Some effects of delayed auditory feedback on dyspraxia of speech

This investigation was designed to determine if delayed auditory feedback (DAF) might have a facilitating effect on dyspraxic speech. Five subjects with dyspraxia of speech and minimal aphasic involvement were used. Two reading tasks were administered under conditions of DAF and no DAF. Reading tasks were constructed of 24 monosyllabic words with initial consonant clusters and 10 polysyllabic words. Three experienced judges scored word production, consonant cluster production, and 12 types of production errors. Temporal duration of word productions was measured in both conditions. No significant differences between the conditions were found in any of the measured parameters. There was no demonstrable improvement of dyspraxia of speech errors under DAF. Contrary to earlier research, distortions rather than phonemic substitutions were found to be the most frequently occurring articulatory errors.