Motor Speech Laboratory

Research in the Motor Speech Laboratory focuses on speakers with structurally-based and neurologically-based speech disorders. Currently, we are focusing on two clinical populations: speakers with dysarthria (both congenital and acquired), and speakers with cleft palate. We have also investigated, in previous studies, speakers with severe malocclusion, and speakers following glossectomy.

We have a commitment to engage in research that is of clinical relevance to the Cantonese-speaking population. At the same time, research in the Motor Speech Laboratory addresses the following issues of theoretical relevance: speech intelligibility; severity and acceptability judgments of speech proficiency; validity and reliability of perceptual measures of disordered speech; cross-linguistic study of speech disorders; relationship between acoustic and perceptual measures of disordered speech; use of instrumentation in speech therapy.

Our current and recent collaborators include:

Professor Valter Ciocca, University of British Columbia
Professor Nabil Samman, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Hong Kong
Dr. Alice Lee, University College Cork
Dr. Joan Ma

A number of honours dissertations have been conducted by students in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences over the past few years, under the auspices of the Motor Speech Laboratory.

Director: Prof. Tara L. Whitehill, http://www.hku.hk/speech/tw-1.htm
Ms. Karen Lee, PhD candidate
Dr. Jiang Chenghui, PhD candidate
Previous members of Motor Speech Laboratory:
Dr. Valter Ciocca
Dr. Karen Chan
Dr. Joyce Chun
Dr. Alice Lee
Dr. Joan Ma

Publications:

MLee, A., & Whitehill, T. L. (accepted) Resonance disorders. In E. Ma & E. Yiu (Eds.), Clinical management of voice disorders.

Whitehill, T. L., Goetzee, C, & Hodge, M. Intelligibility(accepted). In A. Lohmander and S. Howard (Eds.), Cleft palate speech: Assessment, analysis and intervention. Wiley Publishers. Invited.

Whitehill, T. L., Ma, E. P-M., & Tse, F. C-M (in press). Environmental barriers to communication for individuals with dysarthria. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology [to appear December 2010]

Whitehill, T.L., Yu, K., Kwan, L., & Ho, D. W-L. (in press) Piloting a reflective week in clinical practice. In L. McAllister, M. Paterson, J. Higgs & C. Bithel (Eds.),  Innovations in allied health fieldwork education: A critical appraisal.

Xue, S. A., Lam, C. W-Y., Whitehill, T. L., & Samman, N. (2010)Effects of Class III malocclusion on young adults' vocal tract development: A pilot study. Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.  [online version available]

Ma, J. K.-Y., Whitehill, T. L., & So, S. Y.-S. (2010) Intonation contrast in Cantonese speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria associated with Parkinson’s Disease. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 836-849.

Chua, H. D. P., Whitehill, T. L., Samman, N., & Cheung, L. (2010) Cleft maxillary distraction versus orthognathic surgery:  Effects on speech and velopharyngeal function. International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 37 (7), 633-640. [Note: Selected as “Leading Clinical Paper” for the issue]

Whitehill, T. L. (2010) Studies of Chinese speakers with dysarthria: Informing theoretical models. Folio Phoniatrica et Logopedica, 62, 92-96. [Special issue on Motor Speech Disorders]

Ma, J. K.-Y., Whitehill, T. L., & Cheung, K. S-K. (2010) Dysprosody and stimulus effects in Cantonese speakers with Parkinson’s disease. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. [online version available]

Hodge, M. N., & Whitehill, T. L. (2010) Intelligibility impairments. In J. S. Damico, M. J. Ball, and N. Muller (Eds.), The handbook of language and speech disorders, pp. 99-114. Blackwell Publishers.

Mok. C. K. F., Dodd, B. J., & Whitehill, T. L. (2009) Speech-language pathology students’ approaches to learning in a problem-based learning curriculum. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11,472-481.

Ho, D. W-L., & Whitehill, T. L. (2009). Clinical supervision of speech pathology students: The effect of immediate verbal feedback versus delayed written feedback. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11 (3), 244-255.

Lee, A., Whitehill, T. L., & Ciocca, V. (2009). Effect of listener training on the perceptual judgement of hypernasality. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 23 (5), 319-334.

Mok, C., Whitehill, T. L., & Dodd, B. ( 2008). The inter-relationship between problem-based learning, critical thinking and concept mapping in speech-language pathology education: A review. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 10(6), 435-448.

Whitehill, T. L., Patel, R., & Lai, J. F-C. (2008). The use of prosody by children with severe dysarthria: A Cantonese extension study. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 16, 293-299.

Whitehill, T. L. (2008). Spastic cerebral palsy. In M. R. McNeil (Ed.), Clinical management of sensorimotor speech disorders (2nd ed.) (pp. 390-392). New York: Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.

Whitehill, T. L., & Lee, A. (2008). The instrumental analysis of resonance in speech impairment. In M. J. Ball, M. Perkins, N. Müller & S. Howard (Eds.), The handbook of clinical linguistics (pp. 332-343). Blackwell Publishers.

Henningsson, G., Kuehn, D. P., Sell, D., Sweeney, T., Trost-Cardamone, J. E., & Whitehill, T. L. (2008). Universal parameters for reporting speech outcomes in individuals with cleft palate. Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal. 45, 1-17.

Whitehill, T. L., & Wong, L-N. (2007). Effect of intensive voice treatment on tone language speakers with Parkinson’s disease. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 21, 919-925.

Whitehill, T. L. (2007). Left versus right: The site of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus makes a difference for specific speech measures in patients with Parkinson’s disease [Structured Abstract]. Evidence-based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 3, 109-110.

Chanchareonsook, N., Whitehill, T. L, & Samman, N. (2007). Speech outcome and velopharngeal function in cleft palate: Comparison of Le Fort I maxillary osteotomy and distraction osteogenesis – Early results. Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 44, 23-32.

Whitehill, T. L., & Wong, C. C-Y. (2006). Contributing factors to listener effort for dysarthric speech. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 14, 335-341.

Ma, J. K-Y., Ciocca, V., & Whitehill, T. L. (2006). The effect of intonation on Cantonese lexical tones. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 120 (6), 3978-3987.

Chan, R. K. K., McPherson, B., & Whitehill, T. L. (2006). Chinese attitudes towards cleft lip and palate: Effects of personal contact. Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, 43, 731-739.

Chanchareonsook, N., Samman, N., & Whitehill, T. L. (2006). The effect of craniomaxillofacial osteotomies and distraction osteogenesis on speech and velopharyngeal status: A critical review. Cleft Palate-Craniofacia lJournal, 43, 477-487.

Whitehill, T. L., Ciocca, V., Chan J. C-T., & Samman, N. (2006). Acoustic analysis of vowels following glossectomy. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 20, 135-140.