Speech Pathology

BACKGROUND:
In spite of its indusrial usefulness and varied daily uses, lead (Pb) pollution is a widespread ecological problem that faces the humans in the 21th century. Pb was found to produces a wide range of toxic effects including neurotoxicity especially to the developing and young offspring. Recently, the utilization of herbal plants has received a significant attention where there has been rising awareness in their therapeutic use; among these is the garlic.
AIM OF THE WORK:
In light of the above, the current study is designed experimentally in female pregnant rats in order to investigate the beneficial role of garlic extract in the protection from the maternal and fetal cerebellar damage that produced by administration of different doses of Pb during pregnancy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Positively pregnant female rats were divided into five groups; one control group, two Pb-treated groups (exposed to 160 and 320 mg/kg b.wt. of Pb, respectively) and two groups treated with both Pb and garlic (exposed to Pb as previous groups together with 250 mg/ kg b.wt. /day of garlic extract). Treatments started from day 1 till day 20 of pregnancy, where the mother rats of different experimental groups were sacrified to obtain the fetuses. Pb level in the maternal nd fetal blood and cerebellum was estimated by spectrophotometry. Specimens of the cerebellum of different mother and fetal groups were processed to histological and immunohistochemical staining for microscopic examination.
RESULTS:
The results showed that administration of Pb to pregnant rats resulted in a dose-dependent toxicity for both mothers and fetuses in the form of decrease of maternal weight gain, placental and fetal weights, brain weight and diminished fetal growth parameters, which were prominent in rat's group treated with larger dose of Pb. In Pb-treated rats, Pb level in blood and cerebellum was high when compared to the control. The histopathological examination of the cerebellum of treated dams and fetuses showed marked alterations mainly in the form of Purkinje cell degeneration and lack of deveopmet of fetal cerebellum. Co-treatment of garlic extract along with Pb resulted in a significant decrease in Pb levels as compared with those treated with Pb alone with improvement of the histopathological changes.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study was useful in evaluating the hazardous effects of uncontrolled use of Pb in general and in assessing the developmental and neurotoxicity of fetuses due to exposure during pregnancy in particular. Co-administration of garlic has beneficial effects in amelioration of Pb-induced neurotoxicity and reversing the histopathological changes of the cerebellum of mother rats and fetuses.
KEYWORDS:
garlic; glial fibrillary acidic protein; lead; purkinje cells

Most contemporary text books of neurology and of psychology pay little attention to the function of the cerebellum beyond noting it to be an organ of motor control. A historical overview of research on cerebellar function is presented, from pre-Sherrinton suggestions of sensory and motor function, through the post-Sherrinton and dominant 20 th . Century view of "motor" function, to the 21 st . century perspective of "sensorimotor" function. The intrinsic capability of the cerebellum is briefly considered in terms of: its size/complexity/capacity; its information representation/processing characteristics (with "a particular computational function"); its sensory information processing capability; and, its role in sensorimotor regulatory control. It is suggested that the cerebellum can process sensorimotor stimulus information in a statistical (connectionist type) manner and respond to in on the basis of its own learning based sensorimotor representations, albeit at a "level" that does not necessarily involve cerebral "awareness".

The liver is almost unique in its capacity for regeneration after hepatectomy but the exact mechanisms are not yet fully clarified. Antioxidants have been shown to promote liver regeneration after major hepatectomy. The present study evaluated the ameliorative effect of vitamin E administration on the liver regeneration after different periods of partial hepatectomy (PH) in rats. Fifty-six adult male albino rats were divided into three groups: Control sham operated group; partially hepatectomized group which were divided into three subgroups sacrificed at 1day, 3 days and 7days after the operation respectively; Partially Hepatectomized group with vitamin E pretreatment before PH where the rats were given a daily oral dose of vitamin E until the time of sacrifice of the rats. Immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and labeling index were demonstrated. After PH, the PCNA positive hepatocytes and the PCNA labeling indices were significantly high after the 1 st day and then much decreased after the 3 rd day, to be followed by a slight increase at the 7 th day. Vitamin E pretreatment in PH rats resulted in a decrease in PCNA positive cells and its labeling indices in the 1 st day with a gradual increase in the 3 rd and 7 th days. Vitamin E has an inhibitory effect in the first 24 hours on liver regeneration followed by stimulatory effect at the third and seventh days after PH. These data indicated that vitamin E pretreatment has an important role in regulation and enhancement of liver regeneration after PH.

Organic speech disorder or dysglossia is an articulation disorder which arise as a result of organic changes in peripheral speech organs or in peripheral nerves that supply them.
This presentation aims to classify dysglossias and provide information on how to document speech function.

This article aims to provide an overview of major theoretical approaches and psychological considerations related to child language (first language acquisition). The field is multidimensional, as illustrated by the many courses on child language or language acquisition that are taught in departments of Linguistics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, Speech Pathology, Education, and Anthropology. This crossdisciplinary nature of the field is also reflected in many handbooks and articles yearly published across the world. In this article I mainly present a general overview of theoretical/epistemological and classical/modern accounts and approaches to the study of first language acquisition. In other words, the present paper is to investigate the psychological/epistemological considerations of first language acquisition with the aim of shedding a bit of light on this human-species phenomenon.

The author of the article argues that, contrary to Charles Darwin’s assertion, sexual selection played only a marginal role in the early evolution of the Homo sapiens. Natural selection through the mechanisms of predator control is suggested to be the central reason behind the crucial evolutionary changes of human morphology (appearance of longer legs, head hair, eyebrows, low male voice, reduction of canines) and behavior (bipedalism, singing, dancing, painting).

A discussion of the role of-sociolinguistics in the treatment of communication disorders focuses on issues related to dialect and language variation. It begins with an examination of linguistic diversity and dynamic description of language, reporting on a study of speech and language pathologists' judgments of sentences in African American Vernacular English. The sociolinguistic model of systematic variation within a single language is outlined, and related research is reviewed. Three trends in the field of communication disorders that reflect an underlying sociolinguistic perspective are examined: (1) concern over remediation models that fragment language behaviors in a way that does not reflect real language usage; (2) focus on language function rather than form; and (3) concern for generalization of therapy-based learning to real-world usage. A rationale for sociolinguistic education for specialists in communication disorders is presented. An experimental curriculum in exploring language variation and dialects, designed for grades 4 aL.-, 5, is then described. (Contains 84 references.) (MSE)

This new essay of Alfonso Gianluca Gucciardo, MD is in Italian. It is intended for the voice lovers and, specifically, for clinicians/doctors interested to Performing Arts Medicine. The aim isn’t to go in the deepness of the ultra-specialistic remarks, but to stimulate new clinical thoughts and some ideas in order to prevent, to fast understand and to care & cure with pre­cision at least the most recurrent diseases of the voice artist. The preface is by a worldwide icon of the vocology, the Italian phoniatrician Andrea Ricci Maccarini, MD. The after­words are by Madame Yva Barthélémy, well known singer and voice pedagogue from Paris.
ISBN: 978-88-98245-83-3
[email protected]

RESUMEN
Objetivo: observar la capacidad de cinco individuos venezolanos que usan aparatos dentales ortodónticos para articular el habla y verificar la influencia de los aparatos en la percepción del habla por parte de
sus interlocutores. Métodos: se utilizó un corpus conformado por dos grabaciones de la lectura de un Test de Pares Mínimos realizadas por cinco hablantes antes y después de iniciar el tratamiento con los aparatos. Dichas grabaciones fueron luego expuestas a veinte oyentes adultos con la finalidad de que identificaran lo oído; sirviéndose de un test ad hoc, basado en el de los Pares Mínimos arriba indicado. Cada uno de los oyentes marcó la opción que creyó haber percibido. Resultados: el análisis de los datos arrojados por los dos conjuntos de tests permitió determinar los sonidos, los rasgos distintivos y los puntos articulatorios afectados por el uso de aparatos en los hablantes. Se demuestra que los sonidos mayormente afectados por los aparatos dentales son /t/, /m/, /p/, /f/, /b/, / /, /k/ y / /; los rasgos y oposiciones distintivas afectadas son [grave]: /b – d/, /f – s/, /m – /, /m – n/ y /p – t/; [sonoro]: /g – k/, /p – b/ y /t – d/ e [interrupto]: / - s/ ; por su parte, los lugares de articulación afectados son bilabial, alveolar, palatal, dental e interdental. Conclusiones: la presencia de los aparatos dentales ortodónticos en la cavidad bucal causa serios problemas en la articulación de los sonidos lingüísticos afectando de esa manera la percepción del habla por parte de los interlocutores. Los problemas de
articulación con el paso del tiempo van decreciendo.

Chronic cough (CC) and paradoxical vocal fold movement (PVFM) share several common features; however, there has been no systematic comparison of these two conditions. The aims of this study were to contrast and compare the symptom profiles of CC and PVFM, to clarify the relationship between the two conditions, and to explore how symptom characteristics could be used to design an individualized treatment program. Participants included 55 people with a combination of PVFM and CC that was refractory to medical treatment, 8 people with PVFM alone, 56 people with CC alone, 25 people with voice disorders, and 27 normal controls. Symptoms and descriptive features of CC, PVFM, and voice disorders were assessed via structured case history interview, symptom frequency, and severity ratings, ratings of activity limitation, and anxiety/depression ratings. Results indicated consistent overlap in the symptom profile between people with CC and those presenting with a combination of CC and PVFM. Participants with PVFM without cough and those with voice disorders overlapped with the participants with CC on some dimensions; however, there were still some significant differences between them. These data suggest that CC and PVFM are related and manifestations of a common underlying condition but that voice disorders are a discrete entity. Most participants had normal ratings on screening for anxiety and depression. Results indicated that there were no consistent psychiatric symptoms in any of the groups studied, and they do not support the label of psychogenic cough for CC that is refractory to medical treatment. Characteristics of CC such as nature and timing of the cough provide important information for developing behavioral treatment programs for individual patients who have exhausted medical options. A template has been provided that is a practical method of designing an integrated behavioral treatment program based on those individual patient characteristics.

The article is aimed at presenting the usability of some aspects of self-narrative analysis in clinical diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis concerns not only the identification of nosological categories, me- chanisms of psychopathology, or etiology, but also familiarity with patients’ self-experience. It is assumed that the patient’s narrative is a psychological phenomenon in itself; it is a way of con- struing and re-experiencing his or her disorder. Therefore, self-narrative analysis is expected to lead to an understanding of how psychopathology is construed in language. As the leading theoretical approach, the model of narrative development proposed by Salvatore, Dimaggio, & Semerari (2004) was chosen. In order to illustrate narrative analysis, examples of paranoid personality self-narrative accounts are presented.

Background: Although there are treatments that can alleviate stuttering in adults for clinically significant periods, in Australia there are barriers to the accessibility and availability of best-practice treatment. Aims: This parallel group, non-inferiority randomized controlled trial with multiple blinded outcome assessments investigated whether telehealth delivery of the Camperdown Program provides a non-inferior alternative to face-toface treatment for adults who stutter. Methods & Procedures: Forty participants who presented to a university speech clinic were randomized: 20 to the telehealth arm and 20 to the face-to-face arm. Exclusion criteria were age younger than 18 years, frequency of stuttering less than 2% of syllables stuttered and previous speech-restructuring treatment within the past 12 months. The Camperdown Program for adults who stutter was the intervention. Primary outcome measures were frequency of stuttering measured in per cent syllables stuttered (%SS) before treatment and at 9 months post-randomization and efficiency, measured by counting the number of speech pathologist contact hours used by each participant. Intention to treat analysis was conducted using last observation carried forward. Secondary outcome measures were speech naturalness, self-reported stuttering severity, and treatment satisfaction. Outcomes & Results: There was no statistically or clinically significant difference in %SS between the two groups at 9 months post-randomization. Analysis of covariance adjusting for baseline %SS showed telehealth had 0.8% absolute lower per cent syllables stuttered than face-to-face. There were also no differences in %SS between groups immediately post-treatment, or at 6 months and 12 months post-treatment ( p ¼ 0.9). In the second primary outcome measure, the telehealth group used statistically less contact time (221 min) on average than the face-to-face group (95% confidence interval ¼ 2 387 to 2 56 min, p ¼ 0.01).

