SST 375: Speech-Language Sciences
Instructor: Dennis C. Tanner, Ph.D.
Professor
Course Description
Addresses the fundamentals of the sciences pertaining to articulation, voice, and language.
As such, the content will be general and there will be exploration, at a fundamental level,
of acoustics, respiratory science, voice production, acoustic phonetics, and sound
spectrography. Language representation and motor programming as they pertain to the
dynamic process of speech communication will be explored as well as fundamentals of
speech perception and instrumentation. Prerequisite: [(CSD 202 or SST 202) and (CSD
251 or SST 251)] or International Exchange Student Group
Course Objectives
Students will:
1. be familiar with differences between speech-language sciences and speech-language
pathology,
2. understand the scientific method and various types of research used to study the
normal aspects of human speech and hearing,
3. have a basic understanding of scientific terms used in speech sciences, measurement
terminology in both the English and Metric systems for force, pressure, energy, work, etc.
4. understand the basics of physics as they pertains to energy, motion, displacement,
force, pressure, etc. and their relationship to speech production,
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5. have a basic understanding of respiration processes for gas compression-speech
valving, driving pressures, impedance and flow,
6. be familiar with voice onset, modes of vocal fold vibration, pitch adjustment, volume
and quality,
7. understand articulation processes, both static and dynamic, with emphasis on
measurement, trajectories, momentum and resistance,
8. have an appreciation for the binary functioning of velo-pharyngeal air-flow valving,
9. understand the process of dynamic interaction representation at the cortical and
sub-cortical levels of the five basic speech processes: respiration, phonation,
articulation, resonance and prosody,
10. understand the Fourier analysis (speech spectrography) and be able to identify each
salient feature of a spectrogram,
11. experiment with speech science software package (time permitting),
12. have a basic understanding of various models of speech and hearing production and
feedback, including:
a. speech chain model (Bell Labs)
b. servo-system (Grant Fairbanks)
c. tube and cavity (Helmholtz Resonators)
d. psycholinguistic models.
e. reactive voice disorder model
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13. have a basic understanding of thought, language and cortical representation of reality.
Specific Module Topics Addressed in the Modules
The Unified Model of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Connections
Connections Lost
Communication Sciences and Disorders: The Discipline
Communication Disorders Classified by Affected Process
Disciplines Involved in Communication Sciences
The Sciences of Human Anatomy and Physiology
The Science of Acoustics
The Sciences of Cognition
Disciplines and Specialties Involved in Communication Disorders
Clinical Neuroscience, Special Education, and Psychology
Medical and Dental Specialties Involved in Communication Disorders
The Acquisition of Knowledge in Communication Sciences and Disorders
The Age of Information
Intelligent Information Consumption
Language: Believing and Knowing
The Arduous Journey to Knowing and Believing in Human Communication and its Disorders
Anaudos, Aphonos, and Aphasia
The Philosophical Foundations to Knowledge Acquisition
Modern Epistemology and the Discipline of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Perspectives on Science and Logic in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Science
Catalogue-Epidemiological Research
Descriptive Research
Experimental Research
Essentials of Experimental Research Design and Publication Format
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Front and Back Matter
Review of the Literature and History of the Problem
Definition of Terms
Hypotheses and Research Questions
Subjects and Sampling
Variables
Results and Discussions
Scientific Aspiration in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Evaluating Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods and Procedures in Communication Sciences and
Disorders
Research Importance and Statistical Significance
Assessing the Value of Non-Scientific Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods and Procedures
Clinical Syllogisms
Clinical Intuition
Clinical Authority
Relative Application
The Psychology of Clinical Decision-Making
Approach-Approach Conflicts
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts
Simple Approach-Avoidance Conflicts
Double Approach-Avoidance Conflicts
