| This exploratory pilot study examined the reliability of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to evaluate cerebral hemodynamic responses of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), hemoglobin difference (HbDiff) and total hemoglobin (tHb) in the left inferior frontal region during silent and out loud reading in 15 typically fluent school-aged children (TFC). Hemodynamic responses of 4 children who stutter (CWS) were also compared to matched TFC.;In TFC, fNIRS was found to reliably measure changes in all cerebral hemodynamic variables during out loud reading, but only HbO2 and tHb during silent reading. Comparisons between CWS and matched TFC revealed no clear differences, except for group differences in the out loud condition, in which CWS exhibited consistent neuronal deactivation more frequently than matched TFC. The findings of this study provide support for the feasibility and reliability of using fNIRS to measure neural function in TFC during out loud reading. |
