Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Speech disorders;

Abstract

The investigator found several children with vocal nodules in the schools he served. A review of the literature revealed that vocal abuse is the commonly considered etiology of vocal nodules. Vocal abuse did not fit several of the children who tended to be quiet and withdrawn. A further review of the literature was instituted in an attempt to find some feature of commonality between quiet children and noisy children which could explain why quiet children develop vocal nodules. Several authors discussed functional voice disorders as the result of personality problems. Few, however, related their conclusions directly to vocal nodules. The investigator then instituted a study to determine if there was a personality problem present in children with vocal nodules. Using the California Test of Personality, the investigator tested eight noisy children and seven quiet children, all with vocal nodules. The results of these tests were then compared to the test results of fifteen children with no voice or speech disorders. There was a significant difference between the test results of the two groups. The test results of the quiet children were then compared with the test results of the noisy children. There was no significant difference of scores between the two groups. Due to the limitations of the test instrument, no attempt was made to diagnose specific problems, rather the investigation was limited to a trend study. It was concluded from this study that there may be a relationship between personality traits and vocal nodules. It was also suggested that it may be useful to include a personality evaluation in the evaluative procedure for children with vocal nodules.

Year of Submission

1971

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Speech

First Advisor

Ralph Schwartz

Second Advisor

Roy Eblen

Third Advisor

Max Hosier

Comments

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Date Original

1971

Object Description

1 PDF file (62 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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