Neurocognitive substrates of naming facilitation in aphasia. This research directly addresses the national research priority goal of ageing well, ageing productively, by providing foundational knowledge for improved outcomes in the growing population of individuals in Australia with language impairments from age-related disease. Outcomes of the proposed research will include (1) development of a new theory of word production which can improve treatment of language impairment, (2) an enhanced und ....Neurocognitive substrates of naming facilitation in aphasia. This research directly addresses the national research priority goal of ageing well, ageing productively, by providing foundational knowledge for improved outcomes in the growing population of individuals in Australia with language impairments from age-related disease. Outcomes of the proposed research will include (1) development of a new theory of word production which can improve treatment of language impairment, (2) an enhanced understanding of the cognitive and brain mechanisms involved in word production and its treatment after stroke, and (3) postgraduate training in state-of-the-art cognitive neuroimaging and language neuroscience research. Read moreRead less
An investigation of respiration in stuttering. Australia leads the world in stuttering research, and this project will maintain that profile. The research aims to establish if breathing has a causal role in stuttering. The new knowledge produced will support or weaken current theories of the cause of stuttering and will contribute to understanding the nature of the disorder. In particular, it will be applied to develop more effective and efficient treatments for chronic stuttering.
Establishing the relationship between anxiety and stuttering. The present project will establish basic knowledge about the disorder of stuttering, which will contribute to offsetting the personal and community costs of the disorder by guiding empirical investigations into its nature and the development of future treatments. Further benefits at the population level will occur by provision to the public of basic information about the disorder assembled from this project. By conveying information f ....Establishing the relationship between anxiety and stuttering. The present project will establish basic knowledge about the disorder of stuttering, which will contribute to offsetting the personal and community costs of the disorder by guiding empirical investigations into its nature and the development of future treatments. Further benefits at the population level will occur by provision to the public of basic information about the disorder assembled from this project. By conveying information from the present project to clinicians who treat stuttering patients, the project will benefit Australians who stutter.Read moreRead less
Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia. It is important to differentiate between children who have communication impairment (difficulty learning all languages) from those who only have difficulty learning subsequent language(s). Communication impairment in multilingual children is both undiagnosed and over-diagnosed due to lack of culturally-sensitive measurement tools. Early intervention can ameliorate communication impairment in children and can reduce subsequent e ....Speaking my language: International speech acquisition in Australia. It is important to differentiate between children who have communication impairment (difficulty learning all languages) from those who only have difficulty learning subsequent language(s). Communication impairment in multilingual children is both undiagnosed and over-diagnosed due to lack of culturally-sensitive measurement tools. Early intervention can ameliorate communication impairment in children and can reduce subsequent educational, social and occupational outcomes of untreated communication impairment. By working with people around the world, this Fellowship will result in the development of the International Speech Assessment designed to differentially identify children and to specify holistic early intervention goals.Read moreRead less
Children with speech impairment: A population study of prevalence, severity, impact and service provision. Compared to the general community, adults who had a speech impairment as a child typically achieve lower levels of education, have greater literacy problems, experience significant social problems and discrimination, and have decreased occupational opportunities. The social and economic cost of untreated speech impairment for individuals, schools and society is large. This landmark study wi ....Children with speech impairment: A population study of prevalence, severity, impact and service provision. Compared to the general community, adults who had a speech impairment as a child typically achieve lower levels of education, have greater literacy problems, experience significant social problems and discrimination, and have decreased occupational opportunities. The social and economic cost of untreated speech impairment for individuals, schools and society is large. This landmark study will identify strengths and limitations in the health and education sectors regarding appropriate and holistic services for children with speech impairment combining identified prevalence, severity and impact data.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100868
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,284.00
Summary
Neural mechanisms of inhibitory control of human speech in stutterers and non-stutterers. Stopping oneself from speaking is a crucial communication function. In people who stutter, a disorder of this function causes their debilitating speech problem. This project will use cutting edge neuroimaging techniques to reveal how the brain stops speech in stutterers and in fluent speakers.
Factors impacting on workplace retention in speech pathology. Retention of speech pathologists within their profession and within the public service is presenting a major problem for the professional association, the public service and service users. In repsonse to this situation our study aims to measure the psychological well being of speech pathologists nationally and to identify workplace dimensions that are hindering or enhancing retention. The results of this study will be of significance ....Factors impacting on workplace retention in speech pathology. Retention of speech pathologists within their profession and within the public service is presenting a major problem for the professional association, the public service and service users. In repsonse to this situation our study aims to measure the psychological well being of speech pathologists nationally and to identify workplace dimensions that are hindering or enhancing retention. The results of this study will be of significance to all stakeholders, in particularly individuals with communication disorders. The successful retention of experienced speech pathologists within the profession and the public sector will help ensure expert services are available to Australia's ageing population.Read moreRead less
The roles of spectral cues and auditory plasticity in auditory localisation, speech segregation and speech intelligibility. Our recent work shows that high frequency energy in speech is important for the localisation of speech and may also aid in improving speech intelligibility in noisy environments. The work proposed here will systematically explore this somewhat surprising new finding and the results will be incorporated into a predictive model of speech intelligibility under spatial listenin ....The roles of spectral cues and auditory plasticity in auditory localisation, speech segregation and speech intelligibility. Our recent work shows that high frequency energy in speech is important for the localisation of speech and may also aid in improving speech intelligibility in noisy environments. The work proposed here will systematically explore this somewhat surprising new finding and the results will be incorporated into a predictive model of speech intelligibility under spatial listening conditions. This work includes a systematic study of auditory functional plasticity to changes in the spatial cues. Taken together, the outcomes of this work will unlock a range of new approaches to enhancing spatial hearing in multi-channel communication devices and spatial hearing aids.Read moreRead less
Acoustic, spatial and informational cues used to solve the cocktail party problem. Speech is the principal mode of human communication and yet we understand little about how we are able to concentrate on one talker against a noisy background. Significant improvements in supporting listening by the hearing impaired, in teleconferencing systems and computer speech interfaces are dependent on a more advanced understanding of how we solve this cocktail party problem. This research explores the acous ....Acoustic, spatial and informational cues used to solve the cocktail party problem. Speech is the principal mode of human communication and yet we understand little about how we are able to concentrate on one talker against a noisy background. Significant improvements in supporting listening by the hearing impaired, in teleconferencing systems and computer speech interfaces are dependent on a more advanced understanding of how we solve this cocktail party problem. This research explores the acoustic, spatial and informational cues used by the healthy auditory system to achieve this remarkable feat of signal processing. There is significant potential for commercialization of the IP that will arise from this research.Read moreRead less