NCJ Number
129122
Journal
Behavior Technology Methods and Therapy Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1990) Pages: 8-12
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article reports on part II of a study on the theory that there are considerably higher percentages of speech and hearing disorders in the incarcerated population than among the general population. Medical, acoustic, and perceptual voice examinations were performed on inmates who twice failed a voice screening for quality, pitch, rate, loudness, and resonance.
Abstract
Medical, acoustic, and perceptual voice examinations were performed on 246 inmates incarcerated at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. The voice disorder characteristics were typical of vocal abuse pathologies. A typical vocal pattern of excessive breathiness, perceived lowered pitch, excessive vocal tension, and intermittent diplophonia was noted in these subjects. The suggested high prevalence of voice disorders at the Mississippi State Penitentiary is discussed relative to possible causal factors and subject demographics. The concluding idea is that the relatively high prevalence of voice disorders in this penitentiary population may be due to the interaction of a variety of factors such as chronic upper respiratory infection, allergy, hearing loss, smoking, substance abuse, noise exposure, and personality variables. The major table of the article presents the perceptual, acoustic, and medical data by subject for 29 voice screening failures. 2 tables, 1 appendix, and 17 references