Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research最新文献

{"title":"A Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Self-Fit Methods to the Best-Practices Method of Hearing Aid Fitting.","authors":"Larry E Humes, Sumitrajit Dhar, Mary Meskan, Anna Pitman, Jasleen Singh","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00423","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00423","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Trial design: </strong>This is a randomized multisite noninferiority comparative-effectiveness clinical trial with three parallel branches comparing a best-practices audiologist-fit method to two experimental self-fit (person-fit) methods. Outcomes were measured at 6 weeks and 6 months post-fit.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Participants: Five hundred eighty-four participants met the following inclusion criteria and enrolled: (a) age between 50 and 79 years; (b) never used or tried hearing aids previously; (c) can speak, read, and understand English well; (d) willing to purchase the study hearing aids for $650/pair; (e) no diagnosis of a memory or cognitive impairment; (f) 25-item Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE) score > 4; (g) Montreal Cognitive Assessment score ≥ 23; and (h) not excluded due to specific audiometric criteria. The audiometric exclusion criteria, based on air-conduction pure-tone thresholds, were as follows: (a) thresholds at all frequencies (250-8000 Hz) < 20 dB HL, for both ears (no hearing loss); (b) pure-tone average for 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz (PTA4) in the better ear > 50 dB HL (greater than moderate hearing loss); and (c) interaural difference > 20 dB at three or more frequencies or ≥ 40 dB at 500 or 1000 Hz. Interventions: Three groups received the same hearing aids fitted either by an audiologist using best practices (Group AB) or by themselves using one of two efficacious self-fit methods (Groups CD and EF). Objectives: The effectiveness of each of the self-fit methods, CD and EF, was hypothesized to be noninferior to the professional-fit method, AB. Outcomes: The primary outcome measure was the global score from the Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (PHAB), and the secondary outcome measure was the benefit score (unaided - aided) for the 25-item HHIE. Randomization: Participants were stratified into one of three hearing loss categories based on better-ear PTA4: normal (≤ 20 dB HL), mild (20.1-35 dB HL), or moderate (35.1-50 dB HL). The random assignment of sequential enrollees within each hearing loss category to the three treatment groups made use of a site-specific pregenerated randomization list produced from a random-numbers table. Blinding: It was not possible to blind the participants as to the fitting method used, but the research personnel assessing the outcomes were blinded to the treatment group.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Numbers randomized: The 584 enrollees were randomized to one of the three treatment groups: AB (<i>n</i> = 190), CD (<i>n</i> = 193), and EF (<i>n</i> = 201).</p><p><p>Trial status: The trial began on November 1, 2020, and 6-month outcomes were obtained from the last participant on March 29, 2024. Numbers analyzed: At the 6-week measurement interval, outcome measures were completed for 182 AB, 172 CD, and 178 EF participants, representing 91.1% of the 584 individuals who enrolled. At the 6-month interval, completed outcomes were available for 166 AB, 148 C","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-24"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143671616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spanish and English Morphosyntax Changes in Bilingual School-Age Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study.","authors":"Joseph Hin Yan Lam, Jiali Wang, Danyang Wang, Jissel B Anaya, Lisa M Bedore, Elizabeth D Peña","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00171","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The current study examines bilingual children's development of Spanish and English morphosyntax structures over the period of 1 year. Identification of morphosyntax forms clustered by difficulty can elucidate their development and guide clinicians to select appropriate targets for intervention and monitoring. Specifically, we aim to evaluate how morphosyntax performance of bilingual children at the initial time point is related to their performance 1 year later and whether longitudinal development is different for children with developmental language disorder (DLD).</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 199 bilingual children (165 typically developing children and 34 children with DLD) between 7 and 10 years old completed a morphosyntax cloze task in both English and Spanish twice with 1 year apart. First, within-participant analysis of variance was used to identify morphosyntax clusters. We then used cross-lag analysis to study the relationship between morphosyntax clusters over time.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Morphosyntactic structures were clustered by difficulty in Spanish and English. There are three clusters of 1-3 morphosyntactic structures in Spanish and four clusters of 2-4 morphosyntactic structures in English. Cross-lag analysis demonstrated that for both languages, children's performance on simple items at Year 1 predicted performance on more difficult items 1 year later. Multigroup analysis indicated that most associations between morphosyntax clusters across time were not different for children with and without DLD.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings on the difficulty levels of different morphosyntactic structures in Spanish-English bilingual children may provide implications for target selection when treating morphosyntax in this population. The study provides important insights into morphosyntactic change in bilingual school-age children in the United States, which are important to consider in bilingual language assessment and intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-20"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143671698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Massage-Like Sensation and Tissue Mobilization During Phonation With Two Oscillatory Positive Expiratory Pressure Devices.","authors":"Marco Guzman, Camilo Quezada, Christian Castro, Monserrat Castillo, Josefina Ibarra, Melanie Vásquez","doi":"10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00597","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00597","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study primarily aimed at observing whether high-frequency vibration devices generate tissue mobilization on facial, neck, and chest tissues. An additional objective was to inspect resulting self-perceived sensation of massage-like sensation.