SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

Research for speech-language pathology

Papers a speech-language pathologist can act on — aphasia, dysphagia, developmental language, fluency, voice and augmentative communication — read in full and summarised plainly.

10,216 PAPERS · PAGE 158 OF 205 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPPilot2025A Pilot Study of a Modified Swallowing Screening Tool for Critically Ill Patients in the Intensive Care Unit.DysphagiaA modified bedside screening protocol combining ultrasound and specific dye tests allowed 13 ICU patients to safely resume oral feeding without aspiration symptoms. This approach offers a feasible alternative to invasive endoscopy in isolation settings, though its accuracy remains unvalidated against gold-standard tests.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Development and evaluation of Goal setting and Action Planning (G-AP) training to support person-centred rehabilitation practice.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesStaff felt confident using G-AP with individual patients after online training, but team-level rollout stalled due to time pressures and role changes. The resource is free, but this study measured staff opinions, not patient outcomes.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Developmental Scores and Prevalence of Functional Difficulty Among Preschool Children in Kenya.Child: care, health and developmentNearly one in five preschoolers in Homa Bay and one in twelve in Kakuma had functional difficulties. In Kakuma, these children scored lower on development tests, but in Homa Bay they did not. This shows disability is common in mainstream Kenyan preschools and needs teacher support.
• SLPCase-Control2024The Prevalence of Creak Across Breath Groups in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationSpeakers with adductor laryngeal dystonia produced creaky voice on 22% of phonemes, compared to 5% in controls. While both groups creaked more near the end of a breath, those with dystonia creaked throughout the phrase, not just at the end.
• SLPOther2024Validation of a Low-Cost Method for Recording and Supervising Otolaryngology Trainee Endoscopies.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationA low-cost 3D-printed smartphone adaptor for endoscopy was rated highly for usability and portability by trainees and attendings. It provided adequate image quality for supervision in inpatient and emergency settings, offering a viable alternative when commercial adapters are unavailable or too expensive.
• SLPCase-Control2024Inferring Word Class and Meaning From Spoken and Written Texts: A Comparison of Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRChildren with developmental language disorder were significantly less accurate at inferring missing word meanings than their peers, regardless of whether they were reading or listening. The difficulty was not specific to reading; it reflected a broader problem with language-based inference.
• SLPOther2024Infraglottal Medialization: Increasing Vocal Fold Stiffness Gradient for Improved Vocal Efficiency.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationIn excised dog larynges, placing the medialization implant below the vocal fold edge increased vocal efficiency by 31%, compared to 29% when placed at the fold level. This suggests inferior placement restores a stiffness gradient that may improve voice mechanics.
• PTOTSLPOther2025School Satisfaction Predicts Quality of Life for Children With Severe Developmental Disabilities and Their Families.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDParents' satisfaction with their child's school predicted quality of life for both the child and the family. The specific classroom placement or the number of services provided did not predict wellbeing. It is how well the school meets the child's needs that matters.
• OTSLPCohort2025Psychosocial factors associated with the trajectories of interparental conflict for Australian fathers of autistic children: A longitudinal study across 10 years of child development.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceMost fathers of autistic children reported low conflict, but 18% had persistently elevated conflict over 10 years. This group had less co-parenting support and more distressed partners. Screening for these factors during diagnosis may help identify families needing support.
• PTOTSLPPilot2025A technology-enriched approach to increasing rehabilitation dose after stroke: Clinical feasibility study.Clinical rehabilitationSub-acute stroke in-patients attended supervised group technology sessions of 52 minutes on average, in addition to usual therapy. Recruitment and dropout met feasibility targets, and no serious adverse reactions were reported.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Upper Airway Sensory Testing in Dysphagia - Implications for Clinical Practice and Future Research Directions.DysphagiaThe review found no standard way to test upper airway sensation in swallowing. FEESST and cough reflex tests were most common, but stimuli and normal criteria varied widely. Gag reflex testing is unreliable because many healthy people lack it. Taste testing is cheap but also lacks standard methods.
• SLPOther2025The Childhood Autism Rating Scale Second Edition (CARS2) and Its Applicability in an Iranian Sample.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe CARS2 accurately identified autism in Iranian children, but the standard cut-off score missed many cases. Lowering the threshold to 27 for the standard version and 22 for the high-functioning version caught more autistic individuals, though it also flagged some children with intellectual disabilities as having autism.
• SLPOther2025Exploring the activation of target words in adults who stutter with and without conscious intention to speak: ERP evidence.Journal of communication disordersWhen adults who stutter named pictures, their brain response to matching spoken words was similar to fluent adults, but spread less widely. Without naming, both groups showed similar responses. This is a lab finding, not therapy evidence.
• SLPCohort2025The impact of pre-stroke formal education on language test performance in aphasic and non-aphasic stroke survivors.AphasiologyMore pre-stroke education was linked to slightly higher Comprehensive Aphasia Test scores in stroke survivors with and without aphasia. It did not predict better language recovery. Borderline scores should be interpreted in light of education.
• SLPCase Series2025Characterizing drug-induced stuttering in electronic health records.Journal of communication disorders22 possible drug-induced stuttering cases were found among 40 suspected records, most linked to antiseizure, stimulant, and antidepressant drugs. Sparse notes, no speech therapy referrals, and uncertain causality mean these are clues, not proof.
• SLPCohort2024Resting-State Functional Connectivity Predicts Cochlear-Implant Speech Outcomes.Ear and hearingIn 23 cochlear-implant adults, resting brain-network connectivity measured with light tracked 12-month speech scores. Higher connectivity was linked to better speech understanding, beyond age and deafness duration.
• SLPOther2024Relationship Between Working Memory, Compression, and Beamformers in Ideal Conditions.Ear and hearingWorking memory did not predict speech recognition differences between fast and slow hearing aid compression in omnidirectional or beamformer modes. In a secondary analysis, better working memory was linked to a steeper increase as acoustic distortion decreased.
• SLPOther2024Clinical and audiological characteristics in adults with tinnitus in South Africa.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsIn South African adults reporting tinnitus, 78% of ears had hearing loss, mostly mild and sensorineural. Hypertension was the most common medical condition. Older adults had more bilateral tinnitus and worse hearing than younger adults. These profiles highlight the need for comprehensive audiological assessment.
• SLPPilot2024School-based hearing screening of first-grade students in Saudi Arabia: A pilot study.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsSchool screening found 26.3% of first-graders failed hearing tests, mostly at low frequencies or due to middle ear issues. However, parent and teacher questionnaires were poor predictors of these failures, missing most children with hearing loss.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2024Healthcare professionals' knowledge and practices in managing ototoxicity in children with cancer.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsMost clinicians knew ototoxicity causes hearing loss, but nearly three-quarters did not know how long monitoring should continue after chemotherapy ends. Knowledge gaps persisted despite acknowledging the need for an audiologist's role, suggesting a disconnect between recognizing the problem and executing the protocol.
• SLPSurvey2025Understanding the Association Between Neighborhood Resources and Trauma-Informed Care Among Providers Who Serve Autistic Youth.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchProviders in poorer neighborhoods screened autistic youth for trauma more often than those in wealthier areas. This suggests affluent settings may underestimate trauma risk. Screen all patients regardless of neighborhood wealth to avoid missing maltreatment or household dysfunction in high-opportunity areas.
• SLPCohort2025Atypical early neural responses to native and non-native language in infants at high likelihood for developing autism.Molecular autismInfants with a family history of autism showed weaker left temporal brain responses to speech and did not separate English from Japanese, unlike typical-likelihood infants. This is a research finding, not a diagnostic test.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025'I Did Not Know We Could Exercise This Small Premature Baby': Challenges Experienced by Parents While Implementing Early Intervention for Their Preterm Infants-A Qualitative Perspective.Child: care, health and developmentParents of preterm infants described struggling to perform home exercises due to fear of handling fragile babies, lack of awareness of early intervention, infant stress signs, time constraints and traditional gender roles where fathers avoided limb exercises.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2025Exploring the Extent and Nature of Disordered Eating Among Canadian Adolescents and Young Adults With Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.Child: care, health and developmentMost adolescents and young adults with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in this survey felt pressure to lose weight. This pressure came from clinicians and parents, but also from managing bowel function and mobility. Restricting food was common even when the goal was functional, not cosmetic.
• SLPRCT2025A mixed-methods pilot randomized control trial of ultrasound visual biofeedback versus standard intervention for children with cleft palate ± cleft lip: Parents' and children's perspectives.International journal of language & communication disordersFamilies found ultrasound biofeedback and standard articulation therapy equally acceptable and enjoyable. Ultrasound was liked for visualizing tongue movements, while standard therapy was liked for games. Travel was the main burden for both groups. This supports a larger trial but does not prove ultrasound works better.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2025Understanding Behavior Change in Clinical Practice Guideline Implementation: A Qualitative Study.Journal of neurologic physical therapy : JNPTTherapists said monthly team meetings with concrete audit feedback kept them on track. Patients said personalized handouts and therapists asking about home exercises boosted their adherence. Neither group liked rigid systems or text-message reminders that were too complex to use.
