1
|
Repeated series learning revisited with a novel prediction on the reduced effect of item frequency in dyslexia. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13521. [PMID: 35941176 PMCID: PMC9359986 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-16805-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia, a difficulty with acquiring fluent reading, has also been characterized by reduced short-term memory (STM) capacity, which is often operationalized with span tasks. The low performance of individuals with dyslexia (IDDs) in such tasks is commonly attributed to poor phonological memory. However, we suggest an alternative explanation based on the observation that many times the items that are used in spans tasks are high-frequency items (e.g., digit words). We suggest that IDDs do not enjoy the benefit of item frequency to the same extent as controls, and thus their performance in span tasks is especially hampered. On the contrary, learning of repeated sequences was shown to be largely independent of item frequency, and therefore this type of learning may be unimpaired in dyslexia. To test both predictions, we used the Hebb-learning paradigm. We found that IDDs’ performance is especially poor compared to controls’ when high-frequency items are used, and that their repeated series learning does not differ from that of controls. Taken together with existing literature, our findings suggest that impaired learning of repeated series is not a core characteristic of dyslexia, and that the reports on reduced STM in dyslexia may to a large extent be explained by reduced benefit of item frequency.
Collapse
|
2
|
Later but Not Weaker: Neural Categorization of Native Vowels of Children at Familial Risk of Dyslexia. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12030412. [PMID: 35326368 PMCID: PMC8946763 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12030412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Although allophonic speech processing has been hypothesized to be a contributing factor in developmental dyslexia, experimental evidence is limited and inconsistent. The current study compared the categorization of native similar sounding vowels of typically developing (TD) children and children at familial risk (FR) of dyslexia. EEG response was collected in a non-attentive passive oddball paradigm from 35 TD and 35 FR Dutch 20-month-old infants who were matched on vocabulary. The children were presented with two nonwords “giep” [ɣip] and “gip” [ɣIp] that contrasted solely with respect to the vowel. In the multiple-speaker condition, both nonwords were produced by twelve different speakers while in the single-speaker condition, single tokens of each word were used as stimuli. For both conditions and for both groups, infant positive mismatch response (p-MMR) was elicited, and the p-MMR amplitude was comparable between the two groups, although the FR children had a later p-MMR peak than the TD children in the multiple-speaker condition. These findings indicate that FR children are able to categorize speech sounds, but that they may do so in a more effortful way than TDs.
Collapse
|
3
|
Pitchaimuthu A, Ananth E, Bhat JS, Haralakatta Shivananjappa S. Comparison of temporal fine structure sensitivity and concurrent vowel perception between children with and without reading disability. F1000Res 2021; 9:1271. [PMID: 35035902 PMCID: PMC8729192 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.21544.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Children with reading disabilities (RD) exhibit difficulty in perceiving speech in background noise due to poor auditory stream segregation. There is a dearth of literature on measures of temporal fine structure sensitivity (TFS) and concurrent vowel perception abilities to assess auditory stream segregation in children with reading disabilities. Hence the present study compared temporal fine structure sensitivity (TFS) and concurrent vowel perception abilities between children with and without reading deficits. Method: The present research consisted of a total number of 30 participants, 15 children with reading disabilities (RD) and fifteen typically developing (TD) children within the age range of 7-14 years and were designated as Group 1 and Group 2 respectively. Both groups were matched for age, grade, and classroom curricular instructions. The groups were evaluated for TFS and concurrent vowel perception abilities and the performance was compared using independent ‘t’ test and repeated measure ANOVA respectively. Results: Results revealed that the children with RD performed significantly (p < 0.001) poorer than TD children on both TFS and concurrent vowel identification task. On concurrent vowel identification tasks, there was no significant interaction found between reading ability and F0 difference suggesting that the trend was similar in both the groups. Conclusion: The study concludes that the children with RD show poor temporal fine structure sensitivity and concurrent vowel identification scores compared to age and grade matched TD children owing to poor auditory stream segregation in children with RD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arivudainambi Pitchaimuthu
- Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, Karnataka, 575001, India
| | - Eshwari Ananth
- Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, Karnataka, 575001, India
| | - Jayashree S Bhat
- Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, Karnataka, 575001, India
| | - Somashekara Haralakatta Shivananjappa
- Department of Audiology & Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, Karnataka, 575001, India
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Magimairaj BM, Nagaraj NK, Champlin CA, Thibodeau LK, Loeb DF, Gillam RB. Speech Perception in Noise Predicts Oral Narrative Comprehension in Children With Developmental Language Disorder. Front Psychol 2021; 12:735026. [PMID: 34744907 PMCID: PMC8566731 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined the relative contribution of auditory processing abilities (tone perception and speech perception in noise) after controlling for short-term memory capacity and vocabulary, to narrative language comprehension in children with developmental language disorder. Two hundred and sixteen children with developmental language disorder, ages 6 to 9 years (Mean = 7; 6), were administered multiple measures. The dependent variable was children's score on the narrative comprehension scale of the Test of Narrative Language. Predictors were auditory processing abilities, phonological short-term memory capacity, and language (vocabulary) factors, with age, speech perception in quiet, and non-verbal IQ as covariates. Results showed that narrative comprehension was positively correlated with the majority of the predictors. Regression analysis suggested that speech perception in noise contributed uniquely to narrative comprehension in children with developmental language disorder, over and above all other predictors; however, tone perception tasks failed to explain unique variance. The relative importance of speech perception in noise over tone-perception measures for language comprehension reinforces the need for the assessment and management of listening in noise deficits and makes a compelling case for the functional implications of complex listening situations for children with developmental language disorder.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Beula M Magimairaj
- Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Education and Research Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
| | - Naveen K Nagaraj
- Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Education and Research Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
| | - Craig A Champlin
- Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Linda K Thibodeau
- Callier Center for Communication Disorders, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Diane F Loeb
- Communication Sciences and Disorders, Baylor University, Waco, TX, United States
| | - Ronald B Gillam
- Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Emma Eccles Jones Early Childhood Education and Research Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Vanden Bempt F, Economou M, Van Herck S, Vanderauwera J, Glatz T, Vandermosten M, Wouters J, Ghesquière P. Digital Game-Based Phonics Instruction Promotes Print Knowledge in Pre-Readers at Cognitive Risk for Dyslexia. Front Psychol 2021; 12:720548. [PMID: 34566803 PMCID: PMC8455992 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Dyslexia is targeted most effectively when (1) interventions are provided preventively, before the onset of reading instruction, and (2) remediation programs combine letter-sound training with phoneme blending. Given the growing potential of technology in educational contexts, there has been a considerable increase of letter-sound trainings embedded in digital serious games. One such intervention is GraphoGame. Yet, current evidence on the preventive impact of GraphoGame is limited by the lack of adaptation of the original learning content to the skills of pre-readers, short training duration, and a restricted focus on explicitly trained skills. Therefore, the current study aims at investigating the impact of a preventive, and pre-reading adapted GraphoGame training (i.e., GraphoGame-Flemish, GG-FL) on explicitly trained skills and non-specifically trained phonological and language abilities. Following a large-scale screening (N = 1225), the current study included 88 pre-reading kindergarteners at cognitive risk for dyslexia who were assigned to three groups training either with GG-FL (n = 31), an active control game (n = 29), or no game (n = 28). Before and after the 12-week intervention, a variety of reading-related skills were assessed. Moreover, receptive letter knowledge and phonological awareness were measured every three weeks during the intervention period. Results revealed significantly larger improvements in the GG-FL group on explicitly trained skills, i.e., letter knowledge and word decoding, without finding transfer-effects to untrained phonological and language abilities. Our findings imply a GG-FL-driven head start on early literacy skills in at-risk children. A follow-up study should uncover the long-term impact and the ability of GG-FL to prevent actual reading failure.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Femke Vanden Bempt
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maria Economou
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Shauni Van Herck
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jolijn Vanderauwera
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Toivo Glatz
- Institute of Public Health, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maaike Vandermosten
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jan Wouters
- Research Group ExpORL, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Pol Ghesquière
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Murphy CFB, Schochat E, Bamiou DE. The Role of Phonological, Auditory Sensory and Cognitive Skills on Word Reading Acquisition: A Cross-Linguistic Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:582572. [PMID: 33262732 PMCID: PMC7688452 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.582572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite considerable evidence regarding the influence of orthography on reading processing, the impact of orthographic depth on reading predictors remains unclear. In addition, it also remains unknown the role of the orthography in the influence of auditory temporal processing and attention skills on word reading skills. The current study investigates the word reading predictors in a group of British and Brazilian children with typical development considering phonological, auditory sensory, short-term memory, and sustained attention skills. Rhyme and Alliteration skills predicted word reading in both groups; however, the correlation in the British group was more robust. Short-term memory was also correlated with reading in both groups; however, it was a significant word reading predictor only in the British group. The auditory sensory was not directly correlated with word reading in either group; however, it was involved with Rhyme and Alliteration performance only in the British group. Those results were discussed considering the complexity of the phonological structure and opaque orthography in English when compared to Portuguese, which indicates that the less transparent the orthography, the higher the importance of factors such as phonological awareness, short-term memory, and to some extent, auditory sensory processing skills on word reading acquisition. Those results emphasize the need to consider orthography and phonological features of a particular language when developing a reading assessment and treatments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Eliane Schochat
- Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Doris-Eva Bamiou
