Introduction: It is essential that the scope of practice of any profession be defined so as to prevent malpractice. This applies to the field of speech and hearing also. This scope of practice should commensurate with the educational qualification of the individuals. Hence, the present study aimed to obtain the views of life members of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA) on the services that can be provided by speech and hearing professionals, personnel, and allied professionals in India having different levels of education. Materials and Methods: Using a 28-item checklist, an e-survey was conducted to obtain the views of ISHA life members regarding services that can be provided by speech and hearing professionals and personnel and allied professionals in India. Results: The majority of the participants were of the view that speech and hearing personnel cannot carryout most activities independently. In addition, many indicated that speech and hearing professionals with a master’s degree onward can independently carryout clinical, research, student training, and administrative activities related to the field. They suggested restrictions on the services that can be provided by those having a bachelor’s degree and those having a degree in the special education. Conclusion: The results clearly delineate the services that can be carried out by speech and hearing personnel, professionals with varied levels of education, and by special educators. Incorporating this information in the scope of practice for those with specific levels of education may help in reducing malpractice in India in the field of speech and hearing.

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Introduction: The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study was to examine graduate speech-language pathology students’ perceptions of practicing mindfulness, including their perceived barriers to using mindfulness techniques after participating in an 8-week mindfulness program. Methods: A convenience sample of 31 second-year, graduate speech-language pathology students participated in eight weekly mindfulness sessions, which included guided meditation, yoga stretching, and breathwork. At the end of the eight weeks, participants completed a six-question survey. Four questions that generated data about their perceptions of mindfulness and barriers to practicing mindfulness were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis procedures. Results: The majority of participants indicated that their perception of meditation changed, they recognized the benefits of mindfulness practice, and that they intended to continue practicing on their own. Thematic analysis revealed that participants viewed thoughts, time, and breathing techniques as barriers to their practice. Conclusion: Findings from this study have implications for considerations in the implementation and development of a mindfulness program for speech-language pathology students with an emphasis on potential barriers and how they can be addressed. Future research could investigate how students’ mindfulness practice impacts interactions with their clients and subsequent clinical outcomes.

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Introduction: Heavy metal vocalists tend to overuse or differently use their vocal systems for singing, and this could have a negative impact on their voice quality. However, there is limited research concerning the objective measures of vocal changes caused due to vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists. Thus, the objectives of the study were to document the differences in the cepstral and spectral parameters of voice before and after vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists and to investigate the correlation between the phonatory habits and the cepstral and spectral parameters in postfatigue voice of Indian heavy metal vocalists. Methods: Phonation samples were collected before the vocal performance (pretest) and after the vocal performance (posttest) from 16 vocalists belonging to Indian heavy metal genre. The phonation samples were analyzed, and the spectral and cepstral parameters were extracted in both the conditions. Results: Out of spectral parameters, only H1-H2 was significantly different between the pre- and postfatigue voices. Both the cepstral parameters were noted to be significantly lower after vocal fatigue. Moderate and strong correlations were observed between the phonatory habits and the objective parameters of postfatigue voice in heavy metal vocalists. Conclusion: The cepstral measures of voice were more effective in identifying the vocal fatigue-related voice changes in heavy metal vocalists.

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Introduction: A significant debate surrounding language acquisition in bilinguals concerns how the two languages develop and distinguish in young children. The current study aimed to compare the morphosyntactic development of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children between the age group of 4–6 years. In addition, the present study examined the effect of age on morphosyntactic development as well as the correlation between the morphosyntactic development of bilingual children and their second language exposure. Methods: This cross-sectional study compared the performance of monolingual and bilingual participants on English morphosyntactic markers using the test of early grammatical impairment (TEGI) and a language background questionnaire. An independent sample t-test was used to compare the groups. Results: The results revealed that (1) the monolingual participants performed better than their bilingual peers in their use of English morphosyntactic markers, (2) 5-year-old participants performed better than 4-year-old participants suggesting an age effect, and (3) a positive correlation between second language exposure and scores on TEGI. Conclusion: The current study provides insight into the development of grammatical markers in the second language (L2) of bilingual children based on their exposure to L2.