The article is aimed at presenting the usability of some aspects of self-narrative analysis in clinical diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis concerns not only the identification of nosological categories, me­chanisms of psychopathology, or etiology, but also familiarity with patients' self-experience. It is assumed that the patient's narrative is a psychological phenomenon in itself; it is a way of con­struing and re-experiencing his or her disorder. Therefore, self-narrative analysis is expected to lead to an understanding of how psychopathology is construed in language. As the leading theoretical approach, the model of narrative development proposed by Salvatore, Dimaggio, & Semerari (2004) was chosen. In order to illustrate narrative analysis, examples of paranoid personality self-narrative accounts are presented. Keywords: paranoid personality disorder, clinical diagnosis, self-narrative, analysis of narratives, narrative psychology

Multidisciplinary cooperation in health care requires a solid knowledge in the basic sciences for a common ground of communication. In speech pathology, these fundamentals improve the accuracy of descriptive diagnoses and support the development of new therapeutic techniques and strategies. The aim of this study is to briefly discuss the benefits of hands-on education on laryngeal anatomy and voice physiology in Brazilian graduate programs in speech pathology, as well as to describe a simple prototype that can be used as a useful educational tool for this purpose. The laryngeal anatomic support device was designed to provide a vertical frame to hold human or mammalian larynges with no preservation treatment, with the goal of allowing good visualization of the vocal folds during artificial phonation. The device was designed to provide the user the ability to manipulate the soft and cartilaginous structures of the larynx with near-natural biomechanical properties. The description of the project is detailed to allow the reproduction of this simple and inexpensive device. It may be used as an experimental feature in a variety of settings, from high-school programs to experimental research methods, and may suit a wide array of different educational models. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000-000.

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder that can present a significant barrier to patient involvement in healthcare decisions. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are viewed as experts in the field of communication. However, many SLP students do not receive practical training in techniques to communicate with people with aphasia (PWA) until they encounter PWA during clinical education placements. This study investigated the confidence and knowledge of SLP students in communicating with PWA prior to clinical placements using a customised questionnaire. Confidence in communicating with people with aphasia was assessed using a 100-point visual analogue scale. Linear, and logistic, regressions were used to examine the association between confidence and age, as well as confidence and course type (graduate-entry masters or undergraduate), respectively. Knowledge of strategies to assist communication with PWA was examined by asking respondents to list specific strategies that could assist...

The present study aimed at investigating cognitive abilities of typical adults and older adults with normal hearing using P300 event related potential. The P300 measures (both latency and amplitude) did not differ significantly across gender. The P300 latency was found to increase with age, whereas the P300 amplitude reduced significantly with age except in the case of 60-70 years age group. Overall, the P300 measures reflected the ageing effect. Further, the choice of P300 which uses evoked potential (objectively extracted) and language insensitive stimuli can be made to evaluate cognitive linguistic functions in individuals with impaired communication abilities from different linguistic backgrounds.

RESUMO
Este artigo objetiva discutir criticamente a avaliação de linguagem na Demência de Alzheimer (DA). Instrumentos de avaliação neuropsicológica geralmente apresentam alguns testes como sendo “de linguagem” e seus resultados buscam confirmar o diagnóstico ou avaliar a progressão da doença. Buscamos apontar, por meio de análises qualitativas, à luz da Neurolingüística Discursiva, que os episódios dialógicos que ocorrem durante a anamnese ou ao longo das sessões de testes podem levar a uma melhor compreensão de como a linguagem encontra-se (ou não) alterada nos casos em que há uma provável DA.

ABSTRACT
This paper aims to discuss language evaluation in the Alzheimer disease (AD). Neuropsychological assessment tests usually present some of them as being “language evaluation” and the results aim to confirm the diagnosis or to evaluate the disease progression. We intend to show, by means of qualitative approach, oriented by the Discursive Neurolinguistics, that the dialogical episodes that take place during the interviews and tests sessions could lead to a better comprehension of how language is altered (or not) in probable cases of AD.

