Objective: With the increase in the use of technology in schools, children are frequently exposed to synthesized speech, some in the form of text-to-speech programs. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the auditory comprehension of sentences using digitized natural speech compared to synthesized speech in text-to-speech programs in children with mild to moderate developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: The auditory comprehension skills of four participants, ages 8 years, 0 months to 8 years, and 9 months, with mild to moderate DLD, were assessed using digitized natural speech and synthesized speech within a text-to-speech computer program. The sessions were randomly alternated between the interventions, with six sessions per intervention using an adapted alternating treatment research design. Results: The results of this investigation showed that neither intervention was superior across all participants. The participants did not show clinically significant differences in comprehension of the sentences between the interventions. Conclusion: The findings suggest that synthesized speech is a viable option to support the auditory comprehension needs of children with mild to moderate DLD. However, due to the limitations of this investigation, further studies are needed to compare the effectiveness of synthesized speech to digitized natural speech in similar contexts.