• SLPQualitative2025Perspectives on goal setting: Video-reflexive ethnography with speech-language therapists and clients.International journal of language & communication disordersTherapists and clients described goal setting as a slow discovery process, not a one-off task. Clients often felt overwhelmed by jargon and unsure what a goal even is. Using plain language, visual aids, and giving time to think before deciding helped them feel heard and build trust.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2025Hospital experiences and medical traumatic stress in adults with spina bifida.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineAdults with spina bifida described hospital stays as frightening due to feeling unheard, care delays, and providers lacking condition knowledge. They valued clear communication, family presence, and self-advocacy. These themes describe patient experiences and do not prove that specific interventions reduce traumatic stress.
• SLPOther2025"What does 'often' even mean?" Revising and validating the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory in partnership with autistic people.Molecular autismA revised autism trait questionnaire, co-designed by autistic people to remove stigmatising language and improve accessibility, showed strong reliability and validity in 1439 adults. It allows meaningful comparison of scores between male and female participants.
• SLPOther2024Prosodic Preferences of Surface Electromyography-based Subvocal Speech for People With Laryngectomy.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationPeople with laryngectomy and their communication partners rated synthetic speech with continuous pitch mapping as more natural than electrolarynx speech. They prioritized sound quality and intelligibility over ease of use, suggesting future devices should focus on voice naturalness rather than just usability.
• SLPOther2024Touch Helps Hearing: Evidence From Continuous Audio-Tactile Stimulation.Ear and hearingContinuous tactile vibration on the arm, timed in phase with a sound's rhythm, lowered the threshold for detecting a tone in noise by less than 1 dB. This effect was small and did not appear in a loudness discrimination task.
• SLPOther2024Patient-Perceived Vocal Effort Immediately Following Voice Tasks in Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia (ADLD).Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationWhen patients with adductor laryngeal dystonia rated vocal effort immediately after a reading task, scores on a visual analog scale and the OMNI-VES were strongly related. However, these effort ratings showed only weak links to voice-related quality of life scores. Clinicians need to track both.
• PTOTSLPProtocol2025Implementing psychosocial guidelines into specialized spinal cord injury rehabilitation services to strengthen person-centred health care: protocol for a mixed methods study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesNo results yet. This paper describes a plan to introduce updated psychosocial guidelines to spinal cord injury teams in Australia. It outlines how researchers will measure whether staff adopt the guidelines, but reports no data on whether this improves patient care.
• OTSLPCohort2025Eye Tracking as a Tool for Detecting Alzheimer's Disease in People With Down Syndrome.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDREye tracking showed promise for detecting early Alzheimer's changes in adults with Down syndrome, including those with severe intellectual disability. Smaller eye movements and less attention to new images linked to older age and higher pathology. This method is feasible but needs larger trials to prove it works.
• SLPQualitative2025Speech and language therapist-led clinics for low-risk suspected head and neck cancer referrals: A qualitative study of ear, nose and throat surgeons' views.International journal of language & communication disordersENT surgeons supported the idea of speech therapists assessing low-risk cancer referrals but disagreed on how to do it safely. They highlighted that therapists need dedicated time, specific endoscopy training, and clear governance rules, rather than just adding this to their existing workload.
• SLPOther2025Remote Microphones Support Speech Recognition in Noise and Reverberation for Children With a Language Disorder.Language, speech, and hearing services in schoolsChildren with language disorders struggled more than peers to recognize speech in noise. A remote microphone system significantly improved their speech recognition in both noise and reverberation. However, this is a preliminary study of nine children, so it does not yet justify purchasing devices for clinical use.
• SLPCohort2025Speech Development Between 30 and 119 Months in Typical Children III: Interaction Between Speaking Rate and Intelligibility.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRFaster habitual speech predicted slightly lower intelligibility in young children, but the effect was small. At age 4, a faster rate by 0.5 syllables per second lowered intelligibility by 3 to 5 percentage points. By age 6, this difference dropped to 1 to 2 percentage points.
• SLPOther2025Measures of emotional well-being for individuals with intellectual disabilities: A scoping review of reviews.Research in developmental disabilitiesEmotional well-being is usually measured inside quality-of-life tools for people with intellectual disabilities. Of 411 items in 14 measures, 39 assessed emotional well-being, and only two assessed goal pursuit.
