Multicenter Study on the Impact of the Masker Babble Spectrum on the Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) Test.

Introduction: Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) is defined as the most comfortable level (MCL) intensity for speech and is calculated by subtracting the maximum noise tolerable by an individual. The ANL test has been used over time to predict hearing aid use and the impact of digital noise reduction. This study analyzes this impact by using different masker babble spectra when performing the ANL test in both hearing-impaired and healthy subjects in three different languages (Dutch, French, and Italian).

Speech Disfluencies in Bilingual Lebanese Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter.

Purpose: Prior studies have shown that bilingual children who do not stutter (CWNS) exhibit a high number of disfluencies in both languages, increasing the risk of misidentification by speech-language pathologists as children who stutter (CWS). Conversely, there is a risk of misidentifying CWS with a relatively low incidence of disfluencies as CWNS. This study aims to explore the qualitative and quantitative distinctions in speech disfluency profiles between CWNS and CWS.

Could linguistic and cognitive factors, degree of autistic traits and sex predict speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls?

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of linguistic complexity and individual background variables (i.e. linguistic and cognitive abilities, degree of autistic traits, and sex) on speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls.

Associations between social anxiety, physiological reactivity, and speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine possible associations of social anxiety (SA) and speaking-related physiological reactivity with the frequencies of a) total disfluencies, b) typical disfluencies, and c) stuttering-like disfluencies, as well as d) stuttering-severity in autistic young adults and controls.

Methods: Thirty-two autistic young adults and 35 controls participated in this study. Participants were presented with video clips (viewing condition) and were then asked to talk about the videos (narrating condition).

Inhibitory Control, Cognitive Flexibility, and the Production of Disfluencies in Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter.

Purpose: Differences in inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility between children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) have been previously demonstrated. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the previously reported inhibitory control- and cognitive flexibility-related performance costs for CWS are associated with the number of speech disfluencies that they produce.

Method: Participants were 19 CWS ( = 7.

Delay frustration in children who do and do not stutter: A preliminary study.

Purpose: Frustration is an emotion often clinically reported by persons who stutter. So far, mainly questionnaire-based studies have reported findings related to increased frustration or decreased frustration tolerance. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine possible group differences between children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) using a behavioral experimental task, as well as to evaluate possible associations with the frequency, duration, and physical concomitants of stuttering disfluencies.

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.

The Fifth Croatia Stuttering Symposium: Part III. Mental health and early stuttering.

Purpose: The Fifth Croatia Stuttering Symposium of 2022 continued the Fourth Croatia Stuttering Symposium 2019 theme of the connection between research and clinical practice. At the 2022 Symposium, there were 145 delegates from 21 countries. This paper documents the contents of the third of three Symposium modules.

Identification of stuttering in bilingual Lebanese children across two presentation modes.

The goals of this study were to investigate whether Lebanese speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are accurate at identifying stuttering in bilingual children, to examine whether the use of video-recordings instead of audio-recordings allows for better analyses, and to explore factors that may affect the SLPs' judgments. In phase 1, 32 SLPs listened to narrative samples in Lebanese Arabic of 6 children who do not stutter (CWNS) and 2 who stutter (CWS). They were instructed to label each child as stuttering or not, and to explain what motivated their decisions.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Speech Disfluencies in Autistic Young Adults and Control Young Adults: Group Differences in Typical, Stuttering-Like, and Atypical Disfluencies.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of speech disfluencies in autistic young adults and controls by using a wide-range disfluency classification of typical disfluencies (TD; i.e., filled pauses, revisions, abandoned utterances, and multisyllable word and phrase repetitions), stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD; i.

Exogenous verbal response inhibition in adults who do and do not stutter.

Introduction: Behavioral and questionnaire-based studies suggest that children who stutter (CWS) exhibit poorer response inhibition than children who do not stutter (CWNS). However, the behavioral findings in adults who stutter (AWS) are less unequivocal and mainly based on manual response inhibition. Further study is therefore needed, especially given the lack of studies on verbal response inhibition among these groups.

Self-Management of Medication on a Cardiology Ward: Feasibility and Safety of the SelfMED Intervention.

An intervention, SelfMED, was introduced to facilitate patient self-management of medication during hospitalization. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the SelfMED intervention. All patients in a cardiology ward in a Belgian regional hospital were assessed for suitability for inclusion, applying an evidence-based stepped assessment tool.

Stuttering Severity Judgments by Speech-Language Pathologists of Bilingual Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter.

Introduction: Recent studies conducted with bilingual populations have shown that bilingual children who do not stutter (CWNS) are often less fluent than their monolingual counterparts, which seems to affect the accuracy with which speech-language pathologists (SLPs) identify stuttering in bilinguals. That is, misdiagnosis appears frequently in bilingual children and is more likely to occur with bilingual CWNS (false positives) than with bilingual CWS (false negatives).

Methods: The goal of the current study was to gain insight in the extent of this misdiagnosis.

