Modeling voice production and self-perception in noise: Understanding the Lombard effect in non-phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunctiona).

The sensorimotor adaptation process is crucial for maintaining oral communication. Recent studies have shown that individuals with non-phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction (NPVH) experience difficulties in sensorimotor adaptation when speaking in noise (known as the Lombard effect). However, the role of auditory and somatosensory feedback in the dynamics of adaptation to speaking in noise is still unclear.

Comparative accuracy of ChatGPT-4, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini in the Italian entrance test for healthcare sciences degrees: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are emerging educational tools for students in healthcare science. However, assessing their accuracy is essential prior to adoption in educational settings. This study aimed to assess the accuracy of predicting the correct answers from three AI chatbots (ChatGPT-4, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini) in the Italian entrance standardized examination test of healthcare science degrees (CINECA test).

Association between the home-to-healthcare center distance and hearing aid abandonment among older adults.

Background: Access to audiology services for older adults residing in sparsely populated regions is often limited compared to those in central urban areas. The geographic accessibility to follow-up care, particularly the influence of distance, may contribute to an increased risk of hearing aid abandonment.

Objective: To assess the association between the home-to-healthcare-calibration-center distance and hearing aid abandonment among older adults fitted in the Chilean public health system.

Neuropsychological and Anatomical-Functional Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Post-Stroke Patients with Cognitive Impairment and Aphasia: A Systematic Review.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been found to be promising in the neurorehabilitation of post-stroke patients. Aphasia and cognitive impairment (CI) are prevalent post-stroke; however, there is still a lack of consensus about the characteristics of interventions based on TMS and its neuropsychological and anatomical-functional benefits. Therefore, studies that contribute to creating TMS protocols for these neurological conditions are necessary.

A Retrospective Study of Acoustic Measures of Glottal Stop Production to Assess Vocal Function in Unilateral Vocal Fold Paresis/Paralysis Patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine (a) diagnostic accuracy of acoustic measures of glottal stop production (GSP; intensity differences, slopes, complete voicing cessation) to distinguish between unilateral vocal fold paresis/paralysis (UVFP) patients and controls; (b) if acoustic measures of GSP significantly correlated with an acoustic measure of voice disorder severity, acoustic voice quality index (AVQI); and (c) if acoustic measures from another type of voicing cessation, voiceless consonant production, also significantly differed between groups.

Method: Ninety-seven patients with unilateral paresis/paralysis and 35 controls with normal laryngostroboscopic signs produced two sets of five repeated [i] and four repeated [isi]. Tokens were randomized by type between groups and analyzed blinded using a customized Praat program that computed intensity differences and slopes between vowel maxima and glottal stop minima for inter-[i] tokens and vowel maxima and voiceless consonant minima for intra-[isi] tokens.

Validity and reliability of the Group for Learning Useful and Performant Swallowing (GLUPS) tool.

Introduction: To validate the Group for Learning Useful and Performant Swallowing (GLUPS), a clinical tool dedicated to videofluoroscopy swallowing study (VFSS).

Methods: Forty-five individuals were recruited from January 2022 to March 2023 from the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of University Hospital Saint-Pierre (Brussels, Belgium). Subjects underwent VFSS, which was rated with GLUPS tool by two blinded otolaryngologists and one speech-therapist.

Speech therapy and hyperbaric oxygen for aphasia after carbon monoxide intoxication.

Acute carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication may result in delayed neurological sequelae, which can include amnesia, ataxia, aphasia, emotional lability, disorientation, dysphagia, and other manifestations. A 27-year-old man reported symptoms of aphasia with agraphia and alexia in a review after CO intoxication. The patient received outpatient speech therapy, as well as repeated sessions of hyperbaric oxygen for 15 days, interspersing speech therapy with hyperbaric oxygen therapy for two months.

Cognitive impairment with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus among community-dwelling older adults in Chile: Prevalence, risk factors and cognitive characteristics.

Introduction: The aim of this study is to determine prevalence and risk factors of Cognitive Impairment (CI) and its association with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) in subjects aged 65 years and above. Additionally, we attempt to provide a cognitive profile for T2DM group.

Methodology: A cross-sectional analytical study to assess CI was carried out.

Effects of the Practice of Movement Representation Techniques in People Undergoing Knee and Hip Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review.

Objective: To analyze the effects of movement representation techniques (MRT) combined with conventional physical therapy (CFT) in people undergoing knee and hip arthroplasty compared to conventional physical therapy alone in terms of results in physical and functionality variables, cognitive function, and quality of life.

Methodology: the review was carried out according to the criteria of the PRISMA statement, considering studies in the electronic databases PubMed/Medline, Pubmed Central/Medline, Web of Science, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect.

Results: MRT plus CFT generated therapeutic effects in some aspects of the physical variables: 100% pain (7 of 7 studies); 100% strength (5 out of 5 studies); range of motion 87.

Glottal Stop Production in Controls and Patients With Unilateral Vocal Fold Paresis/Paralysis.

Purposes: The purposes of this study were to determine whether the acoustic measures from glottal stops distinguished between controls and patients with unilateral vocal fold paresis/paralysis (UVFP) at initial evaluation and posttreatment/observation, to explore the types of false vocal fold (FVF) movement during glottal stop production in UVFP, and to assess the agreement between normalization of various measures and reported voice normalization.