- The Ear Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Neuro-Otology, University College London Hospitals, London, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Research Centre, National Institute for Health Research, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Winn MB. Manipulation of voice onset time in speech stimuli: A tutorial and flexible Praat script. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 147:852. [PMID: 32113256 DOI: 10.1121/10.0000692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Voice onset time (VOT) is an acoustic property of stop consonants that is commonly manipulated in studies of phonetic perception. This paper contains a thorough description of the "progressive cutback and replacement" method of VOT manipulation, and comparison with other VOT manipulation techniques. Other acoustic properties that covary with VOT-such as fundamental frequency and formant transitions-are also discussed, along with considerations for testing VOT perception and its relationship to various other measures of auditory temporal or spectral processing. An implementation of the progressive cutback and replacement method in the Praat scripting language is presented, which is suitable for modifying natural speech for perceptual experiments involving VOT and/or related covarying F0 and intensity cues. Justifications are provided for the stimulus design choices and constraints implemented in the script.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew B Winn
- Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, University of Minnesota, 164 Pillsbury Drive Southeast, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Gabay Y, Najjar IJ, Reinisch E. Another Temporal Processing Deficit in Individuals With Developmental Dyslexia: The Case of Normalization for Speaking Rate. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2019; 62:2171-2184. [PMID: 31200610 DOI: 10.1044/2019_jslhr-s-18-0264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Developmental dyslexia (DD) has mostly been attributed to arise from phonological impairments; however, several theories indicate a temporal processing deficit as the underlying cause of DD. So far, research examined the influence of temporal cues on concurrent speech sound categorization in DD, but effects of temporal information from a context (e.g., speaking rate) on the perception of subsequent sounds (i.e., "rate normalization") have not been considered. This study examined whether individuals with DD are capable of implicitly extracting temporal information embedded in context and use it for phoneme categorization to the same extent as healthy readers. Method Fifteen individuals diagnosed with DD and 16 healthy readers, all native speakers of Hebrew, listened to context sentences followed by target words. They had to indicate whether the target word sounded more like taam ("taste"; a long-vowel response) or tam ("naïve"; a short-vowel response). Temporal information of the context was manipulated (slow vs. fast speaking rate sentences) as well as the vowel duration of the target in a 5-step continuum. Results Listeners with DD did use the rate context to inform their decisions but to a significantly lesser extent than healthy listeners. In addition, their categorization of the vowel duration continuum was somewhat less distinct than that of the control group. Conclusions Individuals with DD are impaired not only in tasks involving direct temporal processing, as shown in previous studies but also in the use of temporal information of a context that impacts the perception of subsequent target words. This inability to fully utilize rate normalization processes may influence the formation of abstract phonological representations in individuals with DD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yafit Gabay
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Inaas-Jana Najjar
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Eva Reinisch
- Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
O'Brien GE, McCloy DR, Yeatman JD. Categorical phoneme labeling in children with dyslexia does not depend on stimulus duration. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 146:245. [PMID: 31370631 PMCID: PMC6639114 DOI: 10.1121/1.5116568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2018] [Revised: 06/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/25/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
It is established that individuals with dyslexia are less consistent at auditory phoneme categorization than typical readers. One hypothesis attributes these differences in phoneme labeling to differences in auditory cue integration over time, suggesting that the performance of individuals with dyslexia would improve with longer exposure to informative phonetic cues. Here, the relationship between phoneme labeling and reading ability was investigated while manipulating the duration of steady-state auditory information available in a consonant-vowel syllable. Children with dyslexia obtained no more benefit from longer cues than did children with typical reading skills, suggesting that poor task performance is not explained by deficits in temporal integration or temporal sampling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle E O'Brien
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA
| | - Daniel R McCloy
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA
| | - Jason D Yeatman
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
|
11
|
Modulation of temporal resolution and speech long-latency auditory-evoked potentials by transcranial direct current stimulation in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:873-882. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05471-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
|
12
|
Snowling MJ, Lervåg A, Nash HM, Hulme C. Longitudinal relationships between speech perception, phonological skills and reading in children at high-risk of dyslexia. Dev Sci 2019; 22:e12723. [PMID: 30207641 PMCID: PMC6492008 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 07/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Speech perception deficits are commonly reported in dyslexia but longitudinal evidence that poor speech perception compromises learning to read is scant. We assessed the hypothesis that phonological skills, specifically phoneme awareness and RAN, mediate the relationship between speech perception and reading. We assessed longitudinal predictive relationships between categorical speech perception, phoneme awareness, RAN, language, attention and reading at ages 5½ and 6½ years in 237 children many of whom were at high risk of reading difficulties. Speech perception at 5½ years correlated with language, attention, phoneme awareness and RAN concurrently and was a predictor of reading at 6½ years. There was no significant indirect effect of speech perception on reading via phoneme awareness, suggesting that its effects are separable from those of phoneme awareness. Children classified with dyslexia at 8 years had poorer speech perception than age-controls at 5½ years and children with language disorders (with or without dyslexia) had more severe difficulties with both speech perception and attention control. Categorical speech perception tasks tap factors extraneous to perception, including decision-making skills. Further longitudinal studies are needed to unravel the complex relationships between categorical speech perception tasks and measures of reading and language and attention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Arne Lervåg
- Department of EducationUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
13
|
Zuk J, Perdue MV, Becker B, Yu X, Chang M, Raschle NM, Gaab N. Neural correlates of phonological processing: Disrupted in children with dyslexia and enhanced in musically trained children. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2018; 34:82-91. [PMID: 30103188 PMCID: PMC6481189 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2018.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2017] [Revised: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
First fMRI investigation of phonological processing in musically trained children. Greater bilateral activation with music training in regions disrupted in dyslexia. Implications for music training to support compensatory neural network in dyslexia.
Phonological processing has been postulated as a core area of deficit among children with dyslexia. Reduced brain activation during phonological processing in children with dyslexia has been observed in left-hemispheric temporoparietal regions. Musical training has shown positive associations with phonological processing abilities, but the neural mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unspecified. The present research aims to distinguish neural correlates of phonological processing in school-age typically developing musically trained children, musically untrained children, and musically untrained children with dyslexia utilizing fMRI. A whole-brain ANCOVA, accounting for gender and nonverbal cognitive abilities, identified a main effect of group in bilateral temporoparietal regions. Subsequent region-of-interest analyses replicated temporoparietal hypoactivation in children with dyslexia relative to typically developing children. By contrast, musically trained children showed greater bilateral activation in temporoparietal regions when compared to each musically untrained group. Therefore, musical training shows associations with enhanced bilateral activation of left-hemispheric regions known to be important for reading. Findings suggest that engagement of these regions through musical training may underlie the putative positive effects of music on reading development. This supports the hypothesis that musical training may facilitate the development of a bilateral compensatory neural network, which aids children with atypical function in left-hemispheric temporoparietal regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Zuk
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Meaghan V Perdue
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06268, USA
| | - Bryce Becker
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Xi Yu
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Michelle Chang
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Nora Maria Raschle
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Basel, Psychiatric University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Nittrouer S, Krieg LM, Lowenstein JH. Speech Recognition in Noise by Children with and without Dyslexia: How is it Related to Reading? RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2018; 77:98-113. [PMID: 29724639 PMCID: PMC5947872 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2018.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2017] [Revised: 12/20/2017] [Accepted: 04/11/2018] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Developmental dyslexia is commonly viewed as a phonological deficit that makes it difficult to decode written language. But children with dyslexia typically exhibit other problems, as well, including poor speech recognition in noise. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the speech-in-noise problems of children with dyslexia are related to their reading problems, and if so, if a common underlying factor might explain both. The specific hypothesis examined was that a spectral processing disorder results in these children receiving smeared signals, which could explain both the diminished sensitivity to phonological structure - leading to reading problems - and the speech recognition in noise difficulties. The alternative hypothesis tested in this study was that children with dyslexia simply have broadly based language deficits. PARTICIPANTS Ninety-seven children between the ages of 7 years; 10 months and 12 years; 9 months participated: 46 with dyslexia and 51 without dyslexia. METHODS Children were tested on two dependent measures: word reading and recognition in noise with two types of sentence materials: as unprocessed (UP) signals, and as spectrally smeared (SM) signals. Data were collected for four predictor variables: phonological awareness, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and digit span. RESULTS Children with dyslexia showed deficits on both dependent and all predictor variables. Their scores for speech recognition in noise were poorer than those of children without dyslexia for both the UP and SM signals, but by equivalent amounts across signal conditions indicating that they were not disproportionately hindered by spectral distortion. Correlation analyses on scores from children with dyslexia showed that reading ability and speech-in-noise recognition were only mildly correlated, and each skill was related to different underlying abilities. CONCLUSIONS No substantial evidence was found to support the suggestion that the reading and speech recognition in noise problems of children with dyslexia arise from a single factor that could be defined as a spectral processing disorder. The reading and speech recognition in noise deficits of these children appeared to be largely independent.
Collapse
|
15
|
Miller G, Lewis B, Benchek P, Buss E, Calandruccio L. Masked Speech Recognition and Reading Ability in School-Age Children: Is There a Relationship? JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:776-788. [PMID: 29507949 DOI: 10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-17-0279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Accepted: 11/01/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The relationship between reading (decoding) skills, phonological processing abilities, and masked speech recognition in typically developing children was explored. This experiment was designed to evaluate the relationship between phonological processing and decoding abilities and 2 aspects of masked speech recognition in typically developing children: (a) the ability to benefit from temporal and spectral modulations within a noise masker and (b) the masking exerted by a speech masker. METHOD Forty-two typically developing 3rd- and 4th-grade children with normal hearing, ranging in age from 8;10 to 10;6 years (mean age = 9;2 years, SD = 0.5 months), completed sentence recognition testing in 4 different maskers: steady-state noise, temporally modulated noise, spectrally modulated noise, and two-talker speech. Children also underwent assessment of phonological processing abilities and assessments of single-word decoding. As a comparison group, 15 adults with normal hearing also completed speech-in-noise testing. RESULTS Speech recognition thresholds varied between approximately 3 and 7 dB across children, depending on the masker condition. Compared to adults, performance in the 2-talker masker was relatively consistent across children. Furthermore, decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio had a more precipitously deleterious effect on children's speech recognition in the 2-talker masker than was observed for adults. For children, individual differences in speech recognition threshold were not predicted by phonological awareness or decoding ability in any masker condition. CONCLUSIONS No relationship was found between phonological awareness and/or decoding ability and a child's ability to benefit from spectral or temporal modulations. In addition, phonological awareness and/or decoding ability was not related to speech recognition in a 2-talker masker. Last, these data suggest that the between-listeners variability often observed in 2-talker maskers for adults may be smaller for children. The reasons for this child-adult difference need to be further explored. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5913547.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle Miller
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
| | - Barbara Lewis
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
| | - Penelope Benchek
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
| | - Emily Buss
- Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill
| | - Lauren Calandruccio
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Gósy M, Huntley Bahr R, Gyarmathy D, Beke A. Dichotic listening and sentence repetition performance in children with reading difficulties. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2018; 32:787-803. [PMID: 29393703 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2018.1431807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Numerous investigations have identified weaknesses in speech processing and language skills in children with dyslexia; however, little is known about these abilities in children with reading difficulties (RD). The primary objective of this investigation was to determine the utility of auditory speech processing tasks in differentiating children with RD from those with typical reading skills. It was hypothesized that children, who perform below grade level in reading, would also show poorer performance on both dichotic listening and sentence repetition tasks because of the reciprocal influences of deficient auditory speech processing and language abilities. A total of 180 Hungarian-speaking, monolingual 8-, 9- and 10-year-old children, with and without RD, participated in dichotic listening and sentence repetition (modified by noise and morphosyntactic complexity) tasks. Performances were compared across ability groups, age and gender. Children with RD evidenced significantly poorer performance than controls on both tasks. Effects for age and gender were more noticeable in students with RD. Our findings support the notion that reading deficiencies are also associated with poor auditory speech processing and language abilities in cases where dyslexia is not diagnosed. We suggest that these tasks may be used as easy and fast screening tests in the identification of RD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mária Gósy
- a Phonetics Department , Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Budapest , Hungary
| | - Ruth Huntley Bahr
- b Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of South Florida , Tampa , FL , USA
| | - Dorottya Gyarmathy
- a Phonetics Department , Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Budapest , Hungary
| | - András Beke
- a Phonetics Department , Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences , Budapest , Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Zuk J, Bishop-Liebler P, Ozernov-Palchik O, Moore E, Overy K, Welch G, Gaab N. Revisiting the "enigma" of musicians with dyslexia: Auditory sequencing and speech abilities. J Exp Psychol Gen 2017; 146:495-511. [PMID: 28383990 DOI: 10.1037/xge0000281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has suggested a link between musical training and auditory processing skills. Musicians have shown enhanced perception of auditory features critical to both music and speech, suggesting that this link extends beyond basic auditory processing. It remains unclear to what extent musicians who also have dyslexia show these specialized abilities, considering often-observed persistent deficits that coincide with reading impairments. The present study evaluated auditory sequencing and speech discrimination in 52 adults comprised of musicians with dyslexia, nonmusicians with dyslexia, and typical musicians. An auditory sequencing task measuring perceptual acuity for tone sequences of increasing length was administered. Furthermore, subjects were asked to discriminate synthesized syllable continua varying in acoustic components of speech necessary for intraphonemic discrimination, which included spectral (formant frequency) and temporal (voice onset time [VOT] and amplitude envelope) features. Results indicate that musicians with dyslexia did not significantly differ from typical musicians and performed better than nonmusicians with dyslexia for auditory sequencing as well as discrimination of spectral and VOT cues within syllable continua. However, typical musicians demonstrated superior performance relative to both groups with dyslexia for discrimination of syllables varying in amplitude information. These findings suggest a distinct profile of speech processing abilities in musicians with dyslexia, with specific weaknesses in discerning amplitude cues within speech. Because these difficulties seem to remain persistent in adults with dyslexia despite musical training, this study only partly supports the potential for musical training to enhance the auditory processing skills known to be crucial for literacy in individuals with dyslexia. (PsycINFO Database Record
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Zuk
- Developmental Medicine Center, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Boston Children's Hospital
| | - Paula Bishop-Liebler
- International Music Education Research Centre, Institute of Education, University College London
| | - Ola Ozernov-Palchik
- Developmental Medicine Center, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Boston Children's Hospital
| | - Emma Moore
- Institute of Music in Human and Social Development, Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh
| | - Katie Overy
- Institute of Music in Human and Social Development, Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh
| | - Graham Welch
- International Music Education Research Centre, Institute of Education, University College London
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Developmental Medicine Center, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Boston Children's Hospital
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Nittrouer S, Lowenstein JH, Wucinich T, Moberly AC. Verbal Working Memory in Older Adults: The Roles of Phonological Capacities and Processing Speed. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2016; 59:1520-1532. [PMID: 27936265 PMCID: PMC5399767 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-h-15-0404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2015] [Revised: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 04/22/2016] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study examined the potential roles of phonological sensitivity and processing speed in age-related declines of verbal working memory. METHOD Twenty younger and 25 older adults with age-normal hearing participated. Two measures of verbal working memory were collected: digit span and serial recall of words. Processing speed was indexed using response times during those tasks. Three other measures were also obtained, assessing phonological awareness, processing, and recoding. RESULTS Forward and reverse digit spans were similar across groups. Accuracy on the serial recall task was poorer for older than for younger adults, and response times were slower. When response time served as a covariate, the age effect for accuracy was reduced. Phonological capacities were equivalent across age groups, so we were unable to account for differences across age groups in verbal working memory. Nonetheless, when outcomes for only older adults were considered, phonological awareness and processing speed explained significant proportions of variance in serial recall accuracy. CONCLUSION Slowing in processing abilities accounts for the primary trajectory of age-related declines in verbal working memory. However, individual differences in phonological capacities explain variability among individual older adults.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan Nittrouer
- Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus
- Currently affiliated with the University of Florida, Gainesville
| | - Joanna H. Lowenstein
- Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus
- Currently affiliated with the University of Florida, Gainesville
| | - Taylor Wucinich
- Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus
| | - Aaron C. Moberly
- Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Snowling MJ, Melby-Lervåg M. Oral language deficits in familial dyslexia: A meta-analysis and review. Psychol Bull 2016; 142:498-545. [PMID: 26727308 PMCID: PMC4824243 DOI: 10.1037/bul0000037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
This article reviews 95 publications (based on 21 independent samples) that have examined children at family risk of reading disorders. We report that children at family risk of dyslexia experience delayed language development as infants and toddlers. In the preschool period, they have significant difficulties in phonological processes as well as with broader language skills and in acquiring the foundations of decoding skill (letter knowledge, phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming [RAN]). Findings are mixed with regard to auditory and visual perception: they do not appear subject to slow motor development, but lack of control for comorbidities confounds interpretation. Longitudinal studies of outcomes show that children at family risk who go on to fulfil criteria for dyslexia have more severe impairments in preschool language than those who are defined as normal readers, but the latter group do less well than controls. Similarly at school age, family risk of dyslexia is associated with significantly poor phonological awareness and literacy skills. Although there is no strong evidence that children at family risk are brought up in an environment that differs significantly from that of controls, their parents tend to have lower educational levels and read less frequently to themselves. Together, the findings suggest that a phonological processing deficit can be conceptualized as an endophenotype of dyslexia that increases the continuous risk of reading difficulties; in turn its impact may be moderated by protective factors. (PsycINFO Database Record