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Fifty-two participants engaged in a set of three phonatory tasks: (a) phonation with Shaker Medic Plus device, (b) phonation with Acapella Choice device, and (c) sustained vowel [a:] (control task). Self-perceived massage-like sensation was also assessed. All exercises were performed at three loudness levels. Tissue mobilization was captured by four accelerometers placed in four different locations: (a) over the cheek, (b) over the neck, (c) over the thyroid cartilage, and (d) over the suprasternal notch. Frequency, amplitude, and regularity of tissue oscillation were measured.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Analyses of variance showed significant second-order interactions for vibration amplitude and frequency. A two-way interaction (Task × Location) was observed for jitter, and no significant interactions were found for shimmer. Self-perceived massage-like sensation results showed that Acapella and Shaker generate almost identical effects, both being significantly higher to the one delivered by vowel [a:].</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Both Acapella and Shaker devices are able to mobilize tissues. Tasks, loudness level, and location could produce an effect on tissue oscillation variables. The Acapella device tends to produce a larger amplitude of vibration than the Shaker does. However, self-reported sensation of massage is virtually the same for both devices. Control of dependent variables of tissue oscillation (frequency, amplitude, and regularity) is apparently relevant to obtain the greatest massage-like effect in patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143671697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Characterization of Vocal Motor Control Using Laryngeal Kinematics in Individuals With Hyperfunctional Voice Disorders.","authors":"Hasini R Weerathunge, Jenny Vojtech, Courtney J Dunsmuir, Sarah J Cocroft, Manuel E Díaz-Cádiz, Victoria McKenna, Cara E Stepp","doi":"10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00598","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00598","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>High-speed videoendoscopy was used to investigate how underlying laryngeal motor control strategies differ in individuals with and without hyperfunctional voice disorders (HVDs). Three laryngeal kinematic measures were defined to characterize laryngeal motor control: kinematic stiffness, spatiotemporal index, and asymmetry index.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Twenty-eight adults with HVDs and 28 age- and sex-matched controls produced repeated utterances of /ifi/ at three different gesture rates (50, 65, and 80 beats per minute) and three self-induced vocal effort levels (mild, moderate, and maximum effort) to elicit a range of linguistic contexts for the vocal targets produced. The glottal angle profiles of /ifi/ productions were extracted to calculate three kinematic measures of laryngeal motor control: kinematic stiffness (estimating laryngeal muscle tension), spatiotemporal index (estimating production variability), and asymmetry index (estimating movement asymmetry).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Individuals with HVDs exhibited statistically significantly higher kinematic stiffness during varying effort levels and higher spatiotemporal indices and asymmetry indices compared to controls, indicating higher laryngeal muscle tension, production variability, and movement asymmetry, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Laryngeal kinematics suggest differing underlying motor control strategies in individuals with HVD relative to controls, which may inform better understanding of the etiology of HVDs.</p><p><strong>Supplemental material: </strong>https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28550387.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143665328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Meta-Analysis of Second Language Phonetic Training: Exploring Overall Effect and Moderating Factors.","authors":"Yao Yao, Mengjie He, Fei Chen, Jiaqiang Zhu","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00432","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Phonetic training has been found to be an effective way on second language (L2) learning, but the evidence is not conclusive regarding the effectiveness of different instructional approaches and possible interactions between language learners, training features, and outcome measures. This study aims to meta-analyze existing studies to provide an accurate estimate of the overall effect and investigate factors that may moderate its effectiveness.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We conducted a systematic search in major databases, identified seven potential moderators, and conducted a random-effects model meta-analysis for each variable.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A comprehensive literature search yielded 65 primary studies that involved 2,793 L2 learners, generating 223 effect sizes for between-groups contrasts. Results showed that phonetic training had a large positive effect on the enhancement of L2 phonetic competence, <i>d</i> = 0.762. Subsequent moderator analyses revealed that perceptual training showed a larger mean effect size compared to production training and combined training; phonetic training at the high school level exhibited the largest mean effect size among all educational levels; phonetic training, either perceptual training or production training, had a greater impact on improving learners' perception competence than production competence; and outcome measured by identification tasks generated the largest effect, followed by the combination of discrimination and identification tasks, subjective perception judgment, and discrimination tasks, while objective acoustic measurement yielded the smallest effect size.