Graduate employment rates and self-reported employability are increasingly a feature of higher education funding measures. However, graduate outcomes do not denote the whole learning experience of the student nor is the student experience reducible to a single statistic. This paper discusses a design-centric approach to employability development which was enacted within a hybrid learning space. The study engaged 52 final-year speech pathology students, their lecturer, the lead researcher and a career practitioner (advisor) at an Australian university. Students first created personalized employability profiles using an established online self-reflection tool. The online tool produced a personalized report and enabled students to access developmental resources relating to employability and student success. The project team used anonymized student data to transform a previously generic "careers" workshop into a targeted workshop in which students explored individual and cohort findings and participated in developmental activities informed by the data. The initiative's contribution to learning space research is in its composition as a hybrid learning space in which educators and students engaged as learners and developers of their online learning spaces, and educators collaborated to analyze student data and inform learning and teaching enhancements within the same study period. It is anticipated that the data from subsequent years will inform the curricular review, particularly if subsequent student cohorts express similar concerns. Implications for higher education policy and practice are discussed. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

The present study aimed at investigating cognitive abilities of typical adults and older adults with normal hearing using P300 event related potential. The P300 measures (both latency and amplitude) did not differ significantly across gender. The P300 latency was found to increase with age, whereas the P300 amplitude reduced significantly with age except in the case of 60-70 years age group. Overall, the P300 measures reflected the ageing effect. Further, the choice of P300 which uses evoked potential (objectively extracted) and language insensitive stimuli can be made to evaluate cognitive linguistic functions in individuals with impaired communication abilities from different linguistic

This article presents a non-invasive speech processing method for the assessment and evaluation of voice hoarseness. A technique based on timescale analysis of the voice signal is used to decompose the signal into a suitable number of high-frequency details and extract the high-frequency bands of the signal. A discriminating measure, which measures the roll-off in power in the high-frequency bands of the signal, with respect to the decomposition index, is developed. The measure reflects the presence and degree of severity of hoarseness in the analyzed voice signals. The discriminating measure is supported by frequency-domain and time-series analyses of the high-frequency bands of normal and hoarse voice signals to provide a visual aid to the clinician or therapist. A database of sustained long vowels of normal and hoarse voices is created and used to assess the presence and degree of severity of hoarseness. The results obtained by the proposed method are compared to results obtained by perturbation analysis.

The article is aimed at presenting the usability of some aspects of self-narrative analysis in clinical diagnosis. Clinical diagnosis concerns not only the identification of nosological categories, mechanisms of psychopathology, or etiology, but also familiarity with patients' self-experience. It is assumed that the patient's narrative is a psychological phenomenon in itself; it is a way of construing and re-experiencing his or her disorder. Therefore, self-narrative analysis is expected to lead to an understanding of how psychopathology is construed in language. As the leading theoretical approach, the model of narrative development proposed by

The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant with the Office of Education, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects under Government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their professional judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Office of Education position or policy.

The aim of this study was to describe the surgical and functional complications following superiorly based posterior pharyngeal wall (SBPP) flap surgery. Records of 130 patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) who had undergone SBPP flap surgery as a secondary procedure to reduce nasal resonance in speech were reviewed. Complications were defined as the incidence of revisional surgery required to obtain a more satisfactory result. 20 patients (15%) required revisional surgery. In 4 patients (3%) early revisional surgery was indicated to treat surgical complications (1 postoperative bleeding, 3 flap dehiscences). In 16 patients (12%) late revisional surgery was indicated to achieve a better functional result with regard to nasal resonance in speech. The low incidence of surgical complications indicates that SBPP flap surgery is a safe procedure. After SBPP flap surgery, a satisfactory functional result with respect to nasal resonance was obtained in 88% of patients. This resu...

