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Speech-language pathology practice guidelines recommend competency in counselling to support psychological adjustment and well-being in people with communication disability. However, there is limit...

The purpose of this study was to explore the way Australian national sport organisations (NSOs) create, develop and implement their policies relevant to trans athletes. Representatives of nine NSOs were interviewed utilising in-depth semi-structured interviews. Four key themes emerged from the organisation spokespersons’ accounts: a) finding the right policy, b) underfunded and under resourced, c) challenges of educating employees and the public, and lastly, d) communication between NSOs and the trans athletic community. Findings revealed that only two NSOs reported had specific policies directed at trans athlete’s sport participation. Several NSOs indicated that they had plans to develop separate policies for the different levels of competition to assist trans athletes to participate in their sport as their identified gender. This is the first study to explore the perspective and views of NSOs on the participation of trans athletes in sport.

This study explored the experiences of university students who identified as always having had reading difficulties. Thirty-three participants, all from one Australian university, were surveyed and 10 were also interviewed. Findings revealed that many shared academic challenges related to studying, along with a belief that their difficulties were not well understood by staff or peers. While participants disclosed many similar personal struggles related to completing their studies, positive attributes such as determination and time management strategies were frequently mentioned as instrumental in allowing them to reach university. Experiences were more variable regarding awareness of, access to, and satisfaction with university-based support and academic adjustments. To facilitate optimal inclusive educational practices, this study supports the need for greater awareness among staff about challenges faced by these university students along with a more individualised and targeted approach to providing them with academic supports and accommodations.

The recently developed Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQMtF) is a self-report tool that assesses the perceptions of male-to-female transsexual women (MtF women) regarding their voices and the impact of voice on their everyday lives. Initial psychometric evaluation has demonstrated strong reliability of the TVQMtF, however, there has been relatively little investigation of its validity. There is evidence in the literature to support the notion that MtF women who have undergone gender reassignment surgery (GRS) have different perceptions of their voice than MtF women who have not undergone GRS. This information was used to examine the validity of the TVQMtF using a known-groups analysis. Method: The TVQMtF scores of 26 MtF women who had undergone GRS were compared with the scores of 27 MtF women who had not undergone GRS. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the total TVQMtF scores. Mann Whitney U tests were used for comparison across individual items. Results: Individuals w...

Students with invisible disabilities such as mental illness or acquired brain injury (ABI) experience multiple barriers that reduce their likelihood of postsecondary course completion. The present study conducted a systematic search of research reporting interventions for students experiencing mental illness or ABI to participate in postsecondary education. Nine databases were searched and a framework for categorising interventions and outcomes was developed. Forty-two studies revealed that most interventions were focused at the individual student level aiming to support students to build skills, grow confidence, or compensate for challenges through educational adjustments. There was wide diversity in research approaches used and a dearth of rigorous research designs. This review offers a more consistent way to define interventions and outcomes to guide future research and facilitate more meaningful comparisons between studies. The impacts of specific interventions on students’ attainment of qualifications and subsequent workforce participation need further investigation.

Voice disorders in teachers have a significant impact on their occupational functioning and well being. Teachers are believed to have a high prevalence of voice problems because of the unfavourable acoustic environments in which they work and the high vocal demands and stress levels associated with teaching. Although the types of voice problems teachers experience should be preventable because they are caused by factors that teachers can change, there is limited information available regarding the effectiveness of different preventative strategies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of vocal hygiene training (VH) and vocal function exercises (VFE) in reducing vocal symptoms and vocal misuse, and increasing knowledge of voice care, maximum phonation time, and maximum phonational frequency range in school teachers. Thirty-seven teachers from four schools in Melbourne, Australia, participated in the study. Schools were randomly allocated to one of three groups: VH, VFE, and no-treatment control. The VH and VFE participants reported improved vocal characteristics and voice knowledge after training while the control group showed deterioration on most variables. The VH participants showed greater improvements than the VFE participants. These fundings indicate that preventative voice training for teachers is likely to be effective.

This study determined the prevalence of self-reported voice problems in the general population. By including questions in the The Health Omnibus Survey, conducted in conjunction with the South Australian Health Commission, data were collected from a random sample of 2210 adults living in South Australia and aged between 21 and 64 years. For the purpose of this study, a voice problem was defined as any difficulty that prevented the respondent from doing all they wanted to with their voice. This provided a definition which used the respondent as the “norm” against which to make judgements, thereby avoiding possible ambiguity with interpretation of arbitrary descriptions of what constitutes a normal voice, while still allowing each individual to have different expectations of their own voice. Prevalence was determined over three time periods: adult life, this year and on the day of the survey. The prevalence of self-reported voice problems during adult life was 6.8%; year prevalence was 4.0%; and point preva...

Information Studies and Library Studies departments do not usually offer specialized reference courses for aspiring music librarians. Most music departments in academic universities offer some type of music bibliography course, which often combines music bibliography with an introduction to music research. Some music library students, however, do not have access to such music bibliography courses. While a number of articles outline the problems with music librarianship education, few offer any solutions, suggestions, or additional resources. This article outlines the inadequacies in the training provided by many MLS programs to students of music librarianships, suggesting practical solutions, and includes recommended resources for students.

How valid and reliable is the Finnish translation of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (VAPP)? 1 Abstracted from: Sukanen, O., Shivo, M., Rorarius, E., Lehtihalmes, M., Autio, V., Kleemo...

