Collision threshold pressure (CTP), i.e., the lowest subglottal pressure producing vocal fold contact during phonation, is a parameter likely to reflect relevant vocal fold properties. The amplitude of an electroglottographic (EGG) signal or the amplitude of its first derivative (dEGG) has been used as the criterion of such contact. Manual measurement of CTP is time-consuming, making the development of a simpler, alternative method desirable. In this investigation we compare CTP values automatically derived from the dEGG signal to values measured manually, and to values derived from a set of alternative parameters, some obtained from audio and some from EGG signals. One of the parameters was the novel EGG wavegram, which visualizes sequences of EGG or dEGG cycles, normalized with respect to period and amplitude. Raters with and without previous acquaintance with EGG analysis marked the disappearance of vocal fold contact in dEGG and in wavegram displays of /pa:/-sequences produced with continuously decreasing vocal loudness by seven singer subjects. Vocal fold contact was equally accurately identified in displays of dEGG amplitude as of wavegram. Automatically derived CTP values showed high correlation with those measured manually, and with those derived from the ratings of the visual displays. Seven other parameters were tested as criteria of such contact. Mainly due to noise in the EGG signal, most of them yielded CTP values differing considerably from those derived from the manual and the automatic methods, while the EGG spectrum slope showed a high correlation. The possibility of measuring CTP automatically seems promising for future investigations.

This study investigates the relation between individual language ability and neural semantic processing abilities. Our aim was to explore whether high-level language ability would correlate to decreased activation in language-specific regions or rather increased activation in supporting language regions during processing of sentences. Moreover, we were interested if observed neural activation patterns are modulated by semantic incongruency similarly to previously observed changes upon syntactic congruency modulation. We investigated 27 healthy adults with a sentence reading task which tapped language comprehension and inference, and modulated sentence congruency employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We assessed the relation between neural activation, congruency modulation, and test performance on a high-level language ability assessment with multiple regression analysis. Our results showed increased activation in the left-hemispheric angular gyrus extending to the temporal lobe related to high language ability. This effect was independent of semantic congruency, and no significant relation between language ability and incongruency modulation was observed. Furthermore, there was a significant increase of activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) bilaterally when the sentences were incongruent, indicating that processing incongruent sentences was more demanding than processing congruent sentences and required increased activation in language regions. The correlation of high-level language ability with increased rather than decreased activation in the left angular gyrus, a region specific for language processing, is opposed to what the neural efficiency hypothesis would predict. We can conclude that no evidence is found for an interaction between semantic congruency related brain activation and highlevel language performance, even though the semantic incongruent condition shows to be more demanding and evoking more neural activation.

The Swedish cattle call singing style ‘kulning’ issurprisingly understudied, despite its almostmythical status in Swedish folklore. While somephysiological-productive aspects of kulning havebeen treated in previous work, acoustic propertiesare still much lacking description. This paper addsto and extends the results presented in a previousstudy [7], where kulning and head voice (“falsetto”)was acoustically analysed in two indoor settings:a normal room and an anechoic chamber. In thepresent study, the same singer, singing the samekulning in the same two modes (kulning and headvoice), was recorded in an outdoor setting (close tothe singer’s home), thus allowing for a comparisonbetween “clinical” and more ecologically valid data.

This paper summarizes recent research on ‘kulning’, a surprisingly understudiedSwedish cattle call singing style. In a previous study (Eklund, McAllister & Pehrson, 2013), we compared kulning and head voice (‘falsetto’) as recorded in a normal room and in an anechoic chamber. This paper reports from an analysisof the same “kulning” song recorded outdoors on location in Säter, Dalarna (Sweden), close to the singer’s home, which makes the data more ecologically validand allows comparisons between “clean” indoor recordings and more authentic outdoor recordings. Several recordings were made, but the present article analysesrecordings made simultaneously at 1 meter and 11 meters from the singer. Results indicate that for the vowels [a] and [u] partials in kulning, as compared to head voice, are visible at both higher frequencies and at a longer distance, which provides an acoustic rationale for the development of the singing style, intended to be heard at a long distance.

