Musical rhythm abilities and risk for developmental speech-language problems and disorders: epidemiological and polygenic associations.

ABSTRACT: Impaired musical rhythm abilities and developmental speech-language related disorders are biologically and clinically intertwined. Prior work examining their relationship has primarily used small samples; here, we studied associations at population-scale by conducting the largest systematic epidemiological investigation to date (total N = 39,358). Based on existing theoretical frameworks, we predicted that rhythm impairment would be a significant risk factor for speech-language disorders in the general adult population. Findings were consistent across multiple independent datasets and rhythm subskills (including beat synchronization and rhythm discrimination), and aggregate meta-analyzed data showed that non-linguistic rhythm impairment is a modest but consistent risk factor for developmen

SUBMITTER: Nayak S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12460677 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature