SLP 521 – Advanced Speech Science / AUD 615 – Speech and Language Science

Fall, 2008

 

Schedule:             Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 12:45-14:15.

Level:                  Graduate

Credits:                3 semester hours

Instructor:           Paul A. Dagenais, Ph.D.

Address:              UCOM 2110

Phone:                  380-2608

Office Hours:      14:15 – 15:00 Monday and Wednesday or as arranged.

Email:                  pdagenais@usouthal.edu

Website:              www.southalabama.edu/speechandhearing/Dagenais.htm

 

Prerequisites:  Admission to the graduate speech-language pathology or audiology program in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology.

 

Text:

Behrman, Allison (2007). Speech and Voice Science. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing, Inc.

Additional reading may be assigned.

Students with Disabilities: If you have a specific disability that qualifies you for academic accommodations, please notify the instructor and provide certification from Disability Services in the Office of Special Student Services. The Office of Special Student Services is located in Room 270 of the Student Center (460-7212).

 

Notice About HIPAA regulations: The USA Speech and Hearing Center is compliant with the Privacy Rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).  As part of this class, you may be required to directly and/or indirectly observe therapy procedures conducted with actual clients.  Direct observations will take place in our Clinic; whereas, indirect observations may be offered through the use of videotaped therapy sessions which are shown during class time.  In compliance with HIPAA, the patients and/or patient representatives have given authorization to allow for the observations.  Additionally, the amount of Protected Health Information (PHI) that is provided to you will be limited to the “minimum necessary.”  We require you, as future professionals in the field of Speech Pathology and Audiology, to be respectful of the learning opportunity afforded to you through these observations.

 

Course Objectives/Goals:

To provide a meaningful experience in the study of speech science through lecture, demonstration, laboratories and textbook study.

To enhance the student's knowledge of the physiologic and acoustic bases of sound and it's measurement.

To enhance the student's knowledge of instrumentation used in the measurement of speech.

To provide basic understanding of psychoacoustic principles.

To provide basic understanding of speech perception principles.

 

Course Content:

1. Introduction, Speech Chain, Exponents, Metric System, Basic Acoustics, Sound propagation

2. Basic Acoustics, Simple Harmonic Motion, Resonance, Physiology of the Speech Producing Mechanisms

3. Acoustics of Speech, articulation, resonance

4. Filtering, Spectrograms, Feedback, Suprasegmentals

5. Speech Production Theories

6. Introduction to psychoacoustics, Psychophysical testing, Scaling, measurement variables

7. Masking, critical bands. Non-linear systems, Binaural hearing, Pitch perception, Adaption

8. Acoustic cues to perception, Theories of speech perception

 

Additional Course Requirements: In addition to class lectures, there are speech production and perception laboratory requirements. The first will involve spectrographic identification of sound components for various stimuli and the second will involve the recording of acoustic stimuli, manipulation of the stimuli, presentation of stimuli to listeners, and a written report describing the correlation of the acoustic presentations with listener perceptions. Students will work in groups for the second assignment. Time for the laboratories will not be incorporated into class time.

 

Behaviorally defined objectives for student knowledge and skill:

Each of the objectives below describes the behavior to be achieved and the mechanism for evaluation.

The student (with a partner) will compare a pre-recorded sentence produced by a dysarthric speaker with a sentence recorded by the student. The student will produce a written summary of similarities and differences in acoustic and perceptual information between the speakers. Acoustic information will be obtained from spectrograms generated by the student. The report is to include differences in vocal tract control that result in the acoustic and perceptual judgements. (Addresses SLP ASHA standards III-A, III-B, III-C (articulation, voice and resonance, expressive language), III-D (articulation, voice and resonance, expressive language), AUD ASHA standards B7 (Normal processes of speech and language production and perception over the life span), B13 (Physical characteristics and measurement of acoustic stimuli.).

The student (with other partners) will complete a lab that will involve the production of acoustic recordings of a set of syllables, a listening component to identify undegraded and degraded syllables, and a written summary that reconciles the listener responses to the undegraded and degraded syllables with spectrograms generated from representative syllables. (Addresses SLP ASHA standards III-A, III-B, AUD ASHA standard B7, B9 (Principles, methods, and applications of psychoacoustics), B13).

The student will pass a final exam covering semester content regarding speech production, psychoacoustics and speech perception. (Addresses SLP ASHA standard III-A, III-B, III-C, AUD ASHA standard B7, B9, B13).

 

Evaluation: Grades for this class will be determined from scores obtained for the midterm examination, the final examination and the laboratory assignment. The breakdown is as follows:

       Midterm examination:    30%

       Final examination:          40%

       Laboratory assignments 30%

Grades for this course are applied as follows:

       Grade A: 90 - 100%

       Grade B: 80 -  89%

       Grade C: 75 -  79%

       Grade D: 68 -  74%

       Fail: below 68%

Students should be advised that they are required to maintain a 3.0 GPA in order to continue in the graduate program.

 

Plans for Record Keeping, Feedback to Students, Faculty, Supervisors, & Student Remediation: Grades for assignments are kept on a spreadsheet by the instructor. Completed assignments are returned to the students with instructor feedback at every step of the prospectus. The instructor meets regularly with students (individually or in small groups) to discuss progress. Instructor and faculty mentoring of student progress forgoes the need for remediation. Faculty mentors for student projects are informed of student progress as needed. Students who perform poorly on the final exam are required to rewrite portions to demonstrate knowledge and skill acquisition to instructor’s satisfaction. Students are assigned a final course grade.

Statement on Changes in Course Assignments: Any changes in the course assignments will be made in a timely manner and students will be notified of the changes during class meetings.

 

Attendance Policy: Graduate level study is the final preparation before students enter the profession.  As such, students should consider class attendance to be similar to attendance in a professional setting.  It is mandatory.  Students will be allowed one unexcused absence during the lecture series.  Subsequent unexcused absences will be penalized by a drop of one letter grade per absence.  Absences during exam periods or during the class presentations must be accounted for by appropriate documentation such as a doctor’s notice of illness. Students are advised that they are allowed only one grade of C before being dismissed from the program.

For absences of two or more consecutive class meetings due to illness, death in the family, or family emergency, students should contact the Vice President for Student Affairs. Absence notices will be sent to each instructor notifying him/her of the reason for the approximate length of absence. This notification does not constitute an excused absence.

 

PAD

August 2008

 

Links:

Motion

Sound Waves

Perception of Sound Waves

Respiration

Phonation I 

Phonation II

Vowels I

Vowels II

Vowels III

Consonants

Psychoacoustics I

Psychoacoustics II

Speech Perception I

Speech Perception II