Compensation to Altered Auditory Feedback in Children With Developmental Language Disorder and Typical Development

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Auditory processing
• Developmental disorders

Background:

• Developmental language disorder (DLD) is characterized by difficulties in spoken language comprehension and use.
• Auditory feedback is crucial for regulating speech motor control.
• A potential link between auditory processing and DLD has been proposed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if children with DLD utilize auditory feedback for speech production regulation differently than typically developing (TD) peers.
• To explore the role of auditory feedback in the speech motor control of children with DLD.

Main Methods:

• Participants aged 6-11 years completed comprehensive assessments.
• Evaluated hearing, language abilities, and first formant (F1) discrimination.
• Measured responses to altered auditory feedback involving F1 perturbation.

Main Results:

• Children with DLD exhibited distinct compensatory responses to altered auditory feedback compared to TD children.
• Specifically, DLD participants showed greater compensation for positive F1 shifts and less compensation for negative F1 shifts.

Conclusions:

• Findings indicate that children with DLD demonstrate atypical patterns in their use of auditory feedback.
• This atypical auditory feedback usage may contribute to the speech production challenges observed in DLD.