A new University of Central Florida study could help tens of thousands of Chinese-Americans who have difficulty speaking after they suffer from strokes or other illnesses.
Assistant Professor Anthony Kong of Communication Sciences & Disorders has been awarded a first-of-its-kind $727,000 National Institutes of Health grant to research aphasia among Chinese speakers.
Aphasia is a condition in which people have difficulty understanding and speaking, usually after a stroke or head trauma. The trauma damages the left side of the brain, which is largely responsible for language comprehension and production. A tumor, brain infection or dementia can also cause the condition.
About 1 million people in the United States have aphasia. Up to 38 percent of people who suffer a stroke develop it.
"Aphasia can have devastating effects on daily communication and conversational skills that can severely hamper qualify of life," Kong said. "The overarching goal of this study is to improve assessment methods and provide some treatment guidelines for Chinese speakers with aphasia worldwide."
Several studies have looked at how the brain processes the English language and how aphasia impacts language ability among English speakers. But no large-scale, comprehensive studies have been conducted among any Asian language speakers.
Contrary to popular belief, people do not acquire and process all languages the same. Existing research shows the brain's processing pattern for acquiring Chinese languages is quite different from Latin-based languages, which makes it essential to have the kind of information this study will produce available for assessment and treatment, Kong said.
There are very distinct ways that aphasia manifests itself among Cantonese speakers compared to English speakers, Kong said. He saw it first-hand while earning his doctorate and working in a Singapore hospital that saw hundreds of patients with aphasia who spoke English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay and Hindi, among other languages.