Collapse
|
20
|
Rakhlin N, Kornilov SA, Reich J, Grigorenko EL. Interpretation of Anaphoric Dependencies in Russian-speaking Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 2015; 22:355-383. [PMID: 26640354 PMCID: PMC4666541 DOI: 10.1080/10489223.2015.1028629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
We examined anaphora resolution in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) to clarify whether 1) DLD is best understood as missing knowledge of certain linguistic operations/elements or as unreliable performance and 2) if comprehension of sentences with anaphoric expressions as objects and exceptionally case marked (ECM) subjects supports a particular theoretical account of anaphora. Fifty-four native-Russian-speaking children (age M = 7;6, SD = 1;9) were tested on a picture selection task. Children with DLD (n=18) underperformed overall, but displayed similar patterns to the typically developing (TD) group with respect to the extra difficulty of the ECM relative to the transitive and ECM pronouns relative to all other conditions. However, whereas pronouns were more difficult than reflexives for the TD children, this effect was not significant for the DLD group, whose reduced accuracy on reflexives washed out the effect of pronouns in that group. These results are consistent with performance-level vulnerability in DLD, arguably related to weaknesses in lexical processing and with the Reflexivity framework of Binding phenomena.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Rakhlin
- Wayne State University, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Detroit, United States
| | - Sergey A. Kornilov
- Yale University, New Haven, United States. Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
| | - Jodi Reich
- Temple University, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Elena L. Grigorenko
- Yale University, Child Study Center, Department of Psychology, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, New Haven, United States
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Sussman E, Steinschneider M, Lee W, Lawson K. Auditory scene analysis in school-aged children with developmental language disorders. Int J Psychophysiol 2015; 95:113-24. [PMID: 24548430 PMCID: PMC4134435 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2013] [Revised: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 02/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Natural sound environments are dynamic, with overlapping acoustic input originating from simultaneously active sources. A key function of the auditory system is to integrate sensory inputs that belong together and segregate those that come from different sources. We hypothesized that this skill is impaired in individuals with phonological processing difficulties. There is considerable disagreement about whether phonological impairments observed in children with developmental language disorders can be attributed to specific linguistic deficits or to more general acoustic processing deficits. However, most tests of general auditory abilities have been conducted with a single set of sounds. We assessed the ability of school-aged children (7-15 years) to parse complex auditory non-speech input, and determined whether the presence of phonological processing impairments was associated with stream perception performance. A key finding was that children with language impairments did not show the same developmental trajectory for stream perception as typically developing children. In addition, children with language impairments required larger frequency separations between sounds to hear distinct streams compared to age-matched peers. Furthermore, phonological processing ability was a significant predictor of stream perception measures, but only in the older age groups. No such association was found in the youngest children. These results indicate that children with language impairments have difficulty parsing speech streams, or identifying individual sound events when there are competing sound sources. We conclude that language group differences may in part reflect fundamental maturational disparities in the analysis of complex auditory scenes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- E Sussman
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Department of Otorhinolaryngology-HNS, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
| | - M Steinschneider
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA; Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - W Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
| | - K Lawson
- Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Christmann CA, Lachmann T, Steinbrink C. Evidence for a general auditory processing deficit in developmental dyslexia from a discrimination paradigm using speech versus nonspeech sounds matched in complexity. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2015; 58:107-21. [PMID: 25480527 DOI: 10.1044/2014_jslhr-l-14-0174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2014] [Accepted: 10/24/2014] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE It is unknown whether phonological deficits are the primary cause of developmental dyslexia or whether they represent a secondary symptom resulting from impairments in processing basic acoustic parameters of speech. This might be due, in part, to methodological difficulties. Our aim was to overcome two of these difficulties: the comparability of stimulus material and task in speech versus nonspeech conditions. METHOD In this study, the authors (a) assessed auditory processing of German vowel center stimuli, spectrally rotated versions of these stimuli, and bands of formants; (b) used the same task for linguistic and nonlinguistic conditions; and (c) varied systematically temporal and spectral parameters inherent in the German vowel system. Forty-two adolescents and adults with and without reading disabilities participated. RESULTS Group differences were found for all linguistic and nonlinguistic conditions for both temporal and spectral parameters. Auditory deficits were identified in most but not all participants with dyslexia. These deficits were not restricted to speech stimuli-they were also found for nonspeech stimuli with equal and lower complexity compared with the vowel stimuli. Temporal deficits were not observed in isolation. CONCLUSION These results support the existence of a general auditory processing impairment in developmental dyslexia.
Collapse
|
23
|
Steinbrink C, Klatte M, Lachmann T. Phonological, temporal and spectral processing in vowel length discrimination is impaired in German primary school children with developmental dyslexia. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2014; 35:3034-3045. [PMID: 25128788 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2014] [Accepted: 07/23/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
It is still unclear whether phonological processing deficits are the underlying cause of developmental dyslexia, or rather a consequence of basic auditory processing impairments. To avoid methodological confounds, in the current study the same task and stimuli of comparable complexity were used to investigate both phonological and basic auditory (temporal and spectral) processing in dyslexia. German dyslexic children (Grades 3 and 4) were compared to age- and grade-matched controls in a vowel length discrimination task with three experimental conditions: In a phonological condition, natural vowels were used, differing both with respect to temporal and spectral information (in German, vowel length is phonemic, and vowel length differences are characterized by both temporal and spectral information). In a temporal condition, spectral information differentiating between the two vowels of a pair was eliminated, whereas in a spectral condition, temporal differences were removed. As performance measure, the sensitivity index d' was computed. At the group level, dyslexic children's performance was inferior to that of controls for phonological as well as temporal and spectral vowel length discrimination. At an individual level, nearly half of the dyslexic sample was characterized by deficits in all three conditions, but there were also some children showing no deficits at all. These results reveal on the one hand that phonological processing deficits in dyslexia may stem from impairments in processing temporal and spectral information in the speech signal. On the other hand they indicate, however, that not all dyslexic children might be characterized by phonological or auditory processing deficits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Steinbrink
- Department of Psychology II (Cognitive and Developmental Psychology), University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Strasse, Building 57, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
| | - Maria Klatte
- Department of Psychology II (Cognitive and Developmental Psychology), University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Strasse, Building 57, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Thomas Lachmann
- Department of Psychology II (Cognitive and Developmental Psychology), University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Strasse, Building 57, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Nittrouer S, Caldwell-Tarr A, Sansom E, Twersky J, Lowenstein JH. Nonword repetition in children with cochlear implants: a potential clinical marker of poor language acquisition. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2014; 23:679-95. [PMID: 25340675 PMCID: PMC4229442 DOI: 10.1044/2014_ajslp-14-0040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2014] [Accepted: 08/25/2014] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Cochlear implants (CIs) can facilitate the acquisition of spoken language for deaf children, but challenges remain. Language skills dependent on phonological sensitivity are most at risk for these children, so having an effective way to diagnose problems at this level would be of value for school speech-language pathologists. The goal of this study was to assess whether a nonword repetition (NWR) task could serve that purpose. METHOD Participants were 104 second graders: 49 with normal hearing (NH) and 55 with CIs. In addition to NWR, children were tested on 10 measures involving phonological awareness and processing, serial recall of words, vocabulary, reading, and grammar. RESULTS Children with CIs performed more poorly than children with NH on NWR, and sensitivity to phonological structure alone explained that performance for children in both groups. For children with CIs, 2 audiological factors positively influenced outcomes on NWR: being identified with hearing loss at a younger age and having experience with wearing a hearing aid on the unimplanted ear at the time of receiving a 1st CI. NWR scores were better able to rule out than to rule in such language deficits. CONCLUSIONS Well-designed NWR tasks could have clinical utility in assessments of language acquisition for school-age children with CIs.
Collapse
|
25
|
Chodroff E, Wilson C. Burst spectrum as a cue for the stop voicing contrast in American English. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2014; 136:2762-2772. [PMID: 25373976 DOI: 10.1121/1.4896470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Voicing contrasts in stop consonants are expressed by a constellation of acoustic cues. This study focused on a spectral cue present at burst onset in American English labial and coronal stops. Spectral shape was examined for word-initial, prevocalic stops of all three places of articulation in a laboratory production study and a large corpus of continuous read speech. Voiceless labial and coronal stops were found to have greater energy at higher frequencies in comparison to homorganic voiced stops, a difference that could not be attributed to aspiration in the voiceless stops or modal phonation in the voiced, while no consistent effect was found for dorsal stops. This pattern was found with various methods of spectral estimation (time-averaged and multitaper spectra) and measures of spectral energy concentration (center of gravity and spectral peak) for both linear and auditorily based frequency scales. Perceptual relevance of the spectral cue was tested in laboratory and online experiments with continua created by crossing burst shape and voice onset time. A trading relation was observed such that voiceless identifications were more likely for tokens with higher frequency bursts. Goodness ratings indicated that burst spectrum influences category typicality for voiceless stops even when voice onset time is unambiguous.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Chodroff
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
| | - Colin Wilson
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Iliadou VV, Bamiou DE, Chermak GD, Nimatoudis I. Comparison of two tests of auditory temporal resolution in children with central auditory processing disorder, adults with psychosis, and adult professional musicians. Int J Audiol 2014; 53:507-13. [PMID: 24801531 DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2014.900576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Evaluate auditory temporal resolution threshold outcomes across three different populations. DESIGN Two commercially available tests of auditory gap detection (Random gap detection (RGDT) test, and Gaps-in-noise (GIN) test) were administered to all participants. STUDY SAMPLE Adult professional musicians (APM) (N = 11, age range 28-61 years); children with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) (N = 22, age range 7.5-17 years); and first episode psychosis patients (FEP) (N = 17, age range 18-48 years). RESULTS It was not possible to calculate a threshold for the RGDT for 13 of 22 children with CAPD and for 7 of 17 adults with FEP due to response inconsistency. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) excluding cases that produced inconsistent RGDT results showed that only RGDT thresholds differed across groups (F = 8.73, p = 0.001). Three t-tests comparing test means within group revealed statistically significant differences between the gap detection thresholds obtained with the RGDT vs. the GIN for each group. No significant correlations were seen between RGDT and GIN. CONCLUSION Lower/better gap detection thresholds and smaller standard deviations were obtained using the GIN in all three groups. Lack of correlation between the two tests suggests that they may measure different processes.
Collapse
|
27
|
Nittrouer S, Lowenstein JH. SEPARATING THE EFFECTS OF ACOUSTIC AND PHONETIC FACTORS IN LINGUISTIC PROCESSING WITH IMPOVERISHED SIGNALS BY ADULTS AND CHILDREN. APPLIED PSYCHOLINGUISTICS 2014; 35:333-370. [PMID: 24729642 PMCID: PMC3981461 DOI: 10.1017/s0142716412000410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Cochlear implants allow many individuals with profound hearing loss to understand spoken language, even though the impoverished signals provided by these devices poorly preserve acoustic attributes long believed to support recovery of phonetic structure. Consequently questions may be raised regarding whether traditional psycholinguistic theories rely too heavily on phonetic segments to explain linguistic processing while ignoring potential roles of other forms of acoustic structure. This study tested that possibility. Adults and children (8 years old) performed two tasks: one involving explicit segmentation, phonemic awareness, and one involving a linguistic task thought to operate more efficiently with well-defined phonetic segments, short-term memory. Stimuli were unprocessed signals (UP), amplitude envelopes (AE) analogous to implant signals, and unprocessed signals in noise (NOI) which provided a degraded signal for comparison. Adults' results for short-term recall were similar for UP and NOI, but worse for AE stimuli. The phonemic awareness task revealed the opposite pattern across AE and NOI. Children's results for short-term recall showed similar decrements in performance for AE and NOI compared to UP, even though only NOI stimuli showed diminished results for segmentation. Conclusions were that perhaps traditional accounts are too focused on phonetic segments, something implant designers and clinicians need to consider.
Collapse
|
28
|
Nittrouer S, Caldwell-Tarr A, Tarr E, Lowenstein JH, Rice C, Moberly AC. Improving speech-in-noise recognition for children with hearing loss: potential effects of language abilities, binaural summation, and head shadow. Int J Audiol 2014; 52:513-25. [PMID: 23834373 DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2013.792957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study examined speech recognition in noise for children with hearing loss, compared it to recognition for children with normal hearing, and examined mechanisms that might explain variance in children's abilities to recognize speech in noise. DESIGN Word recognition was measured in two levels of noise, both when the speech and noise were co-located in front and when the noise came separately from one side. Four mechanisms were examined as factors possibly explaining variance: vocabulary knowledge, sensitivity to phonological structure, binaural summation, and head shadow. STUDY SAMPLE Participants were 113 eight-year-old children. Forty-eight had normal hearing (NH) and 65 had hearing loss: 18 with hearing aids (HAs), 19 with one cochlear implant (CI), and 28 with two CIs. RESULTS Phonological sensitivity explained a significant amount of between-groups variance in speech-in-noise recognition. Little evidence of binaural summation was found. Head shadow was similar in magnitude for children with NH and with CIs, regardless of whether they wore one or two CIs. Children with HAs showed reduced head shadow effects. CONCLUSION These outcomes suggest that in order to improve speech-in-noise recognition for children with hearing loss, intervention needs to be comprehensive, focusing on both language abilities and auditory mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan Nittrouer
- Department of Otolaryngology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43212, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
29
|
Steinbrink C, Zimmer K, Lachmann T, Dirichs M, Kammer T. Development of Rapid Temporal Processing and Its Impact on Literacy Skills in Primary School Children. Child Dev 2013; 85:1711-26. [PMID: 24359600 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Karin Zimmer
- German Institute for International Educational Research, Frankfurt/Main
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Protopapas A. From temporal processing to developmental language disorders: mind the gap. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2013; 369:20130090. [PMID: 24324245 PMCID: PMC3866431 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The 'rapid temporal processing' and the 'temporal sampling framework' hypotheses have been proposed to account for the deficits in language and literacy development seen in specific language impairment and dyslexia. This paper reviews these hypotheses and concludes that the proposed causal chains between the presumed auditory processing deficits and the observed behavioural manifestation of the disorders are vague and not well established empirically. Several problems and limitations are identified. Most data concern correlations between distantly related tasks, and there is considerable heterogeneity and variability in performance as well as concerns about reliability and validity. Little attention is paid to the distinction between ostensibly perceptual and metalinguistic tasks or between implicit and explicit modes of performance, yet measures are assumed to be pure indicators of underlying processes or representations. The possibility that diagnostic categories do not refer to causally and behaviourally homogeneous groups needs to be taken seriously, taking into account genetic and neurodevelopmental studies to construct multiple-risk models. To make progress in the field, cognitive models of each task must be specified, including performance domains that are predicted to be deficient versus intact, testing multiple indicators of latent constructs and demonstrating construct reliability and validity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Athanassios Protopapas
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Athens, Ano Ilissia Campus, Zografos 157 71, Greece
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Nittrouer S, Lowenstein JH. Perceptual organization of speech signals by children with and without dyslexia. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2013; 34:2304-25. [PMID: 23702597 PMCID: PMC3674161 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2013] [Revised: 04/18/2013] [Accepted: 04/22/2013] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is a condition in which children encounter difficulty learning to read in spite of adequate instruction. Although considerable effort has been expended trying to identify the source of the problem, no single solution has been agreed upon. The current study explored a new hypothesis, that developmental dyslexia may be due to faulty perceptual organization of linguistically relevant sensory input. To test that idea, sentence-length speech signals were processed to create either sine-wave or noise-vocoded analogs. Seventy children between 8 and 11 years of age, with and without dyslexia participated. Children with dyslexia were selected to have phonological awareness deficits, although those without such deficits were retained in the study. The processed sentences were presented for recognition, and measures of reading, phonological awareness, and expressive vocabulary were collected. Results showed that children with dyslexia, regardless of phonological subtype, had poorer recognition scores than children without dyslexia for both kinds of degraded sentences. Older children with dyslexia recognized the sine-wave sentences better than younger children with dyslexia, but no such effect of age was found for the vocoded materials. Recognition scores were used as predictor variables in regression analyses with reading, phonological awareness, and vocabulary measures used as dependent variables. Scores for both sorts of sentence materials were strong predictors of performance on all three dependent measures when all children were included, but only performance for the sine-wave materials explained significant proportions of variance when only children with dyslexia were included. Finally, matching young, typical readers with older children with dyslexia on reading abilities did not mitigate the group difference in recognition of vocoded sentences. Conclusions were that children with dyslexia have difficulty organizing linguistically relevant sensory input, but learn to do so for the structure preserved by sine-wave signals before they do so for other sorts of signal structure. These perceptual organization deficits could account for difficulties acquiring refined linguistic representations, including those of a phonological nature, although ramifications are different across affected children.
Collapse
|
32
|
Nittrouer S, Lowenstein JH, Tarr E. Amplitude rise time does not cue the /ba/-/wa/ contrast for adults or children. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2013; 56:427-440. [PMID: 22992704 PMCID: PMC3810943 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/12-0075)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Previous research has demonstrated that children weight the acoustic cues to many phonemic decisions differently than do adults and gradually shift those strategies as they gain language experience. However, that research has focused on spectral and duration cues rather than on amplitude cues. In the current study, the authors examined amplitude rise time (ART; an amplitude cue) and formant rise time (FRT; a spectral cue) in the /b/-/w/ manner contrast for adults and children, and related those speech decisions to outcomes of nonspeech discrimination tasks. METHOD Twenty adults and 30 children (ages 4-5 years) labeled natural and synthetic speech stimuli manipulated to vary ARTs and FRTs, and discriminated nonspeech analogs that varied only by ART in an AX paradigm. RESULTS Three primary results were obtained. First, listeners in both age groups based speech labeling judgments on FRT, not on ART. Second, the fundamental frequency of the natural speech samples did not influence labeling judgments. Third, discrimination performance for the nonspeech stimuli did not predict how listeners would perform with the speech stimuli. CONCLUSION Even though both adults and children are sensitive to ART, it was not weighted in phonemic judgments by these typical listeners.
Collapse
|
33
|
Developmental sex-specific change in auditory–vocal integration: ERP evidence in children. Clin Neurophysiol 2013; 124:503-13. [PMID: 23036182 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2012.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2012] [Revised: 08/27/2012] [Accepted: 08/29/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
|
34
|
Caldwell A, Nittrouer S. Speech perception in noise by children with cochlear implants. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2013; 56:13-30. [PMID: 22744138 PMCID: PMC3810941 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0338)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Common wisdom suggests that listening in noise poses disproportionately greater difficulty for listeners with cochlear implants (CIs) than for peers with normal hearing (NH). The purpose of this study was to examine phonological, language, and cognitive skills that might help explain speech-in-noise abilities for children with CIs. METHOD Three groups of kindergartners (NH, hearing aid wearers, and CI users) were tested on speech recognition in quiet and noise and on tasks thought to underlie the abilities that fit into the domains of phonological awareness, general language, and cognitive skills. These last measures were used as predictor variables in regression analyses with speech-in-noise scores as dependent variables. RESULTS Compared to children with NH, children with CIs did not perform as well on speech recognition in noise or on most other measures, including recognition in quiet. Two surprising results were that (a) noise effects were consistent across groups and (b) scores on other measures did not explain any group differences in speech recognition. CONCLUSIONS Limitations of implant processing take their primary toll on recognition in quiet and account for poor speech recognition and language/phonological deficits in children with CIs. Implications are that teachers/clinicians need to teach language/phonology directly and maximize signal-to-noise levels in the classroom.
Collapse
|
35
|
Hazan V, Messaoud-Galusi S, Rosen S. The effect of talker and intonation variability on speech perception in noise in children with dyslexia. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2013; 56:44-62. [PMID: 22761322 PMCID: PMC3678076 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/10-0107)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE In this study, the authors aimed to determine whether children with dyslexia (hereafter referred to as "DYS children") are more affected than children with average reading ability (hereafter referred to as "AR children") by talker and intonation variability when perceiving speech in noise. METHOD Thirty-four DYS and 25 AR children were tested on their perception of consonants in naturally produced CV tokens in multitalker babble. Twelve CVs were presented for identification in four conditions varying in the degree of talker and intonation variability. Consonant place (/bi/-/di/) and voicing (/bi/-/pi/) discrimination were investigated with the same conditions. RESULTS DYS children made slightly more identification errors than AR children but only for conditions with variable intonation. Errors were more frequent for a subset of consonants, generally weakly encoded for AR children, for tokens with intonation patterns (steady and rise-fall) that occur infrequently in connected discourse. In discrimination tasks, which have a greater memory and cognitive load, DYS children scored lower than AR children across all conditions. CONCLUSIONS Unusual intonation patterns had a disproportionate (but small) effect on consonant intelligibility in noise for DYS children, but adding talker variability did not. DYS children do not appear to have a general problem in perceiving speech in degraded conditions, which makes it unlikely that they lack robust phonological representations.
Collapse
|
36
|
Stuart GW, McAnally KI, McKay A, Johnston M, Castles A. A test of the magnocellular deficit theory of dyslexia in an adult sample. Cogn Neuropsychol 2012; 23:1215-29. [PMID: 21049375 DOI: 10.1080/02643290600814624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
An influential theory of dyslexia is based on the premise that individuals with the disorder have impaired sensitivity to rapidly changing stimuli in the visual and auditory modalities, due to a dysfunction in the magnocellular channel of the visual system and its analogue in the auditory pathway. The deficit in the auditory system is thought to cause difficulties in the segmentation of speech and the formation of accurate phonological representations, leading to problems in making the grapheme-phoneme correspondences necessary for reading. In a sample of 13 adults with a history of severe reading difficulty and 18 controls, visual contrast thresholds were measured in response to an 8-Hz flickering Gaussian blob as well as a slowly modulated 8 cycles/deg Gaussian windowed grating. Auditory thresholds were measured in response to a 4-s burst of white noise, the 2nd or 3rd second of which was amplitude modulated at 100 Hz or 1 Hz. The adult reading difficulty group exhibited normal thresholds to rapidly changing stimuli in both modalities and to the slowly modulated visual stimulus, but some showed reduced sensitivity to the 1-Hz amplitude-modulated auditory stimulus. Sensitivity to amplitude modulation at slower rates has been shown to be important for segmentation of the speech stream and so may be implicated in the reading difficulty of the affected individuals. A magnocellular deficit cannot explain this impaired sensitivity, which may be the result of a reduced echoic memory span.
Collapse
|
37
|
Nittrouer S. A new perspective on developmental language problems: Perceptual organization deficits. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 19:87-97. [PMID: 23977405 DOI: 10.1044/lle19.3.87] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Children with a variety of language-related problems, including dyslexia, experience difficulty processing the acoustic speech signal, leading to proposals of diagnostic entities known as auditory processing deficits. Although descriptions of these deficits vary across accounts, most hinge on the idea that problems arise at the level of detecting and/or discriminating sensory inputs. This article re-examines that idea, and proposes that the difficulty more likely arises in how those sensations get organized into service for auditory comprehension of language.
Collapse
|
38
|
Malenfant N, Grondin S, Boivin M, Forget-Dubois N, Robaey P, Dionne G. Contribution of temporal processing skills to reading comprehension in 8-year-olds: evidence for a mediation effect of phonological awareness. Child Dev 2012; 83:1332-46. [PMID: 22591182 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01777.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This study tested whether the association between temporal processing (TP) and reading is mediated by phonological awareness (PA) in a normative sample of 615 eight-year-olds. TP was measured with auditory and bimodal (visual-auditory) temporal order judgment tasks and PA with a phoneme deletion task. PA partially mediated the association between both auditory and bimodal TP and reading, above nonverbal abilities, vocabulary, and processing speed. PA explained a larger proportion of the association between auditory TP and reading (56% vs. 39% for bimodal TP), and most of the association between bimodal TP and reading was direct. This finding is consistent with a dual-phonological and visual-pathway model of the association between TP and reading in normative reading skills.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nathalie Malenfant
- Groupe de recherche sur l’inadaptationpsychosociale chez l’enfant, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
39
|
Maïonchi-Pino N, de Cara B, Ecalle J, Magnan A. Are syllabification and resyllabification strategies phonotactically directed in French children with dyslexia? A preliminary report. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2012; 55:435-446. [PMID: 22199201 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2011/10-0286)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE In this study, the authors queried whether French-speaking children with dyslexia were sensitive to consonant sonority and position within syllable boundaries to influence a phonological syllable-based segmentation in silent reading. METHOD Participants included 15 French-speaking children with dyslexia, compared with 30 chronological age-matched and reading level-matched controls. Children were tested with an audiovisual recognition task. A target pseudoword (TOLPUDE) was simultaneously presented visually and auditorily and then was compared with a printed test pseudoword that either was identical or differed after the coda deletion (TOPUDE) or the onset deletion (TOLUDE). The intervocalic consonant sequences had either a sonorant coda-sonorant onset (TOR.LADE), sonorant coda-obstruent onset (TOL.PUDE), obstruent coda-sonorant onset (DOT.LIRE), or obstruent coda-obstruent onset (BIC.TADE) sonority profile. RESULTS All children processed identity better than they processed deletion, especially with the optimal sonorant coda-obstruent onset sonority profile. However, children preserved syllabification (coda deletion; TO.PUDE) rather than resyllabification (onset deletion; TO.LUDE) with intervocalic consonant sequence reductions, especially when sonorant codas were deleted but the optimal intersyllable contact was respected. CONCLUSIONS It was surprising to find that although children with dyslexia generally exhibit phonological and acoustic-phonetic impairments (voicing), they showed sensitivity to the optimal sonority profile and a preference for preserved syllabification. The authors proposed a sonority-modulated explanation to account for phonological syllable-based processing. Educational implications are discussed.