Background. Although many patients require nutritional support during radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer, little is known regarding the risk factors that predispose to gastrostomy tube (g-tube) placement and prolonged dependence, or the therapeutic interventions that may abrogate these effects. Methods. We performed a retrospective medical chart review of patients who were treated for primary oropharyngeal cancer at a tertiary care center from 2003 to 2008. Patients who had a complete response at the primary site at 1-year posttreatment were included. G-tube placement and dependence !6 months were evaluated in relationship to site and stage of primary tumor, baseline characteristics, treatment type, smoking status, and swallowing intervention. Results. We evaluated 474 patients (79%) with oropharyngeal cancer; 215 patients (40%) had concurrent chemotherapy, 73 patients (15%) had induction chemotherapy, and 69 patients (15%) had induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemotherapy. Two hundred ninety-three patients (62%) received g-tubes, of which 238 (81%

Background: Although there are treatments that can alleviate stuttering in adults for clinically significant periods, in Australia there are barriers to the accessibility and availability of best-practice treatment. Aims: This parallel group, non-inferiority randomized controlled trial with multiple blinded outcome assessments investigated whether telehealth delivery of the Camperdown Program provides a non-inferior alternative to face-toface treatment for adults who stutter. Methods & Procedures: Forty participants who presented to a university speech clinic were randomized: 20 to the telehealth arm and 20 to the face-to-face arm. Exclusion criteria were age younger than 18 years, frequency of stuttering less than 2% of syllables stuttered and previous speech-restructuring treatment within the past 12 months. The Camperdown Program for adults who stutter was the intervention. Primary outcome measures were frequency of stuttering measured in per cent syllables stuttered (%SS) before treatment and at 9 months post-randomization and efficiency, measured by counting the number of speech pathologist contact hours used by each participant. Intention to treat analysis was conducted using last observation carried forward. Secondary outcome measures were speech naturalness, self-reported stuttering severity, and treatment satisfaction. Outcomes & Results: There was no statistically or clinically significant difference in %SS between the two groups at 9 months post-randomization. Analysis of covariance adjusting for baseline %SS showed telehealth had 0.8% absolute lower per cent syllables stuttered than face-to-face. There were also no differences in %SS between groups immediately post-treatment, or at 6 months and 12 months post-treatment ( p ¼ 0.9). In the second primary outcome measure, the telehealth group used statistically less contact time (221 min) on average than the face-to-face group (95% confidence interval ¼ 2 387 to 2 56 min, p ¼ 0.01).

Ankyloblepharon–ectodermal defects-cleft lip/palate (AEC) Syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by ectodermal dysplasia, along with other malformations such as cleft lip and palate, and various secondary issues such as chronic sinusitis, otitis media, and conductive hearing loss (CHL). The International Research Symposium for AEC Syndrome convened at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Patients with a suspected diagnosis of AEC syndrome attended, and members of the dental, dermatology, plastic surgery, otolaryngology, and audiology services examined each patient. Eighteen patients with a diagnosis of AEC were evaluated. Mean age was 7.5 years (range: 4 months–30 years). Fourteen of the 15 subjects tested (93.33%) demonstrated CHL, with seven showing moderate to severe hearing deficits (41–90 dB). Nine of 13 respondents reported hoareness or voice problems; 8 were noted to display this on examination. Fourteen of 16 subjects reported speech was below average for age; 8 were in speech therapy. All 18 subjects reported a history of otitis externa or otitis media. Eleven of the subjects (61.11%) required myringotomy and pressure equalizing (PE) tubes. All patients demonstrated cleft palate defects. Of these, 16 (94.11%) presented with clefting of the soft palate, and 10 (58.82%) showed hard palate defects. Three subjects (16.67%) were noted to have submucous clefts. Our experience leads us to propose that while the oroauditory problems in those with AEC syndrome is likely multifactorial, many issues may stem from palatal clefting. Despite this, some abnormalities persist following surgical cleft closure, which indicates other complicating factors are also involved. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Traditional methods to diagnose laryngeal pathologies such as laryngoscopy are considered invasive and uncomfortable. Methods based on acoustic analisys of speech signals have been investigated in order to diminish the number of laryngoscopical exams. Digital signal processing techniques have been used to perform an acoustic analysis for vocal quality assessment due to the simplicity and the non-invasive nature of the measurement procedures. Their employment is of special interest, as they can provide an objective diagnosis of pathological voices, and may be used as complementary tool in laryngoscopy. The degree of reliability and effectiveness of discriminating process of pathological voices from normal ones depends on the characteristics and parameters of voice used to train the employed classifier. This paper aims at evaluating the performance of the Linear Prediction Coding (LPC)-based cepstral analysis to discriminate pathological voices of speakers affected by vocal fold edema. For this purpose, LPC, cepstral, weighted cepstral, delta cepstral weighted delta cepstral mel-cepstral coefficients and are used. A vector-quantizing-trained distance classifier is used in the discrimination process.