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our study provided a quantitative synthesis of studies investigating the efficacy of L2 phonetic training and examined various moderating variables, which indicated the heterogeneity and limitations of research on this topic. The results highlighted the need for further investigation of the potential factors of L2 phonetic training and the relationship between perception and production.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-19"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143665325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validation of the Language ENvironment Analysis in Swedish Children.","authors":"Sandra Nilsson, Elisabet Östlund, Yvonne Thalén, Ulrika Löfkvist","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00275","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) is a technological tool designed for comprehensive recordings and automated analysis of young children's daily language and auditory environments. LENA recordings play a crucial role in both clinical interventions and research, offering insights into the amount of spoken language children are exposed to in their homes, including adult word count (AWC) and child vocalization count (CVC). Although LENA was initially developed for American English, it has been validated in various other languages. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of LENA in a Swedish context by comparing its automatic estimates with human transcriptions.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Thirty-six children aged 11-29 months participated in the validation study. A total of 540 min (9 hr) of recordings were transcribed by one experienced speech-language pathologist and two special educators. Interrater agreement over 150 min was notably higher for CVC (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = .97, 95% confidence interval [CI] [.91, .99], <i>r</i> = .96, <i>p</i> < .001) compared to AWC, which yielded an ICC of .82 (95% CI [.15, .96], <i>r</i> = .80, <i>p</i> = .006).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both estimated CVC and AWC (<i>n</i> = 36) were significantly correlated with human transcriptions (<i>r</i> = .79 and .82, respectively; <i>p</i> < .001).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings align with prior validation studies, indicating that LENA is suitable for use in a Swedish context, particularly for families with children aged 11-29 months. Nonetheless, additional validation studies are necessary, particularly focusing on younger infants, to enhance our understanding of the tool's reliability in preverbal children and their caregivers.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Feasibility Study Evaluating a Community Health Worker Training Program to Support Adults With Hearing Loss in Rural Alabama Communities.","authors":"Marcia J Hay-McCutcheon, Abigail Hubbard, Emma B Brothers, Laura Thrasher, Claudia Hardy, Xin Yang, Rebecca S Allen","doi":"10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00716","DOIUrl":"10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00716","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) training to support adults with hearing loss who are living in rural communities of West Central and South Alabama. Knowledge and skills, in addition to the degree of confidence in performing tasks associated with the aural rehabilitation program, were assessed.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Eighteen adults who were active in their communities through nonprofit organizations, educational organizations, health facilities, or had other volunteering experiences, participated in this study. They received 3 days of initial training and were provided with opportunities to practice their skills after training. Pre- and posttraining assessments included a knowledge quiz and a confidence in skills survey. These results were compared to the findings from a control group of 16 CHWs who were administered the same assessments. A refresher training session was provided approximately 15 months after the initial training, and further assessments were administered. The Ottawa Model of Research Use was used as the framework for implementing the study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Statistical analyses revealed that posttraining quiz results were significantly higher than pretraining quiz outcomes, and scores from the postrefresher training quiz were significantly better than the posttraining quiz results. A significant increase in confidence in skills also was obtained after the CHWs were given opportunities to practice their skills in real-world settings. Finally, compared to the control group results, outcomes from the initial posttraining quiz were significantly better in the experimental group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The outcomes suggest that training CHWs to support adults with hearing loss in their communities is feasible and has the potential to increase access to hearing health care for those living in underserved communities. Further work is needed to understand how other professionals in the community could support the increased need for hearing health care services and related behavioral issues.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-23"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficacy of Noninvasive Brain Stimulation Techniques in Managing Stuttering Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis.","authors":"Amir Hossein Rasoli Jokar, Behnaz Bayat, Ali Ghadami, Morteza Soleyman Dehkordi","doi":"10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00750","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00750","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This systematic review and meta-regression analysis investigated the overall effectiveness of noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques in managing stuttering behaviors.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 290 papers were initially identified through a comprehensive database search, and after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 15 studies were selected for the final analysis. These studies evaluated NIBS techniques both as standalone interventions and in combination with speech therapy techniques. The random-effects meta-analysis was done to investigate the effect of neuromodulation techniques on reducing severity and frequency of stuttering behaviors. In addition, meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to identify the effective techniques and explore potential moderators, such as intervention type, age group, and outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The random-effects meta-analysis revealed a significant positive effect of neuromodulation techniques on reducing stuttering severity and frequency. Meta-regression showed that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) had the most significant effect in reducing stuttering severity and frequency among standalone interventions. Combined therapy approaches, which paired NIBS with speech therapy, resulted in the most substantial improvements overall. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the results despite minor heterogeneity across studies.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>NIBS, particularly tDCS, shows promise as an effective intervention for stuttering. When combined with behavioral therapies, NIBS offers enhanced benefits, supporting its role as an adjunctive treatment in clinical practice. Further large-scale studies are recommended to confirm the long-term efficacy, refine treatment protocols, and explore optimal stimulation parameters for improved outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-18"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143659656","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Impact of Family Size on Social Communication Skills in Monolingual and Bilingual Preschool Children.","authors":"Shalini Banerjee, Hannah Brownd, Ishanti Gangopadhyay","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00364","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Family size is linked tightly with children's language development. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the associations between family size, specifically the number of adults and siblings, and children's social communication skills, particularly in children from diverse linguistic environments. The present study examined the effects of family size on social communication abilities in 4- to 5-year-old monolingual and bilingual children.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Parents of 86 English-speaking monolingual children and English-Spanish-speaking bilingual children aged 4-5 years completed the Children's Communication Checklist-Second Edition (CCC-2) to measure the children's social communication skills. Individual subscales covering the pragmatic language aspects (or, for brevity, \"pragmatic subscale(s)\") in the CCC-2 were considered as outcome variables. Parents also completed interviews where information was obtained regarding the number of family members, including adults and siblings, in the household.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Results revealed that the number of adults did not predict children's social communication skills. However, the total number of family members and the number of siblings significantly predicted aspects of children's social communication abilities. Results showed that a smaller family size and fewer number of siblings may be more beneficial to monolingual children, whereas a larger family size and a greater number of siblings may be more favorable to bilingual children.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings from this study provide early insights into how family-related structures can impact the development of social communication skills in children from varied linguistic backgrounds. That is, family composition differentially affects monolingual and bilingual children's social communication, and they do so for different aspects of pragmatics.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143630298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dysrhythmic Speech Is a Characteristic of Developmental Stuttering in Adults: A Quantitative Analysis Using Duration- and Interval-Based Rhythm Metrics.","authors":"Janina Boecher, Kathryn Franich, Ho Ming Chow, Evan Usler","doi":"10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00076","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Aberrant speech rhythm has previously been identified as a hallmark of stuttering. However, evidence of dysrhythmic speech in adults who stutter (AWS) has largely been limited to qualitative research. Here, we conduct a quantitative analysis of speech rhythm in AWS and adults who do not stutter (AWNS). We also investigate potential differences in speech rhythm as a likely marker of articulatory stability in speech preceding moments of stuttering-like disfluency versus not preceding moments of stuttering-like disfluency. We hope to establish rhythm of speech as a supplementary diagnostic criterion for the assessment of stuttering.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Rhythm metrics were computed for speech produced by 16 self-identified AWS and 16 AWNS. Speech was recorded in reading and spontaneous speaking tasks. Following previous literature, we hypothesized that the nonstuttered utterances of AWS would be less rhythmic than those of AWNS. Furthermore, it was expected that speech rhythm would be disrupted immediately preceding the production of stuttering-like disfluency in AWS. We conducted statistical tests to determine differences in speech rhythm metrics between participant groups (i.e., AWS and AWNS) and utterance types (i.e., preceding stuttering-like disfluency and not preceding stuttering-like disfluency).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Multiple metrics revealed reduced speech rhythmicity in AWS compared to AWNS for both nonstuttered oral reading and spontaneous speech tasks. Furthermore, speech rhythmicity in AWS was significantly reduced immediately preceding stuttering-like disfluency compared to not preceding stuttering-like disfluency in both the reading and spontaneous speech tasks.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We present quantitative evidence of reduced speech rhythm as a characteristic of developmental stuttering. AWS exhibited relatively less rhythmic speech overall and particularly immediately preceding a stuttering-like disfluency. This reduction in the temporal stability of speech may be interpreted as a sign of imminent breakdown in articulatory coordination. The potential significance of rhythm metrics to speech science and clinical diagnostics is discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":51254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143626976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}