Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, Miami University, Oxford, OH.
Quality Living, Inc., Omaha, NE.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2022 Nov 16;31(6):2569-2590. doi: 10.1044/2022_AJSLP-22-00121. Epub 2022 Sep 27.
Many people with aphasia (PWA) want to read books. Text-to-speech (TTS) technology sometimes provides comprehension and processing time benefits when PWA read short, multisentence passages. Currently, no research examines the effect of TTS support when PWA read books.
This study's primary purpose was to examine comprehension accuracy and total processing time of PWA and neurotypical healthy adults (NHAs) when reading book sections in read-only versus TTS-supported conditions. A secondary aim was to examine condition preference and perceived degree of understanding by people in both participant groups.
Ten PWA and 10 NHAs alternated between read-only and TTS-supported conditions to read a book. Participants answered comprehension questions and provided feedback about their reading experience, condition preference, and desire to use TTS technology for future book reading. Outcomes and Result: Overall, PWA exhibited less accurate comprehension and slower processing times compared to NHAs in both conditions. No significant comprehension accuracy difference occurred between conditions for either group. However, four PWA exhibited a 10% or greater increase in comprehension accuracy when receiving TTS support. A significant processing time difference occurred with PWA processing text faster with TTS support, whereas NHAs did not demonstrate processing time differences. Most PWA preferred the TTS condition and expressed a desire to use TTS technology in the future. Most NHAs expressed the opposite preference.
TTS support during book reading promotes faster processing without compromising comprehension for PWA. Clinicians should discuss with PWA the relative importance of comprehension accuracy, processing time, and comfort with technology when determining whether using TTS support during book reading is desirable.
许多失语症患者（PWA）希望阅读书籍。当 PWA 阅读简短的多句段落时，文本转语音（TTS）技术有时会提供理解和处理时间方面的好处。目前，尚无研究检查 PWA 阅读书籍时 TTS 支持的效果。
本研究的主要目的是检查 PWA 和神经典型健康成年人（NHA）在只读和 TTS 支持条件下阅读章节时的理解准确性和总处理时间。次要目的是检查这两个参与者群体的条件偏好和感知理解程度。
10 名 PWA 和 10 名 NHA 交替在只读和 TTS 支持条件下阅读一本书。参与者回答理解问题，并提供有关阅读体验、条件偏好和未来使用 TTS 技术阅读书籍的愿望的反馈。
总的来说，与 NHA 相比，PWA 在两种条件下的理解准确性都较低，处理时间也较慢。两组在任何一种条件下都没有出现显著的理解准确性差异。然而，有 4 名 PWA 在接受 TTS 支持时，理解准确性提高了 10%或更多。对于 PWA，处理时间存在显著差异，TTS 支持下的处理速度更快，而 NHA 则没有表现出处理时间的差异。大多数 PWA 更喜欢 TTS 条件，并表示将来希望使用 TTS 技术。大多数 NHA 则表达了相反的偏好。
在阅读书籍时使用 TTS 支持可以促进更快的处理速度，而不会影响 PWA 的理解。临床医生在确定在阅读书籍时是否使用 TTS 支持是否可取时，应与 PWA 讨论理解准确性、处理时间和对技术的舒适度的相对重要性。
