TOPIC

Aphasia research

Everything we have read on aphasia. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

320 PAPERS · PAGE 3 OF 7 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPRCT2020Multisensory cueing facilitates naming in aphasia.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationNaming accuracy improved over virtual therapy for ten people with chronic non-fluent aphasia. Silent lip videos and object sounds were linked to faster interactions in early sessions.
• SLPCohort2020White Matter Hyperintensities Predict Response to Language Treatment in Poststroke Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 30 people with post-stroke aphasia, more right hemisphere white matter changes on MRI, especially deep white matter lesions, predicted poorer response to language treatment even after accounting for age, education, lesion volume, and aphasia severity.
• SLPRCT2021White Matter Integrity Predicts Electrical Stimulation (tDCS) and Language Therapy Effects in Primary Progressive Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairAdding left frontal tDCS to written naming and spelling therapy improved trained words more than therapy alone, and only tDCS improved untrained words. Baseline white-matter tracts were associated with gains in both groups.
• SLPRCT2021Self-managed, computerised word finding therapy as an add-on to usual care for chronic aphasia post-stroke: An economic evaluation.Clinical rehabilitationComputerised word finding therapy adds about £733 per patient but produced uncertain quality of life gains. It was not clearly cost-effective for the whole group, though it looked better for those with mild or moderate word finding difficulties.
• SLPPilot2021Identifiable Patterns of Trait, State, and Experience in Chronic Stroke Recovery.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 12 people with chronic aphasia, brain scans remained uniquely identifiable across tasks and time. Whole-brain scans also distinguished pre- versus post-therapy, but injured left-hemisphere scans did not.
• SLPPilot2020A Feasibility Study Involving Recruitment and Screening for Aphasia in Acute Stroke: Emerging Viability of the English Adaptation of the Language Screening Test (LASTen).Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationRecruiting 12 acute stroke patients for aphasia screening was feasible, taking one year to meet specific demographic targets. The English adaptation of the Language Screening Test showed strong parallel form reliability. It separated patients with and without aphasia completely, though validation against a gold standard is still needed.
• 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.
• SLPRCT2021Indirect White Matter Pathways Are Associated With Treated Naming Improvement in Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairPeople with post-stroke aphasia improved their naming more after treatment if they had either direct or indirect white matter connections between key language areas. Indirect connections, which bypass damaged tissue, supported recovery just as well as direct ones, suggesting residual network integrity drives gains.
• OTSLPCase Report2021Information, communication, advocacy, and complaint: how the spouse of a man with aphasia managed his discharge from hospital.AphasiologyA spouse of a man with aphasia said she was not told what aphasia meant, was given changing discharge plans, and had to write a complaint letter after a registrar dismissed her concerns. This is one account, not proof that advocacy changes care.
• SLPOther2020Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Connectivity Between Semantic and Phonological Regions of Interest May Inform Language Targets in Aphasia.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRResting brain connectivity patterns predict language severity in aphasia. Weaker right-hemisphere frontotemporal links associated with better naming, while stronger left angular gyrus connections predicted better comprehension. These networks may help identify targets for therapy.
• SLPOther2021Increased Recruitment of Domain-General Neural Networks in Language Processing Following Intensive Language-Action Therapy: fMRI Evidence From People With Chronic Aphasia.American journal of speech-language pathologySixteen people with chronic aphasia improved on language tests after intensive therapy. Brain scans showed this improvement correlated with increased activity in domain-general networks, not just language areas. No control group was used, so the therapy's specific effect on these brain changes is uncertain.
• SLPOther2021Development of a measure of function word use in narrative discourse: core lexicon analysis in aphasia.International journal of language & communication disordersA new checklist of 25 common function words showed that people with aphasia used fewer of them than healthy adults. The measure also separated fluent from non-fluent aphasia, but the study was exploratory with a very small aphasia group.
• SLPCohort2020Slowed Compensation Responses to Altered Auditory Feedback in Post-Stroke Aphasia: Implications for Speech Sensorimotor Integration.Journal of communication disordersPeople with aphasia took longer to adjust their pitch when their auditory feedback was altered, but corrected to the same extent as healthy speakers once time was accounted for. This suggests the mechanism for speech error correction remains intact, though it operates more slowly.
• SLPOther2020A Tool for Automatic Scoring of Spelling Performance.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRAn automated scoring tool matched manual spelling scores closely, with correlations of .99 for words and .95 for nonwords. It processed the entire dataset in under one second, replacing 120 hours of manual work while reducing scorer disagreement.
• SLPOther2021Aphasia and spelling to dictation: Analysis of spelling errors and editing.International journal of language & communication disordersSpelling errors in aphasia often involve missing letters or incorrect compound splitting, not just phonetic mistakes. Editing success correlates with non-word spelling ability, not reading or decoding. Word length and frequency predict spelling difficulty, but not editing success. Individual editing strategies vary widely, suggesting tailored digital aids may be more effective than generic tools.
• SLPOther2020A retrospective review of speech-language therapy services provided to adult inpatients at a central-level hospital in Gauteng, South Africa.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsSwallowing disorder was the most common speech-language problem among 2549 adult hospital inpatients who received speech-language therapy, followed by aphasia and dysarthria. 44.68% had more than one speech-language diagnosis, and 39.98% required further treatment after discharge.
• PTOTSLPRCT2021Domains of Health-Related Quality of Life Are Associated With Specific Deficits and Lesion Locations in Chronic Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairDepression symptoms and arm weakness predicted lower overall quality of life. Language production deficits predicted lower communication quality. Specific brain lesions in the basal ganglia and inferior frontal areas were linked to poorer physical and psychosocial outcomes.
• SLPCase Report2021Therapeutic relationships in aphasia rehabilitation: Using sociological theories to promote critical reflexivity.International journal of language & communication disordersIn one dyad, the therapist’s focus shifted from building a personal connection to completing discharge tasks after the patient requested early release. Structural pressures and team expectations, rather than individual choices, drove this change in the therapeutic relationship.
• SLPOther2021Effect of Digital Highlighting on Reading Comprehension Given Text-to-Speech Technology for People with Aphasia.AphasiologyDigital highlighting added to text-to-speech did not improve comprehension accuracy across no, word, or sentence highlighting for adults with chronic aphasia. Participants preferred sentence and word highlighting over no highlighting, but preference did not match measured accuracy.
• SLPOther2021Perceptions of people with aphasia about supporting reading with text-to-speech technology: A convergent mixed methods study.Journal of communication disordersMost people with aphasia were interested in text-to-speech reading support after trying it, but few used it daily. They valued choosing the voice and speed. The biggest worry was struggling to operate the device independently, not the cost.
• SLPCohort2021Detailed Vision Screening Results from a Cohort of Individuals with Aphasia.AphasiologyMost patients with aphasia in this cohort had visual deficits, but few were stroke-related. Many failed distance vision screenings despite having had recent eye exams. Clinicians should screen vision before assuming assessment failures are purely language-based, as uncorrected poor sight can mimic aphasia severity.
• SLPQualitative2021Clinician Perspectives on the Assessment of Short-Term Memory in Aphasia.AphasiologySpeech-language pathologists said they rarely test short-term memory in aphasia unless a problem appears. They valued tests tied to daily communication. Time pressure and language-heavy tests made assessment hard.
• PTOTSLPNarrative Review2021Primary Progressive Apraxia of Speech: From Recognition to Diagnosis and Care.AphasiologyProgressive apraxia of speech is a distinct neurodegenerative syndrome, not just aphasia. It often precedes parkinsonism or supranuclear palsy. Treatment should prioritize communication strategies and partner training, as impairment-focused therapy has limited evidence.
• SLPCase-Control2021Assessment of alerting, orienting, and executive control in persons with aphasia using the Attention Network Test.AphasiologyPeople with chronic aphasia completed the Attention Network Test but were slower overall. They gained less from spatial orienting cues on accuracy than controls, and their alerting benefit was not seen. This points to assessing alerting, orienting and executive control separately.
• SLPOther2021Repeated word production is inconsistent in both aphasia and apraxia of speech.AphasiologyWhen people with aphasia and apraxia of speech repeated words, their errors were not more consistent than in aphasia without apraxia. After accounting for how often errors occurred, apraxia showed similar or less consistency, so high consistency is not a useful diagnostic marker.
