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 6 OF 7 · NEWEST FIRST

• SLPSystematic Review2025Economic Evaluations of Speech and Language Therapy Interventions: A Scoping Review.International journal of language & communication disordersThe review found 52 economic evaluation studies of speech and language therapy, and most did not combine costs with outcomes. There is not enough evidence to show which SLT services give best value.
• SLPOther2025Evolution of Word Production Errors after Typicality-Based Semantic Naming Treatment in Individuals with Aphasia.AphasiologyPeople with aphasia improved on trained words and untrained related words, but only responders showed the expected benefit from training unusual items. Non-responders improved differently, suggesting baseline language skills determine which treatment strategy works.
• SLPRCT2025Psychometric properties of the German Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale 39 generic version.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineThe German SAQOL-39g is a reliable and valid tool for measuring quality of life in people with chronic post-stroke aphasia. It performs similarly to the English version and is suitable for use in both clinical practice and research trials.
• PTOTSLPSystematic Review2025A scoping review and thematic analysis on coping strategies used by people with aphasia.AphasiologyPeople with aphasia most commonly rely on cognitive strategies like acceptance and self-efficacy, but these work alongside social support and community access. Therapists should assess and target these internal attitudes and external resources together rather than focusing on language impairment alone.
• SLPCohort2025Picture Description and Functional Communication Rating Correlates in Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia.AphasiologyIn semantic variant PPA, care partner ratings of daily communication tracked how much information patients gave in picture description more closely than confrontation naming scores. For logopenic and nonfluent variants, neither measure tracked functional ratings well.
• SLPOther2024Errorless and errorful learning in people with aphasia across novel-object pairing and word retrieval tasks.AphasiologyPeople with aphasia learned new visual pairs better with errorful training than errorless training. However, neither method improved word retrieval practice differently. Stronger memory skills correlated with better visual learning, but results varied widely between individuals.
• SLPQualitative2025A spouse's perspective on communication breakdowns and supportive strategies for semantic variant primary progressive aphasia.AphasiologyLosing back-and-forth conversation and emotional closeness was hardest for the spouse. She reported using a personalized word notebook, photo album, and pointing or walking to help understanding. She wanted speech therapy to include her and adapt as symptoms changed.
• SLPSystematic Review2025A Systematic Scoping Review of Measures Used to Evaluate Treatment-Induced Changes in Depression, Anxiety, and Chronic Stress in People with Post-Stroke Aphasia.AphasiologyMost mental health measures used in aphasia research have unproven reliability and validity. Proxy scales like the SADQ are common but often lack self-report confirmation. Use combined measures, such as proxy plus visual or adapted self-report, to reduce bias when assessing depression, anxiety or stress.
• SLPNarrative Review2024Structural Priming in Aphasia: A State-of-the-Art Review and Future Directions.AphasiologyReviewed studies show people with aphasia can unconsciously repeat sentence structures after hearing or producing them, and these effects can persist and accumulate. This suggests a possible treatment route, but it is not proven.
• SLPOther2024Eye Movements of Persons with Aphasia During Connected-Text Reading.AphasiologyDuring text reading, people with aphasia looked back for longer and stopped more often than controls, but their first pass through words took less time. Aphasia subtypes did not differ.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Healthcare Access, Satisfaction, and Affordability: Experiences and Barriers of People with Aphasia.AphasiologyStroke survivors with aphasia reported more difficulty contacting providers after hours and higher rates of bill payment problems than those without aphasia. Black and Hispanic participants with aphasia faced significantly worse access, satisfaction, and affordability outcomes compared to White participants.
• SLPPilot2025Psycholinguistic Variables and Spelling Accuracy for People with Logopenic Variant Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Cross-Sectional Study.AphasiologyIn 16 people with logopenic primary progressive aphasia, spelling accuracy varied by word features, not by age, education, or disease duration. Regular words were spelled more accurately than irregular words, and early-acquired, emotionally positive, and orthographically dense words were easier.
• SLPOther2025Influence of lexical and phonological variables on the production of verb tense in agrammatism.AphasiologyFor people with agrammatic aphasia, producing verb tenses is harder when the word has more sounds or is less common. Verbs that also exist as nouns (like 'walk') are produced more accurately. This suggests therapy should prioritize short, frequent, homonymous verbs.
