Effects of Rhythmic Stimulation on Fluency in Aphasia and Apraxia of Speech (2014)

Undergraduate: Hannah Burris

Faculty Advisor: Adam Jacks
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Aphasia is a language disorder resulting from neurological impairment. For those with aphasia, producing fluent speech is difficult, due to problems with word finding, syntax, or speech motor programming (apraxia of speech [AOS]). Several fluency-inducing conditions, including rhythmic stimulation and masking auditory feedback with noise, have led to improved fluency in both adults who stutter and those with aphasia. Rhythm has been indicated as especially beneficial for speakers with nonfluent aphasia. The hypothesis in this study is that speakers with nonfluent aphasia and AOS will have fewer disfluencies under metronomic stimulation than in masking or control conditions, with little change in fluent speakers. Five participants with aphasia produced 20 sentences in each of five conditions, including control, masking, and metronomic stimulation conditions. Results on the fifth speaker and analyses of clinical brain scans are currently underway. Preliminary results indicate that one of four speakers responded with a significant decrease in average disfluency time under rhythmic stimulation (Wilcoxon Z= -3.26, p < .01). No speakers significantly improved during the masking condition. Three of five speakers had fluent aphasia, and the only significantly positive responder had transcortical motor aphasia, a type of nonfluent aphasia. These results suggest that metronomic stimulation may increase fluency in speakers with nonfluent aphasias, and warrant more research.