Influence of TTS Systems Performance on Reaction Times in People with Aphasia

Text-to-speech (TTS) systems provide fundamental reading support for people with aphasia and reading difficulties. However, artificial voices are more difficult to process than natural voices. The current study is an extended analysis of the results of a clinical experiment investigating which, among three artificial voices and a digitised human voice, is more suitable for people with aphasia and reading impairments. Such results show that the voice synthesised with Ogmios TTS, a concatenative speech synthesis system, caused significantly slower reaction times than the other three voices used in the experiment. The present study explores whether and what voice quality metrics are linked to delayed reaction times. For this purpose, the voices were analysed using an automatic assessment of intelligibility, naturalness, and jitter and shimmer voice quality parameters. This analysis revealed that Ogmios TTS, in general, performed worse than the other voices in all parameters. These observations could explain the significantly delayed reaction times in people with aphasia and reading impairments when listening to Ogmios TTS and could open up consideration about which TTS to choose for compensative devices for these patients based on the voice analysis of these parameters.

On-Reading (Chinese-Style Pronunciation) Predominance Over Kun-Reading (Native Japanese Pronunciation) in Japanese Semantic Dementia

Japanese kanji (morphograms) have two ways of reading: on-reading (Chinese-style pronunciation) and kun-reading (native Japanese pronunciation). It is known that some Japanese patients with semantic dementia read kanji with on-reading but not with kun-reading. To characterize further reading impairments of patients with semantic dementia, we analyzed data from a total of 9 patients who underwent reading and writing tests of kanji and kana (Japanese phonetic writing) and on-kun reading tests containing two-character kanji words with on-on reading, kun-kun reading, and specific (so-called Jukujikun or irregular kun) reading. The results showed that on-reading preceding (pronouncing first with on-reading) and kun-reading deletion (inability to recall kun-reading) were observed in nearly all patients. In the on-kun reading test, on-reading (57.6% correct), kun-reading (46.6% correct), and specific-reading (30.0% correct) were more preserved in this decreasing order (phonology-to-semantics gradient), although on-reading and kun-reading did not significantly differ in performance, according to a more rigorous analysis after adjusting for word frequency (and familiarity). Furthermore, on-substitution (changing to on-reading) errors in kun-reading words (27.0%) were more frequent than kun-substitution (changing to kun-reading) errors in on-reading words (4.0%). These results suggest that kun-reading is more predominantly disturbed than on-reading, probably because kun-reading and specific-reading are closely associated with the meaning of words.

Only as Special as Necessary: Adapted Books in a Universal Design Perspective

Providing access to high quality books for all types of readers is a premise for cultural democracy. Many people, however, have challenges reading mainstream books. There might be diverse reasons why people find reading challenging. Some examples are reading impairments, reduced vision, cognitive impairments, learning a new language, or due to stress, fatigue or illness. To ensure everyone access to literature, it is therefore vital to produce books that can (and will) be read by a wide range of users. This case study addresses the following research questions: Do adapted books represent accessible or universal design? Can adapted books be perceived as motivating to read for all types of readers? Are “special books” necessary to ensure that all users have access to high quality literature? In Norway, the association Books for Everyone develops adapted, printed fictional books to accommodate various types of reading challenges. This paper examines the production of these books and uses this collection to investigate the research questions. The main finding is that most of the books by Books for Everyone can be considered examples of universal design, rather than “special books” directed at a very narrow user group. Moreover, there seems to be a limited need for “special books”, except for books targeting readers with severe cognitive or sensory impairments. By applying the universal design approach, fictional literature can potentially make books more accessible for all types of readers.

Can a Questionnaire Be Useful for Assessing Reading Skills in Adults? Experiences with the Adult Reading Questionnaire among Incarcerated and Young Adults in Norway

Background: Good screening tools can be of immense value in educational counselling for adults. We report two studies where we explored the factor structure and discriminative power of the Adult Reading Questionnaire (ARQ) in different samples of young adults at risk for reading impairments. Method: The ARQ was designed to screen for literacy skills with low resource requirement. The instrument includes 11 questions regarding reading and writing skills and 6 questions regarding attention deficits and hyperactivity. The first study included of 246 undergraduate students. One-third of the sample were under assessment of specific learning impairments/dyslexia. The second study included 1475 incarcerated adults, where 1 in 4 reported specific reading impairments. Results: Principal Component Analyses (PCA) with varimax rotation returned four components for the participants in Study 1: Reading skills, Reading habits, Attention, and Hyperactivity. For the incarcerated sample in Study 2, the analysis returned three components, as the Attention and Hyperactivity items were combined. Conclusion: The ARQ is useful for identifying individuals at risk for dyslexia with acceptable measures of sensitivity and specificity, as well as for identifying those who report difficulties with reading and writing but have not been assessed for their difficulties earlier. The increased prevalence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) seen among incarcerated adults must be considered when screening for reading problems as it may confound the scores on reading questionnaires.