• SLPQualitative2025Examining aphasia rehabilitation in Colombia from the perspective of speech-language pathologists and neuropsychologists: a pilot study.AphasiologyClinicians in Colombia describe aphasia training as theoretical and lacking practical depth. They report using mixed assessment methods but face barriers including outdated tools, administrative delays in healthcare access, and limited interdisciplinary collaboration.
• SLPRCT2026Measurement of cross-language and cross-domain generalization following semantic feature-based anomia treatment in bilingual aphasia.Neuropsychological rehabilitationTreating naming deficits in one language of bilingual patients with chronic aphasia improved word retrieval in both languages. Gains extended to untrained words and overall language ability, but did not improve nonverbal reasoning or semantic control tasks.
• SLPPilot2025Feasibility of delivering TeleCHAT: A comprehensive high-dose aphasia treatment via telerehabilitation.Clinical rehabilitationAll 12 participants completed a high-dose aphasia programme delivered remotely. Technical issues rarely stopped therapy, and support people attended most sessions. This shows the system works, but does not yet prove the treatment improves outcomes compared to standard care.
• PTOTSLPCohort2025Cognitive performance and stroke-specific quality of life four years after stroke.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesFour years post-stroke, quality of life linked only to reaction time, verbal memory, and fine-motor coordination. Language, executive function, and attention showed no significant association with reported well-being in this small cohort.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Factors Related to Depression Symptoms in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationIn chronic left-hemisphere stroke survivors, depression symptoms tracked with self-reported communication and cognitive disability, low social participation, and poor perceived recovery. Physical impairment and clinician-scored language severity were unrelated. Screen for mood when patients report daily life struggles.
• SLPQualitative2026"I wanna just not go, because maybe I'm sad" - views on depression from the perspective of people with aphasia, their care partners, and speech-language pathologists.Disability and rehabilitationPeople with aphasia rarely discussed depression, though care partners believed they were open about it. Participants described depression as fluctuating and embodied, with hopelessness and anger being key signs. Speech-language pathologists felt untrained to screen for or refer these mental health concerns.
• SLPPilot2026Modulating Phonological Short-Term Memory in Stroke Survivors With Aphasia Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn-phase brain stimulation improved short-term memory for sounds in people with aphasia, but only while the current was running. The effect vanished immediately after stimulation stopped, and the size of the improvement was small.
• SLPRCT2026Baseline Functional Connectivity Predicts Who Will Benefit From Neuromodulation: Evidence From Primary Progressive Aphasia.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairBaseline brain connectivity patterns predicted who would benefit from tDCS for aphasia better than clinical symptoms or brain atrophy. This suggests MRI scans could help therapists select patients for neuromodulation before starting treatment.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Comparing inpatient stroke rehabilitation care and outcomes for people with and without aphasia in Australia.Clinical rehabilitationPatients with aphasia were more likely to have goals and care plans made without them, less likely to be assessed by a psychologist despite more mood impairment when assessed, and less likely to be independent or discharged home.
• SLPCohort2026Phonemic simplification in apraxia of speech and aphasia with phonemic paraphasia.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsPhonemic simplification occurs in both apraxia of speech and aphasia with phonemic paraphasia. It is not specific to apraxia and cannot reliably distinguish the two groups. Severity of speech errors drives simplification more than diagnosis.
• OTSLPCohort2025Coping With Primary Progressive Aphasia: Factors Predicting Caregiver Psychological Wellbeing and Burden.International journal of language & communication disordersCaregiver burden tracked with the patient's behavioral disturbance and emotion recognition deficits, not their language skills. Dysfunctional coping predicted caregiver stress. Most caregivers had normal anxiety and depression scores, but burden varied significantly by PPA subtype.
• SLPSystematic Review2025Influence of Speech and Language Therapy on Quality of Life in People With Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Scoping Review.International journal of language & communication disordersSpeech therapy for primary progressive aphasia often improves communication confidence, but this does not reliably translate to better quality of life. Most evidence comes from small case series, so no single therapy is proven to boost wellbeing.
• SLPOther2025Establishing Norms of Connected Speech Measures for Story-Telling in Cantonese-Speaking Adults.International journal of language & communication disordersNorms for two Cantonese stories show that education drives speech length and word count, while age mainly reduces the number of key ideas conveyed. The two stories are not interchangeable. Clinicians must use the same story for pre and post testing to accurately track patient progress.
