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Purpose: Dichotic speech tests are commonly used in audiological assessments of children with suspected listening difficulties, which may have a range of origins. In Sweden, today, one in four primary schoolchildren has a foreign background, which means that a large proportion of children will be assessed through the medium of a language that they speak at school, but it is not the language they regularly speak at home. This study examines dichotic listening ability among children attending primary schools in two cities in southern Sweden with a high proportion of recent immigrants. Method: In this study, 82 Swedish second and third graders aged 7-9 years with varying Swedish language exposure performed a dichotic listening task, under free recall and directed conditions. They also performed backward digit span as a measure of working memory and crosslinguistic nonword repetition, which is central for language learning. Results: We found no effect of Swedish language exposure on dichotic listening performance. Right ear was not significantly better than the left ear in either free or directed recall indicating no right ear advantage. Dichotic listening performance was significantly better in free recall compared with directed recall. Dichotic listening was related to working memory capacity. After controlling for working memory capacity, nonword repetition showed a significant positive association with dichotic listening under free recall but not directed recall. Conclusions: Test language exposure and knowledge do not seem to influence primary school children's performance on a dichotic digit task. Performance was related to working memory capacity and the complex skill of perceiving, coding, and producing novel words in a nonword repetition task. In clinical practice, both tests of working memory capacity and crosslinguistic nonword repetition may inform the interpretation of dichotic listening results in children with diverse language backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is often successful in alleviating motor symptoms of essential tremor (ET); however, DBS may also induce adverse speech effects. The caudal zona incerta (cZi) is a promising DBS target for tremor, but less is known about the consequences of cZi DBS for speech. This preliminary study examined how habitual cZi DBS and cZi stimulation at high amplitudes may affect speech function in persons with ET. Method: Fourteen participants with ET were evaluated: off stimulation, on habitual cZi DBS, and with unilateral cZi stimulation at increasing stimulation amplitudes. At each stimulation condition, the participants read three 16-word sentences. Two speech-language pathologists made audioperceptual consensus ratings of overall speech function, articulation, and voice using a visual sort and rate method. Rated functions when off stimulation, on habitual cZi DBS, and at maximal-amplitude stimulation were compared using Friedman nonparametric tests. For participants with bilateral habitual DBS (n = 5), the effects of bilateral and unilateral stimulation were described in qualitative terms. Results: Habitual cZi DBS had no significant group-level effect on any of the investigated speech parameters. Maximal-amplitude stimulation had a small but significant negative effect on articulation. Participants with reduced articulatory precision (n = 9) had more medially placed electrodes than the nonaffected group (n = 5). Bilateral and unilateral left stimulation had comparable effects on speech. Conclusions: Findings from this preliminary study of cZi DBS indicate that speech is generally not affected by stimulation at habitual levels. High-amplitude cZi stimulation may, however, induce adverse effects, particularly on articulation. Instances of decreased articulatory function were associated with stimulation of more medial electrode contacts, which could suggest cerebello-rubrospinal involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]