Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

Michael Susca

Publication Date

7-11-1977

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to see if the mercury strain gauge could be used to assess lung volume partitions from chest wall motions. The air supply within any given lung volume provides the basic foundation upon which speech respiratory events rest. By assessing lung volumes in speech, the speech clinician is aided in the diagnosis and treatment of inappropriate uses of speech respiration. Although lung volumes have been assessed by a variety of instrumentation, only the respirometer has been widely used in speech physiology research. The major disadvantages of the respirometer over the mercury strain gauge are: 1) reduced measurement accuracy from the mechanical impedance between airflow and the kymograph, 2) oxygen consumption, 3) back-pressure against the airstream, 4) finite time use, and 5) high initial cost. A six inch mercury strain gauge was placed on the chest wall of each of seven healthy adult males. Each subject calibrated body surface displacements measured by the strain gauge to five 20 percent partitions of lung volume simultaneously monitored by a respirometer. The recording of body surface displacements was stored on a model 5103N Tektronix two channel storage oscilloscope and photographed with a polaroid camera. After the calibration procedure, the respirometer was removed and each subject did the following experimental tasks:

1. Three vital capacity maneuvers.

2. Quiet tidal breathing.

3. Prolongation of the vowel /a/ from total lung volume to residual volume on three repeated trials.

4. Repetition of the syllable /tʌ/ from total lung volume to residual volume on three repeated trials.

5. Repetition of the syllable /sʌ/ from total lung volume to residual volume on three repeated trials.

6. Oral reading of the first five sentences of "The Rainbow Passage."

Test-retest reliability measurements were conducted on three subjects on two separate days. Quantitative measurements of lung volume partitions were made from the photographs of the calibration and experimental tasks. The body surface displacements for each 20 percent partition of lung volume were similar across all subjects. The mean percentage of lung volume used during a) quiet tidal breathing was 13 percent, b) prolongation of the vowel /a/ was 100 percent, and c) reading was 26 percent. The mean differences in the time to repeat the syllables /tʌ/ and /sʌ/ was 6.88 seconds. The mean values for seven calculations related to airflow were 27.02 increments for vital capacity, 27.19 increments for phonation volume, 25.93 seconds for phonation time, 1.18 increments per second for mean flow rate, .04 increments squared per second for vocal velocity index, .18 for maximum predicted phonation time, and 153.34 for the ratio of phonation time to maximum predicted phonation time. The means of the inter- and intra-subject reliability coefficients were at or above .80 for all assessments made from the calibration and experimental tasks. This study concludes that the mercury strain gauge can be used to assess lung volume partitions from chest wall motions during speech. The mercury strain gauge is inexpensive, reliable, easy to use, and overcomes many drawbacks of the respirometer when used for speech research.

Degree Name

Speech-Language Pathology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Speech and Hearing Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Wayne Everett Swisher

Second Committee Member

John Tracy Lybolt

Third Committee Member

Frederick Martin Chreist Sr.

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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