Byun Tara McAllister, Campbell Heather, Carey Helen, Liang Wendy, Park Tae Hong, Svirsky Mario
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University.
Tandon School of Engineering, New York University.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2017 Jun 22;60(6S):1810-1817. doi: 10.1044/2017_JSLHR-S-16-0248.
Recent research suggests that visual-acoustic biofeedback can be an effective treatment for residual speech errors, but adoption remains limited due to barriers including high cost and lack of familiarity with the technology. This case study reports results from the first participant to complete a course of visual-acoustic biofeedback using a not-for-profit iOS app, Speech Therapist's App for /r/ Treatment.
App-based biofeedback treatment for rhotic misarticulation was provided in weekly 30-min sessions for 20 weeks. Within-treatment progress was documented using clinician perceptual ratings and acoustic measures. Generalization gains were assessed using acoustic measures of word probes elicited during baseline, treatment, and maintenance sessions.
Both clinician ratings and acoustic measures indicated that the participant significantly improved her rhotic production accuracy in trials elicited during treatment sessions. However, these gains did not transfer to generalization probes.
This study provides a proof-of-concept demonstration that app-based biofeedback is a viable alternative to costlier dedicated systems. Generalization of gains to contexts without biofeedback remains a challenge that requires further study. App-delivered biofeedback could enable clinician-research partnerships that would strengthen the evidence base while providing enhanced treatment for children with residual rhotic errors.
近期研究表明，视听觉生物反馈可能是治疗残留语音错误的有效方法，但由于成本高昂和对该技术缺乏了解等障碍，其应用仍然有限。本案例研究报告了首位使用非营利性iOS应用程序“言语治疗师/r/治疗应用程序”完成视听觉生物反馈疗程的参与者的结果。
针对卷舌音发音错误的基于应用程序的生物反馈治疗，每周进行30分钟，共进行20周。治疗过程中的进展通过临床医生的感知评分和声学测量进行记录。泛化收益通过在基线、治疗和维持阶段引出的单词探针的声学测量进行评估。
临床医生评分和声学测量均表明，参与者在治疗阶段引出的试验中显著提高了卷舌音发音的准确性。然而，这些收益并未转移到泛化探针上。
本研究提供了一个概念验证示范，即基于应用程序的生物反馈是昂贵的专用系统的可行替代方案。将收益推广到无生物反馈的情境仍然是一个需要进一步研究的挑战。应用程序提供的生物反馈可以促成临床医生与研究人员的合作关系，这将加强证据基础，同时为有残留卷舌音错误的儿童提供强化治疗。
