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 63 OF 205 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTSLPPilot2020Social Capital and Autism in Young Adulthood: Applying Social Network Methods to Measure the Social Capital of Autistic Young Adults.Autism in adulthoodA social network survey was feasible for autistic young adults, showing their networks are mostly family and rarely include service providers. Employment support was the least accessed resource. This pilot method needs a larger sample to link network types to adult outcomes.
• SLPRCT2020Linking Variation in Perception and Production in Sound Change: Evidence from Dutch Obstruent Devoicing.Language and speechIn Dutch speakers undergoing a sound change, perception shifts before production begins, but lags behind as the change finishes. Listeners retain the ability to distinguish sounds they no longer produce themselves. This suggests therapeutic approaches to accent modification should target perception first.
• SLPOther2020Regional Variation in West and East Coast African-American English Prosody and Rap Flows.Language and speechWest Coast African-American English speech showed more pitch variation and more varied rhythm than East Coast speech. West Coast rap showed more varied rhythm, but its pitch difference was not shown because a West Coast rapper was unusual.
• PTOTSLPCohort2020Biopsychosocial Classification of Hearing Health Seeking in Adults Aged Over 50 Years in England.Ear and hearingAmong older adults with measured hearing loss, 40% did not report any hearing difficulties. Severity of hearing loss predicted help-seeking across all stages. Men and those with lower cognitive function were less likely to recognize their own hearing problems.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2020The Effect of Lingual Resistance Training Interventions on Adult Swallow Function: A Systematic Review.DysphagiaTongue strength training reliably increases tongue pressure, but evidence that this improves actual swallowing safety or efficiency is inconsistent. Most included studies were small and had high risk of bias, so clinicians should not assume strength gains translate directly to safer swallowing.
• PTOTSLPPilot2021Take it personal! Development and modelling study of an indicated prevention programme for substance use in adolescents and young adults with mild intellectual disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDIn six adolescents with mild intellectual disabilities, a tailored prevention programme was feasible and well-liked. Reported substance use decreased after the intervention, but the study was too small to confirm the programme caused this change.
• SLPOther2021Robot-mediated therapy to reduce worrying in persons with visual and intellectual disabilities.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARIDThree robot-mediated coping sessions did not reduce worrying in seven adults with visual and intellectual disabilities. Participants liked the robot and shared personal stories, but none reported using the coping strategies in daily life.
• PTOTSLPCase-Control2021A comparison of visual analog scale and shear-wave ultrasound elastography data in fibromyalgia patients and the normal population.Journal of physical therapy scienceRhomboid muscles in fibromyalgia patients were stiffer than in healthy controls, but stiffness did not match their reported pain scores. Shear-wave ultrasound measures tissue hardness objectively, yet it does not track how much pain a patient feels.
• SLPRCT2021Supporting wellbeing through peer-befriending (SUPERB) for people with aphasia: A feasibility randomised controlled trial.Clinical rehabilitationPeer-befriending was feasible and safe for people with aphasia. While recruitment was challenging, retention was high. Preliminary data suggests lower distress at 10 months, but definitive proof requires a larger trial.
• SLPOther2021Developing Clinically Relevant Scales of Breathy and Rough Voice Quality.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice FoundationTwenty-five listeners rated synthetic breathy and rough sounds consistently. Researchers defined 1 breathiness unit at 18 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 1 roughness unit at -27 dB modulation depth. No real patient voices were rated.
• SLPCase-Control2021A Preliminary Epidemiologic Study of Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder Relative to Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Disability Without Social Communication Deficits.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren without autism but with likely social communication problems had more social and repetitive behavior symptoms than children without those problems, yet fewer than children with autism. Parent report showed the social difference; the observation-based social affect score did not.
• SLPNarrative Review2021Exercise Science and the Vocalist.Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Very Long-Term Outcomes in Children Admitted in a Disorder of Consciousness After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationMost children admitted to rehab in a disorder of consciousness after severe brain injury emerged from that state by one year, but nearly all remained severely disabled. Children in a minimally conscious state at admission had better long-term outcomes than those in a vegetative state.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021Characteristics of toddlers with early versus later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceToddlers diagnosed with autism at 25 to 41 months showed more severe delays and symptoms than those diagnosed at 12 to 24 months, especially in motor, daily living, socialization, and restricted behaviors. Expressive language was delayed in all groups.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Fundamental research on surface electromyography analysis using discrete wavelet transform-an analysis of the central nervous system factors affecting muscle strength.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 16 healthy young men, surface EMG signals from the biceps changed predictably as contraction force increased from 10% to 100% of maximum. These signal patterns tracked the rise in muscle strength, suggesting EMG analysis can reflect underlying nervous system control of force.
