PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

The acoustic reflex (AR), characterized by an involuntary contraction of the middle ear muscles in response to auditory stimuli, has been a component of routine audiological evaluations for decades. This reflex is a complex interaction of ear mechanics and the underlying neural and physiological processes (Jerger et al., 1974). The acoustic reflex growth function (ARGF) delineates the relationship between the AR response's amplitude and the intensity level of the eliciting acoustic stimulus. Such measurements gain particular significance in pathologies affecting the auditory nerve pathway. Valero et al. (2016) suggested that the ARGF may provide a valuable approach for objectively assessing peripheral auditory nerve fibers and the auditory brainstem. This study's foremost objective is to characterize ARGFs for narrowband noise (NBN) stimuli, which may be useful in assessing the peripheral auditory nerve and the associated brainstem centers in humans. Furthermore, the investigation aims to elucidate the relationship between ARGF and speech-in-noise (SIN) test outcomes among individuals with normal hearing. The study compared ARGFs and acoustic reflex thresholds (ARTs) for NBN stimuli to tonal stimuli in 34 adult participants with normal pure-tone hearing thresholds and normal SIN performance. As such, this research provides data describing a normative range for ARGFs using novel stimuli which may be helpful in the identification of peripheral auditory nerve degeneration, which is refractory to detection through conventional audiograms and some electrophysiological tests. The results indicated that, in normal hearing listeners, the' acoustic reflex thresholds (ARTs) measured by NBN activators were significantly lower than those for tonal activators, particularly at 1,2, 4, and 4 kHz frequencies. Notably, the ARGF metrics, specifically the admittance change, were higher for NBN stimuli than tonal stimuli, especially at 1, 2, 3, and 4 kHz frequencies. This sugge (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Speech and Hearing Science

Purpose: Children who are deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) and who use spoken language often show differences in pragmatic language abilities—or, the social use of language. However, these differences are not always revealed by standardized language assessments. Of those studies demonstrating differences in pragmatic language between DHH and typically hearing (TH), age-matched peers, few studies have investigated specific pragmatic strengths and weaknesses of DHH children. Further, the mechanisms that account for pragmatic language difference are not clear. The two-fold purpose of this study was to: 1) investigate pragmatic strengths and weaknesses in DHH adolescents; and 2) examine visual social attention as a potential mechanism accounting for pragmatic language differences in DHH adolescents compared to their TH age-matched peers. Method: Twenty TH and seven DHH adolescents (ages 10-13) participated in this study. Pragmatic language was assessed using a multi-method approach, including norm-referenced behavioral assessment (Test of Pragmatic Language, Second Edition), parent questionnaire (Children's Communication Checklist, Second Edition), and examiner observation (Pragmatics Protocol). Visual social attention was quantified as proportional looking time toward the face in two contexts: live conversation and recorded movie scenes. Attention during live conversation was measured from video recordings of semi-structured conversations, while attention to the face during movie scenes was measured using the Tobii Spectrum Pro Eye Tracker. Results: There were significant differences in pragmatic language scores between the TH and DHH groups across all three assessments. The DHH participants demonstrated strengths in pragmatic domains that relied on use of visual cues and weaknesses in areas that involved more advanced perspective-taking (i.e., taking another's point-of-view, recognizing communication breakdowns, etc.). Group differences were revealed in patterns of visua (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

Although speech recognition is often experienced as relatively effortless, there are a number of common challenges that can make speech perception more difficult and may greatly impact speech intelligibility (e.g., environmental noise). However, there is some indication that visual cues can be also used to improve speech recognition (Baratchu et al., 2008) — especially when the visual information is congruent with the speech signal (e.g., talking faces; Massaro, 2002). However, it is less clear how noisy visual environments may impact speech perception when the visual signal is not congruous with the speech signal. In fact, adding incongruous visual information will likely detract precious cognitive resources away from the auditory process, making speech perception in noise a more cognitively difficult task. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to examine cognitive processing effort by measuring changes in pupillary response during the processing of speech in noise paired with incongruous visual noise. The primary hypothesis was that noisy visual information would negatively impact the processing of speech in noisy environments and that would result in a greater pupil diameter. To test this I used a common eye-tracking measure (i.e., pupillometry) to assess the cognitive processing effort needed to process speech in the presence of congruent and incongruous visual noise. The results indicated that visual noise recruits cognitive processing effort away from the auditory signal. Results also indicated that different combinations of auditory and visual noise have a significant impact on cognitive processing effort, which led to an increase in pupil dilation response during speech perception.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Speech and Hearing Science

Preterm infants are at increased risk for long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae affecting all areas of development. Despite ongoing advances in medical care resulting in infants surviving from increasingly younger gestational ages at birth, the neurodevelopmental implications of extreme prematurity and its requisite NICU stay are not yet fully understood. Furthermore, preterm infants are at increased risk for neural insults, further complicating their developmental progression. Parental involvement in the NICU is a known contributor to improved outcomes; however, barriers to parental presence and involvement often reduce parents' ability to contribute to their infant's care. One potential way for parents to contribute to their infant's care, even if they cannot be present at bedside, is through parent voice recordings, and, particularly, through infant-directed language. However, very little is known about the acoustic properties of infant-directed language to preterm infants, namely infant-directed speech and singing, or how these infants respond to infant-directed auditory stimuli. This dissertation consists of 7 chapters examining infant-directed speech and singing with preterm infants and its potential as an early intervention. The first and second chapters provide a background on challenges associated with preterm birth and current approaches to care in the NICU. Chapter 3 provides the theoretical and neuroscientific basis for the use of infant-directed speech and singing as neurodevelopmental support for preterm infants in the NICU. Chapters 4-6 outline three experiments that sought to better understand how preterm birth affects infant-directed language with preterm infants and their mothers. Chapter 4 focuses on the acoustic features of infant-directed speech and singing of mothers of preterm infants recorded during the perinatal period and discusses those features in the context of well-established acoustic parameters of infant-directed language with (open full item for complete abstract)

