Description

In this project, the investigators propose to evaluate the effectiveness of a new rehabilitation program, based on illustration of speech articulators, to improve speech in patients with non-fluent aphasia. The instigators' method is based on the reinforcement of the interaction between perceptual and motor representations, thanks to the innovative Ultraspeech device. The investigators will exploit a fundamental psycholinguistic principle, which postulates that speech is based both on the activation of the system controlling the motricity of effectors related to word articulation (action) and on the auditory or visual representation of words (perception). The sensory-motor interaction method that the investigators propose allows the patient to perceive phonemes and visualize on a computer screen the movements of the tongue and lips previously recorded by a healthy speaker, typically a speech therapist. Through repeated exercises, the patient is trained to produce sounds correctly, using the correct pronunciation and articulatory movements of the reference speaker as a model. The investigators will compare patients who will follow a classical speech and language therapy rehabilitation program followed by an 'enriched' rehabilitation program including rehabilitation based on sensory-motor interaction associated with speech and language therapy, and vice versa. In order to judge the favorable effect of the rehabilitation program including sensory-motor integration, the following measures will be considered: (a) language skills, (b) phonemic quality, (c) inner speech abilities and (d) cognitive function. Brain language networks will be evaluated with neuroimaging.