Department of Audiology, Speech and Language

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    Effect Of Self-Disclosure Of Stammering On Listeners’ Perceptions
    (University of Ghana, 2020-10) Tetteh, P.K.
    Background: Adults who stammer (AWS) experience discomfort when engaging in social interactions. Their stammering status negatively affect how their listeners perceive and engage with them. Listener perception therefore leads to several negative consequences like social anxiety and low self-esteem among persons who stammer (PWS). Self-disclosure is one of the leading therapies recommended for PWS to improve their listeners’ perception of them. However, evidence is inconclusive on its effectiveness, and empirical evidence in Ghana is non-existent. Aim: This study investigated how self-disclosure and gender affect listeners’ perceptions towards AWS. Method: A convenient sample of 210 undergraduate students listened to 4 videos from two speakers (1 male and 1 female) narrating a scene from a popular movie. The male and the female speaker each did or did not self-disclosed their stammering status. The listeners then rated their perceptions of the speakers’ personality, communication intent, communication competence and social competence. A 2-Way MANOVA was used to estimate main and interaction effects of self-disclosure and gender on listener perception. Results: Self-disclosure had positive effect on perceived communication intent, communication competence and social competence, but not personality. Female AWS were rated more favourably on communication competence and social competence than males. Male AWS were rated more positively on communication intent. There was significant interaction effect of gender and disclosure on listener perceptions. Female AWS who disclosed their status were rated more favourably than men who disclosed on perceived communication intent. Conclusion: The effectiveness of self-disclosure on listener perception depends on the perceived intent of the communication and gender of the AWS.
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    Attitudes Towards The Use Of Hearing Aids Among Hearing Impaired Population In Accra, Ghana
    (University Of Ghana, 2020-10) Kweitsu, C.K.
    Background: Hearing loss affects millions of people around the world and is estimated to be the fourth leading cause of disability globally. Besides, over the past several years, research investigations have focused on the low uptake and usage of hearing aids among populations with hearing- impaired. The attitude toward the use of hearing aid is a major problem among the hearing-impaired population in the world with more people showing more negative attitudes towards the use of hearing aids in developing countries where hearing impairment is high. Aim: The study determined the attitudes of hearing-impaired persons towards the use of hearing aids in Accra, Ghana. Methods: The study deployed a cross-sectional study with a sample size of 50 mostly with people with hearing impairment. Structured Questionnaires were designed and administered with the help of the respondents within the study population area. The questionnaire was analyzed using statistical software (SPSS) Results: The study indicated that fifty-eight percent (58%) of the hearing-impaired population showed disinterest in wearing hearing aids for many reasons. Though the respondents have appreciable knowledge about hearing aids, their attitudes towards acquiring and use of hearing aids were generally negative. Chief among the reasons they assigned to their negative attitude is the assertion that larger society disdains and stigmatizes them as second class humans. This implies that most of the people with hearing impairment, although could benefit from the use of a hearing device, are not interested in wearing them because of the perceived public perception and stigmatization. Forty-two (42%) percent of the respondents had a positive attitude towards hearing aids as a result of their adequate knowledge of hearing aids and the benefits of usage. Conclusion: Most people with hearing impairment do not acquire and own hearing aids as an immediate interventional measure for aural rehabilitation. However, the motivation for hearing impaired persons to acquire and use hearing aids depends on several factors that should not be grossed over. Keyword: Hearing loss, hearing aid, hearing-impaired, population, attitude
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    Knowledge Of Trainee Nurses On The Role Of Speech And Language Therapists
    (University Of Ghana, 2020-10) Boye, B.
    Background: Specialists who manages communication and swallowing disorders are often refer to as Speech and Language Therapist. A few of these professionals are however part of the team responsible acute and community specialist palliative care. Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) provide intervention for life challenging health issues like dementia and Head and Neck cancer. With the gradual numerical increase of SLTs, there is still the need for further education and research to create and enhance understanding of their role and services. Aim & Method: The study assessed the knowledge of Training Nurses about the role of SLT at the Korle-Bu Nursing and Midwifery College. It was carried out using mainly qualitative research design that employed focused group discussion involving 19 participants randomly selected among the third-year trainee nurses. Data was analyzed using the NVIVO version 12. Findings: Participants were between the ages 20-29 and final year students of the college. There was one male student while the rest were females who were not farfetched from the school statistics. Three were married with sixteen been single. Almost all respondent had knowledge about the role of the Speech and Language therapist. A little over half the students knew that speech and language disorders can be managed. Conclusion: Students’ knowledge about the role of the speech and language therapist can be enhanced beyond what the students know if deliberate attempt is made to incorporate it into their curriculum of studies. Keywords: Knowledge, Speech, Language, Therapist.
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    Prevalence of Hearing Loss Among Children with Cleft Palate: A Case Study
    (University of Ghana, 2020-07) Sumaila, A.
    Background: Cleft of the lip, palate, or both remain one of the most common congenital abnormalities. On average, about one in every 500 –750 live births results in a cleft. This disorder can result in feeding problems, speech problems, hearing problems, teeth problems, and frequent ear infections. Studies conducted in Ghana focused on the prevalence rate of cleft lip and palate. Hearing loss as a result of episodes of otitis media among children with cleft palate is well documented around the world. Currently, no such data exist in the country; hence this study was aimed at establishing the prevalence rate of hearing loss among children with cleft palate at a teaching hospital in Ghana. Aim: This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of hearing loss among children with CP in Ghana. Method: This cross-sectional research employed audiologic and tympanometric assessment to examine the hearing status of 45 children with CP between the ages of 0 and 5 years. Participants undertook otoscopy, tympanometry, TEOAE test, and ASSR test. An estimated hearing threshold greater than 15 dB HL was considered a hearing loss. Results: The majority (54.44%) of tympanograms indicating middle ear pressure against middle ear compliance were abnormal, which is consistent with otitis media with effusion. Greatest (67.78%) absence of TEOAEs was found for ears with abnormal tympanogram findings. ASSR testing revealed elevated estimated hearing thresholds in most (54.44%) of the ears tested. Conclusion: The prevalence rate of hearing loss among children with CP was 67.78%. The degrees of hearing loss recorded were between slight and mild. The type of hearing loss presented was conductive. The increased rate of abnormal middle ear status experienced among children with CP may lead to hearing loss at the speech frequencies.
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    Knowledge of Mothers of Children with Communication Disorders on Communication Milestones.
    (University Of Ghana, 2020-11) Lamptey, D.N. L.
    Background: The role mothers play in the development of language in their children remains significant and can never be downplayed. The knowledge of mothers influences their decisions, practices, beliefs, and behaviour towards their children in their developmental years which may lead to facilitating the development of child’s speech and language abilities or otherwise. Aim: This research is aimed at exploring the knowledge of mothers of children with communication disorders on communication. Methodology: A qualitative study design guided by semi-structured interview guide was adopted for this research. The participants were interviewed and recorded.A purposive sampling technique was used to obtain the participants for this study. Twelve participants were selected for the study. These participants were mothers of children with communication disorders who visited the speech therapy clinic, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for management. A Participant was selected if her child with a communication disorder is between the ages 0 to 5 years and has received a diagnosis of a communication disorder. Inputs made from interviews were analyzed by the researcher and developed into various themes which were discussed. Results: The study revealed that mothers have fair knowledge of communication milestones between zero to two years but do not know much concerning communication milestones between three to five years. Conclusion: The study established that mothers had some knowledge on communication milestones but need more concrete information on communication milestones from suitable places like the Antenatal and Postnatal clinics as well as the speech and language therapy clinics.
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    Impact of Social Support on Persons with Aphasia
    (University Of Ghana, 2020-10) Ibrahim, Z.