• SLPOther2020Relative Contribution of Auditory and Visual Information to Mandarin Chinese Tone Identification by Native and Tone-naïve Listeners.Language and speechNative Mandarin listeners identified tones from clear audio even when face cues mismatched. Tone-naïve listeners used face cues slightly, but only for some tones, and still relied mainly on hearing the tone.
• SLPOther2020Sibilant Fricative Merging in Taiwan Mandarin: An Investigation of Tongue Postures using Ultrasound Imaging.Language and speechSeven Taiwan Mandarin speakers showed varied tongue postures for dental and retroflex sounds. Two merged them articulatorily and acoustically. Three kept distinct sounds despite some tongue overlap, likely using lip rounding. This highlights individual variation in how these speech sounds are physically produced.
• SLPOther2020Detection of Extracochlear Electrodes in Cochlear Implants with Electric Field Imaging/Transimpedance Measurements: A Human Cadaver Study.Ear and hearingA new software analysis of cochlear implant voltage readings detected misplaced electrodes in cadavers with 100% accuracy, even when standard impedance tests failed. It worked in a handful of live patients, but needs larger trials before replacing CT scans.
• SLPCohort2020Birth Weight and Adult-Onset Hearing Loss.Ear and hearingWomen born under 5.5 pounds were more likely to report adult-onset moderate or greater hearing loss than women born 7 to under 8.5 pounds. Being born after 42 weeks of pregnancy also had higher likelihood.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Delivering Virtual Cancer Rehabilitation Programming During the First 90 Days of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multimethod Study.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationVirtual cancer rehab kept high attendance and increased visit volume during the pandemic. However, therapists found assessing physical impairments and teaching exercises difficult without in-person exams. Video was preferred over phone, and an initial in-person assessment was recommended for complex cases.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2021Anxiety in autistic individuals who speak few or no words: A qualitative study of parental experience and anxiety management.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceParents of autistic people who speak few or no words struggle to distinguish anxiety from autism traits or other distress. They rely on deep knowledge of the child's baseline and behavioural cues. While they use sensory and distraction strategies, avoidance and reassurance may inadvertently maintain anxiety.
• SLPOther2021The Predictive Value of the AQ and the SRS-A in the Diagnosis of ASD in Adults in Clinical Practice.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn adults referred for autism assessment, the AQ predicted the final diagnosis better than the SRS-A. The AQ missed 42% and the SRS-A missed 52% of people later diagnosed with autism, so neither can rule out ASD.
• PTOTSLPOther2021Describing community-based rehabilitation services in Indonesia by using The International Classification of Service Organization in Rehabilitation 2.0.Journal of rehabilitation medicineEight community-based rehabilitation services in Indonesia were described using a structured framework. Services relied on unpaid village cadres who collaborated with health professionals, provided free care in homes, and focused on early detection, education, and referral rather than direct clinical treatment.
• SLPOther2020Spectral-Temporal Trade-Off in Vocoded Sentence Recognition: Effects of Age, Hearing Thresholds, and Working Memory.Ear and hearingOlder near-normal-hearing adults recognized vocoded sentences worse than younger adults only in the most degraded 4- and 6-channel conditions. Hearing thresholds predicted performance, not working memory. This is not direct evidence for cochlear implant users.
• SLPCohort2020A preliminary study of cerebral blood flow, aging and dementia in people with Down syndrome.Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDRIn adults with Down syndrome, cerebral blood flow drops significantly after age 45 and is lowest in those diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Lower blood flow correlates with worse cognitive scores, suggesting it may be an early marker for dementia.
• SLPOther2020Effect of Cochlear Implantation on Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials and Wideband Acoustic Immittance.Ear and hearingIn ears with cochlear implants, bone-conducted VEMP responses were more often present than air-conducted responses, especially in eye responses, and low-frequency sound absorbance was reduced in ears with absent air-conducted but present bone-conducted responses.
