Search Results for "auditory processing"
Study on Speech Processing
Published May 28, 2009 @ 04:00PM PT
[Another time it seems Kristina and I hooked on the same article. This seemed different enough from what Kristina wrote to still run though. I hope!]
I would take the title of the article "Scientists Reaching Consensus On How Brain Processes Speech" with a warehouse full of salt, but the core idea seems to be that areas of the brain which process speech are starting to be identified (if one can believe the science reporting). The model presented in the article is a "two parallel pathway" idea,
These pathways are dubbed the "what" and "where" streams and are roughly analogous to how the brain processes sight, but are located in different regions, says Rauschecker, a professor in the department of physiology and biophysics and a member of the Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Sciences.
Both pathways begin with the processing of signals in the auditory cortex, located inside a deep fissure on the side of the brain underneath the temples - the so-called "temporal lobe." Information processed by the "what" pathway then flows forward along the outside of the temporal lobe, and the job of that pathway is to recognize complex auditory signals, which include communication sounds and their meaning (semantics). The "where" pathway is mostly in the parietal lobe, above the temporal lobe, and it processes spatial aspects of a sound - its location and its motion in space - but is also involved in providing feedback during the act of speaking.
If processing speech involves different brainstuffs (e.g., auditory cortex) than processing, for example, writing (or other visually based) or felt language (e.g., Braille), perhaps this suggests why some autistic people (myself included) do significantly better with communication in a non-speech/hearing medium. Speech is not communication--it is simply one way that communication can occur. Speech is also not language, although language can be (but does not have to be) spoken.
Take Action for Accessible Communications
Published July 09, 2009 @ 04:00PM PT
Especially as auditory processing can be an issue for people on the spectrum (not to mention deaf and blind people on the spectrum, not to mention all people in general!), the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2009, H.R. 3101, is an important piece of U.S. legislation. This act would require, among other things, video captioning and descriptions for internet video programming and widespread accessibility of text messaging on mobile devices. The focus of the act is on accessibility for Internet protocol based communications and emerging technology. Whoot!
From AAPD, here's the checklist for this bill:
1. Contact your Member of the United States House of Representatives. Ask him or her to cosponsor H.R. 3101. Be sure to telephone, send E-mail, and a letter. Find your Member at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
2. Write your two U.S. Senators and ask them to sponsor and introduce a similar bill to H.R. 3101. Find your Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
3. Use the bullet points...[on the AAPD site] as appropriate and include any personal stories about lack of access.
4. Thank Rep. Ed Markey for his leadership by using the Email Contact form at http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=com_email_form&Itemid=124
5. You can find a copy of this legislation on http://www.Thomas.gov soon by typing in the bill number -- H.R. 3101.
6. Pass this Action Alert along to others and encourage them to send letters & E-mails, make phone calls and to complete online contact forms. Be sure to mention "H.R. 3101" in any text or calls made.
7. If possible, please send a copy to AAPD of any letters sent: AAPD, 1629 K Street NW, Suite 950, Washington, DC 20006. Attn. J. Simpson
I've put together a change.org action that covers the letters of support to House Representatives item 1.--please take a moment to personalize the letter and send it out to your legislators!
If anyone reading this would like to convert some of these other points into change.org actions, feel free--remember you can create (respectful and on topic please!) actions here too.
Sensory Integration and Implications on Understanding Speech
Published July 04, 2009 @ 12:07PM PT
Many of us on the spectrum report a lot of difficulty making out what people are saying. Some of us have been additionally diagnosed with auditory processing disorder (sorry about the "in children" insistence in that article--it's otherwise a good article and the info is true of adults as well). Difficulty separating foreground from background noise is commonly reported. Earlier this year I posted on mono-sensing and understanding speech and questioned whether difficulty integrating vision and hearing might contribute to auditory processing issues.
Now it seems like there's some science backing up our experiences from City College of New York's Dr. John J. Foxe,
"Sensory integration dysfunction has long been speculated to be a core component of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but there has been precious little hard empirical evidence to support this notion. Viewing a speaker's articulatory movements can greatly improve a listener's ability to understand spoken words, and this is especially the case under noisy environmental conditions.
"These results are the first of their kind to verify that children with autism have substantial difficulties in these situations..."
Foxe goes on to describe the implications this has for classrooms--that smaller, quieter classrooms that are more accommodating of auditory processing difficulties are a good idea.
"Being able to detect speech in noise plays a vital role in how we communicate with each other because our listening environments are almost never quiet. Even the hum of air conditioners or fans that we can easily ignore may adversely impact these children's ability to understand speech in the classroom."
Again, children children children, but these issues are definitely not limited to children! The science doesn't generalize, but the concepts likely do (at least they do in my experience as an N of 1). Environmental system hums, lighting hums, the shuffling of papers and clattering of pens and shifting in seats--all things that as a graduate student I fight through in order to make out what the instructor is saying. And background noise is always there--it does not "turn off." This makes listening to speech something that is exhausting, fades in and out, and is deeply unreliable.
Autism may be less "mysterious" when our experience of the world, such as our experience of others' speech, is better understood. This can pave the way to more accommodating environments which may lead to more opportunities and a higher quality of life.
image is a spectrogram of a man saying "19th century," source wikipedia
A Little Talk and a Lot of Pictures
Published May 29, 2009 @ 12:22AM PT
![](http://www.change.org/photos/wordpress_copies/photo_2-300x225.jpg "\\"Relax\\" card for Charlie\'s activity schedule")
Talk talk talk.
But a picture now---it's worth that proverbial thousand words.
Over the years of being with Charlie, Jim and I've become more and more aware of how much we talk. Jim's a long-time fast-talking Jersey guy (though the real fast talker in the family was actually his mother, when she was better). I started off shy and quiet (liked Latin because I didn't have to converse, just memorize columns of endings and vocabulary) but I'm a reasonably big/fast talker now (gotta keep up). The two of us can let off long bouts of verbiage (and we both go to Charlie's IEP meetings.......).
I'm third-generation Chinese American and my family is more inclined to be quiet. Our family get-togethers always involve food, Chinese and otherwise. Silence has its power too; silence, too, can speak; silence can be a way of communicating, too.
Charlie, as noted here, is a boy of limited words, and with plenty to say. He had apraxia when younger; years of speech therapy (including oral-motor therapy), articulation practice, and physical activity and exercise (to build up his muscles and muscle control) have helped tremendously. Charlie's regularly encouraged to speak in his classroom. In the past few weeks, he's been speaking spontaneously and more often. Yesterday, standing by the kitchen sink, he caught my eye, smiled, and said "Hi." In the YMCA pool last Saturday, he announced "I got the boat today"----the pool was not as busy as usual due to the Memorial Day holiday and Charlie was able to play with some of the pool toys, without anyone hollering "I want that next!" in his ear. And while it's certainly necessary to model talking and speech for Charlie, Jim and I have learned to slow it down and speak at a pace that suits Charlie who, for all of his struggles with articulation and word recall and auditory processing, prefers speech to other forms of communication.
This is why we've yet to seriously start teaching him to use an augmentative communication device though lately some other things have been suggesting that Charlie may soon be ready for one.
Accessibility, Technology, and Universal Design
Published April 09, 2009 @ 09:36AM PT
Universal Design is the general idea that engineering something to remove disability-related barriers can also benefit people who don't have a disability; in other words, design stuff so everyone can use it. Most of us have experienced the benefits of universal design when we make use of handrails on stair cases, even if we don't have a disability which makes the handrails always necessary. Or used the magnifying capabilities of a computer's operating system to read inhumanly tiny text, even if we don't have a disability which makes screen magnification always necessary.
Something else that's great about universal design is that it makes the accommodations automatically accessible. In other words, no one has to fill out paper work, get a doctor's note, reveal personal information to strangers, or plead for their right to use a handrail or operating system's magnification software. The accommodations are simply there when needed.
Gear change: AT&T wireless has a Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) that is perfect for someone with my particular set of disabilities. Between speech difficulties, auditory processing difficulties, and lack of anything resembling "phone skills," the telephone for me is mostly something I dial and grunt into if I'm having an emergency--and only to a few select people who understand what said grunting means. However, I do communicate via telephone lines, through data, the Internet, email, chat, and SMS. In fact, I am dependent on data technology for communication with anyone beyond my immediate friends and family. So while voice plans for cell phones make zero sense in my world, data access is what it's all about.
So what's the gripe, and do these bits of ideas tie together into some actual point?
In order to be allowed access to TAP, AT&T requires that a person fill out and submit a form giving proof of disability, including a description of the exact nature of the disability, and signed by a "certified professional" such as a SLP, therapist, or medical doctor.
This is all well and good for someone like me who has a current, established relationship with a SLP who can clearly document the nature of disability without charging for the time (plus as I've already divulged personal info about diagnosis in this here very public forum, so having strangers at AT&T read all about it doesn't make me particularly squeamish). HOWEVER:
1. Not all autistic adults, or adults with other speech or hearing difficulties, have an established relationship with a certified professional; finding someone to fill out the documentation could require extensive communication skills and/or financial expense. The requirement to provide proof of disability may be an accessibility barrier in itself.
2. Confidentiality? ??
3. Most importantly, what about universal access? People who don't have a notable level of speech or hearing impairment may full well prefer an option like TAP over a voice-centric plan. Instead of creating some segregated option for only those who can prove their telephone gimpiness, what about extending the idea of universal access so that anyone who wants a text-centric plan can sign up for it? Increased choice, decreased barriers to access, less stigma, and everyone wins.
Universal access works as well in the high tech of computers and telecommunications as it does in the low tech of handrails and forks. Inclusive society doesn't just mean giving the disabled access to the tools of the non-disabled, it also means giving the non-disabled access to the tools of the disabled. AT&T, IMO, can do better.
The Dark Side of the ADA
Published March 12, 2009 @ 10:16AM PT
I'm usually writing about the ADA and similar disability rights laws as a Very Good Thing, but Dubner and Levitt of Freakanomics point out some Unintended Consequences and The Price of Disability Law in their New York Times column and blog.
Unintended Consequences points out first the example of doctors finding the cost of accommodating prohibitively expensive, then the example of employers becoming so terrified of the law that they just avoid any situation where it would come into play,
Acemoglu and Angrist found that when the A.D.A. was enacted in 1992, it led to a sharp drop in the employment of disabled workers. How could this be? Employers, concerned that they wouldn’t be able to discipline or fire disabled workers who happened to be incompetent, apparently avoided hiring them in the first place.
The Price of Disability Law goes into more depth on the specific issue of medical care for people who use sign language interpreters.
Auditory processing issues that might benefit from an interpreter or captioner aside, the issue particularly of doctors not wanting to work with autistic patients because of the (at times very real) cost to them is a big problem. Cost may not be direct in terms of needing to hire an interpreter, but indirect in needing to spend more time with the patient. I'm also reminded of the barriers to health care in the U.S. experienced by all people who do not speak fluent English (perhaps we need more doctors who themselves know sign language, Spanish, or PECS?).
More generally though, the idea of trying to weasel around the ADA and causing more discrimination in the process is disturbing. Part ignorance (in the case of employers thinking accommodations will cost them a lot or that they won't be able to discipline an employee) and part seriously broken systems (in the case of the U.S. medical system), there are obviously some areas in the real-world implementation of the ADA that need to be examined. How can society do better?
Civil rights are human rights, not something only bought when they have the right price tag or happen to be convenient.
Simulations and Analogies for Understanding Autism
Published February 16, 2009 @ 05:00PM PT
John Muir Elementary School in Washington took a creative approach to teaching (typical) students about disabilities. A series of simulations were set up to enable typical students to experience what it might be like to be hard of hearing, dyslexic, or autistic. I was particularly fond of the simulation where a student puts on head phones that belt out a story while at the same time an adult asks the student questions--that's a nice way of simulating the sort of auditory processing "stuff" I'm quite familiar with.
In my own life, I've found giving people a way to understand my experience of the world--just as much as them giving me a way to understand their experience of the world, both are necessary!--significantly improves my interpersonal relationships and interactions. It is hard though for anyone to understand an experience they have never had; in fact, it can be hard to even recognize a difference in experience. I was nearly 30 before I realized I was processing sound differently from others--before then I thought other people just had better coping skills than I, or were "stronger"--more able to "hold up" under the terrible pressure of noise.
"You know the cocktail party effect?" I now will ask people. "Imagine what it would be like if you weren't able to do any of that selective filtering, and all you heard was the jumble of all voices, at equal precedence." Such things help a lot of people understand I'm not just being selfish or cranky or difficult when I insist on meeting in a quiet location, or at my home.
The simulations at John Muir Elementary School, like the head-phone-and-question simulation, are better than my analogy because they give people a sensate, rather than simply imagined, experience. According to the broadcast, Youth Awareness Disability Assemblies that does the simulations can be contacted at yada4schools@msn.com.
The news report (both autism and Asperger's are explicitly named) includes a video of the original TV broadcast, as well as the healthy message that people with disabilities are whole people and one should take care to "walk a mile in their shoes" before making assumptions.