• SLPOther2021One cat, Two cats, Red cat, Blue cats: Eliciting morphemes from individuals with primary progressive aphasia.AphasiologyThe MorGen test showed people with PPA produced morphemes less accurately than controls. The variants did not differ overall, but colour was one morpheme that separated them; classification was best for the agrammatic variant.
• SLPOther2022Modified script training for nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia with significant hearing loss: A single-case experimental design.Neuropsychological rehabilitationA man with nonfluent/agrammatic primary progressive aphasia and severe-to-profound hearing loss produced trained scripts accurately and intelligibly after script training with added reading. Gains held for one year. Untrained scripts did not improve.
• SLPCohort2022Eyetracking during picture naming predicts future vocabulary dropout in progressive anomia.Neuropsychological rehabilitationIn patients with progressive language loss, eye-tracking during picture naming predicted which words would later be lost. Words that would eventually drop out caused more scattered gaze and more fixations even when named correctly at baseline. This suggests gaze patterns could help identify vulnerable words for maintenance therapy.
• SLPCase Series2021Effect of Mandarin Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) in Mandarin-English bilinguals with aphasia: A single-case experimental design.Neuropsychological rehabilitationTwo bilinguals with aphasia trained in Mandarin verb retrieval showed gains in Mandarin and some transfer to English. However, English gains faded to baseline one month later, and statistical significance was inconsistent. This pilot suggests potential but confirms no reliable long-term cross-language effect.
• SLPCase Series2022Training flexible conceptual retrieval in post-stroke aphasia.Neuropsychological rehabilitationEleven people with post-stroke aphasia improved on association items they practised with feedback over six sessions. Gains were weak or absent for novel items, and individual responses varied.
• PTOTSLPOther2022A delphi procedure on rehabilitation outcome for patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury; first phase of the Neurotraumatology Quality Registry (NET-QURE).Journal of rehabilitation medicineExperts agreed on specific outcome measures for 12 of 17 domains in moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Consensus was reached for tools assessing quality of life, pain, anxiety, depression, communication, and activities of daily living.
• SLPOther2022Functional Connectivity and Speech Entrainment Speech Entrainment Improves Connectivity Between Anterior and Posterior Cortical Speech Areas in Non-fluent Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn people with chronic Broca’s aphasia, mimicking a video of a speaker’s mouth increased brain connectivity between speech areas. This connectivity looked more like that of healthy adults than during free speech. The study measured brain activity, not treatment outcomes.
• SLPSystematic Review2021Systematic Review of Training Communication Partners of Chinese-speaking Persons With Aphasia.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationTraining communication partners for Chinese-speaking people with aphasia shows promise, but evidence is weak. Most studies lacked control groups or blinding, and many included acute patients where natural recovery confounds results. Task-shifting and partner training differ in goals and should not be conflated.
• SLPRCT2022A pilot economic evaluation of a feasibility trial for SUpporting wellbeing through PEeR-Befriending (SUPERB) for post-stroke aphasia.Clinical rehabilitationPeer-befriending for post-stroke aphasia was feasible and inexpensive, costing £57.24 per visit. It did not significantly change total health and social care costs compared to usual care. While one measure suggested potential cost-effectiveness, the study was too small to confirm if the intervention is worth funding.
• SLPRCT2022Complexity and Feedback During Script Training in Aphasia: A Feasibility Study.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationSixteen people with chronic aphasia improved accuracy and rate on trained scripts after three weeks of computer-based training. Using more complex scripts led to greater accuracy gains than simpler ones. Feedback type made no difference. The study was a small feasibility trial without a control group.
• SLPRCT2022Differential Effects of Speech and Language Therapy and rTMS in Chronic Versus Subacute Post-stroke Aphasia: Results of the NORTHSTAR-CA Trial.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairAdding 1-Hz rTMS to speech therapy did not improve language outcomes more than sham stimulation plus therapy in chronic post-stroke aphasia. Patients in both groups improved during therapy and held gains at one month, but the brain stimulation itself provided no extra benefit.
• SLPOther2022Genetic and Neurophysiological Biomarkers of Neuroplasticity Inform Post-Stroke Language Recovery.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 17 people with chronic post-stroke aphasia, the Val66Val BDNF genotype was linked to milder language impairment than the Val66Met genotype. Brain responses to stimulation also related to severity, but differently by genotype.
