Research News in Speech,
Language, and Hearing Disorders
for March 2007

March 29, 2007

• Hospitals chop 189
  from The London Free Press.ca
  "London hospitals announced 189 staff cuts and a reduction in services yesterday as their part of a balanced-budget deal with the province. "It will affect patient care because they were providing good care," said Dr. Gillian Kernaghan, vice-president of medical affairs for both London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care. Most of the cuts came in what the hospitals call "allied health services" -- staff who provide physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology and psychology."

• Primary afferent dendrite degeneration as a cause of tinnitus
  from the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Research
  "Chronic tinnitus affects millions of people, but the mechanisms responsible for the development of this abnormal sensory state remain poorly understood. This study examined the type and extent of cochlear damage that occurs after acoustic trauma sufficient to induce chronic tinnitus in rats. Tinnitus was evaluated by using a conditioned suppression method of behavioral testing. Cochlear damage was assessed 6 months after acoustic trauma. There was minimal loss of inner and outer hair cells in the exposed cochleas of subjects demonstrating evidence of tinnitus. However, a significant loss of large-diameter fibers in the osseous spiral lamina of exposed cochleas of trauma subjects was observed. The significance of this finding in the context of a model of tinnitus is discussed. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc."

March 28, 2007

• The effect of early insertion of grommets on the development of speech in children with cleft palates
  from the current issue of the British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
  "The aim of this study was to find out whether simultaneous primary palatoplasty and myringotomy was advantageous in the management of otitis media with effusion in children with cleft lip and palate and whether this combined operation resulted in improvement in the early development of speech. Assessments of hearing and speech were made in 50 consecutive patients with cleft lip and palate who had the combined operation (the cleft group). The results were compared with those of an age- and sex-matched control group. The incidence of otitis media with effusion in the cleft group was 24%, compared with 14% in the control group. Assessment of speech using the cleft audit protocol for speech showed that 90% of patients with clefts had speech-intelligibility ratings that were either normal or showed only minor defects, compared with 98% of controls. Among patients with clefts, there was no evidence of cleft-type characteristics of speech in 58%."

• Possible involvement of the tip of temporal lobe in Landau–Kleffner syndrome
  from the current issue of Brain and Development
  "Landau–Kleffner syndrome (LKS) is a childhood disorder of unknown etiology characterized by an acquired aphasia and epilepsy. We have performed comprehensive neurofunctional studies on an 8-year-old girl with typical LKS, with the aim of identifying lesions that may be responsible for her condition. 18F-fluoro-d-glucose (FDG) positron emission computed tomography (PET), 11C-Flumazenil (FMZ) PET, 99mTc- hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and magnetoencephalography were performed before and after changes to the patient’s medication led to a clinical improvement. Interictal SPECT showed hypoperfusion in the left frontal, left temporal, and left occipital lobes. 18F-FDG PET demonstrated a decrease in glucose metabolism medially in both temporal lobes and superiorly in the left temporal lobe. 11C-FMZ PET revealed a deficit in benzodiazepine receptor binding at the tip of the left temporal lobe. Magnetoencephalography demonstrated equivalent current dipoles located superiorly in the left temporal lobe. Our results suggest that the tip of the left temporal lobe plays an important role in the pathogenesis of LKS in our patient."

• One membrane, many frequencies
  from EurekAlert.org
  "Research by Dr. Itay Rousso of the Weizmann Institute’s Structural Biology Department, which recently appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggests that a thin structure in the inner ear called the tectorial membrane responds to different frequencies. This membrane communicates between the outer hair cells (which amplify sound in the form of mechanical vibrations) and the inner hair cells (which convert these mechanical vibrations to electrical signals and pass them on to the brain via the auditory nerve). If certain genes for this membrane are missing or damaged, total deafness ensues. Rousso and research student Rachel Gueta, together with researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, wanted to explore the mechanical properties of the tectorial membrane. Using an atomic force microscope, which probes surfaces with a fine microscopic needle, they tested the resistance of the gel-like membrane at various points to assess precisely how rigid or flexible it was. To their surprise, the scientists found that the level of rigidity varies significantly along the length of the membrane: One end of the membrane can be up to ten times more rigid than the other."

• Child Care, Problem Behavior Linked
  from Sci-Tech Today.com
  "Children who got quality child care before entering kindergarten had better vocabulary scores in the fifth grade than did youngsters who received lower quality care. The more time that children spent in child care, though, the more likely their sixth grade teachers were to report problem behavior. The findings come from the largest study of child care and development conducted in the United States. The 1,364 children in the analysis had been tracked since birth as part of a study by the National Institutes of Health. In the study's latest installment, being released today, researchers evaluated whether characteristics observed between kindergarten and third grade were still present in fifth grade or sixth grade. The researchers found that the vocabulary and behavior patterns did continue, though many other characteristics did dissipate. In their new study, the researchers said the increase in vocabulary and problem behaviors was small among those kids studied, and that parenting quality was a much more important predictor of child development. The authors of the study emphasized that the sixth-graders' behavior was within a normal range and that it would be impossible to go into a classroom and pick out those who had been in child care."

• Nutrients might prevent hearing loss, new animal study suggests
  from EurekAlert.org
  "Soldiers exposed to the deafening din of battle have little defense against hearing loss, and are often reluctant to wear protective gear like ear plugs that could make them less able to react to danger. But what if a nutritious daily "candy bar" could prevent much of that potential damage to their hearing? In a new study in animals, University of Michigan researchers report that a combination of high doses of vitamins A, C, and E and magnesium, taken one hour before noise exposure and continued as a once-daily treatment for five days, was very effective at preventing permanent noise-induced hearing loss. The animals had prolonged exposure to sounds as loud as a jet engine at take-off at close range."

• Speech Evaluation of Velopharyngeal Dysfunction
  from the current issue of Journal of Craniofacial Surgery
  "Abstract: This article reviews concepts basic to the evaluation of the speech of persons with velopharyngeal dysfunction. It defines velopharyngeal dysfunction as well as reviews normal and abnormal velopharyngeal function for speech. It defines the common speech characteristics of persons with velopharyngeal dysfunction, including hypernasality, hyponasality, nasal emission, compensatory articulations, and weak pressure consonants. Speech sounds commonly impacted by velopharyngeal dysfunction are discussed. This article identifies the components of a complete speech evaluation as well as identifies anatomic and physiologic measurements of palatal function used to corroborate perceptual speech judgments indicating palatal problems. It identifies special considerations in the evaluation of persons with suspected velopharyngeal dysfunction. It briefly discusses management of velopharyngeal dysfunction. Review questions follow the article."

March 26, 2007

• Cavernous hemangioma of the internal auditory canal
  from the current issue of European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology
  "Abstract Hemangiomas rarely occur in the internal auditory canal. These tumors originate from the capillary bed of the epineurium surrounding the nerve and can either compress or infiltrate the nerve. Depending on location and the nerve of origin, these lesions can cause severe and progressive sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, facial nerve palsy, or vertigo even when they are relatively small. The presence of a small contrast-enhancing tumor in the internal auditory canal accompanied by severe sensorineural hearing loss and facial nerve palsy, should raise the suspicion of a hemangioma. Early recognition and surgical intervention in these benign tumors may improve the chance of preserving the functional integrity of the facial nerve and provides better results after nerve reconstruction. Due to their relative small size, the temporal bone CT-scan may show no evidence of pathological widening of the internal auditory canal or the typical intralesional calcifications at the time of presentation. MRI with Gadolinium is the imaging method of choice and a high index of clinical suspicion is necessary for the diagnosis of these tumors. In this paper we report about a 51-year-old male presented with right-sided sensory-neural deafness and facial nerve palsy, accompanied by severe tinnitus and ipsilateral loss of vestibular function due to a cavernous hemangioma in the internal auditory canal."

• Role of intrauterine Rubella infection in the causation of congenital deafness
  from the current issue of Indian Journal of Human Genetics
  "Background : Rubella is a contagious viral infection associated with rash. 10-15% of women are susceptible to this infection in their childbearing years and the disease is usually transmitted to the developing fetus causing abortion or stillbirth or congenital Rubella syndrome (CRS). Sensorineural hearing loss is one of the most common abnormalities associated with CRS. Aims : The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of Rubella induced congenital deafness in south India. Materials and Methods :The present study is carried out on 1076 hearing impaired children below 14 years of age to determine etiological factors for congenital hearing impairment. Various audiometric tests such as PTA, OAE and BERA were carried out to know the type and degree of hearing impairment. Development histories including the prenatal, perinatal and postnatal histories were collected using a standard questionnaire. Results :The results indicated very less percentage (1.57%) of cases with the history of maternal Rubella infection indicating a significant reduction of Rubella-induced deafness in the developing countries. Conclusions : The main reason behind the low percentage of children with rubella- induced hearing impairment may be due to appropriate immunization of mothers to the rubella infection during their child bearing years. The increasing awareness in the developing countries of this infection and its consequences is another important reason behind the low percentage of the affected population."

• An unusual case of pulsatile tinnitus and deafness
  from the current issue of Neurology
  "A 49-year-old man presented with pulsatile tinnitus and deafness on the right side of 6 years duration associated with occasional positional vertigo. Examination revealed sensory neural deafness on the right side. Otoscopy was unremarkable. On compression of right side neck vessels, the tinnitus was noted to be decreasing."

• How children make language out of gesture: Morphological structure in gesture systems developed by American and Chinese deaf children
  from the current issue of Cognitive Psychology
  "When children learn language, they apply their language-learning skills to the linguistic input they receive. But what happens if children are not exposed to input from a conventional language? Do they engage their language-learning skills nonetheless, applying them to whatever unconventional input they have? We address this question by examining gesture systems created by four American and four Chinese deaf children. The children’s profound hearing losses prevented them from learning spoken language, and their hearing parents had not exposed them to sign language. Nevertheless, the children in both cultures invented gesture systems that were structured at the morphological/word level. Interestingly, the differences between the children’s systems were no bigger across cultures than within cultures. The children’s morphemes could not be traced to their hearing mothers’ gestures; however, they were built out of forms and meanings shared with their mothers. The findings suggest that children construct morphological structure out of the input that is handed to them, even if that input is not linguistic in form."

• Self-efficacy for health-related behaviors among deaf adults
  from the current issue of Research in Nursing and Health
  "The purpose of this quasi-experimental, pre-post-test study was to test the effectiveness of the Deaf Heart Health Intervention (DHHI) in increasing self-efficacy for health-related behaviors among culturally deaf adults. The DHHI targets modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. A sample of 84 participants completed time-1 and time-2 data collection. The sign language version of the Self-Rated Abilities Scale for Health Practices (SRAHP) was used to measure self-efficacy for nutrition, psychological well-being/stress management, physical activity/exercise, and responsible health practices. Total self-efficacy scores were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the comparison group at time-2, controlling for scores at baseline (F [1, 81] = 26.02, p < .001). Results support the development of interventions specifically tailored for culturally deaf adults to increase their self-efficacy for health behaviors. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 30: 185-192, 2007"

• Primary face motor area as the motor representation of articulation
  from the current issue of the Journal of Neurology
  "Abstract No clinical data have yet been presented to show that a lesion localized to the primary motor area (M1) can cause severe transient impairment of articulation, although a motor representation for articulation has been suggested to exist within M1. Here we describe three cases of patients who developed severe dysarthria, temporarily mimicking speech arrest or aphemia, due to a localized brain lesion near the left face representation of the human primary motor cortex (face-M1). Speech was slow, effortful, lacking normal prosody, and more affected than expected from the degree of facial or tongue palsy. There was a mild deficit in tongue movements in the sagittal plane that impaired palatolingual contact and rapid tongue movements. The speech disturbance was limited to verbal output, without aphasia or orofacial apraxia. Overlay of magnetic resonance images revealed a localized cortical region near face-M1, which displayed high intensity on diffusion weighted images, while the main portion of the corticobulbar fibers arising from the lower third of the motor cortex was preserved. The cases suggest the existence of a localized brain region specialized for articulation near face-M1. Cortico-cortical fibers connecting face-M1 with the lower premotor areas including Broca’s area may also be important for articulatory control."

• Mirror writing and reversing single letters in stroke patients and normal elderly
  from the current issue of the Journal of Neurology
  "Abstract Mirror writing (MW) refers to the production of individual letters or whole word strings in reversed direction. When held to a mirror, these letters or words can be read normally. We observed MW in a considerable number of stroke patients. Of the 86 patients screened 15 (17.5%) showed at least one instance of mirror writing in any of the tasks. Both right (14% of 36 patients) and left (20% of 50 patients) hemisphere damaged patients produced reversed letters only when writing with their left hand, respectively the contralesional and ipsilesional hand. The dissociated performance between the two hands in brain damaged patients is relevant to the interpretation of MW because, unlike all other peripheral dysgraphias, MW affects the non-dominant hand only. Importantly, healthy elderly also showed MW solely when writing with their left hand (6.9% of 86 participants). MW in controls was less frequent but qualitatively similar to that observed in brain damaged patients. This finding is consistent with the motor interpretation of MW that assumes an inability to transform the stored letter forming programmes for left hand writing. However, several cases have been reported in the literature of a more pervasive form of MW whereby patients mirror reverse entire words or sentences. This pattern has been observed in children learning to write but it has never been observed in healthy adult volunteers. We propose that the diagnosis of MW should be limited to the reversal of whole words, multi-digit numbers and full sentences, which reveal a disorder in coding the correct direction of writing rather than an inability to accomplish the correct spatial orientation of single letters."

• Cognitive functions in patients with MR-defined chronic focal cerebellar lesions
  from the current issue of the Journal of Neurology
  "Abstract The aim of the present study was to examine cognitive functions in a group of chronic patients with focal cerebellar lesions. Both effects of localization (anterior vs. posterior lobe) and side (left vs. right cerebellar hemisphere) were of interest. Fourteen patients with infarctions within the territory of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) and seven patients with infarctions within the territory of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA) participated. The affected lobules and nuclei were assessed based on 3D MR imaging. The right cerebellar hemisphere was affected in eight PICA and two SCA patients, the left hemisphere in six PICA and four SCA patients. One SCA patient revealed a bilateral lesion. In order to study possible lateralization of functions, subjects performed a language task as well as standard neglect and extinction tests. Moreover, two tests of executive functions were applied. There were no significant group differences apart from a verbal fluency task, in which all cerebellar patients – but especially those with right-sided lesions – were impaired. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) revealed that a lesion of the right hemispheric lobule Crus II was associated with impaired performance in the verbal fluency task. In sum, the results showed preserved cognitive abilities in chronic cerebellar patients apart from impairments of verbal fluency in patients with right-cerebellar lesions. The latter findings are in line with the assumption that the right posterolateral cerebellar hemisphere supports functions associated with verbal fluency."

• Spontaneous language markers of Spanish language impairment
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "Spanish-speaking (SS) children with language impairment (LI) present with deficits in morphology and verb argument structure. These language areas may be useful for clinical identification of affected children. This study aimed to evaluate the discrimination accuracy of spontaneous language measures with SS preschoolers to tease out what combination of grammatical measure(s) were responsible for the LI deficits, and to determine the role of verb argument structure and syntactic complexity in identifying SS children with LI. Two sets of experiments were conducted on the spontaneous language samples of SS preschoolers with and without LI using discriminant function analyses. The study found that (a) mean length of utterance in words (MLUW) and ungrammaticality index in combination are fair to good discriminators of preschoolers with LI; (b) a morphology model combining correct use of articles, verbs, and clitics fairly discriminates LI children but may miss children whose language has limited syntactic complexity; and (c) semantic–syntactic complexity measures, such as MLUW, theme argument omissions, and ditransitive verb use, should be considered in the assessment of Spanish LI. The children who were bilingual and Spanish dominant in the study were classified as accurately as the Spanish-only children."

• Learning prosody and fluency characteristics of second language speech: The effect of experience on child learners' acquisition of five suprasegmentals
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "This study examined second language (L2) experience effects on children's acquisition of fluency-(speech rate, frequency, and duration of pausing) and prosody-based (stress timing, peak alignment) suprasegmentals. Twenty Korean children (age of arrival in the United States = 7–11 years, length of US residence = 1 vs. 11 years) and 20 age-matched English monolinguals produced six English sentences in a sentence repetition task. Acoustic analyses and listener judgments were used to determine how accurately the suprasegmentals were produced and to what extent they contributed to foreign accent. Results indicated that the children with 11 years of US residence, unlike those with 1 year of US residence, produced all but one (speech rate) suprasegmentals natively. Overall, findings revealed similarities between L2 segmental and suprasegmental learning."

• Further evidence of gender stereotype priming in language: Semantic facilitation and inhibition in Italian role nouns
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "Two experiments tested the activation of gender stereotypes for Italian role nouns (e.g., teacher). The experimental paradigm was modeled on the one proposed by a study by Banaji and Hardin: participants were shown a prime word followed by a target pronoun (he or she) on which they performed a gender decision task. The prime words were Italian role nouns that had an associated female stereotype, an associated male stereotype, or no associated stereotype (control condition). The results of Experiment 1 showed no influence of stereotypes on the gender decision response to personal pronouns. However, when, in Experiment 2, the prime-target interval and the prime presentation times were prolonged, a stereotypical gender priming effect did emerge. A different inhibition pattern was found when the pronoun was preceded by a noun associated with a male stereotype instead of a female one."

• Profile effects in early bilingual language and literacy
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "Bilingual children's language and literacy is stronger in some domains than others. Reanalysis of data from a broad-scale study of monolingual English and bilingual Spanish–English learners in Miami provided a clear demonstration of “profile effects,” where bilingual children perform at varying levels compared to monolinguals across different test types. The profile effects were strong and consistent across conditions of socioeconomic status, language in the home, and school setting (two way or English immersion). The profile effects indicated comparable performance of bilingual and monolingual children in basic reading tasks, but lower vocabulary scores for the bilinguals in both languages. Other test types showed intermediate scores in bilinguals, again with substantial consistency across groups. These profiles are interpreted as primarily due to the “distributed characteristic” of bilingual lexical knowledge, the tendency for bilingual individuals to know some words in one language but not the other and vice versa."

• Cross-linguistic transfer and borrowing in bilinguals
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "Cross-linguistic borrowing (overt use of words from the other language) and transfer (use of semantic or syntactic structures from the other language without active switching to that language) were examined during language production in Russian–English bilinguals. Grammatical category (noun/verb) and level of concreteness were found to influence language interaction. More cross-linguistic borrowings were found for nouns than for verbs and more cross-linguistic transfers were found for verbs than for nouns, suggesting that grammatical categories are differentially vulnerable to covert and overt language interaction. Moreover, concrete nouns and verbs were transferred more than abstract nouns and verbs, suggesting that level of concreteness influences lexical access in bilinguals. Overall, bilinguals transferred more when speaking their second and less proficient language and borrowed more when speaking their first and less recent language (especially if the described event took place in the other language). We suggest that language architecture (e.g., semantic representation, lexical access) and language environment influence the nature of cross-linguistic interaction."

• An integrated account of the effects of acoustic variability in first language and second language: Evidence from amplitude, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate variability
  from the current issue of Applied Psycholinguistics
  "This study examined how three different sources of stimulus variability—overall amplitude, fundamental frequency, and speaking rate—affect second language (L2) vocabulary learning. Native English speakers learned Spanish words in presentation formats with no variability, moderate variability, and high variability. Dependent measures were accuracy and latency of picture-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English recall. The findings indicated that variability sources that do not affect first language (L1) word identification (amplitude, fundamental frequency) do not affect L2 vocabulary learning. Conversely, variability in speaking rate, which negatively affects L1 word identification, positively affected L2 vocabulary learning. These findings are consistent with an integrated account in which sources of variability that affect phonetically relevant properties of speech impede L1 speech processing but improve L2 vocabulary learning."

• Using the MACS to facilitate communication about manual abilities of children with cerebral palsy
  from the current issue of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology
  "The heterogenity of disorders covered by the term cerebral palsy (CP) may severely hinder communication between families on the one hand and health professionals, such as physiotherapists, paediatricians, and occupational therapists on the other. Common ground for communication about the child with CP is crucial for aspects such as diagnosis, treatment, care, management, and research. In his later work, Ludwig Wittgenstein introduced the concept of ‘language games’ (Sprachspiele) to underline that our use of language is permanently governed by rules, but not always by the same rules. On a daily basis we are involved in a large number of ‘language games’, where confusion and misunderstanding usually arise when a statement in one ‘language game’ is interpreted according to the rules of another. Speaking the same language, i.e. being engaged in the same ‘language game’ was one of the primary goals in the development of the Gross Motor Function Classification System, the recent redefinition of CP, as well as the recent development of the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS; also see Morris et al. p 950). This commentary focusses on the communication aspect of the MACS."

• The information in third-person /s/: acquisition across dialects of American English
  from the current issue of the Journal of Child Language
  "The production of third-person /s/ on English verbs seems to be ahead of comprehension. Mainstream American English (MAE) is contrasted with African American English (AAE), in which /s/ is rarely supplied. Two studies explored what information children get solely from /s/ on the end of a verb. Sixty-five MAE- and 65 AAE-speaking four- to seven-year-olds participated in one of two experimental picture-choice comprehension studies. Neither group of four-year-olds could use the /s/ to determine if the event was generic rather than past tense on a verb (e.g. cuts/cut), or whether it was a verb or a noun compound as in The penguin dresses/The penguin dress. MAE-speakers do not use the information in third-person /s/ alone until age five, and not reliably until age six years. In keeping with AAE production, AAE-speaking children do not use the information in /s/ at all in this age range."

• Bilingual children’s repairs of breakdowns in communication
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "This study examined two- (n=10) and three-year-old (n=16) French–English bilingual children’s repairs of breakdowns in communication that occurred when they did not use the same language as their interlocutor (Language breakdowns) and for other reasons (e.g. inaudible utterance). The children played with an experimenter who used only one language (English or French) during the play session. Each time a child used the other language, the experimenter made up to five requests for clarification, from non-specific (What?) to specific (Can you say that in French/English?). The experimenter also made requests for clarification when breakdowns occurred for other reasons, e.g. the child spoke too softly, produced an ambiguous utterance, etc. Both the two- and three-year-olds were capable of repairing Language breakdowns by switching languages to match that of their experimenter and they avoided this repair strategy when attempting to repair Other breakdowns. Moreover, they switched languages in response to non-specific requests. The results indicate that even two-and-a-half-year-old bilingual children are capable of identifying their language choice as a cause of communication breakdowns and that they can differentiate Language from Other kinds of communication breakdowns."

• Reference and attitude in infant pointing
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "We investigated two main components of infant declarative pointing, reference and attitude, in two experiments with a total of 106 preverbal infants at 1;0. When an experimenter (E) responded to the declarative pointing of these infants by attending to an incorrect referent (with positive attitude), infants repeated pointing within trials to redirect E’s attention, showing an understanding of E’s reference and active message repair. In contrast, when E identified infants’ referent correctly but displayed a disinterested attitude, infants did not repeat pointing within trials and pointed overall in fewer trials, showing an understanding of E’s unenthusiastic attitude about the referent. When E attended to infants’ intended referent AND shared interest in it, infants were most satisfied, showing no message repair within trials and pointing overall in more trials. These results suggest that by twelve months of age infant declarative pointing is a full communicative act aimed at sharing with others both attention to a referent and a specific attitude about that referent."

• Crosslinguistic evidence for the diminutive advantage: gender agreement in Russian and Serbian children
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "Our previous research showed that Russian children commit fewer gender-agreement errors with diminutive nouns than with their simplex counterparts. Experiment 1 replicates this finding with Russian children (N=24, mean 3;7, range 2;10–4;6). Gender agreement was recorded from adjective usage as children described animal pictures given just their names, varying in derivational status (diminutive/simplex), novelty, and gender. Experiment 2 extends the gender-agreement elicitation methodology developed for Russian to Serbian, a language with similar morphosyntactic structure but considerably fewer diminutives in child-directed speech. Serbian children (N=22, mean age 3;8, range 3;0–4;1), exhibited an advantage for diminutive nouns of almost the same magnitude as the Russian children. The fact that the diminutive advantage was found in a language with a low frequency of diminutives in the input suggests that morphophonological homogeneity of word clusters and membership in dense neighbourhoods are important factors that contribute to the reduction of inflectional errors during language development."

• Referential communication abilities and Theory of Mind development in preschool children
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "This work aims to analyse the specific contribution of social abilities (here considered as the capacity for attributing knowledge to others) in a particular communicative context. 74 normally developing children (aged 3;4 to 5;9, M=4·6) were given two Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks, which are considered to assess increasing complexity levels of epistemic state attribution: Attribution of knowledge-ignorance (Pillow, 1989; adapted by Welch-Ross, 1997) and Understanding of False-belief (Baron Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985). Subjects were paired according to their age and level of performance in ToM tasks. These dyads participated in a referential communication task specially designed for this research. The resulting communicative interchanges were analysed using a three-level category system (pragmatic functions, descriptive accuracy, and ambiguity of messages). The results showed significant differences among subjects with different levels of social comprehension regarding the type of communicative resources used by them in every category level. In particular, understanding of false belief seems to be the most powerful predictor of changes in the children’s development of communicative competence."

• Understanding the developmental dynamics of subject omission: the role of processing limitations in learning
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "P. Bloom's (1990) data on subject omission are often taken as strong support for the view that child language can be explained in terms of full competence coupled with processing limitations in production. This paper examines whether processing limitations in learning may provide a more parsimonious explanation of the data without the need to assume full competence. We extended P. Bloom’s study by using a larger sample (12 children) and measuring subject omission phenomena in three developmental phases. The results revealed a Verb Phrase-length effect consistent with that reported by P. Bloom. However, contrary to the predictions of the processing limitations account, the proportion of overt subjects that were pronominal increased with developmental phase. The data were simulated with MOSAIC, a computational model that learns to produce progressively longer utterances as a function of training. MOSAIC was able to capture all of the effects reported by P. Bloom through a resource-limited distributional analysis of child-directed speech. Since MOSAIC does not have any built-in linguistic knowledge, these results show that the phenomena identified by P. Bloom do not constitute evidence for underlying competence on the part of the child. They also underline the need to develop more empirically grounded models of the way that processing limitations in learning might influence the language acquisition process."

• Three is not always a crowd: contexts of joint attention and language
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "This study examined 32 children’s (M age=1;8 years) engagement in joint attention (JA) and the relation between JA and vocabulary size across mother–child (MC) and mother–child–sibling (MCS) contexts. In the MCS context, mothers engaged in JA more with one child than both children; they engaged in less JA with target child than they did in the MC context. JA style was generally unrelated across the contexts. Coordinated JA and children’s vocabulary were significantly related only for the MCS context. Findings suggest the number of social partners influences JA dynamics and multi-child contexts can be positive language learning environments."

• Reduction in syllable onsets in the acquisition of Polish: deletion, coalescence, metathesis and gemination
  from the current issue of Journal of Child Language
  "This paper focuses on four strategies of onset reduction employed by a single child (4;0–4;4) acquiring Polish: deletion, coalescence, metathesis, and gemination. Deletion and coalescence occur in word-initial onsets while metathesis and gemination are restricted to word-medial position. The data, which constitute an intriguing ‘conspiracy’ case (Kisseberth, 1970), are analysed within OPTIMALITY THEORY (henceforth, OT; Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004; McCarthy & Prince, 1995) in which all surface-true ‘processes’ are motivated through the interaction of ranked and violable constraints. The OT account makes it possible to envisage the four strategies as different surface responses to the undominated *COMPLEXOnset which militates against onset clusters. The choice of a particular strategy as well as its restriction to a particular word position is not random but follows from the interplay between *COMPLEXOnset, sonority-based syllable structure constraints (Margin Hierarchy, CONTACT LAW), context-sensitive markedness constraints (CODA CONDITION, *Nasal–Fricative) and faithfulness constraints. The present study confirms previous sonority-based findings, supplies further evidence for universal sonority mechanisms from word-medial clusters, and points to the coexistence of child-specific and abstract adult-based phonological strategies in the child’s system."

• Professional occupation after cochlear implantation
  from the current issue of Journal of Laryngology and Otology
  "The aims of this study were to verify whether cochlear implants helped profoundly deaf adults to maintain or even to develop their professional occupations, and to identify other elements that may contribute to or, on the contrary, impede such patients' professional success. All adult patients received a questionnaire concerning their professional activities before and after implantation. Demographic data, health information, hearing performance and degree of satisfaction with the implant were also considered. Sixty-seven adults had been implanted, with three different devices, since 1985. At the time of implantation, 34 had been professionally active. After implantation, 29 had remained professionally active, four of whom reported positive developments in their careers. Five patients had become professionally inactive. Those patients who had previously been professionally inactive remained so. There had been no difference in performance, either between different types of cochlear implants or between professionally active or inactive patients. The implanted patients had kept their jobs and many of them had developed their professional skills. In spite of this, cochlear implants may still be perceived as proving insufficiently satisfactory hearing to enable professionally inactive patients to reintegrate and to facilitate further learning or career developments."

• Tinnitus
  from the current issue of Journal of Laryngology and Otology
  "Chronic idiopathic subjective tinnitus is a common condition affecting around one in ten of the population at any given time. For the majority of people it is an annoyance rather than a major health issue but for approximately 0.5 per cent of the population tinnitus interferes with their ability to pursue a normal life. Modern theories of the pathogenesis of the condition concentrate on the central auditory system although the peripheral auditory system can be a trigger or ignition site for tinnitus. Although a cure remains elusive there are several good treatment strategies based on psychological and neurophysiological models of tinnitus that promote habituation to the symptom."

• Action in time: Ensuring timeliness for collaborative work in the airline cockpit
  from the current issue of Language in Society
  "In the airline cockpit it is critical to say and do things at the appropriate time and in the appropriate order. When a pilot is responsible for initiating a next action but has not yet done so, the pilot NOT responsible can prompt or perform the action with talk that is prefaced with and. Rather than make conspicuous another's possible lapse, and-prefaced talk presents the not-yet-initiated action as timely and merely occurring routinely next in sequence. And occurs in talk for monitoring another's conduct and for maintaining accountability in the temporal organization of work by situating actions acceptably in time. This article points to the value of seeing grammatical forms as consequential for just how work gets done in particular settings, and especially for identifying local means of creating order for agenda-based activities. The article analyzes transcriptions of pilots interacting in the cockpit on actual scheduled passenger flights."

• Tell me about when you were hitchhiking: The organization of story initiation by Australian and Japanese speakers
  from the current issue of Language in Society
  "The sequence that begins a story may be a rather small segment, but how one performs the segment may affect whether one achieves the goal of telling the story. The participants in this study are native speakers of Australian English and Japanese, and the stories were collected in both languages. In recipient-initiated stories, Australian speakers begin a story in concert with the recipient's topic presentation, but Japanese speakers build momentum through the building of rapport and trust. In speaker-initiated stories, Australian speakers use a conventional story preface to claim the conversational floor, but Japanese speakers insinuate a story in subtle ways. Such differences may be related to differences between Australian and Japanese social and cultural structures. The final section discusses implications for conversation analysis in addition to cross-cultural issues."

• Variation as accessing ‘non-optimal’ candidates
  from the current issue of Phonology
  "This paper argues that rather than just select the best candidate, EVAL imposes a harmonic rank-ordering on the full candidate set. Language users have access to this enriched information, and it shapes their performance. This paper applies this idea to variation. The claim is that language users can access the full candidate set via the rank-ordering imposed by EVAL. In variation, more than one candidate is well-formed enough to count as grammatical. Consequently, language users will access more than just the best candidate from the rank-ordering. However, the accessibility of a candidate depends on its position on the rank-ordering. The higher the position a candidate occupies, the more likely it is to be selected. In a variable process, variants that appear higher on the rank-ordering (i.e. are more well-formed) will therefore also be the more frequent variants. This model is applied to variation in the phonology of Faialense Portuguese and Ilokano."

• Airbag Deployment Could Cause Permanent Hearing Loss: Study
  from Yahoo! Health
  "Permanent hearing loss will occur in 17 percent of people exposed to airbag deployment in cars sold in the United States, new research suggests."

March 23, 2007

• Is surface dyslexia in Chinese the same as in alphabetic one?
  from the current issue of the Chinese Medical Journal
  This is a case study. No abstract is available.

• Involvement of DFNB59 mutations in autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing impairment
  from the current issue of Human Mutation
  "In a consanguineous Turkish family, a locus for autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing impairment (ARNSHI) was mapped to chromosome 2q31.1-2q33.1. Microsatellite marker analysis in the complete family determined the critical linkage interval that overlapped with DFNB27, for which the causative gene has not yet been identified, and DFNB59, a recently described auditory neuropathy caused by missense mutations in the DFNB59 gene. The 352-amino acid (aa) DFNB59 gene product pejvakin is present in hair cells, supporting cells, spiral ganglion cells, and the first three relays of the afferent auditory pathway. A novel homozygous nonsense mutation (c.499C>T; p.R167X) was detected in the DFNB59 gene, segregating with the deafness in the family. The mRNA derived from the mutant allele was found not to be degraded in lymphocytes, indicating that a truncated pejvakin protein of 166 aa may be present in the affected individuals. Screening of 67 index patients from additional consanguineous Turkish families with autosomal recessive hearing impairment revealed a homozygous missense mutation (c.547C>T; p.R183W) that segregates with the hearing impairment in one family. Furthermore, in a panel of 83 Dutch patients, two additional novel mutations (c.509_512delCACT; p.S170CfsX35 and c.731T>G; p.L244R), which were not present in ethnically matched controls, were found heterozygously. Together, our data indicate that also nonsense mutations in DFNB59 cause nonsyndromic hearing loss, but that mutations in DFNB59 are not a major cause of nonsyndromic hearing impairment in the Turkish and Dutch population. Hum Mutat 0, 1-6, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc."

• Viral protein is an effective preventative against infection
  from EurekAlert.org
  "For parents, 8 million cases of acute middle ear infections every year add up to a lot of sleepless nights and trips to the pediatrician. But new research from a collaboration between Rockefeller University and St. Jude Children’s Hospital could change all that. In the March 23 issue of PLoS Pathogens, Rockefeller’s Vincent A. Fischetti and colleagues at St. Jude show that middle ear infections in mice can be prevented by giving the mice a lysin – a protein derived from a virus that infects bacteria. The new technology may prevent children with the flu from developing secondary ear infections and would be an attractive alternative to traditional antibiotics, to which bacteria are rapidly becoming resistant."

• Autistic-like phenotypes in Cadps2-knockout mice and aberrant CADPS2 splicing in autistic patients
  from the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation
  "Autism is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severely impaired social, communicative, and behavioral functions. It is thought that genetic make-up predisposes an individual to autism, and several genes have been associated with the development of autism. Although a region of human chromosome 7 has been identified to be associated with susceptibility to autism, none of the genes in this region had been directly implicated in the disorder until researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan demonstrated that mice lacking the protein CADPS2 exhibited autistic-like characteristics. In the study, which appears online on March 22 in advance of publication in the April print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Teiichi Furuichi and colleagues show that mice lacking CADPS2, which is encoded by a gene in the autism susceptibility region of human chromosome 7, had impaired social interactions (when pairs of CADPS2-deficient mice that had never met were placed together they interacted substantially less frequently than pairs of wild-type mice that had never met), hyperactivity, and decreased exploration of a new environment; all of which are characteristics of individuals with autism. Importantly, an abnormal form of CADPS2 mRNA (which is an intermediate in the conversion of the CADPS2 gene to CADPS2 protein) was detected in some individuals with autism and was never detected in their healthy immediate relatives, leading to the suggestion that defects in CADPS2 function might predispose individuals to develop autism. (Summary courtesy of Eureka Alert.)

• National Medical Society of Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialists Welcomes New Director of Research
  from Newswise.com
  "The American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) has named Kristine Schulz as Senior Director of Research for the association. In her new position Schulz will plan and implement a comprehensive strategy to foster new research and promote the academy through these studies."

• Language and Theory of Mind: Meta-Analysis of the Relation Between Language Ability and False-belief Understanding
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "Numerous studies show that children's language ability is related to false-belief understanding. However, there is considerable variation in the size of the correlation reported. Using data from 104 studies (N=8,891), this meta-analysis determines the strength of the relation in children under age 7 and examines moderators that may account for the variability across studies—including aspect of language ability assessed, type of false-belief task used, and direction of effect. The results indicate a moderate to large effect size overall that remains significant when age is controlled. Receptive vocabulary measures had weaker relations than measures of general language. Stronger effects were found from earlier language to later false belief than the reverse. Significant differences were not found among types of false-belief task."

• Fragile But Real: Children's Capacity to Use Newly Acquired Words to Convey Preverbal Memories
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "There is ongoing debate about children's ability to use subsequently acquired language to describe preverbal experiences. This issue was addressed experimentally in this investigation using a novel paradigm. Two-year-old children who lacked color words were individually taught to activate a bubble machine by selecting a particular color of bubble solution. The children then participated in weekly, experimenter-provided activities that fostered their acquisition of the color labels. After 2 months, their ability to apply the newly acquired words in reporting the original event was assessed. A significant proportion of the children demonstrated verbal recall when prompted in the presence of physical reminders of the event. These findings indicate that some early, preverbal memories are translated into words at a later time."

• Parental Sensitivity and Attachment in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Comparison With Children With Mental Retardation, With Language Delays, and With Typical Development
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "This study on sensitivity and attachment included 55 toddlers and their parents. Samples included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mental retardation, language delay, and typical development. Children were diagnosed at 4 years of age. Two years before diagnosis, attachment was assessed with the Strange Situation procedure, and parental sensitivity and child involvement during free play were assessed with the Emotional Availability Scale. Parents of children with ASD were equally sensitive as parents of children without ASD, but their children showed more attachment disorganization and less child involvement. More sensitive parents had more secure children, but only in the group without ASD. Less severe autistic symptoms in the social domain predicted more attachment security. Autism challenges the validity of attachment theory."

• Processes of Language Acquisition in Children With Autism: Evidence from Preferential Looking
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "Two language acquisition processes (comprehension preceding production of word order, the noun bias) were examined in 2- and 3-year-old children (n=10) with autistic spectrum disorder and in typically developing 21-month-olds (n=13). Intermodal preferential looking was used to assess comprehension of subject–verb–object word order and the tendency to map novel words onto objects rather than actions. Spontaneous speech samples were also collected. Results demonstrated significant comprehension of word order in both groups well before production. Moreover, children in both groups consistently showed the noun bias. Comprehension preceding production and the noun bias appear to be robust processes of language acquisition, observable in both typical and language-impaired populations."

• Origins of Individual Differences in Imitation: Links With Language, Pretend Play, and Socially Insightful Behavior in Two-Year-Old Twins
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "Imitation, vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior were investigated in 5,206 same- and opposite-sex 2-year-old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Individual differences in imitative ability were due to modest heritability (30%), while environmental factors shared between twins (42%) and unique to each twin (28%) also made significant contributions to the variance. Imitation correlated significantly, although modestly, with vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior, and the strongest relationship was with vocabulary. A model that represented the covariance between the variables as being due to correlated latent genetic and environmental factors fitted the data well, with shared environmental factors influencing most of the covariance. Parents who encourage imitation may also tend to foster the development of language, pretence, and socially insightful behavior."

• Language and Theory of Mind: A Study of Deaf Children
  from the current issue of Child Development
  "Theory-of-mind (ToM) abilities were studied in 176 deaf children aged 3 years 11 months to 8 years 3 months who use either American Sign Language (ASL) or oral English, with hearing parents or deaf parents. A battery of tasks tapping understanding of false belief and knowledge state and language skills, ASL or English, was given to each child. There was a significant delay on ToM tasks in deaf children of hearing parents, who typically demonstrate language delays, regardless of whether they used spoken English or ASL. In contrast, deaf children from deaf families performed identically to same-aged hearing controls (N=42). Both vocabulary and understanding syntactic complements were significant independent predictors of success on verbal and low-verbal ToM tasks."

• Pure word deafness and pure anarthria in a patient with frontotemporal dementia
  from the current issue of European Journal of Neurology
  "A 66-year-old right-handed man developed pure anarthria following pure word deafness. In addition to language disorders, his behavior gradually changed and finally included violence against his wife. Brain magnetic resonance imagings revealed atrophy of the left perisylvian area, which included the inferior half of the precentral gyrus and the upper portion of the superior temporal gyrus, consistent with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). It has been documented as either a disorder of expressive language or as an impaired understanding of word meaning. Unlike with pure anarthria, pure word deafness is not included in the clinical diagnostic current criteria for FTD. However, a large variety of language symptoms can appear in FTD according to the distribution of pathological changes in the frontotemporal cortices. This case suggests that pure word deafness could be a prodomal symptom of FTD."

March 22, 2007

• Psychological Reactance and Persuasive Health Communication: A Test and Extension of the Intertwined Model
  from the current issue of Human Communication Research
  "This manuscript reports 2 experiments that were conducted to test and extend the work of J. P. Dillard and L. Shen (2005) examining the cognitive and affective processes involved in psychological reactance. In particular, the studies reported here (a) examined the best-fitting model of reactance processes and (b) tested 3 factors that may affect reactance including argument quality, severity of the consequences associated with the message topic, and magnitude of the request made in the message. The results showed that the intertwined cognitive–affective model was the best-fitting model of reactance processes. Magnitude of the request was the only variable that affected reactance. The implications of these findings for research on reactance and persuasive health campaigns are discussed."

• Bone-Anchored Hearing Aids: Incidence and Management of Postoperative Complications
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objectives: To determine the incidence of complications associated with implantation of the bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) and the management of these complications. Study Design: Retrospective case review. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients: One hundred forty-nine consecutive patients between October 25, 2001, and June 29, 2005, underwent implantation of a BAHA. The majority of patients had unilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss after removal of an acoustic neuroma or skull base tumor (59.1%) with the next most common etiology of deafness secondary to sudden sensorineural hearing loss (16.1%). Intervention(s): Implantation of a BAHA. Main Outcome Measure(s): Incidence of complications occurring after implantation of a BAHA. Results: There were no intraoperative or perioperative complications. Significant postoperative complications requiring intervention occurred in 19 (12.8%) patients. Skin overgrowing the abutment occurred in 11 (7.4%) patients, and 10 of these patients required revision in the operating room. Skin overgrowth was a late complication, occurring an average of 12 months after the initial procedure. Implant extrusion occurred in 5 (3.4%) patients, with 3 requiring revision surgery. Two patients elected not to have the device reimplanted. Two patients had local wound infections requiring oral antibiotics. Conclusion: Significant complications are uncommon after implantation of a BAHA; however, these complications may require local wound care, antibiotics, or revision surgery."

• Vestibular Hair Cell Regeneration and Restoration of Balance Function Induced by Math1 Gene Transfer
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Hypothesis: Delivery of math1 using an adenovector (Admath1.11D) results in vestibular hair cell regeneration and recovery of balance function in ototoxin-treated adult mice. Background: Loss of peripheral vestibular function is associated with disease processes such as vestibular neuronitis, aminoglycoside ototoxicity, and aging. Loss of vestibular hair cells is one of the mechanisms underlying balance dysfunction in all of these disorders. Currently, recovery from these diseases relies on central vestibular compensation rather than on local tissue recovery. Overexpression of the mammalian atonal homologue math1 has been demonstrated to induce generation of hair cells in neonatal organ of Corti cultures and in the guinea pig cochlea in vivo and could thus provide an approach to local tissue recovery. Methods: Admath1.11D was applied to cultures of aminoglycoside-treated macular organs or in vivo in a mouse aminoglycoside ototoxicity model. Outcome measures included histologic examination, immunohistochemistry, swim testing, and evaluation of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex. Results: Delivery of math1 resulted in the generation of vestibular hair cells in vitro after aminoglycoside-mediated loss of hair cells. Math1-treated mice showed recovery of the vestibular neuroepithelium within 8 weeks after Admath1.11D treatment. Assessment of animals after vector infusion demonstrated a recovery of vestibular function compared with aminoglycoside-only-treated mice. Conclusion: Molecular replacement of math1 may provide a therapeutic means of restoring vestibular function related to vestibular hair cell loss."

• Neurotoxicity of BFM-95 on the Medial Olivocochlear Bundle Assessed by Means of Contralateral Suppression of 2f1-f2 Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster 95 (BFM-95) is a common chemotherapeutic protocol against acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This prospective study investigates whether this protocol has an adverse effect on the medial olivocochlear bundle (MOCB) and/or outer hair cells' (OHCs) function. The distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and their suppression by means of contralateral application of white noise were used for assessing the function of OHCs and the MOCB, respectively. Study Design: Prospective study. Setting: Oncology and otorhinolaryngology departments in a pediatric hospital. Patients: Thirty-six children treated with ALL-BFM-95. Interventions: Before chemotherapy, a baseline audiologic evaluation with tympanogram, standard and extended high frequency, pure-tone audiometry, and DPOAEs in the absence and presence of white noise was performed in all children. This population was divided in three groups. In a first group (n = 12), the evaluation was repeated after four sessions of vincristine administration; in the second group (n = 12), after 8 sessions; and in the third group (n = 12), several months after completion of the protocol. Main Outcome Measure: DPOAEs suppression by contralateral application of white noise. Results: In the first and the third groups, we observed no changes in DPOAE amplitudes. Nevertheless, in the second group, the DPOAEs demonstrated significant decrease at 1416, 1685, 2002, and 2380 Hz. At baseline examination, all groups presented significant suppression at all frequencies. After eight vincristine sessions, instead of suppression, an increase of amplitudes was noted at 5 of 12 frequencies. Efferent-mediated DPOAE suppression reappeared in the third group at all frequencies (significant at 5 of 12 frequencies). Conclusion: ALL-BFM-95 seems to exert an early and reversible toxic effect on the MOCB, whereas its effects on OHCs are minimal and reversible. These minimal cochleotoxic and neurotoxic properties of ALL-BFM-95 might prove useful for research studies on the role of efferent innervation in hearing."

• Tinnitus and Neural Plasticity of the Brain
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: To describe the current ideas about the manifestations of neural plasticity in generating tinnitus. Data Sources: Recently published source articles were identified using MEDLINE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library according to the key words mentioned below. Study Selection: Review articles and controlled trials were particularly selected. Data Extraction: Data were selected systematically, scaled on validity and comparability. Conclusion: An altered afferent input to the auditory pathway may be the initiator of a complex sequence of events, finally resulting in the generation of tinnitus at the central level of the auditory nervous system. The effects of neural plasticity can generally be divided into early modifications and modifications with a later onset. The unmasking of dormant synapses, diminishing of (surround) inhibition and initiation of generation of new connections through axonal sprouting are early manifestations of neural plasticity, resulting in lateral spread of neural activity and development of hyperexcitability regions in the central nervous system. The remodeling process of tonotopic receptive fields within auditory pathway structures (dorsal cochlear nucleus, inferior colliculus, and the auditory cortex) are late manifestations of neural plasticity. The modulation of tinnitus by stimulating somatosensory or visual systems in some people with tinnitus might be explained via the generation of tinnitus following the nonclassical pathway. The similarities between the pathophysiological processes of phantom pain sensations and tinnitus have stimulated the theory that chronic tinnitus is an auditory phantom perception."

• A Clinical Study of the Efferent Auditory System in Patients With Normal Hearing Who Have Acute Tinnitus
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: Etiological diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus still remain challenging in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to determine the potential contribution of a defective cochlear efferent innervation to the onset of tinnitus in patients with normal hearing. Study Design: Prospective randomized controlled study. Setting: Otorhinolaryngology department of a general hospital. Patients: The patient group consisted of 18 normal-hearing adults (7 men, 11 women) with acute tinnitus (bilateral in 3 patients). Interventions: Tympanogram, stapedial muscle reflex, pure tone audiometry, tinnitus pitch matching, spontaneous otoacoustic emissions, and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in the absence and presence of contralateral suppression by white noise. Main Outcome Measure: DPOAEs suppression amplitudes recorded from tinnitus and nontinnitus ears of the patients' group were compared with each other and with a control group. Results: The contralateral application of white noise induced the enhancement of DPOAE amplitudes in some patients. The suppression of DPOAE amplitudes by contralateral white noise did not reach statistically significant levels in either ear (with or without tinnitus). On the contrary, under the same conditions, our control group demonstrated statistically significant reduction of DPOAE amplitudes at all frequencies. Conclusion: Patients with normal hearing acuity who have acute tinnitus seem to have a less effective functioning of the cochlear efferent system because the application of contralateral noise enhanced the DPOAEs or suppressed them less intensely than it did in a control group. Further studies may establish the clinical applications for the diagnosis of changes in efferent function, in the subjective evaluation, patient etiological grouping, treatment, or prognosis of tinnitus."

• Auditory Results After Vestibular Nerve Section and Intratympanic Gentamicin for Meniere's Disease
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: Hearing loss is a possible complication of vestibular neurectomy and intratympanic gentamicin administration in Meniere's disease. The aim of this study was to compare the incidence of this complication with the two treatments. Study Design: Retrospective review. Setting: Tertiary referral center. Patients: The initial study population reviewed consisted of 24 patients receiving gentamicin injections and 209 patients undergoing vestibular nerve section. Comparison of data was performed among all 24 intratympanic gentamicin patients and the last 24 vestibular neurectomy patients operated on via the retrosigmoid approach. Interventions: Intratympanic gentamicin administration (26-156 mg) and retrosigmoid vestibular neurectomy. Main Outcome Measure: Auditory and vertigo results were evaluated according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology 1995 criteria. Results: The mean preoperative pure-tone average for patients undergoing vestibular nerve section was 48.5 dB, with a speech discrimination score of 85%. In these patients, the postoperative pure-tone average was 50.3 dB, and the speech discrimination score was 82%. Patients undergoing gentamicin injection had a mean pretreatment pure-tone average of 50.1 dB and a speech discrimination score of 87%. The posttreatment pure-tone average and discrimination score for the gentamicin group were 74.7 dB and 65%, respectively. The amount of postprocedure hearing loss was significantly greater in the gentamicin group (p = 0.03). Excellent control of vertigo (classes A and B) was obtained in 95.8% of the patients treated with vestibular nerve section and in 75% of the patients in the gentamicin group. Conclusion: Gentamicin administration and vestibular neurectomy are both effective for relieving vertigo in Meniere's disease. The incidence of hearing loss is significantly higher after gentamicin injection."

• Measurements of Human Middle- and Inner-Ear Mechanics With Dehiscence of the Superior Semicircular Canal
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objectives: (1) To develop a cadaveric temporal-bone preparation to study the mechanism of hearing loss resulting from superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SCD) and (2) to assess the potential usefulness of clinical measurements of umbo velocity for the diagnosis of SCD. Background: The syndrome of dehiscence of the superior semicircular canal is a clinical condition encompassing a variety of vestibular and auditory symptoms, including an air-bone gap at low frequencies. It has been hypothesized that the dehiscence acts as a "third window" into the inner ear that shunts acoustic energy away from the cochlea at low frequencies, causing hearing loss. Methods: Sound-induced stapes, umbo, and round-window velocities were measured in prepared temporal bones (n = 8) using laser-Doppler vibrometry (1) with the superior semicircular canal intact, (2) after creation of a dehiscence in the superior canal, and (3) with the dehiscence patched. Clinical measurements of umbo velocity in live SCD ears (n = 29) were compared with similar data from our cadaveric temporal-bone preparations. Results: An SCD caused a significant reduction in sound-induced round-window velocity at low frequencies, small but significant increases in sound-induced stapes and umbo velocities, and a measurable fluid velocity inside the dehiscence. The increase in sound-induced umbo velocity in temporal bones was also found to be similar to that measured in the 29 live ears with SCD. Conclusion: Findings from the cadaveric temporal-bone preparation were consistent with the third-window hypothesis. In addition, measurement of umbo velocity in live ears is helpful in distinguishing SCD from other otologic pathologies presenting with an air-bone gap (e.g., otosclerosis)."

• Migration of the Ball Electrode After Cochlear Implantation
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: To review the postoperative radiographic investigations of patients implanted with a cochlear implant. Study Design: Retrospective case series. Patients: Thirty-nine patients (22-77 yrs old) implanted for sensorineural deafness in the cochlear implants program of the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam. Intervention: Cochlear implantation with Cochlear Nucleus 24 Contour and Cochlear Nucleus Freedom (Cochlear Corp., Lane Cove, New South Wales, Australia) implant. Results: This retrospective analysis of the postoperative computed tomographic scans showed that, in a large number of the implantations, the external ball electrode of the cochlear implant migrated from the insertion place toward the magnet of the receiver/stimulator unit of the implant. It seems that this migration of the external ball electrode does not influence the function of the cochlear implant and the result of the hearing rehabilitation in the short term. Conclusion: Because of the magnetic field of the receiver/stimulator unit of the cochlear implant and the magnet of the external transmitting coil of the speech processor, it seems to be possible that the extracochlear ball electrode can migrate in the space between the temporal bone and the temporal muscle during the postoperative healing phase. The importance of our observation is still not clear."

• Hemodilution Therapy With Hydroxyethyl Starch Solution (130/0.4) in Unilateral Idiopathic Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Dose-Finding, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, International Multicenter Trial With 210 Patients
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Objective: Obtain and analyze first data on hydroxyethyl starch (HES 130/0.4) as monotherapy in acute idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). Design: Randomized, double-blind, Phase-II, dose-finding study. Setting: Twenty-five ENT centers in Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Austria. Patients: Two hundred and ten inpatients with first-time ISSNHL of at least 20 dB at two or more frequencies and 95 dB or less at all of the speech frequencies (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 kHz) with respect to the other (normal) ear for up to 7 days (d). Intervention: Infusion of 750 mL/d with 45 (Group H), 30 (Group M), or 15 g/d HES (Group L), or glucose 5% (Group G) acting as "placebo" control during 6 days. Main Endpoint: Gain in average auditory threshold (in dB) from baseline to Day 7. Results (Medians): Average hearing loss at baseline was 24 dB, and infusions started 2 days after ISSNHL onset. No relevant group difference was observed in hearing gain or adverse treatment events, including pruritus. Half of all patients recovered completely by Day 7. Secondary Analysis: In patients who started treatment within 2 days after the onset of symptoms and who had systolic blood'pressure (RRsyst) of less than 140 mm Hg, hearing at Day 90 had improved in all 28 cases under glucose 5%; for those who started treatment later and/or had RRsyst of 140 mm Hg or more, the risk for failing to recover under placebo was 29.2% (7/24). Comparing all 118 (51.9%) of 208 patients at such risk, outcome at Day 7 was markedly better in all HES subgroups than in the G'subgroup'(nH:nM:nL:nG = 32:29:32:24, Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.0221). Conclusion: All treatment groups were equivalent, including adverse treatment events. The secondary analysis showed that ISSNHL patients at risk for not improving under placebo (i.e., patients who started treatment more than 48 h after ISSNHL onset and/or with elevated RRsyst) recovered markedly better under infusions of HES 130/0.4."

• Vibration-Induced Hearing Loss: Mechanical and Physiological Aspects
  from the current issue of Otology and Neurotology
  "Hypothesis: The sensorineural hearing loss (HL) after middle ear surgery has been explained by the noise generated by drilling, without considering the vibration generated by the burr. Background: The role of temporal bone vibration in the etiology of the HL was evaluated. Methods: An electromagnetic shaker was used to vibrate the bony external ear canal of guinea pigs at different frequencies ranging from 32 to 1,000 Hz and at intensities ranging from 4.2 to 18.8 m/s2 for 15 minutes. The hearing threshold was measured with auditory evoked responses. A total of 30 animals were tested. Results: After vibration, 60% of the guinea pigs developed a threshold shift (TS) exceeding 10 dB at two frequencies, with average TS of 8.8 dB across all frequencies and animals. The exposure to vibration at higher frequencies (range, 500-1,000 Hz) produced stronger TS than did the exposure to lower frequencies (range, 32-250 Hz). The vibration-induced TS showed prominent recovery so that after 7 days, TS was 2.4 dB on average and 27 of 30 animals had recovered. After 14 days, the TS was 1.3 dB. The vibration excitation measurements showed that at lower frequencies, the vibration transmission into the skull was significantly greater than at higher frequencies, at which the transmission was heavily attenuated. There were no acoustic resonances detected in the skull. The frequency of vibration and the hearing frequency in auditory brainstem response were significant determinants in the model explaining the vulnerability of vibration on hearing. Hearing loss primarily occurred at higher frequencies. The HL was mostly reversible, consistent with the results observed after human temporal bone surgery. Conclusion: We conclude that in the guinea pig model, the temporal bone vibration at higher frequencies produced a more severe HL than did the vibration at lower frequencies, although the vibration at higher frequencies caused less efficient transmission from the vibrating probe to the temporal bone. The guinea pig model may be useful in the development of surgical techniques and in the understanding of temporal bone pathology."

• Anterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Infarction Presenting With Sudden Hearing Loss and Vertigo
  from the current issue of Laryngoscope
  "A peripheral origin is typically contemplated in a patient presenting with sudden hearing loss (HL) and dizziness without other neurologic manifestations. Although symptoms of anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) infarction include sudden HL and vertigo, the clinical picture usually shows ipsilateral facial anesthesia or paralysis, Horner's syndrome, contralateral body anesthesia, or cerebellar dysmetria. A 68-year-old female patient developed sudden HL in the right ear and vertigo. A left-beating horizontal torsional nystagmus was observed, and caloric weakness in the right side was noted. Diffusion- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging revealed cerebellar infarction in the right AICA territory. AICA infarction may present without obvious neurologic deficits, and an imaging study is advised in patients at high risk for vascular accidents."

• No Negative Outcomes of Childhood Middle Ear Disease in Adulthood
  from the current issue of Laryngoscope
  "Objectives/Hypothesis: To test the hypothesis that childhood middle-ear disease may have disadvantageous long-term psychosocial consequences in adulthood. Study Design: Prospective, longitudinal study of a general-population birth cohort. Methods: One thousand thirty-seven people born in 1972/73 were studied from birth to age 26 when 1,019 (96% of survivors) were followed up. Childhood otitis media was assessed, and effects of it have previously been observed in childhood and adolescence. We considered outcome measures that were plausible adult counterparts of the childhood constructs shown to be impaired by otitis media: socioeconomic status, employment status, educational outcomes, personality, mental health, antisocial and criminal behavior, and subjective ratings of personal health (SF-36). Results: No outcome measure was predicted by severity of childhood otitis media. Conclusions;: Adult psychological and socioeconomic outcomes are not related to childhood otitis media when appropriate treatment is available."

March 21, 2007

• Teaching sign language to hearing parents of deaf children: an action research process
  from the current issue of Deafness and Education International
  "This paper provides an overview of the challenges in learning a signed language as a second language, in particular for hearing parents with deaf children, and details an action research process that led to the design of a new curriculum for teaching Australian Sign Language (Auslan) to the families of deaf children. The curriculum was developed through research and consultation with various stakeholders. Implementation of the curriculum confirmed a lack of resources, leading to further research and the development of family-specific resources for teaching and learning Auslan. The process of development of these resources has potential application for other signed language teachers, researchers, teachers of the deaf and associated professionals who are working with families in their learning of a signed language. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd."

• Quartz Laser Photo-Acoustic Sensing of Chemical Weapons
  from MedGadget.com
  "A new technology, dubbed Quartz Laser Photo-Acoustic Sensing, or "QPAS," is promising to improve the sensitivity and speed of chemical weapons detection systems, according to researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory."

• Surgical resection of tumors located in subcortex of language area
  from the current issue of Acta Neurochirurgica
  "Object. Although functional mapping facilitates the planning of surgery in and around eloquent areas, the resection of tumors adjacent to language areas remains challenging. In this report, we took notice that the language areas (Broca’s and Wernicke’s) present at the perisylvian fissure. We posit that if there is non-essential language area on the inner surface of the Sylvian fissure, safe tumor resection may be possible even if the tumor is located under the language cortex. Methods. The study population consisted of 5 patients with intrinsic brain tumors (frontal glioma, n = 3; temporal cavernous angioma, n = 1; primary malignant central nervous system lymphoma, n = 1) located in the perisylvian subcortex, in the language-dominant hemisphere. All patients underwent awake surgery and we performed intra-operative bipolar cortical functional language mapping. When the tumor was located under the language area, the Sylvian fissure was opened and the inner surface of the opercular cortex was exposed with the patient asleep, and additional functional mapping of that cortex was performed. This enabled us to remove the tumor from the non-functioning cortex. In our series, 4 of 5 patients had not language function on the inner surface of the operculum. Only one patient, a 52-year-old man with frontal glioblastoma (Case 3) had language function on the inner surface of the frontal operculum. Conclusion. We suggest that even perisylvian tumors located in the subcortex of the language area may be resectable via the nonfunctioning intrasylvian cortex by a transopercular approach without resultant language dysfunction."

• Development of an Experimental Noise Annoyance Meter
  from the current issue of Acta Acustica united with Acustica
  "The application of exposure effect relationships to transform a SLM to a noise annoyance meter is described. An annoyance scale using the most frequently used category descriptors related to noise for community noise assessment in Japan was developed. These descriptors were elicited from a listening experiment where the subjects listened to various kinds of noise sources for five minutes in or near their houses in and around Nagano city. As the equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq,(5min) [dB]) was measured for each of the sounds, it became possible to link the noise level to the annoyance descriptor. Thereby an experimental noise annoyance meter which can evaluate psychological effects on humans at the same time as LAeq,(5min) was developed. After having constructed the annoyance meter, it was validated using a separate sample of residents from other typical cities in Japan. They were presented to similar noise stimuli and both the measured noise levels and associated annoyance descriptors associated with the sounds. Through this process, the annoyance meter was shown to have face validity. It is therefore proposed that the noise annoyance meter could be applied for combined noise exposure and noise impact rating in Japan."

• Primary Progressive Aphasia: Relationship Between Gender and Severity of Language Impairment
  from the current issue of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
  "Background/Aims: Factors influencing the course and severity of symptoms in primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a language-based dementia, have not been fully elucidated. The current study examined the influence of gender on performance on tests of naming and verbal fluency in patients with PPA. Comparisons were also made within a group of probable Alzheimer disease (AD) patients to determine whether gender differences were present in the most common form of neurodegenerative dementia. Methods: Performance was compared by gender within each diagnostic group on 3 language measures: the Boston Naming Test, category fluency (animals), and lexical fluency (FAS). Scores were compared at baseline (Visit 1) and in a subset of participants 6 to 15 months later (Visit 2). Results: Compared to men, women with PPA demonstrated significantly greater impairment on word fluency tests at both visits and also had a more aggressive rate of decline between visits. AD patients showed no differences by gender on any measure. Conclusions: The results suggest gender-based vulnerability in PPA where women express more severe language impairments than men given a similar duration of illness."

• The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.
  from the current issue of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
  "Background: Between 10% and 15% of patients with the amnestic variety of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) convert to Alzheimer disease (AD) per year. Objective: Characterize cognitive markers that may herald conversion from MCI to AD and directly assess semantic memory in patients meeting criteria for amnestic MCI. Design: Thirty-five amnestic MCI patients and 121 healthy aging controls enrolled at an Alzheimer Disease Center received a battery of standard neuropsychologic tests, and the Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT), a test that we have developed for the assessment of semantic memory and subsequent name production, and that has been shown to be able to differentiate between normals and patients with AD. Results: On the basis of normative data from the SORT, the MCI subjects could be divided into 2 groups: 10 patients (29%) with a significant semantic impairment (SI+) and 25 without a semantic memory deficit (SI-). There was a significant correlation between all SORT variables and performance on the Boston Naming Test. In this MCI population, significantly impaired SORT performance was associated with a relative decrease in performance on tests of frontal lobe functions, although disruption of thalamic-related processes cannot be excluded as an etiology for semantic memory impairment. Conclusions: The SORT is a specific test of semantic memory, and is a sensitive measure of semantic memory deficits in patients who otherwise meet criteria for amnestic MCI. Using this specific assessment tool, a significant number of MCI patients were found to have semantic memory deficits. As these patients may be early in the course of possible progression toward dementia, the SORT or other tests of semantic memory may provide important diagnostic or prognostic information in patients with MCI."

• A Case of Progressive Apraxia of Speech in Pathologically Verified Alzheimer Disease
  from the current issue of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
  "Objective: To present the case of a man with progressive speech loss and other clinical features and diagnostic tests consistent with fronto-temporal dementia but whose postmortem neuropathologic findings revealed Alzheimer disease (AD). Background: Progressive apraxia of speech presents without true language abnormalities, usually seen with frontal lesions and not associated with AD pathology. Method: We describe the clinico-pathologic case of an 87-year-old man with progressive loss of speech function and present the prospective presentation of his syndrome using structural (magnetic resonance imaging) and metabolic (positron emission tomography) neuro-imaging studies, neuropsychologic testing, and pathology. Results: His syndrome was characterized over the first 6 to 9 years by progressive deterioration of speech production, alteration of mood, and dysphagia but near normal language, memory, and visual-spatial function. At 8 years, fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography showed largely frontal metabolic abnormality. Over his final 11/2 years, he was mute and withdrawn. Neuropathologic findings showed neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, but no signs of frontotemporal dementias such as Pick bodies or ubiquitinated tau-negative inclusions. Conclusions: There can be overlap in the presentation of fronto-temporal dementia and AD despite the disparate pathologic bases of the underlying diseases. It has yet to be determined how to differentiate these diseases in such variant presentations and whether such atypical AD syndromes are equally amenable to standard therapies for AD."

• Artwork Before and After Onset of Progressive Nonfluent Aphasia
  from the current issue of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology
  "Objective: Compare changes in art quality before and after the onset of progressive nonfluent aphasia (PA). Background: Some patients with left frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), particularly PA start painting and improve in art despite their disease. There is only 1 case reported of FTLD where the person was an artist before onset. Methods: Digital images of 7 paintings were obtained. Three paintings were from 6 years before onset of PA, 1 was from year of onset, and 3 were from 5 years after. Seven college-educated raters without art backgrounds, 5 men and 2 women, used a 1 to 5 point scale to rate 4 qualities of the paintings: representation, esthetics, novelty, and closure. The subjects had not previously viewed these paintings. One art expert also rated the paintings on these 4 qualities. Results: Quality ratings did not differ for 3 qualities, but novelty decreased over time. The art expert rated all qualities stable over time. Conclusions: Artistic ability in this previously trained artist with PA did not improve. Instead, the novelty of her work decreased. FTLD may not improve artistic skills in those who already possess them and there can be a decrease in one quality strongly related to creativity-novelty."

• Caregiver Education as a Prevention Strategy for Communication Disorders in South Africa
  from the current issue of Infants and Young Children
  "Abstract: Many early interventionists in clinical practice still do not appear to be wholeheartedly committed to participating in the prevention of communication disorders and the promotion of optimal development, which have been identified as primary roles for all professionals ( ASHA, 1991). Owing to the prevalence of risk factors such as HIV/AIDS and poverty, infants and young children in developing countries such as South Africa are at an even higher risk for developing communication disorders, resulting in a greater need for early interventionists to focus on the prevention of communication disorders and the tools needed to achieve this. The purpose of this article is to (1) highlight the need for prevention of communication disorders and discuss the different types of prevention strategies used with special reference made to the needs within South Africa; (2) to highlight the potential benefits of caregiver education programs on communication development, including a discussion on a South African study that developed a tool that could be used for caregiver education; and (3) to encourage early interventionists to participate in prevention actions through the provision of practical guidelines and strategies."

• Typology and interventions for some social problems affecting the learning of the hearing-impaired child
  from the current issue of the International Journal of Rehabilitation Research
  "Abstract: Discussions centring on social factors in the learning of school children with hearing disability usually present a double-jeopardy trend. Firstly, the hearing-impaired child suffers from social behaviour disorders which are direct or indirect consequences of their hearing disability. Secondly, the same child is also prone to social problems that are common to all children (with or without disabilities). The hearing-impaired child, therefore, presents two orders of social problem in the classroom - general and specific social problems. This development usually makes the hearing-disabled child a social risk in the classroom twice that of their hearing classmates. This paper therefore attempted to address the following issues: (1) identify the types of general and specific social problems of the hearing-disabled school child; (2) establish the patterns of these problems; and (3) proffer some intervention strategies required for managing those problems so that the child can learn meaningfully in the school."

• Additive and Interactive Effects on Response Time Distributions in Visual Word Recognition
  from the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
  "Across 3 different word recognition tasks, distributional analyses were used to examine the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on underlying response time distributions. Consistent with the extant literature, stimulus quality and word frequency produced additive effects in lexical decision, not only in the means but also in the shape of the response time distributions, supporting an early normalization process that is separate from processes influenced by word frequency. In contrast, speeded pronunciation and semantic classification produced interactive influences of word frequency and stimulus quality, which is a fundamental prediction from interactive activation models of lexical processing. These findings suggest that stimulus normalization is specific to lexical decision and is driven by the task's emphasis on familiarity-based information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)"

• Interference Effects From Grammatically Unavailable Constituents During Sentence Processing.
  from the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
  "Evidence from 3 experiments reveals interference effects from structural relationships that are inconsistent with any grammatical parse of the perceived input. Processing disruption was observed when items occurring between a head and a dependent overlapped with either (or both) syntactic or semantic features of the dependent. Effects of syntactic interference occur in the earliest online measures in the region where the retrieval of a long-distance dependent occurs. Semantic interference effects occur in later online measures at the end of the sentence. Both effects endure in offline comprehension measures, suggesting that interfering items participate in incorrect interpretations that resist reanalysis. The data are discussed in terms of a cue-based retrieval account of parsing, which reconciles the fact that the parser must violate the grammar in order for these interference effects to occur. Broader implications of this research indicate a need for a precise specification of the interface between the parsing mechanism and the memory system that supports language comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)"

• Development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test to assess key markers of specific language and literacy difficulties in young children
  from the current issue of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders
  "Background: Despite a large body of evidence regarding reliable indicators of language deficits in young children, there has not been a standardized, quick screen for language impairment. The Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test was therefore designed as a short, reliable assessment of young children's language abilities. Aims: GAPS was designed to provide a quick screening test to assess whether pre- and early school entry children have the necessary grammar and pre-reading phonological skills needed for education and social development. This paper reports the theoretical background to the test, the pilot study and reliability, and the standardization. Methods : This 10-min test comprises 11 test sentences and eight test nonsense words for direct imitation and is designed to highlight significant markers of language impairment and reading difficulties. To standardize the GAPS, 668 children aged 3.4-6.6 were tested across the UK, taking into account population distribution and socio-economic status. The test was carried out by a range of health and education professionals as well as by students and carers using only simple, written instructions. Results : GAPS is effective in detecting a range of children in need of further in-depth assessment or monitoring for language difficulties. The results concur with those from much larger epidemiological studies using lengthy testing procedures. Conclusions: The GAPS test (1) provides a successful screening tool; (2) is designed to be administered by professionals and non-professionals alike; and (3) facilitates identification of language impairment or at-risk factors of reading impairment in the early educational years. Thus, the test affords a first step in a process of assessment and targeted intervention to enable children to reach their potential."

• Introduction to qualitative research and its application to stuttering
  from the current issue of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders
  "Background: Those engaged in research might argue that we are involved in a process of explaining the world to others and to ourselves. The way in which we go about that process differs. The kind of questions we are concerned about answering will determine the approach we use, the information we gather and how we analyse the data. Some research questions are best answered using qualitative methods. Aims: To explain the place of qualitative research methods within the context of different approaches to scientific enquiry. To describe qualitative research through an examination of the characteristics that differentiate it from quantitative approaches, to describe the types of strategies used, and the roles the researcher may adopt. To show how these methods have been applied to the study of stuttering. Methods & Procedures: Stuttering research was reviewed with the aim of finding studies using a range of qualitative methods. Work for discussion was selected based on historical importance, the methods used and the contribution the work has made to our understanding of stuttering and qualitative methods. Main Contribution: Papers using explorative qualitative research and mixed methodologies are described and their various contributions to our understanding of stuttering are discussed. Conclusions: The qualitative research reviewed in this paper has added to our understanding of the experiences, thinking and views of people who stutter. The reports on people's experiences of therapy show that we still have much to learn and that we need to listen to our clients and involve them in therapy and in outcome planning."

• Is speech therapy really preventing recovery in stutterers?
  from the current issue of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders
  No abstract available

• Is speech therapy really preventing recovery in stutterers? A reply to Pothier, Monteiro and Bredencamp
  from the current issue of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders
  No abstract available

• Sign Language Studies Volume 7, Number 2, Winter 2007 Table of Contents
  Special issue focusing on the topic: "Deaf Lives Leading Deaf Lives."

• From Usage to Grammar: The Mind's Response to Repetition
  from the current issue of Language
  "A usage-based view takes grammar to be the cognitive organization of one's experience with language. Aspects of that experience, for instance, the frequency of use of certain constructions or particular instances of constructions, have an impact on representation that is evidenced in speaker knowledge of conventionalized phrases and in language variation and change. It is shown that particular instances of constructions can acquire their own pragmatic, semantic, and phonological characteristics. In addition, it is argued that high-frequency instances of constructions undergo grammaticization processes (which produce further change), function as the central members of categories formed by constructions, and retain their old forms longer than lower-frequency instances under the pressure of newer formations. An exemplar model that accommodates both phonological and semantic representation is elaborated to describe the data considered."

• Argument-Head Distance and Processing Complexity: Explaining both Locality and Antilocality Effects
  from the current issue of Language
  "Although proximity between arguments and verbs (locality) is a relatively robust determinant of sentence-processing difficulty (Hawkins 1998, 2001, Gibson 2000), increasing argument-verb distance can also facilitate processing (Konieczny 2000). We present two self-paced reading (SPR) experiments involving Hindi that provide further evidence of antilocality, and a third SPR experiment which suggests that similarity-based interference can attenuate this distance-based facilitation. A unified explanation of interference, locality, and antilocality effects is proposed via an independently motivated theory of activation decay and retrieval interference (Anderson et al. 2004)."

• A Comparative Perspective on the Experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Individuals as Students at Mainstream and Special Schools
  from the current issue of American Annals of the Deaf
  "Integration of individuals categorized as having special educational needs in mainstream schools has become a dominant policy in many countries. Changes in recent years in the field traditionally called "special education" have significantly influenced the education of deaf and hard of hearing individuals. The movements against segregation and toward integration and, more recently, inclusion, have created the conditions for educational changes, not only in mainstreaming but in special education. The article brings to light the views and experiences of deaf and hard of hearing people as students at special schools and mainstream schools, in order to compare the two systems from the viewpoints of those involved and to explore the possible implications of these views and experiences for the development of the educational system in Cyprus regarding inclusive education. Particular attention is given to improvement of the education of deaf and hard of hearing children."

• Deafness and Attention in Deaf Children
  from the current issue of American Annals of the Deaf
  "The study shows the differences between hearing parents and deaf instructors interacting with deaf children and directing their attention. Data were collected at home and at a service for special needs in Bristol, England. The mother or instructor was asked to play naturally with the child with the toys provided. When the child's attention was focused during their play, the mother or instructor had to try to direct the child's attention to each of the toys. The results suggest that both groups (mothers and instructors) were effective in directing attention to objects not in the immediate area of play; however, hearing mothers were more successful than deaf instructors."

• OTOVATION Announces ISO Certification and Release of Amplitude T-Series Wireless Audiometer to U.S. and European Markets
  from PRWeb.com
  "OTOVATION, a leading provider of advanced and highly portable hearing diagnostic products is pleased to announce that the company has been granted ISO 13485:2003 certification of its quality system, and concurrently the company announces the release and availability of its Amplitude T-Series wireless audiometer in the U.S. and European markets."

• Studies in Second Language Acquisition
  Table of Contents for the current issue.

• Measuring Perceived Communicative Ability After Traumatic Brain Injury: Reliability and Validity of the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire
  from the current issue of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
  "Objective: Further psychometric evaluation of a measure designed to assess communication ability after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity for self-report and close-other versions of the tool were evaluated. Participants: Eighty-eight adults with severe TBI (mean posttraumatic amnesia 53.12 days) and 71 close others (relatives or friends). Measure: The La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), a 30-item questionnaire that measures cognitive-communication ability from multiple perspectives. Results: Internal consistency coefficients were above 0.9 and test-retest reliability exceeded 0.80. The questionnaire was sensitive to the effect of severity of injury. Conclusion: The La Trobe Communication Questionnaire is a promising tool for measuring perceived communication ability in adults with severe TBI."

• A Missing Voice in the Discourse of Evidence-Based Practice
  from the current issue of Topics in Language Disorders
  "Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the discourse of evidence-based practice presented in official written documents of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Documents were analyzed with respect to how language was used to convey a sense of certainty about the profession's official position on evidence-based practice, what should count as evidence, and how the role of the client was constructed. Analysis revealed a missing voice-or verbal/ideological perspective ( M. M. Bahktin, trans. 1981)-in the construction of evidence. This voice is characterized by observations from the lives of clients and their expressed experiences with assessment and intervention, a form of evidence whose units of analysis do not readily meet the constraints of objectivity and quantification grounded in an epistemology of traditional experimental research methods. Among other things, it will be argued that the current official version of evidence-based practice needs to be reconstructed to include the voices of clients as a form of evidence."

• Undermining the Unfair Constraints Imposed by Language Standards: Subversive Discourse Tactics Used in Both 19th- and 21st-Century America
  "Abstract: This article examines various ways people of the past and present have dealt with the unfair practices associated with the use of norms and standards. Nineteenth-century responses of writers to the unfair aspects of standards are revealed by first examining the standards and then analyzing the discourse of two 19th-century women writers and social activists who took issue with them. The subversive tactics used by these activists included reframing the discourse, adding new voices to traditional texts, appealing to higher authorities, and exaggerating or ignoring the standards so as to flaunt them. Turning to the present, these same tactics are found in the discourse of those who are currently promoting the social model practices. These discourse tactics can be used by today's clinicians who are looking for ways to contend with biases resulting from the imposition of narrow standards and norms."

• Maternal Belief Systems: The Discourse of Cultural Practice as Evidence
  from the current issue of Topics in Language Disorders
  "Abstract: Fully developed definitions of evidence-based practice incorporate evidence from family perspectives, as well as evidence from research on the effectiveness of particular interventions. Systems for appraising research evidence typically place qualitative analyses at lower levels. The argument in this article is that qualitative data offer a different perspective that is of equal value to other forms of evidence, but that serve a unique function. To make this argument, data are presented from a qualitative study of maternal beliefs about problem-solving assistance with their children as a form of evidence that can shape subsequent interventions. This investigation focused on how to analyze evidence embedded in maternal belief interview discourse based on a set of interviews with mothers whose children were diagnosed with developmental delays, and with mothers of typically developing children. The results revealed that mothers' beliefs about how to assist their children with problem solving provided evidence to guide clinical practice by indicating how maternal beliefs influence interactions. These findings can be linked to clinical interventions, and can be embedded in cultural and clinical practices. Implications are discussed in terms of the function of qualitative studies as a level of evidence to guide decision making in intervention contexts."

• Management of Discourse in Group Therapy for Aphasia
  from the current issue of Topics in Language Disorders
  "Abstract: A qualitative study of group therapy for aphasia was undertaken in order to discover interaction patterns and discourse management strategies that help define "social" or "conversation" group therapy for aphasia. Specifically, an analysis of the discourse of clients and therapists was conducted to identify patterns across therapists and settings. Six group communication therapy sessions involving individuals with aphasia were videotaped and analyzed. Within the well-managed social group therapy sessions studied, a variety of discourse management features were identified, including establishing the feel of discourse equality, focusing on everyday communicative events and genres, employing multiple communication modes, mediating communication, calibrating corrections, aiding turn allocation, and judiciously employing teachable moments. The discourse patterns identified in these social conversation groups differ from discourse patterns associated with traditional impairment-focused therapy described in the aphasia literature."

• Clinicians as Communication Partners: Developing a Mediated Discourse Elicitation Protocol
  from the current issue of Topics in Language Disorders
  "Abstract: This article presents the development and piloting of a mediated discourse elicitation protocol. Grounded in situated theories of communication and informed by mediated discourse analysis, this protocol selectively samples familiar discourse types in a manner designed to preserve interactional aspects of communication. Critically, the mediated discourse elicitation protocol conceptualizes the entire session (not just targeted tasks) and both client and clinician talk (not just client monologues) as clinical/research data. Using situated discourse analysis techniques, we present two pilot sessions. Surprisingly, in the first session the clinician had difficulty shifting from a clinical stance (e.g., offering prompts, directing talk) to a reciprocal conversational stance during target communicative activities (e.g., being an audience to client narratives). Thus, we revised the protocol to better specify the clinician's dynamic role and conducted a second pilot session with strikingly different results. Broadly, these findings reveal that complex interactional discourse can be elicited in clinical settings and that mediated discourse analysis provides rich theoretical and methodological resources to empower clinicians in examining, accounting for, and flexibly shifting their discourse roles in order to better achieve clinical goals."

• Small Talk Is "Big Talk" in Clinical Discourse: Appreciating the Value of Conv