Even with prolonged treatment fewer than half of laryngectomees acquire proficient esophageal speech. The study reported in this paper concerns the psychological processes characterizing individuals who succeed and those who fail in learning esophageal speech. The research was undertaken in the context of mainstream psychological theories of stress-coping and self-efficacy. It was demonstrated through prospective analysis that self-referent cognitions relating to speech learning were more powerful predictors of which individuals achieved esophageal speech than less situational-specific appraisals or demographic, biomedical, rehabilitative, and personality characteristics. Over a period of six months following surgery, a person's beliefs concerning their capability for acquiring esophageal speech (self-efficacy perceptions) became an increasingly accurate indicator of eventual success or failure. Self-efficacy in relation to speech correlated with ultimate outcome as early as six weeks following laryngecto...

The change in communicative satisfaction of twenty laryngectomees (ten oesophageal and ten Servox speakers) and their spouses was assessed through two questionnaires conducted in interview form at one week apart. One interview assessed pre-operative satisfaction, the other post-operative satisfaction, in a variety of situations and with a variety of speaking partners. The communicative satisfaction of the laryngectomees as a group and the spouses as a group was compared pre- and post-operatively. The changes in communicative satisfaction post-laryngectomy experienced by the Servox speakers was compared with those experienced by the oesophageal speakers. Similarly, the changes in communicative satisfaction experienced by the laryngectomees were compared with those experienced by their spouses. A paired t test revealed a significant decrease in communicative satisfaction of the laryngectomees and their spouses post-laryngectomy. In two situations (when speaking on the telephone and with strangers) the laryn...

There has been unprecedented advancement in our knowledge about many specific aspects of voice disorders and related conditions in the last two decades. Despite this, practising speech-language pat...

The effect of speaking over background noise on the normal voices of thirty adult female subjects was investigated. Subjects were randomly assigned into three groups of 10 in order to study the effect of speaking over noise and duration of speaking on fundamental frequency and fundamental frequency variability. Each subject performed a speaking-in-quiet task followed by 20 minutes vocal rest, before speaking for the same period of time over 80dBA white noise. Using a sound level meter to monitor their voice level, subjects were required to speak as loudly as would be necessary to be understood by another person in 80dBA background white noise. The subjects' productions of /i:/, /u:/ and /a:/ were recorded before and after the speaking-in-quiet task, and before and after the speaking-in-noise task. Fundamental frequency and fundamental frequency variability were examined acoustically using the Fast Fourier Transform (Connor, 1975). Fundamental frequency was found to be significantly elevated after speaking...

Voice quality was investigated in 36 young males with a mean age of 10 years. This group represented subjects with vocal nodules and “breathy-tense” voices (N = 12); healthy vocal folds and “trained-breathy” voices (N = 12); and, healthy vocal folds and “normal” voices (N = 12). Each subject was required to produce three prolonged, isolated vowels (/a;/, /i:/, /u:/) which were recorded and analysed by the Fast Fourier Transform and the Filter Bank computer. This provided data on five variables: fundamental frequency (fo), fundamental frequency variability, spectral noise, second formant (F2) amplitude variability, and relative amplitudes. It was found that the nodular voices were differentiated from the normal voices by a higher fo and greater fo variability, and from the simulated breathy voices by higher fo, greater fo variability, less spectral noise, and less F2 amplitude variability. The nodular and simulated breathy voices did not appear to share any acoustic feature. These findings were discussed i...

This study employed an archival approach to explore the predictive relationships between a broad range of rehabilitative, medical and psychosocial variables and alaryngeal speech outcomes for a sample of 165 laryngectomees. Two speech outcomes were examined: esophageal speech proficiency and the primary mode of communication used by the laryngectomee (esophageal speech versus an alternative means of communication). A small, but significant amount of variance in esophageal speech proficiency could be accounted for by the laryngectomees' regularity of attendance at speech therapy, their employment status during rehabilitation and the presence of postoperative recurrence. It was not possible, however, to adequately predict the primary method of communication used by the laryngectomees in this sample. A major implication of these findings is that psychological and/or physiologic factors other than those investigated are more important predictors of alaryngeal speech acquisition.

The present paper was concerned with acoustic investigations of abnormal voice quality in clinical patients and subjects trained to simulate abnormal voice qualities. A review of studies relating to the acoustic components of hoarseness, harshness, the dysphonia of subjects with various laryngeal pathologies, and simulated roughness indicated that these conditions were characterised by very similar acoustic correlates. It appeared that this lack of acoustic differentiation reflected a number of problems, including: the semantic confusions of voice quality terminology; the failure of previous studies to control for the type of laryngeal pathology underlying perceptual categories; and, a lack of consistency in instrumentation, measurement techniques, and interpretation of acoustic findings. The authors have suggested that these problems must be substantially reduced in future studies in order that complete physiological and acoustic data for voice quality abnormalities can be delineated, and an empirically-...

A survey of speech pathologists in Australia was conducted to determine prevailing attitudes towards the use of artificial larynxes in laryngectomee rehabilitation. Three hundred and ninety-four speech pathologists responded to a questionnaire which requested Liken scale attitude ratings for 18 frequently cited statements concerning the artificial larynx. An open question requesting respondents to describe their general approaches to alaryngeal speech rehabilitation was also included. Attitude rating scores for each respondent were summated to reflect the extent of positive or negative feelings towards the artificial larynx. The mean score for the total sample reflected a mildly negative attitude. A significant relationship between attitude and experience with laryngectomees was evidenced; those respondents who had some experience were significantly less negative towards the artificial larynx than those who had no experience. Seven of the 18 statements with important therapeutic implications were further ...