Evaluation of Speech Rhythm Training in Dyslexic Readers Aged 7 to 9 Years

Studies of dyslexia have shown altered oscillatory activity in the low gamma band (\~25-35 Hz) in the left auditory cortex. Neural oscillations around 30 Hz constitute the basic sampling rate of speech, from which the ability to form specific phonemic categories on which reading learning is based is derived. An alteration of the oscillatory activity at 30 Hz could therefore influence the ability of children to learn to read, and explain the reading deficit observed in children with a specific written language disorder. The objective of our study is to determine whether intensive rhythmic auditory stimulation applied during 30 sessions of 15 minutes spread over 6 weeks (5 sessions per week) can correct neural oscillations in the gamma-low band, allowing an improvement of phonemic categorization abilities, and thus the reading abilities of dyslexic readers aged 7 to 9 years. The long-term objective of this study is to test the therapeutic potential of auditory stimulation with speech rhythms for the treatment of reading disorders.