Collapse
|
40
|
Ramus F, Ahissar M. Developmental dyslexia: The difficulties of interpreting poor performance, and the importance of normal performance. Cogn Neuropsychol 2012; 29:104-22. [PMID: 22559749 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2012.677420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
|
41
|
Messaoud-Galusi S, Hazan V, Rosen S. Investigating speech perception in children with dyslexia: is there evidence of a consistent deficit in individuals? JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2011; 54:1682-701. [PMID: 21930615 PMCID: PMC3374927 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2011/09-0261)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The claim that speech perception abilities are impaired in dyslexia was investigated in a group of 62 children with dyslexia and 51 average readers matched in age. METHOD To test whether there was robust evidence of speech perception deficits in children with dyslexia, speech perception in noise and quiet was measured using 8 different tasks involving the identification and discrimination of a complex and highly natural synthetic "bee"-"pea" contrast (copy synthesized from natural models) and the perception of naturally produced words. RESULTS Children with dyslexia, on average, performed more poorly than did average readers in the synthetic syllables identification task in quiet and in across-category discrimination (but not when tested using an adaptive procedure). They did not differ from average readers on 2 tasks of word recognition in noise or identification of synthetic syllables in noise. For all tasks, a majority of individual children with dyslexia performed within norms. Finally, speech perception generally did not correlate with pseudoword reading or phonological processing--the core skills related to dyslexia. CONCLUSIONS On the tasks and speech stimuli that the authors used, most children with dyslexia did not appear to show a consistent deficit in speech perception.
Collapse
|
42
|
Wallach GP. Peeling the Onion of Auditory Processing Disorder: A Language/Curricular-Based Perspective. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 2011; 42:273-85. [DOI: 10.1044/0161-1461(2010/10-0008)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose
This article addresses auditory processing disorder (APD) from a language-based perspective. The author asks speech-language pathologists to evaluate the functionality (or not) of APD as a diagnostic category for children and adolescents with language-learning and academic difficulties. Suggestions are offered from a curriculum-relevant/strategic-based language approach that places APD symptoms within a broader framework and takes into account the complex interaction among the language knowledge, skills, and strategies needed for academic success.
Method
Using the metaphor of peeling an onion to get to its core, the author demonstrates how auditory perceptual processing is influenced by and dependent on language abilities. Examples of curricular content are used to highlight the language savvy needed by students with language-learning disabilities (LLDs) to access the curriculum.
Conclusion
At the heart of the article is the question of what is (or are) the most effective way(s) to treat problems defined as “auditory” in nature. The article concludes with 10 suggestions that remind clinicians to consider the usefulness of viewing auditory processing problems as isolated events that can be “fixed.” Practical guidelines for creating authentic and functional intervention targets at school-age levels are also provided.
Collapse
|
43
|
Medwetsky L. Spoken Language Processing Model: Bridging Auditory and Language Processing to Guide Assessment and Intervention. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch 2011; 42:286-96. [DOI: 10.1044/0161-1461(2011/10-0036)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose
This article outlines the author’s conceptualization of the key mechanisms that are engaged in the processing of spoken language, referred to as the spoken language processing model. The act of processing what is heard is very complex and involves the successful intertwining of auditory, cognitive, and language mechanisms. Spoken language processing disorders occur when a breakdown in any of these mechanisms impacts an individual’s ability to effectively process and use the information that is heard. The symptoms vary depending on the underlying deficit(s). The primary purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of these mechanisms, and, in turn, enable readers to (a) review the literature concerning processing disorders with discernment and (b) have a foundation for developing a test battery to derive composite profiles of individuals' processing abilities.
Method
A review of the literature, overview of the spoken language processing model, and suggested approach to diagnostic assessment are presented.
Conclusion
Spoken language processing can break down due to a myriad of underlying causes. Central auditory nervous system deficits can impact not only the initial processing of stimuli but possibly the development of effective language skills. On the other hand, deficits in various cognitive and language mechanisms can similarly impact the auditory processing of speech stimuli. Therefore, it is critical to understand how these mechanisms interact and contribute to the processing of speech stimuli.
Collapse
|
44
|
Muluk NB, Yalçinkaya F, Keith RW. Random gap detection test and random gap detection test-expanded: Results in children with previous language delay in early childhood. Auris Nasus Larynx 2011; 38:6-13. [PMID: 20599334 DOI: 10.1016/j.anl.2010.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2009] [Revised: 05/24/2010] [Accepted: 05/27/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The children with difficulty in receiving sounds presented at rapid rates in speech sounds and language learning period, may have delay in speech sounds and language development due to hearing speech sounds not clearly. Auditory temporal processing (ATP) is the ability to perceive auditory signals of brief duration accurately when presented at rapid rates. ATP can be evaluated by the random gap detection test (RGDT), which detects a brief gap between two stimuli. In this study, we investigated performance of children with previous language delay (PLD), currently having disorders in more than one speech sounds, on random gap detection test (RGDT) and RGDT-expanded (RGDT-EXP) tests. METHODS 12 children (8 male, 4 female) with previous language delay (PLD) and complaint of expressing speech sounds distorted, were included into the study. They had applied language training for at least one-year period in the past and in the current time, their language development is normal. They expressed one or more speech sounds as distorted. The control group consisted of 10 normal hearing children with normal phonological development and language matched for age; and who had not PLD (5 male, 5 female). Children language levels were evaluated by Preschool Language Scale-4 test; or Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals, fourth edition (CELF-4) according to child's age. Speech sounds development was assessed by Speech Sound Development Test (SSDT). They were applied RGDT and/if necessary, RGDT-EXP. Each child responded whether he/she heard one or two tones. Their responses were taken as verbally and/or hold up one finger or two fingers. In the second test, they were applied speech discrimination test in quiet environment and in noise. Gap detection thresholds (GDTs) were detected at 500-4000 Hz; and Composite GDTs (CGDTs) were found for the study and control groups. GDT/CGDT > 20 ms was considered as abnormal for temporal processing disorder. RESULTS In the study group with PLD, mean of the GDTs were all over the normal limits; and in control group, mean of GDTs were all in normal limits. The difference between the mean GDTs of the study group were significantly higher than the control groups at all frequencies of 500-4000 Hz. In PLD group, CGDT (103.53 ± 11.63 ms) was significantly higher than that of the control group, (10.35 ± 0.65 ms) (p=0.021). CONCLUSION The children with PLD have difficulties in perception of speech sounds at a certain rate, even they have not language learning difficulties. Therefore, difficulty in distinguishing of speech sounds may cause especially receptive language development delay. We believe that perception of the speech sounds and language in a certain speed; and temporally degraded speech programmes should be incorporated into the training programme and may help to prevent delays.