• SLPOther2020Application of Big Data to Support Evidence-Based Public Health Policy Decision-Making for Hearing.Ear and hearingThis is a policy paper proposing big data to guide hearing healthcare decisions. It uses a prototype with 979 participants to show how data might predict hearing aid use or noise risks. It offers no clinical evidence that any treatment works.
• SLPPilot2020Simultaneous X-ray Video-Fluoroscopy and Pulsed Ultrasound Velocimetry Analyses of the Pharyngeal Phase of Swallowing of Boluses with Different Rheological Properties.DysphagiaThe study did not detect a difference in bolus speed or clearance-wave speed among fluids matched for viscosity in three healthy adults. Ultrasound velocity profiling measured flow and detected the clearance wave.
• SLPOther2020Recognition of Accented Speech by Cochlear-Implant Listeners: Benefit of Audiovisual Cues.Ear and hearingCochlear-implant users and hearing listeners listening to simulated implant speech improved equally when seeing the speaker's mouth. Visual cues helped both unaccented and accented speech, but the gain was smaller for accented speech once each listener's auditory-only score was considered.
• SLPOther2020Grammatical judgment and production in male participants with idiopathic autism spectrum disorder.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsIn 22 boys with ASD, tense markers, especially irregular past tense, were hardest to judge and produce. Nonverbal IQ scores did not track these grammar skills, so their grammar should be assessed directly.
• SLPCohort2020The Merits of Bilateral Application of Bone-Conduction Devices in Children With Bilateral Conductive Hearing Loss.Ear and hearingChildren with bilateral conductive hearing loss who wear two bone conduction devices can tell if a sound is on the left or right. However, they mostly lateralize rather than truly localize the exact source. Using one device instead of two significantly worsened this ability.
• PTOTSLPRCT2021Guided exercises with or without joint mobilization or no treatment in patients with subacromial pain syndrome: A clinical trial.Journal of rehabilitation medicineGuided exercises improved shoulder function in patients with subacromial pain syndrome. Adding joint mobilization to the exercises provided no extra benefit for function or range of motion, but did reduce pain more quickly in the first six weeks.
• SLPCohort2021Visual Traces of Language Acquisition in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder During the Second Year of Life.Journal of autism and developmental disordersLooking at a speaker's mouth predicted better expressive language in typically developing toddlers and in autistic toddlers who had already acquired first words. It showed no such link in nonverbal autistic toddlers. This suggests mouth-looking supports word production only after speech has begun.
• PTOTSLPSurvey2021'It's not hands-on therapy, so it's very limited': Telehealth use and views among allied health clinicians during the coronavirus pandemic.Musculoskeletal science & practiceMost clinicians adopted telehealth rapidly but doubted its value. Only 42% thought it was as effective as face-to-face care, and just 25% believed patients valued it equally. Lack of hands-on contact was the main barrier, with most clinicians reporting inadequate training.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2021Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation on the recovery of people with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit: A narrative review.Journal of rehabilitation medicineNMES may slow muscle wasting and help wean ventilated patients, but evidence for building strength is mixed. It is safe for most ICU patients, including those with pacemakers, provided electrodes are placed carefully. Use it alongside active movement, not just as a passive substitute.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2021Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation in Physical Therapy: A Rapid Overview.Physical therapyTelerehabilitation often matches in-person physical therapy for musculoskeletal pain and function, but results are inconsistent across neurological and cardiopulmonary conditions. Many included reviews had high risk of bias, so evidence for superiority is weak. It is a viable alternative when access is limited.
• SLPCase-Control2021Spontaneous productions of infinitive clauses by English-speaking children with and without specific language impairment.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsChildren with developmental language disorder produced fewer true infinitives and made more errors than peers. Subgroup analysis showed children with low nonverbal IQ or other conditions had significantly more difficulty with infinitive TO marking than those with specific language impairment alone.
• SLPMeta-Analysis2021Peripheral Blood S100B Levels in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disordersPeople with autism had higher peripheral blood S100B levels than controls across 10 studies of 822 people, but the link was not seen in plasma samples or in Chinese and Turkish studies.