• SLPOther2025Introducing the NEURAL Research Lab Data Set for Studies of Discourse and Gesture in Aphasia and Cognitively Healthy Aging Adults.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRPeople with mild or latent aphasia spoke less fluently than cognitively healthy adults on a story retell. Gesture rates did not differ by group, but more gestures appeared when aphasia severity was greater.
• SLPOther2025Eight ways speech-language pathologists can contribute to health equity: the case of Black stroke survivors with aphasia.AphasiologyNo patient outcomes are reported. The paper offers expert recommendations for speech-language pathologists to address health inequities affecting Black stroke survivors with aphasia. Do not treat them as tested interventions.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2025Aphasic patients in the hospital from the perspective of a healthcare team: implications for care.CoDASStaff described caring for patients with aphasia as frustrating and difficult because they could not understand speech. They relied on guessing and wanted language clinicians to guide team communication.
• PTOTSLPPilot2026Development of an easy-read version of the Brain Injury associated Visual Impairment - Impact Questionnaire (BIVI-IQ).Clinical rehabilitationStroke survivors with visual impairment rated an easy-read version of a vision-impact questionnaire similarly to the standard version. The easy-read took longer to complete, but half preferred it. This offers a path to self-report for those with communication difficulties, though testing in that specific group is still needed.
• SLPQualitative2025Face and Content Validation of the 10-Item Communicative Participation Item Bank General Short Form for Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Cognitive Interviewing Study.American journal of speech-language pathologyPeople with PPA and their partners found the 10-item CPIB mostly clear but wanted a middle response option and phone use added. One item on persuasion was seen as irrelevant. Familiarity with the test did not change feedback.
• SLPPilot2025Structural Priming Treatment in Aphasia: The Role of Lexical and Abstract Syntactic Representations.American journal of speech-language pathologyStructural priming improved sentence production in aphasia, with gains maintained at one week. Crucially, aphasic patients learned better when prime and target sentences used different verbs. Same-verb training, which helps healthy speakers, actually reduced gains in this group.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Intersection of Knowledge to Practice: A Purposeful Integration of Communication Partner Training in Aphasia With Adult Learning Principles for Healthcare Students.International journal of language & communication disordersFifteen healthcare students improved their aphasia knowledge and attitudes after a 3.5-hour training. Online modules alone increased gesture and verification use. The study lacks a control group for the full training and had high dropout, so changes may reflect practice or expectations rather than the programme itself.
• SLPOther2025Motor-Speech Performance in Very Old Speakers: Associations With Physio-Anatomical and Cognitive-Linguistic Factors.International journal of language & communication disordersVery old speakers (80+) showed slower speech rates than younger adults. Denture wearers and those with higher education performed slower on rapid repetition tasks. Better language skills predicted faster speech. Use these norms to distinguish typical aging from neurological decline in very old clients.
• SLPQualitative2025Speech-Language Pathologists' Perspectives on Barriers to Recognizing Depression in People with Aphasia: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis.AphasiologySLPs struggle to spot depression in aphasia because withdrawal can be comprehension failure or emotional distress. Current tests are too language-heavy. Family members often speak for patients, hiding true feelings. SLPs adapt tools on their own due to a lack of validated options.
• SLPRCT2026A Liquid Thickener Presentation Format for the Therapeutic Management of Dysphagia-A Promising Step Forward in Addressing the Challenges Associated With Thickened Fluids in Swallowing Disorders?International journal of language & communication disordersPatients with swallowing difficulties rated drinks thickened with a new liquid concentrate as significantly more pleasant and easier to use than their usual powdered thickener. They drank more fluid on average and reported fewer gastrointestinal symptoms, though the study was small and short.
• SLPPilot2025PICTURE-IT: a pilot randomized cross-over trial encouraging right-hemisphere engagement for the treatment of aphasia via telemedicine.AphasiologyNo participant had a significant difference between PICTURE-IT and CoDeLT on the primary naming outcome. Both telemedicine therapies were feasible, but this pilot does not prove either works or that one is better.
• SLPOther2026Phoneme Manner Types and Function and Content Words as Biomarkers for Different Types of Stutters in Speakers Who Continue to Stutter.International journal of language & communication disordersWhole-word repetitions occur almost exclusively on function words starting with vowels, while prolongations and part-word repetitions cluster on content words starting with specific consonants. Grouping all stutter types together hides these distinct patterns.
• SLPQualitative2026"Doing the Best I Can": Qualitative Outcomes and Participant Feedback From a Combined Communication and Counselling Treatment for Primary Progressive Aphasia.International journal of language & communication disordersPeople with primary progressive aphasia described combining speech therapy with counselling as acceptable. They reported using learned coping strategies to manage distressing thoughts and feelings about their diagnosis.
• SLPCase Report2026Effects of tDCS and intensive behavioral therapy in a longevous individual with low education and subacute aphasia.CoDASAn 86-year-old man with subacute aphasia showed improved naming and reduced errors after two weeks of intensive word-finding therapy combined with tDCS. Gains remained 30 days later. As a single case, this does not prove the treatment works for others.
• PTOTSLPPilot2026Improving Care for People With Aphasia: Communication Training for Healthcare Providers.International journal of language & communication disordersA two-hour workshop improved healthcare providers' self-reported knowledge and confidence in communicating with people with aphasia. However, it did not change their actual daily practice habits or perceived workplace support. The training helps providers understand the disorder but does not automatically fix communication routines.
• SLPOther2026An Observational Examination of Circumlocution Ability in Acute Left-Hemisphere Stroke Survivors as a Possible Estimative Behavioral Measure of Very Mild Aphasia.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationAcute left-hemisphere stroke survivors produced fewer informative object descriptions than controls, and survivors with aphasia on standardized testing produced fewer than survivors without. Circumlocution may help spot very mild aphasia when standardized scores do not identify it, but this is preliminary.
• SLPOther2026Evidence for an integrated bilingual language system from discourse tasks in aphasia.AphasiologyIn 13 bilinguals with aphasia, error types were identical in both languages, but the weaker language had more errors. Switching into the stronger language was common. This supports a shared language system where the stronger language is easier to access.
• OTSLPSystematic Review2026Eye-Tracking Technologies for Cognitive Assessment After Acquired Brain Injury: Systematic Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesEye tracking may reveal gaze differences linked to attention and executive control after acquired brain injury, but small, varied studies do not show it routinely outperforms standard cognitive tests.
• SLPCase-Control2026Are brief batteries able to identify aphasia in elderly people? A study with the ABLA Battery.CoDASA brief 10-task language battery separated 16 older adults with post-stroke aphasia from 16 healthy peers on every task, with the aphasia group scoring lower throughout. It has not been tested against a full language assessment, so it screens, it does not diagnose.
• SLPQualitative2026Addressing Future Changes in Communication Using Hypothetical Scenarios With People With Primary Progressive Aphasia and Care Partners: A Conversation Analytic Study.International journal of language & communication disordersThe therapist raised future planning by keeping it hypothetical, asking 'if you get worse' and using 'one' rather than the person's own decline. Three of the four couples let the topic drop; one pressed for prognosis.
• SLPCohort2026The Influence of Aphasia Type and Severity on Sentence Comprehension after Left Hemisphere Stroke.International journal of language & communication disordersSentence understanding got worse as grammar got harder in people after a left-hemisphere stroke, including those scoring above the aphasia cut-off and those with anomic aphasia. On the hardest sentences, passive object-relatives, everyone including older controls scored near chance.
• SLPCase Report2026Case Report: Tailored automatic speech recognition in global aphasia with dysarthria - a single case proof of concept.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA system trained on one woman's voice recognised her intended word in 72.65% of 936 attempts, against 56.75% for twelve rehabilitation professionals who knew her speech. One patient and a 13-word vocabulary, so not proof it generalises.
• SLPQualitative2026Sources of perceived stress in people with aphasia: a qualitative study.AphasiologyPeople with chronic aphasia described stress that begins with communication breakdowns and spreads: losing the ability to do former tasks, losing work and social roles, and being treated as incompetent in public. Several described a loop where avoiding conversation deepens isolation and stress.
• SLPPilot2026Evaluation of the SWAN Game-Based Approach to Re-Building Numeracy Skills in Aphasia: Feasibility and Preliminary Findings.International journal of language & communication disordersA home tablet game for number skills in aphasia was easy to stick with and most people enjoyed it, but gains on number reading and writing began before the game started and a non-numerical control task also improved. Everyday number tasks did not improve.