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2023, Media Arts and Studies

This is a study on the history of visual albums and their impact on media arts/culture. Additionally, this thesis applies research of this medium by detailing the process of creating the visual album "Lenses."

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / School of Biomedical Sciences

Recent research shows that early-life stress (ELS) in gerbils affects neural function in the auditory pathway and is associated with poor neural and behavioral detection of a temporally-varying sound – specifically, detection of short gaps, a feature vital for understanding speech and vocalizations (Ter-Mikaelian et al., 2013; Ye et al., 2022). This dissertation evaluates the general hypothesis that ELS affects such aspects of sound perception that are important for basic auditory communication. Because auditory-related behavior can only be elucidated with awareness of top-down influences, the first step (i.e., Chapter 2) must be to characterize the ELS gerbil by assessing higher-level functions (those related to cognition, learning, memory, and anxiety). Only with this knowledge can behavioral responses to acoustic communication sounds be accurately interpreted for ELS animals. I ran the gerbils through a battery of behavioral tests that included multiple measures of locomotion, anxiety, memory, and learning. Chapter 3 explores the effects of ELS on the behavioral detection of amplitude modulations, an important auditory feature of speech and vocalizations. Perception of speech-related sounds like gap detection and amplitude modulations is vital for survival, cooperation, mediation, and reproduction in countless species. I tested gerbils with increasingly difficult signals to determine whether ELS changes temporal sensitivity. This aim also provided valuable information about learning differences in ELS animals.The findings presented in Chapter 3 evaluate the hypothesis that an ELS-induced deficit in gap detection (Ye et al., 2022) can be extrapolated to a deficit in another type of a temporally-varying sound: amplitude modulations (AM). The highly vocal Mongolian gerbil is a well-established model used to assess temporal processing via behavioral detection of amplitude modulations (AM) in sound. For this reason, I trained gerbils with operant conditioning to detec (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1962, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1961, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Communication Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1956, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1956, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Communication Studies

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Communication Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 1993, Communication Disorders

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 1981, Communication Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 1988, Communication Disorders

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 1982, Communication Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2022, Speech and Hearing Science

The three manuscripts presented here examine concepts related to speech perception in noise and ways to overcome poor speech intelligibility without depriving listeners of environmental sound recognition. Because of hearing-impaired (HI) listeners' auditory deficits, there is a substantial need for speech-enhancement (noise reduction) technology. Recent advancements in deep learning have resulted in algorithms that significantly improve the intelligibility of speech in noise, but in order to be suitable for real-world applications such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, these algorithms must be causal, talker independent, corpus independent, and noise independent. Manuscript 1 involves human-subjects testing of a novel, time-domain-based algorithm that fulfills these fundamental requirements. Algorithm processing resulted in significant intelligibility improvements for both HI and normal-hearing (NH) listener groups in each signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise type tested. In Manuscript 2, the range of speech-to-background ratios (SBRs) over which NH and HI listeners can accurately perform both speech and environmental recognition was determined. Separate groups of NH listeners were tested in conditions of selective and divided attention. A single group of HI listeners was tested in the divided attention experiment. Psychometric functions were generated for each listener group and task type. It was found that both NH and HI listeners are capable of high speech intelligibility and high environmental sound recognition over a range of speech-to-background ratios. The range and location of optimal speech-to-background ratios differed across NH and HI listeners. The optimal speech-to-background ratio also depended on the type of environmental sound present. Conventional deep-learning algorithms for speech enhancement target maximum intelligibly by removing as much noise as possible while maintaining the essential characteristics of the target speech signal (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts in Speech Pathology and Audiology, Cleveland State University, 2022, College of Sciences and Health Professions

The present study investigated the similarities and differences in the lived experiences of parents who made the decision to have their child implanted with a cochlear device. The aim of this study was also to explore the parents' views of the success of the cochlear implant (CI) device as it relates to language and academic development. Four parents shared their experiences through the process of obtaining a cochlear implant for their children and their lived experience with the cochlear implant device from the surgery to the present time. Three of the interviewed parents discussed their experiences with one child who was implanted. One parent who was interviewed reported on her experiences with two children who were implanted. The parental cochlear implant experience/journey appears to be directly related to how successful the child is with his or her device. The interaction and relationship between the parent and professionals on the cochlear implant team, early intervention, follow-up care, amount of therapy received, and the use of the cochlear implant all affect the speech and language outcomes as well as the academic outcomes of children with cochlear implants. Given the significance and limitations of this study, further research is needed to better understand how the differences in one's parental cochlear implant journey can vary the language and academic outcomes.