Complex response inhibition and cognitive flexibility in school-aged Cypriot-Greek-speaking children who stutter.

Purpose: Over the last few years, research findings have suggested limitations in executive function (EF) of children who stutter (CWS) with the evidence being more consistent in studies with preschoolers (3-6  years old) than in studies with school-aged children (6-12  years old). The purpose of the current study was to assess complex response inhibition and cognitive flexibility in school-aged CWS and their non-stuttering peers.

Methods: Participants, 19 CWS (mean age = 7.

Cognitive flexibility in younger and older children who stutter.

Purpose: Recent research findings suggest possible weaknesses in cognitive flexibility () in children who stutter (CWS) when compared to children who do not stutter (CWNS). Studies so far, have been conducted with either younger (3-6 years old) or older children (6-12 years old) with a variety of measures. The purpose of the present study was to investigate with the use of a single behavioral measure across a broader age range (4-10 years old).

The "Dutch Reading Test for Adults" has Been Used for 29 Years to Estimate the Premorbid Performance Level, does it Still Meet the Expectations?

To detect cognitive change after brain damage, it is important to know the level of premorbid intellectual functioning. A popular instrument in this context is the "Nederlandse Leestest voor Volwassenen" (NLV; Schmand et al., 1992).

Impact of Particle Size on Toxicity, Tissue Distribution and Excretion Kinetics of Subchronic Intratracheal Instilled Silver Nanoparticles in Mice.

The unique physicochemical properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) make them useful in a wide range of sectors, increasing their propensity for human exposure, as well as the need for thorough toxicological assessment. The biodistribution of silver, hematological parameters and GSH/GSSG levels in the lung and liver were studied in mice that were intratracheally instilled with AgNP (5 and 50 nm) and AgNO once a week for 5 weeks, followed by a recovery period of up to 28 days (dpi). Data was gathered to build a PBPK model after the entry of AgNPs into the lungs.

Temperament, anxiety, and depression in school-age children who stutter.

Purpose: The main aim of this study was to gain insight into whether temperament and/or stuttering severity were associated with anxiety and depression in children who stutter. Additionally, the study also provided an indication into the prevalence of anxiety and depression in children who stutter in a clinical cohort.

Method: The participants were 132 English-speaking children (105 boys and 27 girls) between 9;0 and 14;11 years old (M = 11;8, SD = 1;10) and their mothers.

Neural Patterns in Parietal Cortex and Hippocampus Distinguish Retrieval of Start versus End Positions in Working Memory.

Coding serial order of information is a fundamental ability of our cognitive system, and still, little is known about its neural substrate. This study examined the neural substrates involved in the retrieval of information that is serially stored in verbal working memory task using a sensitive multivariate analysis approach. We compared neural activity for memorized items stemming from the beginning versus the end of a memory list assessing the degree of neural pattern discordance between order positions (beginning vs.

When the Partner's Reality Bites: Associations Between Self- and Partner Ratings of Psychopathic Traits, Relationship Quality and Conflict Tactics.

The present study examined associations of self- and partner-reported psychopathic traits, as well as the level of agreement between these reports (perceptual accuracy), with relationship quality, and the moderating role of violent and non-violent conflict tactics. Participants were 259 heterosexual couples from the community. Results indicated that, despite moderate convergence between self- and partner-reports, the female partners tended to underreport the levels of psychopathic traits in their male partner.

Eye-movements reveal the serial position of the attended item in verbal working memory.

The problem of how the mind can retain sequentially organized information has a long research tradition that remains unresolved. While various computational models propose a mechanism of binding serial order information to position markers, the representational nature and processes that operate on these position markers are not clear. Recent behavioral work suggests that space is used to mark positions in serial order and that this process is governed by spatial attention.

A model for estimating hearing aid coverage world-wide using historical data on hearing aid sales.

Objective: To estimate the hearing aid coverage for people with disabling hearing loss using data on hearing aid sales.

Design: Data on prevalence of disabling hearing loss from WHO and on hearing loss from moderate to severe from the Global Burden of Disease enterprise are used to estimate the number of people with hearing loss. Data on hearing aid sales from the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (EHIMA) are used to estimate the number of people using hearing aids.

Residential exposure to air pollution and access to neighborhood greenspace in relation to hair cortisol concentrations during the second and third trimester of pregnancy.

Background: Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in studies worldwide, other studies have described beneficial effects of residential greenspace on pregnancy outcomes. The biological mechanisms that underlie these associations are incompletely understood. A biological stress response, which implies release of cortisol, may underlie associations of air pollution exposure and access to neighborhood greenspaces with health.

Temperament and the Impact of Stuttering in Children Aged 8-14 Years.

Purpose The goal of this study was to evaluate possible associations between child- and mother-reported temperament, stuttering severity, and child-reported impact of stuttering in school-age children who stutter. Method Participants were 123 children who stutter (94 boys and 29 girls) who were between 9;0 and 14;10 (years;months) and their mothers. Temperament was assessed with the revised child and parent version of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised (Ellis & Rothbart, 2001).