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Introduction: Central auditory information processing is influenced by the changing hormonal levels across the menstrual cycle, which might affect auditory perception. The present study aimed to assess auditory processing abilities in females across different phases of the menstrual cycle. Methods: A total of 21 participants (11 females and 10 males) in the age range of 18 to 25 years were recruited in the study. Group 1 included 11 healthy female participants with a regular menstrual cycle and Group 2 included 10 healthy male participants. The participants were evaluated for all the major auditory processes to assess central auditory processing. Auditory closure was assessed through speech perception in noise test in Kannada; binaural integration was assessed through the dichoticconsonant vowel (CV) test. The temporal processing was assessed through a gap detection test (GDT) and working memory was assessed using a digit span test. The central auditory assessment in Group 1 was done during the three menstrual phases namely early follicular stage (days 1 to 3), late follicular and early luteal (days 12 to 14), and late luteal (days 23 to 26). In Group 2, the central auditory assessment was done three times with each trial separated by the same number of days equaling the different phases as in females. Results: Results showed no significant differences in dichotic CV test, speech perception in noise test, GDT and working memory test (P > 0.05) in both Groups 1 and 2. Conclusion: To conclude, there is no difference in central processing abilities across three different phases of the menstrual cycle.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to survey and describe dysphagia practice patterns among speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in India, where no standardized practice pattern guidelines currently exist. Although the overarching goals of dysphagia rehabilitation are largely similar, population needs, clinical practice patterns, availability of resources, and dysphagia research varies around the world. Professional bodies related to swallowing disorders in countries such as the USA, the UK, Australia, and Canada have implemented preferred national practice guidelines for dysphagia clinicians, to ensure consistency in clinical practices, high standards of care, and to improve the patient outcomes. In India, consensus-driven SLP services for dysphagia management are yet to be fully established. Detailed knowledge of current practices is necessary to inform future training and infrastructure needs, to which end this pilot survey was conducted. Methods: A web-based questionnaire was created using Qualtrics. Twenty-five questions related to dysphagia assessment and treatment practices were included. Five dysphagia experts rated the questionnaire for content validity. Blast E-mail solicitations were requested, and forty-eight participants responded to the survey anonymously. Results: The results demonstrated considerable variability in practice patterns for swallowing assessment and dysphagia treatment among SLPs in India, with barriers related to funding, access to instrumental assessments, and limited clinical education and training. The findings from this survey highlight ongoing challenges to professional education and growth in dysphagia practices in India. Conclusions: The variability in responses indicates a need to establish the national guidelines that will enable Indian SLPs to move toward standards of practice, largely compatible with more established dysphagia services, and practices in some other countries. This will likely help improve clinical competence, in addition to patient outcomes and quality of care.

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Introduction: SCVTr stands for: semantic cueing for verbs and its thematic role. (SCVTr) is a therapy approach that aims to improve word retrieval in persons with aphasia (PWAs). It uses verbs and thematic roles (agent and patient) to facilitate word retrieval in PWA. Aim: The present study was conducted to analyze the effect of priming of verbs and their thematic roles in PWA. Methods: A total of five PWAs were recruited for the study, and the participants in the study initially received SCVTr therapy (Phase 1). Further, the study comprised two experiments (phase 2). In experiment 1, verb (prime) and agent (target) were presented. In experiment 2, verb (prime) and patient (target) were presented using PsychoPy software. These experiments were presented to glean reaction time and accuracy scores, during pre- and posttherapy measures, across the trained related, untrained related, and untrained unrelated conditions. Results: Researchers discerned improved reaction time and increased accuracy scores at posttherapy compare pretherapy conditions in four PWAs. In addition, researchers noted no difference in reaction time and accuracy scores across all the participants between experiment 1 versus experiment 2. Conclusions: This study throws light on the importance of thematic role during sentence processing and its relationship with verbs. Thus, this, in turn, might aid PWAs to retrieve the words with ease.

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Speech errors are commonly reported in the literature for postsurgical treatment in lingual carcinomas. The degree of errors relate to the extent of resection and reconstruction. Residual organ compensation is reported in partial glossectomy, while adjacent articulator compensation in total glossectomy. This case report describes an early atypical labial compensation for lingual sounds in a young female postpartial glossectomy and free flap reconstruction. Speech articulation errors were specific to distortion of tongue tip stops, laterals, and liquids. Bilabial flicker like movements were noted during the production of alveolar stops which subsequently developed into a bilabial compensatory articulation. This error indicates that compensation for the affected articulator function may begin at a very early postsurgical stage. The compensation needs to be identified and intervened at an early stage where facilitation must be sought as a modality for speech correction in smaller surgeries to achieve new or near normal speech.

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