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Abstracts: The present study is aimed to investigate the effects of vocal nodules on the aerodynamic analysis of the voice. The study included twelve females with normal laryngeal and respiratory functions and twelve age, gender and language matched females with bilateral vocal nodules within the age group of 18-40 years. All participants were subjected to non-invasive aerodynamic analysis using Aeroview 1.4.4 version (Glottal Enterprises Inc, USA). The participants were instructed to produce the CV syllable train "papapapa" into the circumvented mask at comfortable pitch and loudness. The recorded stimuli were analyzed to obtain laryngeal aerodynamic measures such as estimated subglottic pressure, mean airflow rate, laryngeal airway resistance, and laryngeal airway conductance. Mean and standard deviation for all the four laryngeal aerodynamic measures were calculated separately for both control and clinical groups. The results revealed significant effect of voice on laryngeal measures such as estimated subglottic pressure and mean airflow rate. Thus, results suggest that indirect measurement of laryngeal aerodynamic parameters are effective and essential investigative tools in assessment of vocal nodules. Journal of Laryngology and Voice, 3(1), 10-13. 2013

Abstract: This study was designed to compare nasalance scores obtained with the Nasality visualization system (NVS) and Nasometer II (NM), and to evaluate test-retest reliability of nasalance scores on each of these instruments. Twenty two adult females, without any resonance or articulation disorders, in the age range of 17 to 25 years were considered for the study. Nasalance values were obtained using NVS and NM for the stimuli vowels (/a/, i// and /u/), syllables (/pa/, /ta/, /ka/, /ba/, /da/ and /ga/), eight oral and eight nasal sentences. Following familiarization task, the participants were instructed to read the stimuli with the headset/separator handle for the actual recording. Results indicated trends of increase in nasalance values with increase in vowel height, place of articulation moving backward in the oral tract, and voicing. Paired sample t test revealed significant difference between the nasalance measured by NVS and NM instruments across all the stimuli at p < 0.05 level of significance. Chronbach's alpha revealed good test retest reliability for both NVS and NM for most of the stimuli (α > 0.70). From the findings of the study it may be concluded that nasalance values obtained from the Nasometer II and Nasal visualization system are not interchangeable and cannot be compared directly. The normative data, cutoff scores, sensitivity, specificity and other data of NM might not be applicable to nasalance values obtained from NVS and therefore, has to be established separately for NVS. Good test retest reliability obtained in the present study for NVS makes it a reliable nasalance measuring tool for clinical and research purposes. However, further studies investigating diagnostic efficacy using clinical population and correlations of perceptual analysis of nasalance might verify the validity of this instrument. Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 31, 1-9. 2012

Abstract: As stuttering exists worldwide, among different culture/people, it is essential in identifying attitudes, concern, nature of problem in different cultural groups. The main objectives of the study are to identify effectiveness of sensitization program on stuttering immediately after program and also to determine the gender difference in attitude towards stuttering. A questionnaire was modified and adapted, and administered prior and after the sensitization program. The seven domains included in the questionnaire were myths/facts, attitude, causes, treatment, awareness, characteristics and occurrence of stuttering. Results indicated improved scores on few domains such as attitude, characteristics and treatment. Remaining domains such as myths/facts causes and occurrence of stuttering showed no significant difference prior and after the sensitization program on stuttering. Male participant's perception on stuttering was better compared to female participants on all domains except characteristics domain. Improved scores on few domains after awareness Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 31, 68-75. 2012

Laryngeal aerodynamic analysis measures respiratory and laryngeal functions reflecting the coordinative nature of voice production. The present study primarily aimed at establishing the normative data for four laryngeal aerodynamic parameters viz. Estimated Sub- Glottic Pressure (ESGP), Mean Air Flow Rate (MAFR), Laryngeal Airway Resistance (LAR), and Laryngeal Airway Conductance (LAC) in adult Indian population. A second purpose was to examine the effect of age and gender on these measures. Eighty five participants including 54 males and 31 females in the age range of 18-40 years, with no known problems in voice were considered for the study. Aeroview from Glottal Enterprises was used to record and analyze the data. The participants were instructed to produce CV syllable train "papapapa" into the circumvented mask at comfortable loudness and pitch. Thus recorded stimuli were analyzed to obtain all four parameters (mentioned earlier). Mean and standard deviation for the all the parameters were calculated separately for both the groups of males and females. Box plots were drawn and 8 outliers were removed manually from the main data. Two way MANOVA (performed on remaining data) revealed significant main effects of age for the parameters ESGP and LAC. No significant main effects of gender were observed for the any of the laryngeal aerodynamic parameters studied. The data obtained from this study can be used as normative for laryngeal aerodynamic analysis in the adult population in the age range of 18-40 years. Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 31, 56-63. 2012

Abstract: The present study investigated the symbolic play behaviours in children with mental retardation and its relationship with language in both the receptive and expressive domains. In addition, the age and gender related changes in the symbolic play behavior and the toy and play preference between gender if any, was examined. The study included twelve typically developing children and twelve mental age and gender matched children with mild mental retardation within the age group of 3-4 years. The subjects were tested in two play conditions viz., free play and structured play condition. The video recorded play behavior responses were transcribed and the data was subjected to appropriate statistical analysis. The results revealed significantly lesser symbolic play behaviours in children with mild mental retardation than the typically developing children. In addition it was found that they do benefit from prompts and thus perform better on symbolic play activities. Further, gender and age related differences were seen in play behaviours. A strong correlation existed between play and language in both the groups which supported that both play and language develop parallely. The study implies the inclusion of symbolic play assessment in the diagnostic protocol of children with communication disorders and a productive remediation strategy for such children would be to provide language stimulation within a pretend play context. Student Research at AIISH, Vol. IX, Part – B- Speech – Language Pathology.230-244. 2011

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