Communication Sciences and Disorders Quiz 2

What is a communication disorder?

A communication disorder is a condition that limits or prevents human communication.

What are the two categories of language disorders?

Expressive and Recepetive.

What is expressive language?

Expressive language which is difficulty using spoken, written, gestural or other symbol systems due to an “encoding” problem.

What is receptive language?

Receptive language which is impaired comprehension or other decoding problems.

What are speech disorders?

Speech sound disorders are errors that occur during speech production including, incorrect production of the speech sound (articulation disorder), improper use of the speech sound patterns and rules of the language (phonological disorder), production of labored and non-fluent speech (fluency disorder), and production of speech sound errors due to muscle and neurological disorder (apraxia, dysarthria).

What are voice disorders?

Voice disorders are a group of transmission problems including, vocal fold abnormalities, abuse of voice, respiratory disease, and muscular and nervous system disorders and disease. 

What is hearing loss?

Hearing loss is a reduction in hearing sensitivity that results in the inability to receive the transmitted message.

What is dysphagia?

Dysphagia is the medical term for swallowing difficulties, where food or liquid is hard to swallow, and is getting caught in the esophagus or “sticking” on the way.

What is dysphagia usually caused by?

It is usually caused by another health condition, like stroke, head injury, or dementia.

What area within the scope of practice is dysphagia?

Dysphagia is an area within the scope of practice of a speech language pathologist.

What is the anatomy of the respiratory system?

The study of the description of structures of an organism.

What is an organism?

An organism is a plant or animal or a living thing.

What is the physiology of the respiratory system?

The study of the function of a structure of an organism.

What is an organ?

An anatomical structure that provides a specific biological function.

What is the function of the respiratory system?

The function of the respiratory (aka pulmonary) system is to supply oxygen (O2) to the blood and remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the blood.

What is respiration?

Respiration (breathing) is an autonomic nervous system brainstem function.

What parts is the respiratory system divided into?

The respiratory system is divided into upper and lower parts.

What are the structures of the upper respiratory system?

Upper respiratory system structures are the nose, mouth, pharynx, and larynx.

What is the nose?

The nose (the nasal cavity) is the organ of smell. It is also used for breathing.

What is the mouth?

The mouth (the oral cavity) is for eating, speaking, and breathing.

What is the pharynx?

The pharynx (the back of the throat) allows air to make its way to the lungs and food to the stomach.

What is the larynx?

Organ of the laryngeal system used for generating sounds, the vocal folds are laryngeal structures, and it is located at the top of the trachea.

What are the structures of the lower respiratory system?

Lower respiratory system structures are the thoracic cavity, trachea, and lungs.

What is the thoracic cavity or chest cavity?

Houses the sternum, ribs, heart, and lungs.

What is the trachea?

A membranous tube that extends from the larynx to the lungs. It supplies air to the lungs.

What are the lungs?

The lungs are the organs of the pulmonary system. 

What does the term pulmonary relate to?

Pulmonary is a term relating to the lungs.

What do the lungs provide to the blood and remove from the blood?

The lungs provide O2 to the blood and remove CO2 from the blood.

What is O2?

O2 is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that makes up about 20% of air. It is produced by plants during photosynthesis.

What is CO2?

CO2 is a waste byproduct produced from work done by our tissues, muscles, and organs.

What are the structures of the lungs?

The structures of the lungs are the pleura, bronchi, bronchioles, and alveoli.

What is the pleura?

The pleura is a 2 membrane structure. The “visceral pleura” covers the surface of lungs and the “parietal pleura” lines the chest wall.

What is the space between the parietal and visceral pleurae called?

The space between the parietal and visceral pleurae is called the “pleural space,” which is filled with a small amount of pleural fluid.

What two functions does the pleural fluid provide?

1. It acts as a lubricant to allow the parietal and visceral pleura to glide smoothly by reducing friction and that so we don’t experience pain during lung expansion and contraction.

2. It enables the lungs to expand and contract.

What property does pleural fluid have?

Pleural fluid has the property of “cohesion” since it is a watery substance.

What is cohesion?

Cohesion refers to water molecules sticking to themselves.

What does cohesion cause?

Cohesion causes the development of “surface tension.”

What is surface tension?

Surface tension refers to the creation of a membrane (a covering) over the surface of the liquid. This surface tension pulls (holds) the visceral and parietal pleura together when the lungs expand when we inhale.

What are the alveoli in the lungs lined with?

The alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs are lined with a thin layer of water, which naturally experiences surface tension.

What would happen if the surface tension was not broken down?

