Do Patients With Neurogenic Speech Sound Impairments Benefit From Auditory Priming With a Regular Metrical Pattern?

Abstract

Purpose Earlier investigations based on word and sentence repetition tasks had revealed that the most prevalent metrical pattern in German (the trochee)—unlike the iambic pattern—facilitates articulation in patients with apraxia of speech (AOS; e.g., Aichert, Späth, & Ziegler, 2016 ), confirming that segmental and prosodic aspects of speech production interact. In this study, we investigated if articulation in apraxic speakers also benefits from auditory priming by speech with a regular rhythm. Furthermore, we asked if the advantage of regular speech rhythm, if present, is confined to impairments at the motor planning stage of speech production (i.e., AOS) or if it also applies to phonological encoding impairments. Method Twelve patients with AOS, 12 aphasic patients with postlexical phonological impairment (PI), and 36 neurologically healthy speakers were examined. A sequential synchronization paradigm based on a sentence completion task was conducted in conditions where we independently varied the metrical regularity of the prime sentence (regular vs. irregular prime sentence) and the metrical regularity of the target word (trochaic vs. iambic). Results Our data confirmed the facilitating effect of regular (trochaic) word stress on speech accuracy in patients with AOS (target effect). This effect could, for the first time, also be demonstrated in individuals with PI. Moreover, the study also revealed an influence of the metrical regularity of speech input in both patient groups (prime effect). Conclusions Patients with AOS and patients with PI exploited rhythmic cues in the speech of a model speaker for the initiation and the segmental realization of words. There seems to be a robust metrical influence on speech at both the phonological and the phonetic planning stages of speech production.

In Time with the Beat: Entrainment in Patients with Phonological Impairment, Apraxia of Speech, and Parkinson’s Disease

“…The aim of this study was to investigate if individuals with acquired speech sound disorders entrain their speech to the natural speech rhythm of an auditory model similar to neurologically healthy speakers. While interventions based on auditory cueing with rhythmic tone sequences are well-established in the treatment of patients with sound production impairments [ 59 , 70 ], there are only few exploratory studies indicating that these patients might benefit from the rhythm of natural speech input [ 75 , 76 ]. This is the first study to examine rhythmical entrainment in three patient groups with different underlying pathomechanism using the rhythmical priming paradigm described in [ 76 ].…”

“…A sequential synchronization paradigm based on a sentence completion task was conducted. A detailed description of the procedure was made in [ 76 ]. The stimulus set contained 96 sentences consisting of five two-syllable words each.…”

“…In addition to the sequential synchronization task, all participants performed a rhythm discrimination task (see also [ 76 ] for a detailed description of the procedure). The purpose of the task was to ensure that participants were able to perceive the metrical differences between the two priming conditions.…”

“…Following the above mentioned auditory priming experiment with dysarthric speakers [ 75 ], we developed a similar paradigm to investigate if articulation of patients with AOS and patients with phonological impairment (PI) also benefit from auditory priming by speech with a regular rhythm [ 76 ]. In this study, we conducted a sequential synchronization paradigm based on a sentence completion task.…”

“…In the present study, we asked if individuals with different sound production impairments accommodate their speech to the natural speech rhythm of an auditory model similar to neurotypical speakers (rhythmic entrainment). In addition to patients with AOS and PI, which have already been described in [ 76 ], we also studied patients with Parkinson’s disease using the same paradigm to see if the effects spread to lower levels of speech production. To investigate entrainment effects, we related the response latencies of the participants to the spoken rhythm of the prime.…”