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

Srishti Nayak (), Enikő Ladányi, Else Eising, Yasmina Mekki, Rachana Nitin, Catherine T. Bush, Daniel E. Gustavson, Manuel Anglada-Tort, Hope S. Lancaster, Miriam A. Mosing, Fredrik Ullén, Cyrille L. Magne, Simon E. Fisher, Nori Jacoby and Reyna L. Gordon ()
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Srishti Nayak: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Enikő Ladányi: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Else Eising: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Yasmina Mekki: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Rachana Nitin: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Catherine T. Bush: Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Daniel E. Gustavson: Boulder
Manuel Anglada-Tort: University of London
Hope S. Lancaster: Boys Town National Research Hospital
Miriam A. Mosing: Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
Fredrik Ullén: Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
Cyrille L. Magne: Middle Tennessee State University
Simon E. Fisher: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Nori Jacoby: Cornell University
Reyna L. Gordon: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: 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 developmental speech, language, and reading disorders (OR = 1.33 [1.18 – 1.49]; p

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60867-2

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