Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2021, Cognitive Linguistics

The present study generated a survey addressing potential gender attribution to creaky voice among self-identified transmasculine participants. This survey aimed to gauge the perceived masculinity and femininity of three vocal samples, as well as the perception of effort in the voices. Additionally, information about participants' experience with and ideologies surrounding techniques of vocal masculinization was collected as a potential cause of perceptual differences among participants. The survey generated insights for future modifications to studies focusing on transgender individuals, specifically those within the transmasculine community. Considerations for future research and difficulties faced with the creation and conduction of the present study are discussed in detail.

Committee: Vera Tobin (Committee Chair); Fey Parrill (Committee Member); Mark Turner (Committee Member) Subjects: Gender; Gender Studies; Linguistics; Sociolinguistics

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, Communication Disorders

Although stress has been frequently attributed to voice disorder development and progression, little work has been done to determine the role of activation of the two major stress systems [the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)] on changes in voice production parameters. Nineteen healthy female participants (median age: 18; range: 18 to 23) were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Test protocol. Voice production parameters (average airflow, estimated subglottal pressure, laryngeal airflow resistance, open quotient from the EGG signal, speaking fundamental frequency, and percent of syllables produced in vocal fry) were measured at seven measurement time points (2 before the stressor, 1 after an anticipatory period, and 4 after the stressor). Participants rated their levels of stress and nine emotions and provided saliva samples at each measurement time. Salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase were measured from the saliva samples. Ten of the 19 participants experienced a minimum 2.5 nmol/l increase in salivary cortisol levels from before the stressor to after the stressor, indicating that they had HPA axis activation. There were no significant changes in aerodynamic or electroglottographic measures over the seven measurement time points. There was a significant increase in speaking fundamental frequency before the stressor and a reduction in fundamental frequency after the stressor. Estimated subglottal pressure and laryngeal airflow resistance measures were significantly higher in participants who did not experience an HPA axis response. The findings of the current study further support the body of literature that has reported mainly individual changes in voice production parameters following stress. However, the addition of salivary cortisol measures in the present study revealed the novel finding that there are consistent voice production differences between participants who experience HPA axis activation (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ronald Scherer Ph.D. (Advisor); Michael Ellison Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jason Whitfield Ph.D. (Committee Member); Casey Cromwell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Charles Hughes Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy