SLP Voice, Resonance, and Motor Speech 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which acoustic measure is most sensitive to the degree of dysphonia severity in a voice disorder?
- Fundamental frequency (F0)
- Cepstral peak prominence (CPP) (Correct answer)
- Formant frequencies F1 and F2
- Voice onset time (VOT)
Correct answer: Cepstral peak prominence (CPP)
Cepstral peak prominence (CPP) is highly sensitive to overall dysphonia severity, reflecting the degree of periodicity and noise in the voice signal.
Question 2: Cluttering differs from stuttering primarily because cluttering involves:
- Repetitions of initial phonemes with struggle behavior
- Rapid or irregular speech rate with collapsed syllables and poor self-monitoring (Correct answer)
- Consistent fear of specific sounds or words
- Secondary behaviors such as eye blinking and head movements
Correct answer: Rapid or irregular speech rate with collapsed syllables and poor self-monitoring
Cluttering features rapid/irregular rate, telescoped syllables, and reduced self-awareness of speech, distinguishing it from stuttering's struggle and avoidance.
Question 3: During velopharyngeal assessment via nasopharyngoscopy, a Passavant's ridge is best described as:
- A bulge of the velum during elevation
- A muscular ridge on the posterior pharyngeal wall that assists velopharyngeal closure (Correct answer)
- A notch in the posterior hard palate indicating submucosal cleft
- Lateral pharyngeal wall movement during closure
Correct answer: A muscular ridge on the posterior pharyngeal wall that assists velopharyngeal closure
Passavant's ridge is a muscular prominence on the posterior pharyngeal wall that some speakers develop as a compensatory mechanism for velopharyngeal closure.
Question 4: The myoelastic-aerodynamic theory of voice production states that vocal fold vibration is maintained by:
- Active muscular contractions of the thyroarytenoid muscle during each cycle
- An interaction between subglottal air pressure and the elastic recoil properties of the vocal folds (Correct answer)
- Nerve impulses triggering each opening and closing cycle
- Supraglottic resonance amplifying the glottal tone
Correct answer: An interaction between subglottal air pressure and the elastic recoil properties of the vocal folds
The myoelastic-aerodynamic theory holds that vocal fold vibration is self-sustaining through aerodynamic forces (Bernoulli, subglottal pressure) and the elastic recoil of vocal fold tissue.
Question 5: Which approach is FIRST LINE for treating a patient with functional aphonia (conversion dysphonia)?
- Botulinum toxin injection
- Facilitating techniques such as cough, laugh, or vegetative sounds to restore phonation (Correct answer)
- Surgical medializaton thyroplasty
- High-dose voice rest for two weeks
Correct answer: Facilitating techniques such as cough, laugh, or vegetative sounds to restore phonation
Facilitating real phonation via cough, laugh, or throat clearing demonstrates that the larynx can phonate, and the clinician immediately shapes this into sustained voice.
Question 6: In the Darley, Aronson, and Brown (DAB) classification system, which dimension is used to characterize dysarthria types?
- Lesion location only
- Perceptual clusters of deviant speech dimensions linked to neurological site of lesion (Correct answer)
- Acoustic measures of fundamental frequency and jitter
- Degree of intelligibility loss on standardized testing
Correct answer: Perceptual clusters of deviant speech dimensions linked to neurological site of lesion
The DAB system classifies dysarthria by clusters of perceptual speech characteristics that map predictably onto neurological lesion sites.
Question 7: A child born with a Robin sequence (micrognathia, glossoptosis, cleft palate) is most at risk for which resonance and feeding difficulty?
- Hyponasality and nasal regurgitation
- Hypernasality with VPI and airway compromise requiring prone positioning (Correct answer)
- Cul-de-sac resonance with lateral pharyngeal wall immobility
- Mixed resonance with spastic dysarthria
Correct answer: Hypernasality with VPI and airway compromise requiring prone positioning
Robin sequence causes hypernasality from the cleft palate and airway obstruction from glossoptosis; prone positioning reduces tongue fall-back and improves airway patency.
SLP Voice, Resonance, and Motor Speech 5
Which acoustic measure is most sensitive to the degree of dysphonia severity in a voice disorder?