Music and Language: Rhythmic Abilities in Children Diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between music and language in cognition, exploring whether musical abilities may indicate risk for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Like language, music exhibits a complex hierarchical structure (Slevc et al., 2008), which challenges the view that these systems are entirely independent. Recent evidence suggests that language and music may share neural resources, indicating a more integrated organization (Li et al., 2023; Cecchetti, Herff, & Rohrmeier, 2022; Fiveash et al., 2021; Ladányi et al., 2020). The PRISM hypothesis proposes that rhythmic processing in speech and music relies on three main mechanisms: precise auditory processing, synchronization of neural oscillations with rhythmic stimuli, and sensorimotor coupling. Studies show that children with DLD experience difficulties with both speech rhythm and musical rhythm, demonstrating poorer performance in rhythmic tasks. This study also considers the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis (ARRH), according to which alterations in rhythmic processing may represent a risk factor for developmental language disorders.

The study included ten children with DLD and ten children with typical development, previously assessed using Module 1 of MABILIN. Two tasks were administered: a rhythmic discrimination task and a rhythmic synchronization task (Tapping Task). In the first task, participants were asked to identify changes in rhythmic sequences; in the second, they synchronized their taps with the sound of a metronome, with a tolerance window of 50 ms.

The results indicated that children with DLD performed worse in both tasks. In the rhythmic discrimination task, they showed fewer correct responses in detecting changes. In the synchronization task, they had difficulty maintaining the beat, frequently missing pulses or producing extra taps, as well as showing greater rhythmic instability. These findings suggest that children with DLD experience difficulties in both the perception and production of rhythm, which may be related to deficits in cognitive timing and may potentially serve as an early indicator of language impairment.