• PTOTSLPCohort2021How do core autism traits and associated symptoms relate to quality of life? Findings from the Longitudinal European Autism Project.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceDepression symptoms, not core autism traits, were the strongest predictor of reduced quality of life in autistic adults. In children, anxiety and social difficulties also lowered satisfaction. Many autistic individuals reported good quality of life, so screen for subthreshold mental health issues rather than assuming poor well-being based on diagnosis alone.
• SLPCohort2020Long-Term Language Development in Children With Early Simultaneous Bilateral Cochlear Implants.Ear and hearingEarly bilateral implants help general language close the gap with hearing peers by year four. But by year six, receptive vocabulary and expressive grammar fall behind again. Monitor these specific skills long-term, even if early progress looks perfect.
• SLPOther2020Facing the real time challenges of the COVID-19 emergency for child neuropsychology service in Milan.Research in developmental disabilitiesCaregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders reported high satisfaction with telehealth assessments during the Milan lockdown. Families appreciated saving travel time and feeling heard, but noted missing empathy compared to in-person visits and connectivity issues.
• SLPCohort2020The Autism Impact Measure (AIM): Examination of Sensitivity to Change.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchThe Autism Impact Measure detects short-term symptom changes in children with autism. Scores improved in domains targeted by specific treatments, such as social skills, while repetitive behaviors showed general improvement. It offers a practical parent-report tool for tracking progress over weeks.
• SLPOther2020Effects of Spectral Resolution and Frequency Mismatch on Speech Understanding and Spatial Release From Masking in Simulated Bilateral Cochlear Implants.Ear and hearingSimulating bilateral cochlear implants in normal-hearing listeners showed that spatial release from masking dropped sharply when the two ears had mismatched frequency maps. Mismatch within a single ear hurt overall speech understanding but did not reduce the spatial benefit. Matching frequencies across both ears is critical for hearing in noise.
• SLPCohort2020Drooling in Parkinson's Disease: Prevalence and Progression from the Non-motor International Longitudinal Study.DysphagiaDrooling prevalence was similar at 37.2% and 40.1% over 3.27 ± 1.74 years in 728 Parkinson's patients, and severity did not change. Older patients had more drooling, and drooling was linked with swallowing difficulty.
• SLPCohort2020Influence of Inhalation Injury on Incidence, Clinical Profile and Recovery Pattern of Dysphagia Following Burn Injury.DysphagiaIn 38 burn patients with confirmed inhalation injury, 34 had swallowing problems and 78.9% were severe at first assessment. Most recovered by discharge, but reported mean time to start oral intake was 24.69 days and to resolve dysphagia 29.79 days.
• SLPOther2020Swallow Safety in Infant Pigs With and Without Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Lesion.DysphagiaIn infant pigs, recurrent laryngeal nerve lesion increased penetration without clearance in the younger pigs, but aspiration rates were similar across groups. By the older age, lesioned pigs resembled controls. This is animal data, not human feeding evidence.
• SLPCohort2021Developmental Paths to Anxiety in an Autism-Enriched Infant Cohort: The Role of Temperamental Reactivity and Regulation.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn infants with older siblings with ASD, more fearful and shy behaviour at 24 months was linked to more anxiety traits at 36 months. Better self-regulation at 15 months was linked to less fearful behaviour at 24 months. This is a link, not tested cause.
• PTOTSLPCase-Control2021Differences in Body Mass Index (BMI) in Early Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to Youth with Typical Development.Journal of autism and developmental disordersEarly adolescents with autism had higher body mass index percentiles than typically developing peers, driven mainly by males. This difference persisted after excluding participants on weight-gain medications, suggesting autism itself, rather than medication side effects, is associated with increased weight in this age group.
• SLPRCT2021Utility of an Observational Social Skill Assessment as a Measure of Social Cognition in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchYouth with autism could tell when a conversation partner was interested, but rated bored partners as significantly less disengaged than trained coders did. The assessment captures social behavior well, but the bored-condition score does not align with other social measures.
• SLPCohort2021Auditory-perceptual acuity in rhotic misarticulation: baseline characteristics and treatment response.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsChildren with persistent /r/ errors perceived synthetic /r/ sounds less accurately than typically developing peers. However, baseline perception did not predict how well they produced /r/ or how much they improved with biofeedback treatment, except that girls with sharper perception responded better.