Collapse
|
45
|
Johnson EP, Pennington BF, Lowenstein JH, Nittrouer S. Sensitivity to structure in the speech signal by children with speech sound disorder and reading disability. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2011; 44:294-314. [PMID: 21329941 PMCID: PMC3095671 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2011.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2009] [Revised: 12/23/2010] [Accepted: 01/01/2011] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Children with speech sound disorder (SSD) and reading disability (RD) have poor phonological awareness, a problem believed to arise largely from deficits in processing the sensory information in speech, specifically individual acoustic cues. However, such cues are details of acoustic structure. Recent theories suggest that listeners also need to be able to integrate those details to perceive linguistically relevant form. This study examined abilities of children with SSD, RD, and SSD+RD not only to process acoustic cues but also to recover linguistically relevant form from the speech signal. METHOD Ten- to 11-year-olds with SSD (n=17), RD (n=16), SSD+RD (n=17), and Controls (n=16) were tested to examine their sensitivity to (1) voice onset times (VOT); (2) spectral structure in fricative-vowel syllables; and (3) vocoded sentences. RESULTS Children in all groups performed similarly with VOT stimuli, but children with disorders showed delays on other tasks, although the specifics of their performance varied. CONCLUSION Children with poor phonemic awareness not only lack sensitivity to acoustic details, but are also less able to recover linguistically relevant forms. This is contrary to one of the main current theories of the relation between spoken and written language development. LEARNING OUTCOMES Readers will be able to (1) understand the role speech perception plays in phonological awareness, (2) distinguish between segmental and global structure analysis of speech perception, (3) describe differences and similarities in speech perception among children with speech sound disorder and/or reading disability, and (4) recognize the importance of broadening clinical interventions to focus on recognizing structure at all levels of speech analysis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Joanna H. Lowenstein
- The Ohio State University Eye and Ear Institute 915 Olentangy River Road, Suite 4000 Columbus, OH 43212, USA ;
| | - Susan Nittrouer
- The Ohio State University Eye and Ear Institute 915 Olentangy River Road, Suite 4000 Columbus, OH 43212, USA ;
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Nittrouer S, Shune S, Lowenstein JH. What is the deficit in phonological processing deficits: auditory sensitivity, masking, or category formation? J Exp Child Psychol 2011; 108:762-85. [PMID: 21109251 PMCID: PMC3271439 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2010.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2009] [Revised: 10/11/2010] [Accepted: 10/21/2010] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Although children with language impairments, including those associated with reading, usually demonstrate deficits in phonological processing, there is minimal agreement as to the source of those deficits. This study examined two problems hypothesized to be possible sources: either poor auditory sensitivity to speech-relevant acoustic properties, mainly formant transitions, or enhanced masking of those properties. Adults and 8-year-olds with and without phonological processing deficits (PPD) participated. Children with PPD demonstrated weaker abilities than children with typical language development (TLD) in reading, sentence recall, and phonological awareness. Dependent measures were word recognition, discrimination of spectral glides, and phonetic judgments based on spectral and temporal cues. All tasks were conducted in quiet and in noise. Children with PPD showed neither poorer auditory sensitivity nor greater masking than adults and children with TLD, but they did demonstrate an unanticipated deficit in category formation for nonspeech sounds. These results suggest that these children may have an underlying deficit in perceptually organizing sensory information to form coherent categories.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan Nittrouer
- Department of Otolaryngology, Eye and Ear Institute, The Ohio State University, 915 Olentangy River Road, Suite 4000, Columbus, OH 43212, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
47
|
Marinelli CV, Angelelli P, Di Filippo G, Zoccolotti P. Is developmental dyslexia modality specific? A visual-auditory comparison of Italian dyslexics. Neuropsychologia 2011; 49:1718-29. [PMID: 21382386 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2009] [Revised: 02/09/2011] [Accepted: 02/26/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Although developmental dyslexia is often referred to as a cross-modal disturbance, tests of different modalities using the same stimuli are lacking. We compared the performance of 23 children with dyslexia and 42 chronologically matched control readers on reading versus repetition tasks and visual versus auditory lexical decision using the same stimuli. With respect to control readers, children with dyslexia were impaired only on stimuli in the visual modality; they had no deficit on the repetition and auditory lexical decision tasks. By applying the rate-amount model (Faust et al., 1999), we showed that performance of children with dyslexia on visual (but not auditory) tasks was associated with that of control readers by a linear relationship (with a 1.78 slope), suggesting that a global factor accounts for visual (but not auditory) task performance. We conclude that the processing of linguistic stimuli in the visual and auditory modalities is carried out by independent processes and that dyslexic children have a selective deficit in the visual modality.
Collapse
|
48
|
Vandermosten M, Boets B, Luts H, Poelmans H, Wouters J, Ghesquière P. Impairments in speech and nonspeech sound categorization in children with dyslexia are driven by temporal processing difficulties. RESEARCH IN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES 2011; 32:593-603. [PMID: 21269803 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2010.12.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2010] [Accepted: 12/14/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Auditory processing problems in persons with dyslexia are still subject to debate, and one central issue concerns the specific nature of the deficit. In particular, it is questioned whether the deficit is specific to speech and/or specific to temporal processing. To resolve this issue, a categorical perception identification task was administered in thirteen 11-year old dyslexic readers and 25 matched normal readers using 4 sound continua: (1) a speech contrast exploiting temporal cues (/bA/-/dA/), (2) a speech contrast defined by nontemporal spectral cues (/u/-/y/), (3) a nonspeech temporal contrast (spectrally rotated/bA/-/da/), and (4) a nonspeech nontemporal contrast (spectrally rotated/u/-/y/). Results indicate that children with dyslexia are less consistent in classifying speech and nonspeech sounds on the basis of rapidly changing (i.e., temporal) information whereas they are unimpaired in steady-state speech and nonspeech sounds. The deficit is thus restricted to categorizing sounds on the basis of temporal cues and is independent of the speech status of the stimuli. The finding of a temporal-specific but not speech-specific deficit in children with dyslexia is in line with findings obtained in adults using the same paradigm (Vandermosten et al., 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107: 10389-10394). Comparison of the child and adult data indicates that the consistency of categorization considerably improves between late childhood and adulthood, particularly for the continua with temporal cues. Dyslexic and normal readers show a similar developmental progress with the dyslexic readers lagging behind both in late childhood and in adulthood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maaike Vandermosten
- Parenting and Special Education Research Group, Laboratory for Experimental ORL, Department of Neurosciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
49
|
Relationship between speech perception in noise and phonological awareness skills for children with normal hearing. Ear Hear 2011; 31:761-8. [PMID: 20562623 DOI: 10.1097/aud.0b013e3181e5d188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech perception difficulties experienced by children in adverse listening environments have been well documented. It has been suggested that phonological awareness may be related to children's ability to understand speech in noise. The goal of this study was to provide data that will allow a clearer characterization of this potential relation in typically developing children. Doing so may result in a better understanding of how children learn to listen in noise as well as providing information to identify children who are at risk for difficulties listening in noise. DESIGN Thirty-six children (5 to 7 yrs) with normal hearing participated in the study. Three phonological awareness tasks (syllable counting, initial consonant same, and phoneme deletion), representing a range of skills, were administered. For perception in noise tasks, nonsense syllables, monosyllabic words, and meaningful sentences with three key words were presented (50 dB SPL) at three signal to noise ratios (0, +5, and +10 dB). RESULTS Among the speech in noise tasks, there was a significant effect of signal to noise ratio, with children performing less well at 0-dB signal to noise ratio for all stimuli. A significant age effect occurred only for word recognition, with 7-yr-olds scoring significantly higher than 5-yr olds. For all three phonological awareness tasks, an age effect existed with 7-year-olds again performing significantly better than 5-yr-olds. However, when examining the relation between speech recognition in noise and phonological awareness skills, no single variable accounted for a significant part of the variance in performance on nonsense syllables, words, or sentences. However, there was an association between vocabulary knowledge and speech perception in noise. CONCLUSIONS Although phonological awareness skills are strongly related to reading and some children with reading difficulties also demonstrate poor speech perception in noise, results of this study question a relation between phonological awareness skills and speech perception in moderate levels of noise for typically developing children with normal hearing from 5 to 7 yrs of age. Further research in this area is needed to examine possible relations among the many factors that affect both speech perception in noise and the development of phonological awareness.
Collapse
|
50
|
Gooch D, Snowling M, Hulme C. Time perception, phonological skills and executive function in children with dyslexia and/or ADHD symptoms. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2011; 52:195-203. [PMID: 20860755 PMCID: PMC3412207 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02312.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/12/2010] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Deficits in time perception (the ability to judge the duration of time intervals) have been found in children with both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. This paper investigates time perception, phonological skills and executive functions in children with dyslexia and/or ADHD symptoms (AS). METHOD Children with dyslexia-only (n = 17), AS-only (n = 17), comorbid dyslexia+AS (n = 25), and typically developing controls (n = 42), matched for age and non-verbal ability, were assessed on measures of phonological skills, executive function and time perception (duration discrimination and time reproduction). RESULTS Children with dyslexia were impaired on measures of phonological skill and duration discrimination compared to children without dyslexia (though problems on duration discrimination appeared to be attributable to mild symptoms of inattention in this group). In contrast, children with AS exhibited impairments on measures of both time perception and executive function compared to children without AS. Children with dyslexia+AS showed an additive combination of the deficits associated with dyslexia-only and AS-only. CONCLUSIONS Dyslexia and AS appear to be associated with distinct patterns of cognitive deficit, which are present in combination in children with dyslexia+AS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Debbie Gooch
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, UK.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|