Method: Patients with UVFP and controls were recorded acoustically and laryngoscopically speaking two sets of five repeated /i/s, controls once and patients with UVFP initially and posttreatment/observation. Averaged intensity differences and slopes for offsets (maximum voicing intensity to minimum glottal stop intensity) and onsets (minimum glottal stop intensity to maximum voicing intensity) were measured.

Evaluation of the Dangerous Decibels Brazil Program in Workers Exposed to Noise.

Introduction: Noise-induced hearing loss can be avoided by taking preventive measures.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the Brazilian version of the Dangerous Decibels program for noise-exposed workers, using the ecological model as an educational intervention plan.

Method: Non-randomized interventional study with a quantitative, experimental trial design, conducted at a meatpacking company.

E-Portfolio as an Evaluative Tool for Emergency Virtual Education: Analysis of the Case of the University Andres Bello (Chile) During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The pandemic had serious implications for university education, specifically due to the transition from face-to-face teaching to online methodologies. This article analyzes the perception of students undergoing speech therapy from a Chilean University about the E-portfolio incorporation as an evaluative tool during the emergency virtual teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From quantitative research, a survey of 38 questions based on Likert scales was applied to 108 penultimate year undergraduate students.

Hearing impairment among workers and satisfaction with the use of hearing aids.

Background: Hearing problems can have adverse effects on an individual's job performance, as well as on unemployment or underemployment and increased risk of stress-related sick leave.

Objective: To investigate hearing impairment among workers and satisfaction with the use of hearing aids.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with workers who are hearing aid users.

Brain white matter damage and its association with neuronal synchrony during sleep.

The restorative function of sleep partly relies on its ability to deeply synchronize cerebral networks to create large slow oscillations observable with EEG. However, whether a brain can properly synchronize and produce a restorative sleep when it undergoes massive and widespread white matter damage is unknown. Here, we answer this question by testing 23 patients with various levels of white matter damage secondary to moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries (ages 18-56; 17 males, six females, 11-39 months post-injury) and compared them to 27 healthy subjects of similar age and sex.

Congenital Aural Atresia prevalence in the Argentinian population.

Introduction: Congenital Aural Atresia (CAA) or microtia is a malformation that results in esthetic and functional problems. There is little information on prevalence, considering that Latin American is the most affected region in the world.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of microtia, considering the different ethnical structure of the population.

Subcortical amplitude modulation encoding deficits suggest evidence of cochlear synaptopathy in normal-hearing 18-19 year olds with higher lifetime noise exposure.

Noise exposure and aging can damage cochlear synapses required for suprathreshold listening, even when cochlear structures needed for hearing at threshold remain unaffected. To control for effects of aging, behavioral amplitude modulation (AM) detection and subcortical envelope following responses (EFRs) to AM tones in 25 age-restricted (18-19 years) participants with normal thresholds, but different self-reported noise exposure histories were studied. Participants with more noise exposure had smaller EFRs and tended to have poorer AM detection than less-exposed individuals.

Second Language Word Learning through Repetition and Imitation: Functional Networks as a Function of Learning Phase and Language Distance.

: Repetition and imitation are among the oldest second language (L2) teaching approaches and are frequently used in the context of L2 learning and language therapy, despite some heavy criticism. Current neuroimaging techniques allow the neural mechanisms underlying repetition and imitation to be examined. This fMRI study examines the influence of verbal repetition and imitation on network configuration.

The effects of brief swaying on postural control.

Postural control can be improved with balance training. However, the nature and duration of the training required to enhance posture remains unclear. We studied the effects of 5 min of a self-initiated balance exercise along a single axis on postural control in healthy individuals.

Optimizing Respiratory-Swallowing Coordination in Patients With Oropharyngeal Head and Neck Cancer.

Swallowing impairment (dysphagia) represents the highest functional morbidity in oropharyngeal (OP) head and neck (HNC) treated either with surgical approaches followed by radiation or with more recent organ preservation protocols, including combined chemotherapy and radiation. Despite the promising overall increasing survival rates, swallowing impairments remain chronic, are often resistant to traditional swallowing therapy, and have devastating consequences on health and well-being. The respiratory-swallow cross-system approach presented here extends beyond traditional swallowing interventions that commonly targets muscles and structures alone, and is instead, directed toward the re-establishment of optimal respiratory-swallowing coordination.

Subjective visual vertical with the bucket method in Brazilian healthy individuals.

Introduction: The capacity of a healthy individual to estimate the true vertical in relation to the Earth when a fluorescent line is aligned in a completely dark room is called the subjective visual vertical.

Objective: To evaluate subjective visual vertical using the bucket method in healthy Brazilian individuals.

Methods: Binocular subjective visual vertical was measured in 100 healthy volunteers, 50 females and 50 males.

Suggested Minimum Data Set for Speech Therapy Centers Affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Background: The minimum data considered as a conceptual framework, based on the achievement of effectiveness indicators and it ensures to access of precise and clear health data. The aims of the present study were identified and proposed a data element set of speech therapy centers affiliated with Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.

Material And Methods: This study that was cross - sectional type, performed in 9 speech therapy clinic from medical university in 2014.

REM sleep and emotional face memory in typically-developing children and children with autism.

Relationship between REM sleep and memory was assessed in 13 neurotypical and 13 children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A neutral/positive/negative face recognition task was administered the evening before (learning and immediate recognition) and the morning after (delayed recognition) sleep. The number of rapid eye movements (REMs), beta and theta EEG activity over the visual areas were measured during REM sleep.