A case study of vocal volume reduction.
The subject in this project wa a 24-year-old moderately retarded institutionalized woman who displayed a variety of inappropriate social behaviors including an abnormally loud vocal volume. A reinforcement program was established in which each teaching session contained 50 opportunities for the subject to respond below an absolute intensity level of 65 dB. The initial treatment procedure used the reveal (ABAB) teaching/research design. Continuous social and edible reinforcement, coupled with activation of a Whisperlite, served as positive/negative reinforcers. Visual and verbal cues were used to facilitate the emission of correct responses. During the second intervention, the desired behavior was maintained at the criterion of 50 independent responses below 65 dB for three consecutive sessions. Three follow-up sessions showed that the subject maintained 100% accuracy in responding below 65 dB in a conversation.
D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications*; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D014831:Voice