behavior change. There is nascent support for the utility of values work as a part of the therapeutic process across treatments, particularly in third wave therapy approaches (e.g.

Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Adult Hearing Loss (AAQ-AHL): validation with hearing aid users.

Objective: Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) may find adherence to their hearing devices difficult due to internal experiences related to their hearing loss such as sadness or frustration. The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Adult Hearing Loss (AAQ-AHL) is the only measure available to assess psychological inflexibility as it relates to hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to confirm the single latent structure of the AAQ-AHL (through confirmatory factory analysis) and test convergent and discriminant validity.

Step edge highlighters and illuminance changes influence stair descent in a real-world setting.

Studies investigating the effect of tread edge highlighters on descent speed differ, but collectively report the potential benefit of reduced fall risk. Here we examine the impact of adding high-contrast black vinyl striping to the front edge of each step's tread and its impact on descending gait speed (intervention), while controlling for illumination. Descending gait speed was estimated from 5,824 video observations using the stairway length and entry and exit times.

Posttraumatic Cognitions Differ Between Men and Women after Military Sexual Assault Revictimization in Their Contribution to PTSD Symptoms.

Sexual revictimization is heightened among military service members and veterans and is associated with greater posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and severity. The heightened distress following revictimization may be due to posttraumatic cognitions (PTC), which include negative beliefs about the self and world, and self-blame. Moreover, it is unclear whether men and women experience different levels of PTC.

Safe stairway negotiation: Role of distractions and handrail use.

Introduction: This study sought to examine stairway safety by identifying associations between fall-related events on stairways, distractions, gait speed, drifting, as well as handrail use and proximity.

Method: Video recordings captured 11,137 observations of stair users in two public stairways and recorded distractions (e.g.