Auditory and Somatosensory Development for Speech in Later Childhood

Overview

Journal J Speech Lang Hear Res

Date 2023 Mar 17

PMID 36930986

Authors

Samantha A Ayala

Amanda Eads

Heather Kabakoff

Michelle T Swartz

Douglas M Shiller

Jennifer Hill

Elaine R Hitchcock

Jonathan L Preston

Tara McAllister

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Purpose: This study collected measures of auditory-perceptual and oral somatosensory acuity in typically developing children and adolescents aged 9-15 years. We aimed to establish reference data that can be used as a point of comparison for individuals with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD), especially for RSSD affecting American English rhotics. We examined concurrent validity between tasks and hypothesized that performance on at least some tasks would show a significant association with age, reflecting ongoing refinement of sensory function in later childhood. We also tested for an inverse relationship between performance on auditory and somatosensory tasks, which would support the hypothesis of a trade-off between sensory domains.

Method: Ninety-eight children completed three auditory-perceptual tasks (identification and discrimination of stimuli from a "rake"-"wake" continuum and category goodness judgment for naturally produced words containing rhotics) and three oral somatosensory tasks (bite block with auditory masking, oral stereognosis, and articulatory awareness, which involved explicit judgments of relative tongue position for different speech sounds). Pairwise associations were examined between tasks within each domain and between task performance and age. Composite measures of auditory-perceptual and somatosensory functions were used to investigate the possibility of a sensory trade-off.

Results: Statistically significant associations were observed between the identification and discrimination tasks and the bite block and articulatory awareness tasks. In addition, significant associations with age were found for the category goodness and bite block tasks. There was no statistically significant evidence of a trade-off between auditory-perceptual and somatosensory domains.

Conclusions: This study provided a multidimensional characterization of speech-related sensory function in older children/adolescents. Complete materials to administer all experimental tasks have been shared, along with measures of central tendency and dispersion for scores in two subgroups of age. Ultimately, we hope to apply this information to make customized treatment recommendations for children with RSSD based on sensory profiles.

Citing Articles

An Articulatory Analysis of American English Rhotics in Children With and Without a History of Residual Speech Sound Disorder.

Eads A, Kabakoff H, King H, Preston J, McAllister T J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024; 67(11):4246-4263.

PMID: 39401189 PMC: 11567108. DOI: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00037.

Comparing online versus laboratory measures of speech perception in older children and adolescents.

McAllister T, Preston J, Ochs L, Hill J, Hitchcock E PLoS One. 2024; 19(2):e0297530.

PMID: 38324559 PMC: 10849252. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297530.

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