1. Literature Review
Methods
Selected References
Results
Discussion
Aphasia is a neurological disorder characterized by a difficulty in
understanding expressive or receptive language, reading and writing,
most commonly as a result of a stroke. Difficulties with reading
comprehension often accompany language deficits as people with
aphasia cope with their loss into the chronic stages of the illness.
Numerous reading interventions have been targeted in the past,
including both restorative and supportive reading approaches to help
ameliorate these challenges (Beeson, 2010; Parr, 2007). Certain
approaches to aphasia intervention focus on the efficacy of group
therapy (Elman). Aphasia book clubs are a type of reading intervention
that utilizes the positive social aspects of group therapy to support
reading efforts (Worrall, 2011). With the advent of computer technology,
reading interventions that utilize reading software provide an avenue for
extending reading practice (Katz, 1991). However, the efficacy of
supportive reading approaches that utilize text-to-speech technology
(TTS) for people with aphasia or typical individuals is not well
documented. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gather pilot data
on the efficacy of TTS technology on reading comprehension for typical
individuals as a precursor to exploring TTS for people with aphasia..
Participants
•Participants will include 4-10 typical individuals ranging in age from 18-80
years old.
Variables
•The four different independent variables in this study are a.)reading the
passage with the use of text-to speech, b.) reading the passage without
text-to-speech technology, c.) varying the rate of speech or text-to-speech
with reduced rate (e.g., words per minute), d.) the use of text-to-speech
with highlighting functions to emphasize the word that is being read by the
text-to-speech voice.
Materials
•The researcher will use four narrative passages written at a sixth grade
reading level. The passages are balanced for grade level, number of
words, length of words, and number of sentences.
Experimental Session
•The participants will complete one experimental session in which they will
read the four passages under the four aforementioned conditions.
Experimental Design and analysis
•A randomized block procedure will counterbalance the reading passages
and text-to-speech conditions across the participants.
Aphasia Book Club - Aphasia Center of California - Aphasia Center of California . (n.d.). Aphasia Center of
California - . Retrieved February 27, 2013, from http://aphasiacenter.net/programs/aphasia-book-
club/
Beeson, P., Rising, K., Kim, E., & Rapcsak, S. (2010). A Treatment Sequence for Phonological
Alexia/Agraphia . Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 450-468. Retrieved
September 1, 2012, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a1d99e27-
971c-4598-bbd8-5c79af3d07f3%40sessionmgr10&vid=4&hid=21
Katz, R., & Wertz, R. (1997). The Efficacy of Computer-Provided Reading Treatment for Chronic Aphasic
Adults . Journal of Seech, Language, and Hearing Research,40, 493-507.
Parr, Susie(2007) 'Living with severe aphasia: Tracking social exclusion', Aphasiology, 21: 1, 98 — 123
Worrall, Linda , Sherratt, Sue , Rogers, Penny , Howe, Tami , Hersh, Deborah , Ferguson, Alison and
Davidson, Bronwyn(2011) 'What people with aphasia want: Their goals according to the ICF',
Aphasiology, 25: 3, 309 — 322, First published on: 29 November 2010 (iFirst)
The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of text-to-
speech technology on reading comprehension. According to the data,
the two conditions with the highest average performance were text-
to-speech and text-to-speech with highlighting. The no text-to-speech
condition showed slightly lower performance than the aforementioned
conditions. Text-to-speech with reduced rate appeared to be the least
effective condition for typical individuals, perhaps due to loss of
attention or interest. However, the slower speech rate could prove to
be more beneficial for people with aphasia because of their language
deficits.
Future research could explore how the element of time impacts
comprehension with TTS technology for people with aphasia.
Investigating auditory comprehension alone without visual text as an
additional condition may also yield valuable information. Additionally,
expanding the use of TTS technology to different types of texts, such
as expository, could be a path of future research.
Data depicting individual scores and the mean and range for each condition
can be found in Table B.
Text-to-Speech Technology and Reading Comprehension
Table A: Narrative Passage Randomization Table
Participant No TTS TTS TTS-H TTS-RS
TTS 01 P1 P2 P3 P4
TTS 02 P4 P1 P2 P3
TTS 03 P3 P4 P1 P2
TTS 04 P2 P3 P4 P1
TTS 05 P1 P2 P3 P4
TTS 06 P4 P1 P2 P3
TTS 07 P3 P4 P1 P2
TTS 08 P2 P3 P4 P1
TTS 09 P1 P2 P3 P4
TTS 10 P4 P1 P2 P3
*TTS = Text to Speech
*TTSH = Text to Speech with Highlighting
*TTS-RS = Text to Speech Rate of Speech
Cassandra Klafter, Jennifer Keelor, Aimee Dietz, Ph.D.
Mean 15 15.25 15 15.25
Range 2 2 0 2
*TTS = Text to Speech
*TTSH = Text to Speech with Highlighting
*TTS-RS = Text to Speech Rate of Speech
Table B: Reading and Supportive Technology
Condition Participant 1 Participant 2 Participant 3 Participant 4
No TTS 14 16 15 15
TTS 15 16 15 16
TTS-H 16 15 15 16
TTS-RS 15 14 15 14
Table C: Overall Mean of Passage Scores