Randomized Trial of AI-Enhanced Maintenance Training With Visual-Acoustic Biofeedback
New York University
Summary
Speech Sound Disorder (SSD) affects a significant portion of school-aged children, leading to social and emotional challenges that can persist into adolescence and adulthood. The number of productions necessary for a remediated speech sound to generalize to connected speech is challenging to achieve in practice, leading clinicians to call for accessible, reliable resources allowing children to continue therapy outside of direct clinical interactions. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools hold promise as a means to extend direct service delivery in speech-language pathology, but research investigating the topic has been limited. This study (Generalization with AI Navigation using staRt, or GAINS) will measure the effects of a course of AI-mediated home practice intended to promote generalization of gains made through biofeedback treatment in a related study, Visual-acoustic Intervention with Service Delivery In-person and Via Telepractice Trial (VISIT; NCT06517225).
Description
This study will measure the effects of AI-guided home practice as a follow-up to participation in a study of technology-enhanced treatment for speech sound disorder affecting the American English "r" sound. Participants will sign a single consent form that covers their participation in the original VISIT study (in which they are randomized to receive biofeedback treatment in person or via telepractice) and and the follow-up GAINS study (in which participants are randomized to a follow-up period of treatment as usual \[TAU\] or treatment as usual plus an AI-guided maintenance program with biofe…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 9–17 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * • Must be between 9;0 and 17;11 (years;months) old at the time of enrollment. * Must speak English as the dominant or equally dominant language * Must have begun learning English by age 3, per parent report. * Must hear a rhotic dialect of English from at least one speaker in the home if the home language is English. * Must pass a pure-tone hearing screening. * Must pass a brief examination of oral structure and function. * Must demonstrate age-appropriate receptive and expressive language abilities on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-5 (CELF…
Interventions
- BehavioralAI-guided maintenance training with visual-acoustic biofeedback
Participants will complete AI-guided practice in the home setting in which they will interact with a web interface of the staRt web-based software for speech practice. The staRt software will present words to practice and show a real-time visual display of the acoustic signal of speech (biofeedback). On select trials, feedback will be provided by a classifier for children's "r" sounds, PERCEPT. Research assistants will join sessions to facilitate but will not provide direct clinical guidance to participants.
- BehavioralTreatment as Usual (TAU)
Participants will return to their regular community-based care. This may consist of treatment in the school setting or by a private SLP; participants who were not previously receiving treatment may return to a no-treatment condition. Data will be collected from parents/guardians to determine the frequency of treatment, if any, received during this phase.
Locations (2)
- Montclair State UniversityBloomfield, New Jersey
- Syracuse UniversitySyracuse, New York