• OTSLPQualitative2025'We're Not in a Place Where We Can Thrive Yet': A Qualitative Exploration of Systems of Health Promotion in Primary Schools in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child: care, health and developmentPrimary school teachers and principals described reduced capacity for health promotion after COVID. They prioritized academics, picked battles, and said schools cannot replace occupational therapists, speech and language therapists or other health professionals.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2024Exploring interprofessional collaboration in the intensive care unit.The South African journal of physiotherapyClinicians in South African ICUs reported that doctors often misunderstand their roles, leading to late or inappropriate referrals. Teamwork was disrupted by siloed ward rounds, poor communication, staff shortages, and the pandemic, with participants urging compulsory joint rounds and better interprofessional education.
• SLPCohort2024Characterizing Vocal Hyperfunction Using Ecological Momentary Assessment of Relative Fundamental Frequency.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationNeck-sensor voice monitoring distinguished patients with phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction from healthy controls in daily life, with better accuracy than in the lab. It did not separate those with muscle tension dysphonia. The sensor also failed to track patients' self-reported vocal effort in real-world settings.
• SLPOther2024Comparison of Performance for Cochlear-Implant Listeners Using Audio Processing Strategies Based on Short-Time Fast Fourier Transform or Spectral Feature Extraction.Ear and hearingFor six cochlear-implant users tested acutely, the experimental SFE strategy did not improve speech, listening effort, melody recognition, or perceived sound quality over Crystalis. Several measures were worse with SFE, especially in users with more electrode interaction.
• SLPNarrative Review2024How Do Enriched Speech Acoustics Support Language Acquisition in Children With Hearing Loss? A Narrative Review.Ear and hearingCaregivers naturally use high-pitched, slow speech and songs, which may help children with hearing loss detect difficult high-frequency consonants. However, evidence that this enriched input actually improves language outcomes is inconsistent and largely indirect. Clinicians should encourage natural singing and speech, but not expect it to replace device fitting or therapy.
• SLPRCT2025Short report: Associations of family characteristics and clinicians' use of caregiver coaching in early intervention.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceClinicians' coaching fidelity varied with family income and language. Fidelity was lower for the poorest and wealthiest families compared to middle-income households. Unexpectedly, clinicians showed higher fidelity with English-only speaking families than those speaking other languages.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025First-in-human implementation of a bidirectional somatosensory neuroprosthetic system with wireless communication.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationTwo men with arm amputations tested a wireless nerve implant for hand sensation and control. The device worked and felt helpful to the user, but it did not improve his speed or accuracy on daily tasks compared to using the prosthesis without sensation.
• SLPSystematic Review2025A Scoping Review of the Ways Gatekeepers May Hinder or Promote Opportunities for People With Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities to Learn About Research Participation.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRGatekeepers who valued research were more likely to share study opportunities with adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Mistrust, presumed incapacity, limited information, and time or policy barriers blocked access. Addressing concerns, explaining benefits, and building trust were described as promoting sharing.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Brain Injury Sense of Self Scale: psychometric development of a new measure of strength of self-identity after traumatic brain injury.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineThe new BISOSS scale identifies three distinct areas of self-identity trouble after brain injury: personal, societal, and relational. It helps clinicians pinpoint exactly where a patient feels lost, rather than just noting general low self-esteem. This allows for targeted conversation and care planning.
• SLPCase-Control2025Vocal and Facial Behavior During Affect Production in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRChildren with autism showed reduced facial expressivity, particularly smaller eye opening and lip width during happy and afraid speech, compared to controls. Human raters were less accurate in identifying emotions from these children's faces, though vocal accuracy did not differ significantly overall.
• SLPOther2025Parent Outcomes Following Participation in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Autistic Children in a Community Setting: Parent Mental Health, Mindful Parenting, and Parenting Practices.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchParents of autistic children showed no improvement in anxiety, depression or stress after their child's community CBT program, likely because most started in the normal range. They did become less reactive and more encouraging in their parenting, and these changes tracked with the children's improved emotion regulation.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2025Comparative effectiveness of electroencephalogram-neurofeedback training of 3-45 frequency band on memory in healthy population: a network meta-analysis with systematic literature search.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAlpha-wave neurofeedback combined with working memory training ranked best for working memory. Alpha-wave neurofeedback alone ranked best for episodic memory. These findings apply only to healthy adults, not patients with memory disorders.