Purpose: Undiagnosed motor and behavioural problems have been reported for children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This study aims to understand the extent of these problems by determining the profile of and relationships between speech/non-speech oral, manual and overall body motor functions and adaptive behaviours in CAS. Method: Eighteen children (five girls and 13 boys) with CAS, 4 years 4 months to 10 years 6 months old, participated in this study. The assessments used were the Verbal Motor Production Assessment for Children (VMPAC), Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) and Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS-II). Result: Median result of speech/non-speech oral motor function was between -1 and -2 SD of the mean VMPAC norms. For BOT-2 and ABAS-II, the median result was between the mean and -1 SD of test norms. However, on an individual level, many children had co-occurring difficulties (below -1 SD of the mean) in overall and manual motor functions and in adaptive behaviour, despite few correlations between sub-tests. Conclusion: In addition to the impaired speech motor output, children displayed heterogeneous motor problems suggesting the presence of a global motor deficit. The complex relationship between motor functions and behaviour may partly explain the undiagnosed developmental difficulties in CAS.

Objectives and Study Design. Information about how patients with voice disorders use their voices in natural communicative situations is scarce. Such long-term data have for the first time been uploaded to a central database from different hospitals in Sweden. The purpose was to investigate the potential use of a large set of long-term data for establishing reference values regarding voice use in natural situations. Methods. VoxLog (Sonvox AB, Umea, Sweden) was tested for deployment in clinical practice by speech-language pathologists working at nine hospitals in Sweden. Files from 20 patients (16 females and 4 males) with functional, organic, or neurological voice disorders and 10 vocally healthy individuals (eight females and two males) were uploaded to a remote central database. All participants had vocally demanding occupations and had been monitored for more than 2 days. The total recording time was 681 hours and 50 minutes. Data on fundamental frequency (F0, Hz), phonation time (seconds and percentage), voice sound pressure level (SPL, dB), and background noise level (dB) were analyzed for each recorded day and compared between the 2 days. Variations across each day were measured using coefficients of variation. Results. Average F0, voice SPL, and especially the level of background noise varied considerably for all participants across each day. Average F0 and voice SPL were considerably higher than reference values from laboratory recordings. Conclusions. The use of a remote central database and strict protocols can accelerate data collection from larger groups of participants and contribute to establishing reference values regarding voice use in natural situations and from patients with voice disorders. Information about activities and voice symptoms would supplement the objective data and is recommended in future studies.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of female versus male speakers’ voice on the ability to recognize speech innoise in two groups of sensorineural hearing-impaired listeners, one group with impairment at lowfrequencies and the other at high frequencies.Method: Eight participants with high-frequency hearing impairments (Hf-HI) and seven with low-frequencyhearing impairments (Lf-HI) participated. Sixteen normal hearing (NH) participants served as reference.The sentences from the hearing in noise test, read by a female or a male speaker, were presentedmonaurally with a background noise. In an adaptive procedure, the mean speech recognition threshold,for 50% correctly recognized sentences, was calculated for the female and male voice and each test subject.Results: The Hf-HI group had significantly greater difference in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) results betweenfemale and male voices. Irrespective of hearing impairment, the female voice required 2.1 dB better SNR.In addition, the NH group showed a small but significant difference in favor of the male voice.Conclusions: Results indicate that speaker gender matters for hearing impaired and NH individuals’ ability torecognize speech in noise.

Mastering spatial and temporal co-ordination in speech production is a challenge for children. Voice onset time (VOT) reflects timing in speech. The objective was to study VOT in Swedish children with a diagnosed phonological impairment and compare results with normative data. Thus 38 children, aged 4-11 years, in three age-groups were audio-recorded when producing minimal pairs with the plosives /p b t d k g/. Waveforms and spectrograms were analysed. Results show that children with phonological impairment produced plosives with deviant VOT values and greater variability compared to normative data. No developmental trend was seen with increasing age. Also, no relationship was found between VOT values and degree of impairment measured by percentage phonemes correct. Furthermore no relation was found between number of errors on auditory discrimination of nine minimal pairs with the different plosives and number of deviant VOT. Findings were interpreted as displaying motor co-ordination difficulties.

The study investigates factors in problem-based learning tutorial groups which promote or inhibit learning. The informants were tutors and students from speech-language pathology and physiotherapy programmes. Semi-structured focus-group interviews and individual interviews were used. Results revealed three themes: Responsibility, Time and Support. Under responsibility, the delicate balance between individual and institutional responsibility and control was shown. Time included short and long-term perspectives on learning. Under support, supporting documents, activities and personnel resources were mentioned. In summary, an increased control by the program and tutors decreases students motivation to assume responsibility for learning. Support in tutorial groups needs to adapt to student progression and to be well aligned to tutorial work to have the intended effect. A lifelong learning perspective may help students develop a meta-awareness regarding learning that could make tutorial work more meaningful.