Auditory Stimulation Training With Technically Manipulated Musical Material in Preschool Children With Specific Language Impairments: An Explorative Study

Abstract

Auditory stimulation training (AST) has been proposed as a potential treatment for children with specific language impairments (SLI). The current study was designed to test this assumption by using an AST with technically modulated musical material (ASTM) in a randomized control group design. A total of 101 preschool children (62 male, 39 females; mean age = 4.52 years, SD = 0.62) with deficits in speech comprehension and poor working memory capacity were randomly allocated into one of two treatment groups or a control group. Children in the ASTM group (n = 40) received three 30-min sessions per week over 12 weeks, whereas children in the comparison group received pedagogical activities during these intervals (n = 24). Children in the control group (n = 37) received no treatment. Working memory, phoneme discrimination and speech perception skills were tested prior to (baseline) and after treatment. Children in the ASTM group showed significantly greater working memory capacity, speech perception, and phoneme discrimination skills after treatment, whereas children in the other groups did not show such improvement. Taken together, these results suggest that ASTM can enhance auditory cognitive performance in children with SLI.

Efficacy of the Treatment of Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review

“…Appendix B presents detailed tables with the characteristics of the included studies. Of the included studies, one was an SR [ 52 ] and 26 RCTs [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 ] (including two studies [ 86 , 87 ] derived from Loo et al’s [ 89 ] review) on the effectiveness of interventions for the treatment of identified DLDs.…”

“…Of the 26 RCTs, six studies evaluated either expressive [ 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ] or receptive [ 68 ] phonological skills, one on expressive vocabulary [ 69 ], eight grammar/morphological skills [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ], with one reporting data on both phonological and morpho-syntactic skills [ 78 ], two on narrative skills [ 79 , 80 ]; two examined meta-phonological skills [ 81 , 82 ] and six language skills in general [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 ], including two [ 87 , 88 ] comparing the effectiveness of the “Fast ForWord Language” (FFW-L) training program with other intervention programs.…”

“…We found one study that examined the effect of treatment over receptive phonological skills. Roden et al [ 68 ] investigated whether the Auditory Stimulation Training with Musical material (ASTM) influenced auditory working memory, language processing, phoneme discrimination, and high frequency hearing abilities in preschool children with DPL (with low percentile ranges in the TROG-D [ 92 ]). Children in the experimental group heard acoustically modified music over earphones in small groups of 5–6 children.…”

“…Overall, the evidence on the effect of intervention on receptive phonological skills is too limited to draw any conclusion. Yet, the positive effects that were reported by Roden et al [ 68 ] suggest the importance that further research will examine this linguistic area.…”

Efficacy, Treatment Characteristics, and Biopsychological Mechanisms of Music-Listening Interventions in Reducing Pain (MINTREP): Study Protocol of a Three-Armed Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

“…In contrast to the relative lack of conclusive findings in the field of pain management, musical characteristics such as sound intensity, tempo, timbre, and arousal level have been shown to affect ANS activity in a plethora of studies ( 62 – 68 ). However, only recently, audio frequencies, which constitute another inherent feature of music, have been brought into focus of scientific investigations ( 69 – 72 ). From a technical perspective, the term frequency describes the number of oscillations per time unit, i.e., for audio frequency, it is the number of vibrations per second that determines the pitch of a sound and is measured in Hertz (Hz).…”