Language: From Hearing to Speech and Writing

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Language is a multifaceted process involving intricate interactions between cognitive, sensory, and motor systems that must be implemented successfully. Hearing may allow us to speak, and reading may allow us to write, but how do these systems interact? What are their limits before impairment? Although significant progress has been made in recent years toward understanding these interactions, the combined contributions of these systems in language acquisition and processing—both in typical and atypical scenarios—are rarely considered together. This topic seeks to bring together recent findings in this expansive research field, offering new insights into the aetiology of various spoken and reading/writing disorders, such as developmental language disorder, dyslexia, and aphasia, as well as other conditions where language processing is disrupted across diverse age groups, including children, adults, and the elderly. Contributions from diverse fields (e.g., (e.g., Audiology, Speech–Hearing Sciences, Psychology, and Neuroscience) using a combination of different methodologies, including behavioural and neuroimaging techniques, are especially encouraged.

Dr. Ana Paula Soares
Dr. David Tomé
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Brain Sciences brainsci	2.8	5.6	2011	16.2 Days	CHF 2200	Submit
Neurology International neurolint	3.0	4.8	2009	21.4 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
NeuroSci neurosci	2.0	-	2020	27.1 Days	CHF 1200	Submit

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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19 pages, 1247 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Relations Between Early Rise Time Discrimination Abilities and Pre-School Pre-Reading Assessments: The Seeds of Literacy Are Sown in Infancy

by Marina Kalashnikova, Denis Burnham and Usha Goswami

Brain Sci. 2025, 15(9), 1012; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15091012 - 19 Sep 2025

Viewed by 387

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The Seeds of Literacy project has followed infants at family risk for dyslexia (FR group) and infants not at family risk (NFR group) since the age of 5 months, exploring whether infant measures of auditory sensitivity and phonological skills are related to [...] Read more.

Background/Objectives: The Seeds of Literacy project has followed infants at family risk for dyslexia (FR group) and infants not at family risk (NFR group) since the age of 5 months, exploring whether infant measures of auditory sensitivity and phonological skills are related to later reading achievement. Here, we retrospectively assessed relations between infant performance on a rise time discrimination task with new pre-reading behavioural measures administered at 60 months. In addition, we re-classified dyslexia risk at 60 months and again assessed relations to rise time sensitivity. Participants were re-grouped using the pre-reading behavioural measures as either dyslexia risk at 60 months (60mDR) or no dyslexia risk (60mNDR). Methods: FR and NFR children (44 English-learning children) completed assessments of rise time discrimination at 10 and/or 60 months, phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid automatised naming (RAN), letter knowledge, and language skills (receptive vocabulary and grammatical awareness). Results: Longitudinal analyses showed significant time-lagged correlations between rise time sensitivity at 10 months and both RAN and letter knowledge at 60 months. Rise time sensitivity at 60 months was significantly poorer in those children re-grouped as 60mDR, and rise time sensitivity was significantly related to concurrent phonological awareness, RAN, letter knowledge, and receptive vocabulary, but not to tests of grammatical awareness. Conclusions: The data support the view that children’s rise time sensitivity is significantly related to their pre-reading phonological abilities. These findings are discussed in terms of Temporal Sampling theory. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Language: From Hearing to Speech and Writing)

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16 pages, 317 KB  

Open AccessPerspective

Listening to the Mind: Integrating Vocal Biomarkers into Digital Health

by Irene Rodrigo and Jon Andoni Duñabeitia

Brain Sci. 2025, 15(7), 762; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15070762 - 18 Jul 2025

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Abstract

The human voice is an invaluable tool for communication, carrying information about a speaker’s emotional state and cognitive health. Recent research highlights the potential of acoustic biomarkers to detect early signs of mental health and neurodegenerative conditions. Despite their promise, vocal biomarkers remain [...] Read more.

The human voice is an invaluable tool for communication, carrying information about a speaker’s emotional state and cognitive health. Recent research highlights the potential of acoustic biomarkers to detect early signs of mental health and neurodegenerative conditions. Despite their promise, vocal biomarkers remain underutilized in clinical settings, with limited standardized protocols for assessment. This Perspective article argues for the integration of acoustic biomarkers into digital health solutions to improve the detection and monitoring of cognitive impairment and emotional disturbances. Advances in speech analysis and machine learning have demonstrated the feasibility of using voice features such as pitch, jitter, shimmer, and speech rate to assess these conditions. Moreover, we propose that singing, particularly simple melodic structures, could be an effective and accessible means of gathering vocal biomarkers, offering additional insights into cognitive and emotional states. Given its potential to engage multiple neural networks, singing could function as an assessment tool and an intervention strategy for individuals with cognitive decline. We highlight the necessity of further research to establish robust, reproducible methodologies for analyzing vocal biomarkers and standardizing voice-based diagnostic approaches. By integrating vocal analysis into routine health assessments, clinicians and researchers could significantly advance early detection and personalized interventions for cognitive and emotional disorders. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Language: From Hearing to Speech and Writing)

17 pages, 244 KB  

Open AccessHypothesis

Proprioceptive Resonance and Multimodal Semiotics: Readiness to Act, Embodied Cognition, and the Dynamics of Meaning

by Marco Sanna

NeuroSci 2025, 6(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/neurosci6020042 - 12 May 2025

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Abstract

This paper proposes a theoretical model of meaning-making grounded in proprioceptive awareness and embodied imagination, arguing that human cognition is inherently multimodal, anticipatory, and sensorimotor. Drawing on Peircean semiotics, Lotman’s model of cultural cognition, and current research in neuroscience, we show that readiness [...] Read more.

This paper proposes a theoretical model of meaning-making grounded in proprioceptive awareness and embodied imagination, arguing that human cognition is inherently multimodal, anticipatory, and sensorimotor. Drawing on Peircean semiotics, Lotman’s model of cultural cognition, and current research in neuroscience, we show that readiness to act—a proprioceptively grounded anticipation of movement—plays a fundamental role in the emergence of meaning, from perception to symbolic abstraction. Contrary to traditional approaches that reduce language to a purely symbolic or visual system, we argue that meaning arises through the integration of sensory, motor, and affective processes, structured by axial proprioceptive coordinates (vertical, horizontal, sagittal). Using Peirce’s triadic model of interpretants, we identify proprioception as the modulatory interface between sensory stimuli, emotional response, and logical reasoning. A study on skilled pianists supports this view, showing that mental rehearsal without physical execution improves performance via motor anticipation. We define this process as proprioceptive resonance, a dynamic synchronization of embodied states that enables communication, language acquisition, and social intelligence. This framework allows for a critique of linguistic abstraction and contributes to ongoing debates in semiotics, enactive cognition, and the origin of syntax, challenging the assumption that symbolic thought precedes embodied experience. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Language: From Hearing to Speech and Writing)

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