AI-Assisted Treatment for Residual Speech Sound Disorders
- Conditions
- Speech Sound Disorder
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Speech-Language Pathologist-led Speech Motor ChainingBehavioral: Artificial Intelligence-led Speech Motor Chaining (CHAINING-AI)
- Registration Number
- NCT05988515
- Lead Sponsor
- Syracuse University
- Brief Summary
The goal of this randomized-controlled trial is to determine how artificial intelligence-assisted home practice may enhance speech learning of the "r" sound in school-age children with residual speech sound disorders. All child participants will receive 1 speech lesson per week, via telepractice, for 5 weeks with a human speech-language clinician. Some participants will receive 3 speech sessions per week with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-clinician during the same 5 weeks as the human clinician sessions (CONCURRENT treatment order group), whereas others will receive 3 speech sessions per week with an AI-clinician after the human clinician sessions end (SEQUENTIAL treatment order group.
- Detailed Description
Artificial Intelligence-assisted treatment that detects mispronunciations within an evidence-based motor learning framework could increase access to sufficiently intense, efficacious treatment despite provider shortages. A successful Artificial intelligencesystem that can predict the clinical gold standard of trained listeners' perceptions could not only improve access to clinical care but also mitigate known confounds to accurate clinical feedback, including clinical experience and drift due to increasing familiarity between the speaker and listener. The Artificial intelligence tool used in this study includes a speech classifier trained to predict clinician judgment of American English "r" that is integrated into an existing evidence-based treatment software called Speech Motor Chaining.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 26
- Must speak a rhotic dialect of American English as a dominant language.
- Must have begun learning English by at least the age of 3 years.
- Must be between 9;0 to 17;11 years of age.
- Must have reported difficulty with /ɹ/ production.
- Must have reported hearing within normal limits.
- Must receive a Scaled Score of 5 or above on both the Listening Comprehension and Story Retelling subtests from the Test of Integrated Language & Literacy Skills (TILLS).
- Must receive a percentile score of 8 or below on the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-3 (GFTA-3) Sounds in Words subtest.
- Must have 1 scorable response with 5+ consecutive correct /pataka/ with > 3.4 syllables per second in the MRR-Tri task of the Maximum Performance Tasks OR must demonstrate no childhood apraxia of speech (CAS-only) features in BOTH articulatory and rate/prosody domains of the ProCAD.
- Must score <40% accurate based on word-level items from our /ɹ/ probe list.
- Must score >=15% accuracy on /ɹ/ on 45 syllables following Dynamic Assessment.
- Must express interest in changing their /ɹ/ production.
- Must have oral structure and function that are appropriate for /ɹ/ production.
- Must have access to broadband internet with videoconferencing capabilities
- Must have no known history of autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, permanent hearing loss, epilepsy/antiepileptic medication, or brain injury/neurosurgery/stroke.
- Must not have diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's, or Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- Must have no orthodontic appliances that block the roof of the mouth (e.g., palate expanders).
- Must not have current cleft palate, fluency disorder, or voice disorder.
- Must not demonstrate childhood apraxia of speech (CAS-only) features in BOTH articulatory and rate/prosody domains of the ProCAD.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description SEQUENTIAL treatment order Artificial Intelligence-led Speech Motor Chaining (CHAINING-AI) * 5 speech lessons with a human speech-language clinician: 1 time per week for 5 weeks. * 15 speech lessons with an AI clinician (supervised by the caregiver), 3 times per week for the 5 weeks AFTER the human clinician sessions end. CONCURRENT treatment order Speech-Language Pathologist-led Speech Motor Chaining * 5 speech lessons with a human speech-language clinician: 1 time per week for 5 weeks. * 15 speech lessons with an AI clinician (supervised by the caregiver), 3 times per week DURING the same 5 weeks as the human clinician sessions. CONCURRENT treatment order Artificial Intelligence-led Speech Motor Chaining (CHAINING-AI) * 5 speech lessons with a human speech-language clinician: 1 time per week for 5 weeks. * 15 speech lessons with an AI clinician (supervised by the caregiver), 3 times per week DURING the same 5 weeks as the human clinician sessions. SEQUENTIAL treatment order Speech-Language Pathologist-led Speech Motor Chaining * 5 speech lessons with a human speech-language clinician: 1 time per week for 5 weeks. * 15 speech lessons with an AI clinician (supervised by the caregiver), 3 times per week for the 5 weeks AFTER the human clinician sessions end.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in percent correct for the /ɹ/ sound in untreated words, rated by blinded listeners. Before the initiation of treatment and again 5 weeks later. To assess generalization of treatment gains to untreated words, participants will read a word list eliciting /ɹ/. Stimuli in each list will be presented individually in randomized order. Individual words will be isolated from the audio record of each word probe and presented in randomized order for perceptual rating by trained listeners who are blind to treatment condition and time point (but will see the written representation of each target word). We will use the change in percent correct as our primary measure of perceptually rated accuracy.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Survey evaluating impacts of speech disorder on participants' social, emotional, and academic well-being. Before the initiation of treatment and again 5 weeks later. This survey asks parents and participants to report the impact of speech disorder on their child's/their social, emotional, and academic well-being along a 5-point scale. A higher score indicates a greater degree of negative impact of speech disorder on social, emotional, or academic well-being.
Change in percent correct for the /ɹ/ sound in untreated words, rated by blinded listeners. After 5 weeks of treatment and again 10 weeks later. To assess generalization of treatment gains to untreated words, participants will read a word list eliciting /ɹ/. Stimuli in each list will be presented individually in randomized order. Individual words will be isolated from the audio record of each word probe and presented in randomized order for perceptual rating by trained listeners who are blind to treatment condition and time point (but will see the written representation of each target word). We will use the change in percent correct as our primary measure of perceptually rated accuracy. This timeframe compares the rate of improvement with Chaining-AI for the SEQUENTIAL group and the retention after a 5 week break for the CONCURRENT group.
Change in percent correct for the /ɹ/ sound in practiced words, rated by blinded listeners. After 5 weeks of treatment and again 10 weeks later. Participants will read word list eliciting /ɹ/ in practiced words to assess acquisition. Stimuli in each list will be presented individually in randomized order. Individual words will be isolated from the audio record of each word probe and presented in randomized order for perceptual rating by trained listeners who are blind to treatment condition and time point (but will see the written representation of each target word). We will use the change in percent correct as our primary measure of perceptually rated accuracy. This timeframe compares the rate of improvement with Chaining-AI for the SEQUENTIAL group and the retention after a 5 week break for the CONCURRENT group.
Retention of percent correct for the /ɹ/ sound in untreated words, rated by blinded listeners. Before the initiation of treatment and again 10 weeks later. To assess generalization of treatment gains to untreated words, participants will read a word list eliciting /ɹ/. Stimuli in each list will be presented individually in randomized order. Individual words will be isolated from the audio record of each word probe and presented in randomized order for perceptual rating by trained listeners who are blind to treatment condition and time point (but will see the written representation of each target word). We will use the change in percent correct as our primary measure of perceptually rated accuracy. The timeframe of 10 weeks differs from the primary outcome of 5 weeks, and assesses longer-term retention and captures the effects after both groups have received both interventions.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Syracuse University
🇺🇸Syracuse, New York, United States