Recordings were made at the beginning and end of workdays of teachers who experience vocal fatigue (n = 22) and those who do not experience fatigue (n = 17). Those who experienced fatigue were recorded on days in which they did and did not fatigue. Both groups evaluated their vocal characteristics, each time they made a recording. Subsequently, a listener panel evaluated the same characteristics from the recordings. Both groups estimated the amount and characteristics of their talking time, completed a psychological evaluation and provided medical histories. The authors interpret the data obtained as indicating that the vocal characteristics of teachers who fatigue and those who do not fatigue are similar on days the former group does not fatigue and that the two groups are similar in the amount and loudness of their talking time, at work and at home. However, teachers who fatigue tend to spend more time in activities that appear to be vocally demanding and are more likely to perceive situations as being anxiety producing. Teachers who fatigue tend to be in good health, but have had more hearing problems and allergies than their colleagues and more of their family members have had voice problems.

The effects of making time-out from positive reinforcement (TO) contingent upon stuttering were studied in four adult stutterers. The theoretical basis of the study revolved around the notion that speaking is self-reinforcing, and that making TO from speaking contingent upon a specific response will decrease the frequency of that response. The general experimental procedure was one in which subjects spoke spontaneously and a red light was illuminated for 10 seconds contingent upon each stuttering. Subjects were not allowed to speak while the light was illuminated. All four subjects evidenced a marked decrease in stuttering frequency during TO sessions. Some extinction of the suppression effect was observed during those sessions in which TO was removed.

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The effects of feedback filtering on nasality perception were investigated by having speakers produce sentences while hearing their voices unfiltered and low-pass filtered with cut-off frequencies of 1000, 500, and 300 Hz. As they spoke, speakers judged the nasality in their productions using a ratio scale. Measurements of nasalization were made with a miniature accelerometer attached to the side of the speaker's nose. Data obtained indicate that the speakers decreased their nasalization slightly when they heard their voices low-pass filtered at each cut-off frequency. However, they did not perceive consistent changes in their own nasality during the filtered conditions. These findings are interpreted as suggesting that nasalization is influenced by filtering air-conducted auditory information and that relationships between the acoustic correlates of nasalization and self-perception of nasality are complex.

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