NHPC BASLP flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Endocochlear potential

A +80 mV electrical potential in scala media generated by the stria vascularis; it drives the transduction current through hair cell stereocilia and is essential for normal hearing sensitivity.

Tonotopic organization

The systematic mapping of frequency along the basilar membrane, with high frequencies at the base and low frequencies at the apex, preserved throughout the auditory pathway up to cortex.

Middle ear impedance matching

The ossicular lever and tympanic membrane-to-stapes footplate areal ratio together produce about 25–30 dB of pressure gain, overcoming the air-to-fluid impedance mismatch at the cochlea.

Broca aphasia

Nonfluent, effortful speech with relatively preserved comprehension, caused by damage to the inferior frontal gyrus of the dominant hemisphere; repetition is impaired.

Wernicke aphasia

Fluent speech with poor auditory comprehension and impaired repetition, caused by damage to the posterior superior temporal gyrus of the dominant hemisphere; speech may contain neologisms.

Conduction aphasia

Fluent speech with good comprehension but markedly impaired repetition, typically from damage to the arcuate fasciculus connecting Wernicke and Broca areas.

Spastic dysarthria

A motor speech disorder from bilateral upper motor neuron damage, marked by strained-strangled voice, imprecise consonants, hyperreflexia, and slow, effortful speech.

Decibel SPL formula

Sound pressure level in decibels equals 20 times the base-10 logarithm of the measured pressure divided by the reference pressure of 20 micropascals.

Formant frequencies

Resonant peaks of the vocal tract spectrum; F1 relates inversely to tongue height and F2 to tongue frontness, so vowel identity is cued mainly by F1 and F2.

Upward spread of masking

A low-frequency masker masks higher-frequency signals more effectively than a high-frequency masker masks lower-frequency signals, reflecting the traveling wave's basal spread.

Air-bone gap

A difference greater than 10 dB between air-conduction and bone-conduction thresholds at the same frequency, indicating a conductive component to the hearing loss.

Type B tympanogram

A flat tympanogram with no identifiable pressure peak, consistent with middle ear effusion, tympanic membrane perforation, or impacted cerumen; requires otoscopy to interpret.

Acoustic reflex decay

A test presenting a sustained tone at 10 dB above reflex threshold; decay greater than 50% within 10 seconds at 500 or 1000 Hz suggests retrocochlear pathology.

Auditory brainstem response

An evoked potential recorded from scalp electrodes; wave V arises near the inferior colliculus, and prolonged I–V interpeak latency suggests retrocochlear involvement.

Real-ear insertion gain

Aided ear canal SPL minus unaided ear canal SPL at the same reference microphone position; compared with prescriptive targets to verify hearing aid fitting.

NAL-NL2 prescription

A non-linear hearing aid prescription method that maximizes speech intelligibility while limiting loudness discomfort, based on audiogram, age, and hearing aid experience.

1-3-6 EHDI benchmarks

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention goals: hearing screening by 1 month, diagnostic audiologic evaluation by 3 months, and enrollment in early intervention by 6 months of age.

Wide dynamic range compression

Hearing aid processing that applies more gain to low-level sounds and less to high-level sounds, compressing the input range into the listener's reduced dynamic range.

Mean length of utterance

The average number of morphemes per utterance in a language sample; a widely used developmental index, with roughly 2.0 at 24 months and 3.0 at 36 months.

Childhood apraxia of speech

A motor speech planning disorder with inconsistent errors, groping, disrupted coarticulation, and worse performance on complex or longer utterances, without neuromuscular weakness.

GRBAS scale

A perceptual voice rating scale scoring Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain, each on a 0–3 severity scale, used in voice assessment.

Maximum phonation time

The longest sustained vowel a client can produce on one breath; reduced values suggest poor respiratory support or glottal incompetence, and the s/z ratio compares these tasks.

Minimal pairs approach

A phonological intervention using word pairs differing by one phoneme to highlight meaning contrasts, helping the child reorganize an absent or collapsed sound category.

Lidcombe Program

A behavioral fluency treatment for preschool children in which parents deliver praise for fluent speech and brief correction for stuttering during daily structured conversations.

Melodic intonation therapy

A treatment for nonfluent aphasia that uses melodic intonation and rhythmic tapping of the left hand to engage right-hemisphere language networks and improve expressive output.

Augmentative and alternative communication

Unaided or aided systems, such as signs, picture boards, or speech-generating devices, that supplement or replace natural speech for individuals with severe communication impairments.

Informed consent

The ethical and legal requirement to disclose the purpose, risks, benefits, and alternatives of assessment or treatment and obtain voluntary agreement before proceeding.

IDEA least restrictive environment

A legal requirement that students with disabilities be educated with typically developing peers to the maximum extent appropriate, with supplementary aids and services as needed.

Section 504 accommodation

A federal civil rights provision prohibiting disability discrimination in programs receiving federal funds and requiring reasonable accommodations, such as preferential seating or FM systems.

Sensitivity and specificity

Sensitivity is the proportion of true cases correctly identified; specificity is the proportion of non-cases correctly identified. Both are independent of prevalence.

Randomized controlled trial

A study in which participants are randomly assigned to intervention or control groups, reducing selection bias and supporting causal inference about treatment effects.

Cohen's d effect size

A standardized mean difference; conventional benchmarks are 0.2 small, 0.5 medium, and 0.8 large, used to judge clinical rather than merely statistical significance.