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Auditory beat perception is related to speech output fluency in post-stroke aphasia

Stefaniak, James D.; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.; De Dios Perez, Blanca; Griffiths, Timothy D.; Grube, Manon

Authors

James D. Stefaniak

Matthew A. Lambon Ralph

Timothy D. Griffiths

Manon Grube



Abstract

Aphasia affects at least one third of stroke survivors, and there is increasing awareness that more fundamental deficits in auditory processing might contribute to impaired language performance in such individuals. We performed a comprehensive battery of psychoacoustic tasks assessing the perception of tone pairs and sequences across the domains of pitch, rhythm and timbre in 17 individuals with post-stroke aphasia and 17 controls. At the level of individual differences we demonstrated a correlation between metrical pattern (beat) perception and speech output fluency with strong effect (Spearman’s rho = 0.72). This dissociated from more basic auditory timing perception, which did not correlate with output fluency. This was also specific in terms of the language and cognitive measures, amongst which phonological, semantic and executive function did not correlate with beat detection. We interpret the data in terms of a requirement for the analysis of the metrical structure of sound to construct fluent output, with both being a function of higher-order “temporal scaffolding”. The beat perception task herein allows measurement of timing analysis without any need to account for motor output deficit, and could be a potential clinical tool to examine this. This work suggests strategies to improve fluency after stroke by training in metrical pattern perception.

Citation

Stefaniak, J. D., Lambon Ralph, M. A., De Dios Perez, B., Griffiths, T. D., & Grube, M. (2021). Auditory beat perception is related to speech output fluency in post-stroke aphasia. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 3168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82809-w

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 25, 2021
Online Publication Date Feb 4, 2021
Publication Date Feb 4, 2021
Deposit Date Feb 17, 2023
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Scientific Reports
Electronic ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher Nature Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Article Number 3168
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82809-w
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17386593
Publisher URL https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82809-w