Low-level deficits in beat perception: Neither necessary nor sufficient for explaining developmental dyslexia in a consistent orthography

Abstract

This article reports two different studies examining the theoretical account of low-level deficits in beat perception as an alternative explanation of developmental dyslexia in Greek, an orthographically consistent language. Study I examined the relationship of amplitude rise time and frequency discrimination with measures of phonological processing, working memory, and reading fluency in a large unselected sample of Grade 4 children. Study II examined the presence of beat perception deficits in groups of Grade 2, 4, and 6 children with dyslexia and their chronological age controls. The results provided no evidence to support meaningful associations between beat perception tasks and reading or the theoretical account of beat perception deficits as a sufficient explanation or contributing factor to dyslexia. Implications on the importance of auditory processing in reading in orthographically consistent languages are discussed.