If the surface tension is not broken down the alveoli would collapse during lung contraction, making it difficult to re-inflate them during inhalation.

What do the lungs produce that reduces surface tension so the lungs can contract, and the alveoli doesn’t collapse?

The lungs produce “surfactant,” which reduces surface tension so the lungs can contract, and the alveoli does not collapse. 

What is the bronchi?

Tubes that supply each lung.

How do bronchi’s become bronchiole’s?

The bronchi continues to divide into smaller and smaller tubes until they become bronchioles.

What are the final extensions of the bronchioles?

The final extensions of the bronchioles are capillaries that attach to the alveoli.

What is the alveoli?

The alveoli are air sacs and serve as the gas exchange units of the lung. Their volume increases when we inhale and decrease when we exhale.

How many alveoli’s are there in the adult lung?

There are about 300 million alveoli in the adult lung.

What are attached to each alveoli?

Attached to each alveoli are small, thin blood vessels called “capillaries.”

What happens when we inhale?

When we inhale, the gaseous O2 molecules cross the capillary membrane to enter the blood stream. It travels to the heart then pumped to our organs, tissue, and muscles.

What happens when we exhale?

When we exhale, the gaseous CO2 molecules that were generated from the work of the organs, tissue, and muscles, travels in the blood stream back to the heart and then the lungs. It crosses the capillary membrane into the alveoli and is exhaled as a gas.

What is the diaphragm?

A dome shaped sheet of muscle that lies across the bottom of the chest.

What does the contraction of the diaphragm do?

Its contraction pushes this muscle down to make room for an increase in lung volume.

What are the external intercostal muscles?

These muscles attach to the outside of the ribs and run from the bottom of one rib to the top of the next rib.

What does the contraction of the external intercostal muscles do?

Their contraction lifts the rib cage up and pushes it outwards causing the ribs to twist, to make room for an increase in lung volume.

What are the abdominal muscles?

Contraction these muscles pushes the diaphragm up to decrease lung volume. These 5 muscles are the primary muscles of exhalation.

What are the internal intercostal muscles?

These muscles are located behind the external intercostal muscles. They attach from the middle of the bottom of one rib to the middle of the top of the next rib.

What does the contraction of the internal intercostal muscles do?

Their contraction decreases lung volume by pulling the rib cage down and in, which also allows the ribs to untwist and go back to their resting position.

What are the two functions of the respiratory system?

1. It allows us to breathe to keep us alive.

2. It serves as the energy source for speech production.

What is tidal breathing?

Tidal breathing refers to breathing when we are at rest and does not require cognitive thought.

What does one inhalation and exhalation constitute?

One inhalation and exhalation constitute a respiratory cycle or breath.

What is boyle’s law?

Boyle’s law explains the relationship between pressure and volume for gas and water molecules in a container.

What happens to gas molecules in a container?

Gas molecules in a container, like air compress as the volume of a container gets smaller and the density of the molecules increases. The higher the molecular density the higher the pressure inside the container.

What happens to the air molecules as the volume of a container gets larger?

As the volume of a container gets larger, the air molecules spread out over a greater area and the density of the molecules decreases. The lower the molecular density the lower the pressure inside the container.

What does boyle’s law explain?

Boyle’s law explains the lung pressure (pulmonary pressure) to atmospheric pressure relationships when the lungs expand and contract.

What happens during an inhalation?

During an inhalation the expansion of the lungs allows the air molecules to spread. This lower density causes lower lung pressure (pulmonary pressure).

What are the air molecules outside of the body?

The air molecules outside of the body are comparatively more numerous. This higher density causes higher atmospheric pressure.

What does pressure always move from?

Pressure always moves from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure.

What does the higher atmospheric pressure of the air outside of the body force?

The higher atmospheric pressure of the air outside of the body forces the air to move to the lower pressure area of the lungs.

What happens when we exhale and contract the lungs?

When we exhale and contract the lungs the air molecules compress together. This higher density causes higher lung pressure.

What are the passive forces of exhalation working to reduce?

The passive forces of exhalation (aka passive recoil forces) are always working to reduce lung volume during an inhalation.

What is speech breathing used for?

Speech breathing is used for speech production.

What happens to the air we inhale?

The air we inhale becomes the “energy source” for speech production.

What is the primary function of the respiratory system during speech breathing?

The primary function of the respiratory system during speech breathing is to control your vocal intensity (perceived loudness).

How does speech breathing differ from tidal/quiet breathing?

Our inhalations are deeper causing larger lung volume, inhalations are shorter and exhalations longer, and the abdominal muscles are not active, so the diaphragm stays low in the thorax, allowing the lung to remain expanded.