BACKGROUND This study examined relationships between communicative participation and post-laryngectomy speech outcomes including: a) listener-rated speech intelligibility and acceptability; and b) patient-rated speech acceptability and voice handicap. METHODS Thirty-six laryngectomized individuals completed the Communicative Participation Item Bank short form and the Voice Handicap Index-10. They provided recordings from the Sentence Intelligibility Test (SIT) and a reading passage, and rated their own speech acceptability. Forty-eight inexperienced listeners transcribed the SIT sentences to derive intelligibility scores. Eighteen additional listeners judged speech acceptability using rating scales. RESULTS Listeners judged tracheoesophageal speakers significantly more intelligible and acceptable than electrolaryngeal speakers (p < .05). Speech acceptability was significantly more acceptable to speakers than listeners (p < .05). Weak, non-significant relationships were found between communicative participation and listener-rated outcomes. Stronger, significant relationships were found between communicative participation and self-rated speech acceptability and voice handicap (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Patient-reported communication outcomes are complementary to listener-rated outcomes.

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We test whether the composition and compensation of the board of directors are related to fraudulent corporate behavior. We use Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases from 2003 through 2010 to form a sample of 128 firms with violations and compare the characteristics of their boards to a matched sample of 128 control firms. SEC violations are less likely when the board has more women, independent members, and financial experts. Fraud is also less likely when director tenure is shorter and when the CEO is not the chair. Stock and especially stock option compensation are positively associated with SEC violations.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This study's findings, together with the results of earlier studies of the relationship between advertising and market prices, provide considerable empirical support for the pro-competitive view of seller advertising. Data on attorney fees and advertising practices in seventeen metropolitan areas across the US were used to estimate the effect of market advertising intensity on firm demand elasticities, holding other possible influencing factors constant. The results obtained for all three routine legal services examined are consistent with the hypothesis that advertising increases competition among sellers in a market. I. INTRODUCTION THE RELATIONSHIP between advertising and competition, in one manifestation or another, has been explored in dozens of empirical studies.' A subset of these studies has concentrated on advertising's effects on price in professional service markets (see Benham [1972], Cady [1976], and Kwoka[1984]), and one (Jacobs et al. [1984]) has dealt specifically with routine legal service markets, which is the subject of our study.2 The bulk of empirical evidence from this subset of studies supports the hypothesis that prices in professional service markets in which sellers advertise are lower, relative to costs, than they would be if such advertising were banned. One important mechanism through which this relationship can arise is the connection between advertising and sellers' individual demand elasticities.3

Our findings suggest that use of the electrolarynx as a postlaryngectomy method of verbal communication has a wide-ranging influence on self-perceived voice-related quality of life and that mean scores from prior studies may not accurately reflect the potential value of the electrolarynx. Communication disability related to electrolarynx use does in fact vary; however, it is not uniformly poor, and some may be highly proficient users. Consequently, the Voice-Related Quality of Life measure may also serve as a useful tool for clinical documentation of rehabilitation outcomes in those who use the electrolarynx as a postlaryngectomy method of speech.

4. Laryngoscope, 127:1202-1207, 2017.

Objectives: To evaluate our experience with a significant number of brain malignancy–related vocal fold paralysis patients and their response to vocal cord–related therapies. Background: Vocal fold paralysis is a potentially devastating complication of various types of pediatric diseases and surgeries that can lead to significant vocal and swallowing difficulties. While there is significant data in the literature on outcomes of children treated for vocal fold paralysis following cardiac or thyroid surgery, there is a scarcity of such information on children following the treatment of neurologic malignancy. Methods: Records of 19 patients at a tertiary center who were treated for neurologic malignancies and developed either unilateral or bilateral vocal fold paralysis were reviewed for vocal fold pathology and vocal fold paralysis treatment-related variables, including initial diagnosis, management with observation or speech therapy, duration of therapy, pre- and postintervention swallow studies, and surgical intervention. Results: Bilateral vocal fold paralysis was noted in 26% (5/19) patients. Eighty-four percent (16/19) of patients had stable or improved ability to vocalize and swallow following therapy. There was no statistically significant difference in speech or swallowing improvement after speech therapy alone or speech therapy in combination with injection laryngoplasty ( P = .25). No complications were noted with surgical intervention. Conclusions: Patients with vocal fold paralysis secondary to neurologic malignancy can have an improvement in speech and swallowing after a variety of treatments, including speech therapy or early injection laryngoplasty. There was no statistically significant difference in improvement based on the type of intervention utilized. A larger sample size is needed to conclude whether surgical intervention combined with speech therapy leads to more rapid and significant functional improvement than speech therapy alone.

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