Traditional methods to diagnose laryngeal pathologies such as laryngoscopy are considered invasive and uncomfortable. Methods based on acoustic analisys of speech signals have been investigated in order to diminish the number of laryngoscopical exams. Digital signal processing techniques have been used to perform an acoustic analysis for vocal quality assessment due to the simplicity and the non-invasive nature of the measurement procedures. Their employment is of special interest, as they can provide an objective diagnosis of pathological voices, and may be used as complementary tool in laryngoscopy. The degree of reliability and effectiveness of discriminating process of pathological voices from normal ones depends on the characteristics and parameters of voice used to train the employed classifier. This paper aims at evaluating the performance of the Linear Prediction Coding (LPC)-based cepstral analysis to discriminate pathological voices of speakers affected by vocal fold edema. For this purpose, LPC, cepstral, weighted cepstral, delta cepstral weighted delta cepstral mel-cepstral coefficients and are used. A vector-quantizing-trained distance classifier is used in the discrimination process.

Boston yang asal tetapi mempunyai isi kandungan yang berbeza. Sebanyak 29 item daripada ujian asal dikekalkan, kerana didapati sahih dari segi budaya dan bahasa populasi Melayu di Malaysia. Sebanyak 41 item baru disertakan agar sejumlah 70 item digunakan dalam ujian rintis. Pada awalnya, item ujian disemak oleh sekumpulan panel pakar, dan selepas itu, ujian dilakukan ke atas 40 orang Melayu dewasa normal. Berdasarkan analisis item daripada kajian rintis tersebut, M-BNT versi terakhir dibentuk dan terdiri daripada ujian sejumlah Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia 5 (1) 2007: 27-36 28 50 item. Ujian ini kemudian dilakukan ke atas 230 subjek Melayu normal dalam lima kumpulan umur (20 -29 tahun, 30 -39 tahun, 40 -49 tahun, 50 -59 tahun, dan 60 -69 tahun), yang dibahagi kepada dua tahap pendidikan (iaitu < 12 tahun pendidikan, dan 12 tahun atau lebih) dan jantina berbeza.

Boston yang asal tetapi mempunyai isi kandungan yang berbeza. Sebanyak 29 item daripada ujian asal dikekalkan, kerana didapati sahih dari segi budaya dan bahasa populasi Melayu di Malaysia. Sebanyak 41 item baru disertakan agar sejumlah 70 item digunakan dalam ujian rintis. Pada awalnya, item ujian disemak oleh sekumpulan panel pakar, dan selepas itu, ujian dilakukan ke atas 40 orang Melayu dewasa normal. Berdasarkan analisis item daripada kajian rintis tersebut, M-BNT versi terakhir dibentuk dan terdiri daripada ujian sejumlah Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia 5 (1) 2007: 27-36 28 50 item. Ujian ini kemudian dilakukan ke atas 230 subjek Melayu normal dalam lima kumpulan umur (20 -29 tahun, 30 -39 tahun, 40 -49 tahun, 50 -59 tahun, dan 60 -69 tahun), yang dibahagi kepada dua tahap pendidikan (iaitu < 12 tahun pendidikan, dan 12 tahun atau lebih) dan jantina berbeza.

RESUMO
Este trabalho apresenta o estudo de caso de um jovem FR que sofreu uma parada cárdio-respiratória ocasionando anóxia cerebral. O estudo visa a compreender, de acordo com a Neuropsicologia luriana e com a Neurolingüística Discursiva, os efeitos causados pela lesão neurológica e a contribuir para a prática clínica com sujeitos cérebro-lesados, sobretudo na Fonoaudiologia.

ABSTRACT
This essay presents a case of a study of a young veterinary student (FR), that suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest resulted in brain anoxia. The study aims to understand, in consonance with the Lurian neuropsychology and with the Discursive Neurolinguistics, the effects caused by the neurological lesion and to contribute to the clinical practice with brain-damaged subjects, principally in the Speech Therapy.