Auditory Perception and Ultrasound Biofeedback Treatment Outcomes for Children With Residual /」/ Distortions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

摘要

Purpose: This study evaluated whether outcomes from treatment, which includes ultrasound visual feedback (UVF), would be more or less effective when combined with auditory perception training for children with residual /」/ errors.Method: Children ages 8-16 years with /」/ distortions participated in speech therapy that included real-time UVF of the tongue. Thirty-eight participants were randomized to speech therapy conditions that included a primary focus on articulation using UVF or a condition that included auditory perceptual training plus UVF (incorporating category goodness judgments and self-monitoring). Generalization of /」/ production accuracy to untrained words was assessed before and after 14 hr of therapy. Additionally, the role of auditory perceptual acuity was explored using a synthetic /」/-/w/ continuum. Results: There was no difference between the treatment groups in rate of improvement of /」/ accuracy (increase of 34% for each group; p = .95, np2 = .00). However, pretreatment auditory acuity was associated with treatment progress in both groups, with finer perceptual acuity corresponding to greater progress (p = .015, np2 = .182). Conclusion: Similar gains in speech sound accuracy can be made with treatment that includes UVF with or without auditory perceptual training. Fine-grained perceptual acuity may be a prognostic indicator with treatment. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha. 11886219