A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ANALYSING THE PERFORMANCE OF TYPICALLY DEVELOPING INDIAN CHILDREN ON MOTOR FREE VISUAL PERCEPTUAL TEST-4 (MVPT-4)

Visual perception is the process by which individuals assign meaning, understanding, and interpretation to what they have seen. The aim of this study was to determine the visual perceptual skills of typically developing Indian children on MVPT-4. A sample of 180 typically developing Indian students were included in the study using convenience sampling method. They were divided in six age groups with age ranging from 6years to 12 years with 30 children in each age group. It was found that visual perceptual skills of typically developing Indian children in 6-12 years of age group can be assessed using MVPT-4. Analysis was done using One-way Anova to compare the mean raw score of each age group. There was a significant difference between the age groups at statistical value of p< 0.001. The score improved with age, signifying refined and matured visual perceptual skills in older children. Age influences visual-perceptual skills of these children. This study also provides a foundation for further researches and highlights the importance of MVPT-4 as a screening tool to be used by the occupational therapist in order to assess the visual perceptual skills of children.

Development of a Revised Performance-Perceptual Test Using Quick Speech in Noise Test Material and Its Norms

Two audiometric speech measures have been recognized to have associations with hearing aid use success: the Quick Speech in Noise (QuickSIN) test and the Performance-Perceptual Test (PPT). The PPT involves using the same speech test material (Hearing in Noise Test [HINT]) twice, to evaluate patients’ objective and subjective speech recognition performance in noise and the discrepancy between the two measures (Performance-Perceptual Discrepancy [PPDIS]). Using the QuickSIN to conduct the PPT (revised-PPT) may provide clinicians two pieces of important information from one test to help predict hearing aid use success and the need for counseling. Moreover, we could achieve the desired clinical efficiency without purchasing additional test materials.This study aimed (1) to evaluate the validity and reliability of using the QuickSIN speech material to administer the PPT and (2) to establish normative data across listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing loss (HL).This study used a repeated measures design.Of the total 65 participants between 18 and 88 years of age, 20 (31%) had NH and 45 (69%) had sensorineural HL, ranging from mild to profound in both ears. Thirty-two of the 45 participants with HL were hearing aid users.All participants completed the original PPT using HINT and the revised-PPT using QuickSIN, via sound field. Generalized linear mixed models were used to compare the performance, perceptual, and PPDIS data between the two test materials across all participants. Normative data for the revised-PPT were established from all participants.Significant main effects for both the test material and hearing status were found for the performance and perceptual data. All interactions were nonsignificant. There were no significant PPDIS differences between the original PPT and the revised-PPT. Normative values for the revised-PPT were established and comparable to the norms for the original PPT in the present study. The test–retest results suggested that the revised-PPT has good reliability. In addition, it appeared that there was a negative association between underestimation of hearing ability and hearing aid use success.It is concluded that the QuickSIN speech material can replace HINT to measure PPT. The revised-PPT may serve as a useful and efficient clinical tool in any clinics for hearing aid fitting and counseling.

Development of a sensory and perceptual assessment test for psychosis and schizophrenia

Results from the development of a novel sensory and perceptual test to assess the level of altered visual size perception in people with schizophrenia are presented. Here we compare the performances in a visual sensory and perceptual test between a control group and an experimental group of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. We have been using paintings by Salvador Dalí and Rorschach plates to assess images size perception. In this transversal, ex-post-fact and quasi-experimental study we show differences between EG (Experimental Group) and CG (Control Group). Schizophrenics in-patients as compared to controls perceived sizes about 1.3 fold greater than healthy volunteers (p=0.006), thus showing that size perception is altered in schizophrenia. Together with previous results, this particular sensory test for size perception seems to be a useful assessment tool to evaluate the degree and severity of psychotic symptoms in prodromal schizophrenic states, and neuropsychiatric patients in general. It may help prevent acute crisis with proper, and most likely, lower dosages of medication.

Development of a Revised Performance-Perceptual Test Using Quick Speech in Noise Test Material and Its Norms

Background: Two audiometric speech measures have been recognized to have associations with hearingaid use success: the Quick Speech in Noise (QuickSIN) test and the Performance-Perceptual Test(PPT). The PPT involves using the same speech test material (Hearing in Noise Test [HINT]) twice, toevaluate patients’ objective and subjective speech recognition performance in noise and the discrepancybetween the two measures (Performance-Perceptual Discrepancy [PPDIS]). Using the QuickSIN to conductthe PPT (revised-PPT) may provide clinicians two pieces of important information from one test tohelp predict hearing aid use success and the need for counseling. Moreover, we could achieve the desiredclinical efficiency without purchasing additional test materials.<br />Purpose: This study aimed (1) to evaluate the validity and reliability of using the QuickSIN speech materialto administer the PPT and (2) to establish normative data across listeners with normal hearing (NH)and hearing loss (HL).<br />Research Design: This study used a repeated measures design.<br />Study Sample: Of the total 65 participants between 18 and 88 years of age, 20 (31%) had NH and 45(69%) had sensorineural HL, ranging from mild to profound in both ears. Thirty-two of the 45 participantswith HL were hearing aid users.Data Collection and Analysis: All participants completed the original PPT using HINT and the revised-PPT using QuickSIN, via sound field. Generalized linear mixed models were used to compare the performance,perceptual, and PPDIS data between the two test materials across all participants. Normativedata for the revised-PPT were established from all participants.<br />Results: Significant main effects for both the test material and hearing status were found for the performanceand perceptual data. All interactions were nonsignificant. There were no significant PPDISdifferences between the original PPT and the revised-PPT. Normative values for the revised-PPT wereestablished and comparable to the norms for the original PPT in the present study. The test–retest resultssuggested that the revised-PPT has good reliability. In addition, it appeared that there was a negativeassociation between underestimation of hearing ability and hearing aid use success.<br />Conclusions: It is concluded that the QuickSIN speech material can replace HINT to measure PPT. Therevised-PPT may serve as a useful and efficient clinical tool in any clinics for hearing aid fitting and counseling.<br />

The contribution of prosody to foreign accent: A study of Spanish as a foreign language

The aim of this study is to analyze the contribution of prosody on the perception of foreign accent by Brazilian learners of Spanish. The data were collected from 15 participants and a control group of 5 native Spanish speakers. A perceptual test was performed with two different speech styles (reading and storytelling) and with delexicalized and natural speech. The speech production was judged by 24 native Spanish subjects. First, they had to determine the nationality of the speaker by listening to the delexicalized excerpts in Spanish (storytelling). After that, the listeners used a continuous scale to rate the excerpts (reading and storytelling) for the degree of foreign accent in Spanish. The results suggest that it is possible to identify foreign accent only with the prosodic information provided in the delexicalized stimuli, i.e., f0, duration, and overall intensity. In addition, the perceptual test allowed us to assess the degree of foreign accent of each subject while revealing the great variability of their production. Finally, concerning the external data, the following factors predicted foreign accent among the learners: gender, length of residence in Spain, formal language instruction in Brazil, age of arrival in Spain, and reported use of Brazilian Portuguese in Spain. These results confirm the crucial role of naturalistic learning of a foreign language, as shown by previous studies.

Assessment of Olfactory Memory in Olfactory Dysfunction

To assess all clinically relevant components of olfactory perception, examinations for olfactory sensitivity, discrimination, and identification are performed. Besides the standard perceptual test battery, episodic olfactory memory might offer additional information about olfactory abilities relative to these standard clinical tests. As both olfactory deficits and memory deficits are early symptoms in neurodegenerative disorders, olfactory memory may be of particular interest. However, to date little is known about episodic olfactory memory performance in patients with decreased olfactory function. This study includes the investigation of olfactory memory performance in 14 hyposmic patients (8 female, mean age 52.6 years) completing two episodic odor memory tests (Sniffin’ Test of Odor Memory and Odor Memory Test). To control for a general impairment in memory function, a verbal and a figural memory test were carried out. A regression model with multiple predictors was calculated for both odor memory tests separately. Odor identification was identified as the only significant predictor for both odor memory tasks. From our results, we conclude that currently available olfactory memory tests are highly influenced by odor identification abilities, implying the need for the development and validation of additional tests in this field which could serve as additional olfactory perception variables for clinical assessment.

The influence of L1 on auditory perception of Spanish/L2

The objective of this paper is to examine first language influence on phonic perception capabilities by non-native speakers of Spanish and subsequently analyze some of the existing links between perception and production processes in foreign language acquisition. The assumption is made that both processes are interlinked, and that they develop in line with each other, as the phonological categorization of new units—whereby proper speech production is achieved—starts from complex perceptual processes wherein the first language (L1) plays a crucial role. In order to conduct the study, a perceptual test was taken by 300 students (both men and women) from 20 different countries. Spanish levels ranged from A2 to C1. Data collected (61,200 responses) has been analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Our results show that first language influence on perception is low. They also suggest that, although dependent on each other, production and perception are developed differently.

Les Québécois perçoivent-ils le français montréalais comme une variete topolectale distincte ? Résultats d’une analyse perceptuelle exploratoire

Given its status as the social, economic, and cultural center of Quebec, the metropolitan area of Montreal plays a rather important role with respect to the sociolinguistic dynamics of the province as a whole. For instance, certain changes that have affected Quebec French over time are believed to have appeared in Montreal before having spread to other regions of the province. Such a scenario entails that Quebeckers perceive certain linguistic features as being part of Montreal French — sometimes without even being aware of it — and that these dialect markers take on social values that are prone to their further diffusion. This article aims to look further into this hypothesis by presenting the results of an exploratory dialect identification task. The perceptual test is part of a research program whose scope is to study the distribution of nasal vowels in Montreal French in general and that of the nasal vowel /ã/ in particular.