Acoustics/Audiology
Compared to voiced stops, word-initial voiceless stops in English are expected to have a:
A. Shorter voice onset time (VOT)
B. Longer VOT
C. More compact spectrum
D. More diffuse spectrum
B. Longer VOT
A patient presents with a Type B tympanogram, absent OAEs, and elevated air conduction thresholds with normal bone conduction thresholds. What is the hearing loss?
a. Conductive hearing loss
b. Sensorineural hearing loss
c. Mixed hearing loss
a. Conductive hearing loss
Which of the following procedures is used to assess middle-ear pressure by measuring the mobility of the tympanic membrane in response to changes in positive and negative pressure within the external ear canal?
A. Otoacoustic emissions (OAE) testing
B. Tympanometry
C. Pure-tone audiometry
D. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) testing
B. Tympanometry
A speech-language pathologist is reviewing an audiogram in a patient's medical chart. To interpret the unmasked air-conduction thresholds for the right ear, the clinician should look for which of the following symbols?
A) Red O
B) Blue X
C) <
D) >
A. O (typically in red) is the standard audiometric symbol for unmasked air conduction in the right ear.
A person with hearing loss has complained that listening to conversational partners in noisy restaurants is very difficult. However, they still enjoy going out to eat with family and friends, regardless of this difficulty. Which level of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Functioning (ICF) BEST describes this person's hearing problem?
A. Activity limitation
B. Impairment
C. Participation restriction
D. Behavioral limitation
A. Activity limitation
A patient presents for a comprehensive audiological evaluation. Diagnostic findings reveal normal middle ear function on tympanometry, absent ipsilateral and contralateral acoustic reflexes, robust outer hair cell function via present otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), severely reduced speech recognition, and disproportionately poor speech perception in noise relative to pure-tone thresholds. These results are most indicative of which diagnosis?
a. Meniere's Disease
b. Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder
c. Presbycusis
d. Otoclerosis
b. Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder
During a pure-tone audiometric evaluation, an audiologist presents a series of tones at varying intensity levels to determine a patient's sensitivity for a specific frequency. The lowest signal intensity at which the patient detects the tone at least 50% of the time is referred to as the:
A) Sensation level
B) Hearing threshold
C) Most comfortable loudness level
D) Speech detection threshold
B) Hearing threshold
The SLP wants to use acoustic measurements of /r/ to document a child's progress in producing the sound. the BEST measurement to make is the amount of movement in:
A. F0
B. F1
C. F2
D. F3
D. F3
A speech-language pathologist reviews an audiogram for an adult patient. The pure-tone results reveal elevated air-conduction thresholds, elevated bone-conduction thresholds, and an air-bone gap of 25 dB HL across multiple frequencies. How should the clinician classify this type of hearing loss?
a. conductive hearing loss
b. sensorineural hearing loss
c. central auditory processing disorder
d. mixed hearing loss
d. mixed hearing loss
A speech-language pathologist is reviewing a pure-tone audiogram during an interprofessional intake evaluation. To identify the unmasked air-conduction thresholds for the left ear, the clinician should locate which of the following standard audiometric symbols?
A) Red O
B) Blue X
C) <
D) >
B) Blue X
X (typically depicted in blue) is the standard clinical symbol for unmasked air conduction in the left ear.
American Sign Language (ASL) is a visual-spatial language used by persons who are deaf/Deaf in the United States and has several unique characteristics. Which of the following statements BEST describes ASL?
A. ASL is completely dependent on hand movements only
B. ASL is dependent on direction, but not speed, of movement
C. ASL utilizes facial expression to mark idioms
D. ASL utilizes its own grammar and syntax
D. ASL utilizes its own grammar and syntax
A 5-year-old child is evaluated following a routine school hearing screening. Audiometric evaluation reveals air-conduction and bone-conduction thresholds between 45 and 55 dB HL bilaterally across all tested frequencies, with no air-bone gaps. Tympanometry yields normal Type A tympanograms bilaterally. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step for the speech-language pathologist regarding clinical management and academic accommodations?
a. recommend amplification and educational accommodation for moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
b. recommend medical evaluation for bilateral otitis media with effusion.
c. monitor hearing thresholds annually without intervention, as this level of loss does not impact speech perception.
d. refer for immediate surgical intervention to repair bilateral ossicular chain disruption.
a. recommend amplification and educational accommodation for moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.
A 6-year-old child with a history of recurrent otitis media is referred to an SLP for a speech-language evaluation. The audiological report includes air-conduction thresholds ranging from 35 to 45 dB HL bilaterally and bone-conduction thresholds ranging from 5 to 10 dB HL bilaterally across all frequencies. Tympanometry reveals bilateral Type B tympanograms with normal ear canal volume. Which type of hearing loss does this audiometric profile describe, and what is the most appropriate initial management step?
a. bilateral central auditory processing disorder; recommend FM system
b. bilateral conductive hearing loss; refer for medical evaluation
c. bilateral mixed hearing loss; initiate speech therapy
d. bilateral sensorineural hearing loss; recommend hearing aids
b. bilateral conductive hearing loss; refer for medical evaluation
The presence of elevevated air-conduction thresholds alongside normal bone-conduction thresholds creates an aire-bone gap greater than 10db HL, indicating a conductive hearing loss. In combination with Type B tympanograms (flat compliance with normal volume, indicating flued in the middle ear), medical referral to an otolaryngologist or pediatrician is the essential primary step.
In examining a spectrogram of the phrase Say sheep produced by a male speaker, you notice that the lower limit of high-amplitude energy noise for both /s/ and /S/ is near 2500 hertz (Hz). This MOST LIKELY indicates that:
A. /s/ is being produced too far back in the mouth
B. /s/ is being produced too far forward in the mouth
C. /S/ is being produced too far back in the mouth
D. /S/ is being produced too far forward in the mouth
A. /s/ is being produced too far back in the mouth
This type of hearing loss is characterized by bone conduction scores being outside the normal range and the air conduction thresholds poorer than bone-conduction thresholds. The air bone gap will be greater than 20dB.
a. conductive hearing loss
b. sensorineural hearing loss
c. mixed hearing loss
c. mixed hearing loss
An SLP evaluates an adult client who reports difficulty understanding speech in noise. The audiogram reveals normal air-conduction and bone-conduction thresholds (0–15 dB HL) from 250 Hz through 1000 Hz, precipitously sloping to severe sensorineural hearing loss (70–80 dB HL) at 4000 Hz and 8000 Hz bilaterally. Word Recognition Scores (WRS) in quiet are 92% in the right ear and 88% in the left ear at 40 dB SL. How should the SLP interpret the impact of this specific configuration on the client's speech perception?
a. preserved detection of vowel sounds, but reduced perception of high-frequency voiceless consonants.
b. preserved detection of voiceless fricatives, but reduced perception of low-frequency vowel formants.
c. generalized difficulty detercing voice onset time across all fundamental frequencies.
d. equal impairment across all speech sounds regardless of phonetic classification.
a. preserved detection of vowel sounds, but reduced perception of high-frequency voiceless consonants.