• SLPRCT2021Impairment of speech auditory feedback error detection and motor correction in post-stroke aphasia.Journal of communication disordersPeople with left-hemisphere stroke were less accurate at hearing pitch changes in their own speech or in recordings, and their early speech corrections were smaller. These deficits correlated with poor repetition scores, suggesting auditory feedback problems contribute to speech errors in aphasia.
• SLPCohort2021Clustering and switching in verbal fluency: a comparison between control and individuals with brain damage.CoDASPatients with left-hemisphere damage and aphasia scored lowest on verbal fluency tasks, producing fewer words, clusters, and switches than all other groups. Right-hemisphere patients showed specific deficits in switching between categories despite normal total word counts.
• SLPCase Report2022Treating lexical retrieval using letter fluency and tDCS in primary progressive aphasia: a single-case study.AphasiologyOne man with early primary progressive aphasia improved word retrieval after letter fluency therapy combined with brain stimulation. Gains lasted three months for trained letters and transferred to an untrained naming task, but only with left frontal stimulation.
• SLPOther2021Does Right-Hemispheric Anodal tDCS Enhance the Impact of Script Training in Chronic Aphasia? A Single-Subject Experimental Study.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesScript training alone helped a man with severe aphasia master two conversations. Adding right-brain electrical stimulation did not improve his accuracy or speed compared to the sham treatment. The training itself was effective, but the brain stimulation provided no extra benefit.
• OTSLPPilot2021Metacognitive Strategy Training Is Feasible for People With Aphasia.OTJR : occupation, participation and healthAdapted strategy training using supported conversation was feasible for stroke survivors with aphasia. Therapists maintained fidelity, participants engaged well, and disability scores improved similarly to patients without aphasia, though only half mastered the strategy.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2022Can Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Facilitate Post-stroke Cognitive Rehabilitation? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencestDCS may briefly improve attention and language recovery in stroke survivors, but does not help global thinking, memory, or visual neglect. The evidence is weak, based on small studies with no long-term follow-up, so it should not replace standard therapy.
• SLPQualitative2022Regulating emotional responses to aphasia to re-engage in life: a qualitative interview study.International journal of language & communication disordersSome people with aphasia still had anxiety and low mood years after stroke. Others described positivity, gratitude, stoicism or concern for children as ways they regulated emotions, and some linked this with finding new ways to take part in life.
• SLPCase Report2022Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in writing: a case report of deep agraphia.CoDASOne man with deep agraphia improved writing after five sessions of dictation paired with brain stimulation. Gains in sound-based spelling held at five months, but word-shape spelling reverted. This shows what happened to one person, not that the treatment works.
• SLPCase-Control2022Word-finding difficulties in Parkinson's disease: Complex verbal fluency, executive functions and other influencing factors.International journal of language & communication disordersPeople with Parkinson's and word-finding complaints scored lower than controls on a complex fluency task, but standard tests missed the deficit. Individual scores varied widely, and test performance did not match self-reported difficulties. Always ask about communication problems directly.
• SLPOther2022The Challenge of Achieving Greater Generalization in Phonological Treatment of Aphasia.AphasiologyPhonological path distance between trained and untrained words did not predict naming improvement in people with aphasia receiving Phonomotor Treatment. The untrained words may have been too far from the training targets to benefit from intrinsic generalization.
• SLPOther2022Verbal fluency difficulties in aphasia: A combination of lexical and executive control deficits.International journal of language & communication disordersPeople with aphasia struggle with both word retrieval and executive control. They took longer to start speaking and switched categories less often. However, once they found a category, they generated similar numbers of words as controls, just more slowly.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2022Metacognitive Treatment in Acquired Brain Injury and Its Applicability to Aphasia: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesMetacognitive therapy helped most people with acquired brain injury on at least one measure, but results varied widely. For those with aphasia, evidence is too thin to recommend it as a standalone treatment. Try breaking goals into steps and giving feedback, but do not expect consistent language gains.
• SLPOther2022Application of the dual stream model to neurodegenerative disease: Evidence from a multivariate classification tool in primary progressive aphasia.AphasiologyMachine learning accurately classified PPA variants using brain scans and language tests, supporting the dual stream model. Semantic deficits and ventral atrophy identified svPPA, while repetition deficits and dorsal atrophy identified lvPPA and nfaPPA, though distinguishing between these two dorsal variants remained difficult.