Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

5-20-1969

Abstract

The present research was directed toward gaining a clearer understanding of the relationships between the location of brain injury and relative auditory and visual input abilities of adults by submitting selected subjects to comparable procedures requiring the auditory and the visual input of stimuli. Two tests, the Geometric Figures Test (GFT) and the Token Test (TT), were developed as a means of obtaining measures of auditory input ability and visual input ability. Each test contains separate auditory and visual batteries. The two batteries of each test are similar in all respects except for the mode of input used for each battery. In addition to the GFT and the TT, several other tests were included in the test battery: (1) the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), (2) the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale (CMMS), and (3) the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA). Four groups of subjects were exposed to the experimental procedures: subjects with lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere, the right cerebral hemisphere, bilateral cerebral lesions, and control subjects in whom cerebral pathology had been ruled out. There were no significant differences between the groups on the variables of age, educational level, and number of weeks between onset of injury and testing. Peripheral defects of visual acuity and auditory sensitivity were ruled out. Results indicate that the auditory and visual input abilities of brain-injured adults are affected differentially, depending upon the hemispheric location of the cerebral lesion(s). In addition to differences between groups on test scores, differences were also shown between groups on response latency. Results also provide information related to prognosis for recovery of language abilities following brain injury. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings, their immediate clinical implications, and in relation to needs for continuing investigations. It is concluded that sub-populations do exist among brain-­injured adults in terms of auditory and visual input abilities, and that a major task for future research should be to further define the nature of post-traumatic input ability deficits and their relationships to language rehabilitation.

Degree Name

Speech-Language Pathology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Speech and Hearing Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dolores Smith Butt

Second Committee Member

Bruce Earl Porch

Third Committee Member

Don Martin Rice

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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