Consciousness, Language, and Thought
Human Consciousness and Communication
Defining Consciousness
Defining Language
The Origin of Consciousness
Consciousness, Symbolism, and Language
Defining Thought
Problem-Solving and Free-Floating Thought
Units of Thought
Thinking in Images: Iconic Representations of Reality
Image-Present Icons
Image-Stored Icons
Thinking in Words: Internal Monologues
The Language-Thought Controversy in Children
Other Types of Thinking
Mental Executive Functioning and Metacognition
Ego States
Parent Ego State
Adult Ego State
Child Ego State
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Mental Executive Functioning, Metacognition, and Structural Analysis
Expressive Language and Motor Speech Planning
The Concept of Expressive Language
Speech and Hearing Transition to Speech-Language-Hearing
The Inviolable Expressive-Receptive Language Dichotomy Dogma
Multimodality Expressive Abilities and Aphasia
The Chaos of Classification: The Distinction Between Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Neurogenic
Communication Disorders
The Concept of Predominantly Expressive Aphasia
Telegraphic Expressions
Anterior-Nonfluent Aphasia
Agraphia
Broca’s Aphasia: Anomia and Apraxia of Speech
Verbal Symbols and the Motor Speech Plan in Children and Adults
The Development of Motor Speech Programming and Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Serially Ordered Motor Speech Conceptualization, Planning, Execution, and Closed-Loop
Feedback
Conceptual Motor Speech and Ideational Apraxia of Speech
Planning Motor Speech and Apraxia of Speech
Motor Speech Activation and Apraxia of Speech
Closed-Loop Feedback
Motor Speech Production
Muscles and Motor Speech Production
Contractile Tissue
Respiration: Compression Air for Speech Production
Respiratory Capacities and Volumes
The Biological Pump
Respiration and Oral Tract Impedance
Stage Models of Respiration
Phonation: Energizing Compressed Air for Speech Production
The Physics of Phonation
Intensity of Vocal Fold Vibration and Loudness
Frequency of Vocal Fold Vibration and Pitch
Articulation: Shaping Compressed Air for Speech Production
Normal and Delayed Phoneme Acquisition
Phonological Process Extinction and Phoneme Acquisition
Nasal Coupling and Nasality
Prosody: Suprasegmental Aspects of Motor Speech Production
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The Speech Resonating System and Acoustic Energy Transmission
Communication Chain of Events: From Electrochemical to Acoustic Energy
Speech Sound-Source Resonating System
Frictional-Stop Sound Sources
Glottal Sound Source
Speech Sound Spectrogram
Quality and Spectral Characteristics of the Voice
The Breathy-To-Harsh Voice Quality Continuum
Complex Speech Sound Waves and Information Duplexing
The Property of Entropy and the Unified Model of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Order to Disorder
Noise
The Hearing Mechanism and Accompanying Nonverbal Communication
Acoustic to Mechanical Energy Transmission
Survival and Human Hearing
The Outer Ear: Channeling Acoustic Energy
The Middle Ear: Transforming Acoustic Energy to Mechanical Energy
The Inner Ear: Transforming Mechanical Energy to Hydraulic Energy
The Inner Ear and Cranial Nerve VIII: Transforming Hydraulic to Electrochemical Energy
Accompanying Nonverbal Communication
Facial Expressions
Gestures
Proxemics
Clothing
Touch
Smell
Auditory Perception and Association
"Gate-Keeping" and the Thalamus
Figure-Ground
Whorfian Hypothesis
Verbal and Nonverbal Perception
Agnosias
Receptive Grammar, Semantics, Syntax, and Phonology
Metacognition
Abstract Attitude
Executive Function
General Semantics: Reaction to Symbols
Localization versus Nonlocalization Issues
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Disorders of Auditory Associations and Thought
Ethical and Legal Issues in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Medical Model of Service Provision
Educational Model of Service Provision
Free Enterprise versus Socialistic Models
Cyber Speech and Hearing Clinics
Legal versus Moral
Reality Orientation
Behavioral Conditioning
Coma Stimulation
Refusal of Services
Prevention versus Cure
Total Communication and Social Issues of Deafness
Dialect/Accent
Speaker Profiling for Forensic Purposes
Required Text: An Advanced Course in Communication Sciences and Disorders (Tanner,
2006, Plural Publishing).
Evaluation System:
Examination 1........................25%
Examination 2........................25%
Examination 3........................25%
Term Paper
..........................25%
Cheating, in any form, will result in a failing grade for the course.
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