Applied Evidence

Using the DIVA model to better understand speech motor disorders.

Clinical linguistics & phonetics · 2026 · Narrative Review · SLP

Hannah P Rowe, Frank H Guenther

PMID 42484500

This is a theoretical paper explaining the DIVA computational model of speech motor control and how it maps to dysarthrias, apraxia of speech, and stuttering.

It reports no patients, no intervention, and no empirical results, so there is nothing here to change your practice on.

What this paper is

This is a theoretical paper describing the DIVA (Directions Into Velocities of Articulators) computational model of speech motor control and discussing how it can be used to understand the neural basis of dysarthrias, apraxia of speech, and stuttering. It contains no participants, no intervention, and no empirical results. The clinical implications it raises — pacing strategies for ataxic dysarthria, LSVT for hypokinetic dysarthria, repetitive practice for apraxia of speech — are the authors' interpretations of what the model predicts, not findings from a study. There is no finding here to change your practice on.

Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →