• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.141-148
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• 2014

Voice is the most common means for communication, but some people have difficulties in generating voice due to their congenital or acquired disorders. Individuals with speech disorders might lose their speaking ability due to hearing impairment, encephalopathy or cerebral palsy accompanied by motor skill impairments, or autism caused by mental problems. However, they have needs for communication, so some of them use various types of AAC (Augmentative & Alternative Communication) devices in order to meet their communication needs. In this paper, a mobile application for literate people having speech disorder was designed and implemented by developing accurate and fast sentence-completion functions for efficient user interaction. From a user study and the previous study on Korean text-based communication for adults having difficulty in speech communication, we identified functionality and usability requirements. Specifically, the user interface with scanning features was designed by considering the users' motor skills in using the touch-screen of a mobile device. Finally, we conducted the usability test for the application. The results of the usability test show that the application is easy to learn and efficient to use in communication with people with speech disorders.

• 재활복지
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.203-228
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to find out the recent trend of high-tech AAC intervention studies for individuals with disabilities. Electronic database searches were completed to identify studies published between 2009 and 2016. 46 studies were identified for inclusion in this review. The studies were classified as participants, research design, intervention settings, independent variables, dependent variables, communication skills by High-tech device, type of high-tech AAC device. Across these studies, intervention was provided to total of 126 participants. Most participants are aged 6-11 and the most common diagnosis was autistic spectrum disorder. Most common study designs were multiple probe design and multiple treatment design. The majority of studies implemented interventions in a special education school(classroom) setting. The majority of studies implemented interventions to compare the effect of high-tech and low-tech AAC device interventions. The majority of targeted behavioral outcomes were communication skills. Tablet PC was the most frequently used for intervention in both domestic and foreign studies. The most common softwares were 'My talky' in domestic studies and 'Proloquo2Go' in foreign studies. The synthesis of evidence describing views of users and providers and the implementation of high-tech AAC device can provide valuable data to inform intervention studies and functional outcome measures. Suggestions for the future research are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2021

Background and Objectives During speech, the vocal folds oscillate at frequencies ranging from 100-200 Hz with amplitudes of a few millimeters. Mechanical stimulation is an essential factor which affects metabolism of human vocal folds. The effect of mechanical vibration on the cellular response in the human vocal fold fibroblasts cells (hVFFs) was evaluated. Materials and Method We created a culture systemic device capable of generating vibratory stimulations at human phonation frequencies. To establish optimal cell culture condition, cellular proliferation and viability assay was examined. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction was used to assess extracellular matrix (ECM) related and growth factors expression on response to changes in vibratory frequency and amplitude. Western blot was used to investigate ECM and inflammation-related transcription factor activation and its related cellular signaling transduction pathway. Results The cell viability was stable with vibratory stimulation within 24 h. A statistically significant increase of ECM genes (collagen type I alpha 1 and collagen type I alpha 2) and growth factor [transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF-1)] observe under the experimental conditions. Vibratory stimulation induced transcriptional activation of NF-κB by phosphorylation of p65 subunit through cellular Mitogen-activated protein kinases activation by extracellular signal regulated kinase and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) phosphorylation on hVFFs. Conclusion This study confirmed enhancing synthesis of collagen, TGF-β1 and FGF was testified by vibratory stimulation on hVFFs. This mechanism is thought to be due to the activation of NF-κB and MAPKs. Taken together, these results demonstrate that vibratory bioreactor may be a suitable alternative to hVFFs for studying vocal folds cellular response to vibratory vocalization.