    Background: Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder or impairment that is caused by either a stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a neurological disorder. A person’s lifestyle and language changes following the onset of aphasia. This can affect their social, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Persons with aphasia need all the support to recover and continue with their everyday activities. Current research is extending our understanding of social support and the influence it has on persons with aphasia. Aim: The study aims to explore the nature, effectiveness and the impact of social support on persons with aphasia. Method: Purposive sampling was used in selecting 20 persons with aphasia and their caregivers from the stroke unit and speech and language therapy unit at the Korle-Bu teaching hospital. The instrument used was a semi-structures interview guide for both participants. An audiotape was used to collect the data and was transcribed verbatim and then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Outcome: The study has shown that social support from caregivers (family member and friends) helps to improve communication for persons with aphasia at home after hospitalization. Conclusion: This study showed that social support from caregivers of persons with aphasia contributed significantly to improvement in communication. Family social support play a central role in shaping an individual’s well-being across the life course (Thomas et al., 2017). Keywords: Aphasia, Persons with aphasia (PWA), social support and Korle- Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH)
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    Knowledge of Nurses about Communication Milestones among Young Children at the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital
    (University Of Ghana, 2020-10) Boison, R.
    BACKGROUND: Understanding children’s communication development is very important to their growth. Nurses, being the frontiers of the health institutions, are required to have basic knowledge of children’s development. However, the role of the nurse in monitoring communication development of children during visits to the hospital is poorly met, especially in the context of identifying communication difficulties. AIM: This study aims at analyzing the depth of knowledge of nurses about communication milestones of young children from 0 – 5years of age to equip in the monitoring of their communication development. METHOD: The study adopted the use of a qualitative research design with 26 nurses comprising of general, enrolled and community health nurses. General Nurses are professional nurses trained in all aspects of nursing in order to provide quality health care to any patient they may come into contact with whereas a critical care nurse is a nurse who has specialized in providing quality health care to patients who are critically ill. Enrolled nurses are trained to assist the professional nurses in providing care to patients whiles community health nurses are trained to educate and promote healthy lifestyles in the community. Semi-structured questionnaires were used during individual interview sessions with the nurses. Data obtained was collated and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The knowledge that nurses have about speech and language development of a child was in line with some communication milestones. They had fair knowledge but lacked the in-depth knowledge of typical language development of a child. Surveillance for communication disorders was next to non-existent as little knowledge in the typical, hampers identifying the atypical. The limitations in knowledge negatively affected the quality of education given to parents and caregivers. The nurses reported that they would like to undergo training in order to get more information on typical communication milestones, identification of disorders and educational guidelines for parents to adhere to in order to greatly improve the care given to children. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that the knowledge that nurses have with regards to communication milestones in children is very limited. There is a need for a revamp in the curricula of nurses to include communication milestones like other developmental milestones. Speech and language therapy should be embraced in order to expand instructional or educational practices. An interdisciplinary approach involving all health team members should be utilized in order to make use of all available resources. KEYWORDS: Communication Milestones, Continuous Professional Development, Child Language, Surveillance, Child Health, Therapy, Intervention.
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    First Ten Words Expressed by Children Acquiring Ewe from 12- 18 Months
    (University of Ghana, 2018-07) Tettevi, G.
    Background: Language is a social tool which shows the collective thinking of people in a particular area. Language acquisition is an important aspect of human development. Children acquire language to communicate with their surroundings. There has been a wide research conducted on first language acquisition in the world but not so many in Sub- Saharan Africa. There have not been a lot of researches conducted on the first words acquisition of children in Ghana. In a quest to develop language assessment tools to meet the Ghanaian context, this research was conducted to find out the ten of first words of children acquiring Ewe between the ages of 12-18 months. Aim: The aim of this study was to find ten of the first words expressed by children acquiring Ewe. Method: A cross-sectional mixed study on 69 children acquiring Ewe from the ages of 12-18 months in 3 rural areas in the Keta Municipality of the Volta Region. The study was conducted from April to June 2018. Mothers and caregivers responded to a questionnaire, a word checklist and completed a word record form by the help of the researcher. Data was analyzed using a statistical software SPSS version 20. Results: The 69 children had 36 words in common. Out of these, 17 of the words are in the semantic category based on the MacArthur Bates Communication Development Inventories (MBCDI). The MBCDI was used because it is a worldwide accepted communication development inventory to know the levels of language and speech development of children. The occupations of mothers and caregivers impacted the kind of words the children said as first words. Children who spend much time with their mothers and grandmothers had a lot of words in their corpus. Conclusion: The children had 36 Ewe words in common. Out of these words, ten of the first words are in the category of nouns. This confirms the noun bias in the first words acquisition stated in other studies. This is an exploratory study and there is enough room to improve this current study.