The use and promotion of adapted books in Norwegian public libraries

Public libraries offer a large selection of books. For many library users, one of the highlights of the library visit is to explore this collection in search of interesting books that will provide enriching literary experiences. For some people, however, mainstream books might not be motivating to read, for instance, due to reading impairments, language challenges or inaccessible content. Consequently, most libraries also hold a collection of ‘special books’. In Norway, one example of such a collection is the books developed by the association Books for Everyone. This article explores the organization and promotion of adapted books in Norwegian libraries and is based on two datasets. The first dataset comprises the complete production by Books for Everyone, consisting of 232 titles. These books were examined to get an overview of the material commonly found in Norwegian public libraries, with a focus on the allocation of adaptation types and target groups. This dataset showed a diverse collection of books in six different categories. The majority was in the category ‘Easy to Read’, targeted at a broad variety of user groups. The second dataset consisted of survey data from 178 libraries regarding their organization and promotion of the Books for Everyone collection. The data revealed differences in how public libraries utilize these books, due to, for instance, a lack of knowledge about adapted books and potential target groups. Moreover, for many libraries, these books were regarded as ‘special books’ and were consequently not included in exhibitions or book talks. It may be necessary to pay more attention towards adapted literature in the library community and provide more knowledge about this literature among librarians. The overall purpose of this article is to provide some advice to librarians and other practitioners on how to deal with adapted books in a public library context.

Neurolinguistic Research on the Romance Languages

Neurolinguistics is devoted to the study of the language-brain relationship, using the methodologies of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience to investigate how linguistic categories are grounded in the brain. Although the brain infrastructure for language is invariable across cultures, neural networks might operate differently depending on language-specific features. In this respect, neurolinguistic research on the Romance languages, mostly French, Italian, and Spanish, proved key to progress the field, especially with specific reference to how the neural infrastructure for language works in the case of more richly inflected systems than English. Among the most popular domains of investigation are agreement patterns, where studies on Spanish and Italian showed that agreement across features and domains (e.g., number or gender agreement) engages partially different neural substrates. Also, studies measuring the electrophysiological response suggested that agreement processing is a composite mechanism involving different temporal steps. Another domain is the noun-verb distinction, where studies on the Romance languages indicated that the brain is more sensitive to the greater morphosyntactic engagement of verbs compared with nouns rather than to the grammatical class distinction per se. Concerning language disorders, the Romance languages shed new light on inflectional errors in aphasic speakers and contributed to revise the notion of agrammatism, which is not simply omission of morphemes but might involve incorrect substitution from the inflectional paradigm. Also, research in the Romance domain showed variation in degree and pattern of reading impairments due to language-specific segmental and suprasegmental features. Despite these important contributions, the Romance family, with its multitude of languages and dialects and a richly documented diachronic evolution, is a still underutilized ‘treasure house’ for neurolinguistic research, with significant room for investigations exploring the brain signatures of language variation in time and space and refining the linking between linguistic categories and neurobiological primitives.

Profiling the Word Reading Abilities of School-Age Children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Objective: Reading difficulties are one of the most significant challenges for children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The aims of this study were to identify and categorize the types of reading impairments experienced by children with NF1 and to establish predictors of poor reading in this population. Method: Children aged 7–12 years with NF1 (n = 60) were compared with typically developing children (n = 36). Poor word readers with NF1 were classified according to impairment type (i.e., phonological, surface, mixed), and their reading subskills were compared. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to identify predictors of word reading. Results: Compared to controls, children with NF1 demonstrated significantly poorer literacy abilities. Of the 49 children with NF1 classified as poor readers, 20 (41%) were classified with phonological dyslexia, 24 (49%) with mixed dyslexia, and 5 (10%) fell outside classification categories. Children with mixed dyslexia displayed the most severe reading impairments. Stronger working memory, better receptive language, and fewer inattentive behaviors predicted better word reading skills. Conclusions: The majority of children with NF1 experience deficits in key reading skills which are essential for them to become successful readers. Weaknesses in working memory, receptive language, and attention are associated with reading difficulties in children with NF1.

Hearing Screening Failure Among Students With Reading Impairment: Rate and Relation to Specific Reading Deficits

Background The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore one potential underlying factor that may contribute to poor reading outcomes: minimal hearing loss. Additionally, we compared decoding and comprehension deficits in students who passed or failed the hearing screening. Method Forty-three school-age students completed a hearing screening and a literacy assessment. Results Fifty-four percent of children with reading impairments failed the hearing screening, compared to only 21% of children with typical reading. Additionally, students who failed the hearing screening were more likely to exhibit decoding deficits; comprehension skills between the hearing screening groups did not differ. Conclusions Thus, children with reading impairments are more likely to fail hearing screenings than children with typical reading, and the deficits of those who fail hearing screenings appear to center on decoding rather than comprehension skills. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12818252