AI-Assisted Treatment for Residual Speech Sound Disorders
Trial ID: NCT05988515
Status: RECRUITING
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phase: NA
Start date: 2024-09-05
Completion date: 2027-12-31
Sponsor: Syracuse University
Collaborators: National Institutes of Health (NIH); State University of New York - Upstate Medical University; National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Conditions: Speech Sound Disorder
Interventions: Speech-Language Pathologist-led Speech Motor Chaining; Artificial Intelligence-led Speech Motor Chaining (CHAINING-AI)
Locations: Syracuse University
Countries: United States
Enrollment: 26
Age range: 9 Years - 17 Years
Sex: ALL

Summary:
The goal of this randomized-controlled trial is to determine how artificial intelligence-assisted home practice may enhance speech learning of the "r" sound in school-age children with residual speech sound disorders. All child participants will receive 1 speech lesson per week, via telepractice, for 5 weeks with a human speech-language clinician. Some participants will receive 3 speech sessions per week with an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-clinician during the same 5 weeks as the human clinician sessions (CONCURRENT treatment order group), whereas others will receive 3 speech sessions per week with an AI-clinician after the human clinician sessions end (SEQUENTIAL treatment order group.

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Must speak a rhotic dialect of American English as a dominant language.
* Must have begun learning English by at least the age of 3 years.
* Must be between 9;0 to 17;11 years of age.
* Must have reported difficulty with /ɹ/ production.
* Must have reported hearing within normal limits.
* Must receive a Scaled Score of 5 or above on both the Listening Comprehension and Story Retelling subtests from the Test of Integrated Language \& Literacy Skills (TILLS).
* Must receive a percentile score of 8 or below on the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation-3 (GFTA-3) Sounds in Words subtest.
* Must have 1 scorable response with 5+ consecutive correct /pataka/ with \> 3.4 syllables per second in the MRR-Tri task of the Maximum Performance Tasks OR must demonstrate no childhood apraxia of speech (CAS-only) features in BOTH articulatory and rate/prosody domains of the ProCAD.
* Must score \<40% accurate based on word-level items from our /ɹ/ probe list.
* Must score \>=15% accuracy on /ɹ/ on 45 syllables following Dynamic Assessment.
* Must express interest in changing their /ɹ/ production.
* Must have oral structure and function that are appropriate for /ɹ/ production.
* Must have access to broadband internet with videoconferencing capabilities

Exclusion Criteria:

* Must have no known history of autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, permanent hearing loss, epilepsy/antiepileptic medication, or brain injury/neurosurgery/stroke.
* Must not have diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's, or Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
* Must have no orthodontic appliances that block the roof of the mouth (e.g., palate expanders).
* Must not have current cleft palate, fluency disorder, or voice disorder.
* Must not demonstrate childhood apraxia of speech (CAS-only) features in BOTH articulatory and rate/prosody domains of the ProCAD.

Outcomes:
Change in percent correct for the /ɹ/ sound in untreated words, rated by blinded listeners.