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    Ten Early Words of Infants Aged Twelve to Eighteen Months in Twi
    (University of Ghana, 2018-07) Brown, B.
    Background: Children imitate, and model adult speech as noted in Skinner’s theory (Skinner, 1957) of language acquisition and so knowing what the children say and for what they say the words are important. Aim: The aim of the study is to identify ten early words expressed by infants aged 12 to 18 months born to Twi speaking parents. Method: Survey data was collected from 100 mothers each with her child aged 12 to 18 months, recruited from three towns (Obadan, Abotakye and Atuobikrom, all in the Eastern Region of Ghana) that made observations of their children. Results: The results indicated that, many of the infants’ early words were nouns (50%) Verbs accounted for 30%, adjective (10%). Interjection accounted for only (10%)., The hypothesis to test the connection between the mothers’ occupation and the early words revealed that there was no influence of the mothers’ occupation on the infants’ words. Conclusion: Knowing the early words of infants would help stakeholders who work with infants and clinicians become aware of when infants are delaying in language acquisition and provide a means of monitoring the language growth as well as early intervention strategies. Keywords: Infants, mothers, Twi, occupation, early words.
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    First Ten Words Spoken By Children Acquiring Ga Language between Ages Twelve and Eighteen Months
    (University of Ghana, 2018-07) Commodore, R.C.
    Background: Learning to speak and understand language is exceptional and forms an important accomplishment of early childhood. As part of the general growth of children, language development plays a vital role in their cognitive and social development. Language development of children across the world is believed to follow the same pattern. There is much debate on the first words of children as well as the content of these first words. Few studies have addressed these questions (what are the first words of children and the content of the first words) for children at the very earliest stage of language development. Aim: The study was aimed at determining the first ten words of children acquiring Ga language between ages 12 and 18 months within the Ablekuma South Constituency. Method: This research used a quantitative cross-sectional design to investigate the first ten words of children acquiring Ga language between ages 12 and 18 months. A checklist was generated by the researcher and was used for data collection. Parents who consented to the study responded to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the words on the checklist to indicate whether their children are saying the words as part of their first words or not. Parents also provided additional words which were not on the checklist but were part of their children’s first words. Data collection was done by the researcher and three trained field workers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 software was used in analyzing the data collected. Three hundred and sixty-six (366) children participated in the study, 70% males and 30% females. The mean age of the children was 15 months. The study was conducted within the Ablekuma South Constituency, particularly, Mamprobi, Chorkor and Korle Gonno. Results: The first ten words derived from the study were ‘maa’ (mother), ‘ba’ (come), ‘daa’ (father), ‘ayɛ’ (witch) ‘ayee’ (bye), ‘bebi’ (baby), ‘yaa’ (go), ‘goo’ (ball), ‘nu’ (water) and ‘tↄ’ (take). These words were ranked from 1 to 10 with ‘maa’ (mother) obtaining the 1st position and ‘tↄ’ (take) obtaining the 10th position. The first words of the children include nouns (names of people, objects and animals) and verbs (action words). The number of words of the children increased as they grow. Conclusion: The first ten words of children acquiring Ga language have been identified to be (maa, amm, ayee, ba, daa, bebi, yaa, goo, nu and tↄ). These words were mainly nouns and verbs. The study also showed that as children grow, their vocabulary increases, for example, children aged 13 months produced 1-4 words whereas, children aged 17 months who produced 13 words. Keywords: Language development, first words, vocabulary increase