Ho Ming Chow

Associate Professor, Communication Sciences & Disorders | University of Delaware

Newark, DE, UNITED STATES

Ho Ming Chow studies developmental stuttering and other speech disorders.

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Biography

Dr. Chow received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Engineering at the University of Hong Kong. After working as an engineer for few years, he became interested in studying human cognition and went to Germany for his doctoral study. He obtained his PhD. in Cognitive Sciences with an emphasis on Cognitive Psychology at the University of Osnabrück. He completed his postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health. Before joining the University of Delaware in 2019, he was a research faculty at the University of Michigan and Nemours Children’s Hospital, Delaware.

Areas of Expertise (6)

Motor Speech Disorders

Neural Correlates of Speech and Language Processing

Neuroimaging Method Development

Imaging Genetics

Epilepsy

Stuttering

Media Appearances (5)

Season 5 - Episode 8: Research Update: Brain developmental trajectories associated with childhood stuttering persistence and recovery

The Stuttering Foundation online

2023-08-08

Dr. Ho Ming Chow, Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware and principal investigator for the Delaware Stuttering Project, joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss a recent article, 'Brain developmental trajectories associated with childhood stuttering persistence and recovery,' in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

New paper finds brain activity differences associated with stuttering

Speech Neurophysiology Lab online

2023-05-10

Working in collaboration with Dr. Ho Ming Chow at the University of Delaware, the paper reports new findings on brain activity differences between children who stutter and those who don’t.

Unraveling the mystery behind stuttering | UDaily

University of Delaware online

2022-07-27

UD researchers study the brains of children with persistent stuttering to determine what hinders recovery

Researchers Look for Biological Reasons Behind Stuttering

Voice of America online

2022-02-28

Researchers identified the first genes strongly linked to stuttering more than a decade ago. Imaging studies looked at brains of adults and older children. And in the last few years, University of Delaware researcher Ho Ming Chow started looking at 3- to 5-year-olds. That is around the age many kids begin stuttering, with about 80 percent outgrowing it.

The science of stuttering: Research explores biological underpinnings of mysterious condition

The Associated Press online

2022-02-26

University of Delaware speech disorder researcher Ho Ming Chow says, “We know stuttering has a really strong genetic component,” Though several genes may be involved and the exact genetic causes may vary by child, “they probably affect the brain in a similar way.”

Articles (5)

Evidence for planning and motor subtypes of stuttering based on resting state functional connectivity

Brain and Language

2024 We tested the hypothesis, generated from the Gradient Order Directions Into Velocities of Articulators (GODIVA) model, that adults who stutter (AWS) may comprise subtypes based on differing connectivity within the cortico-basal ganglia planning or motor loop. Resting state functional connectivity from 91 AWS and 79 controls was measured for all GODIVA model connections. Based on a principal components analysis, two connections accounted for most of the connectivity variability in AWS: left thalamus – left posterior inferior frontal sulcus (planning loop component) and left supplementary motor area – left ventral premotor cortex (motor loop component). A k-means clustering algorithm using the two connections revealed three clusters of AWS.

Brain developmental trajectories associated with childhood stuttering persistence and recovery

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

2023 Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 5–8 % of preschool-age children, continuing into adulthood in 1 % of the population. The neural mechanisms underlying persistence and recovery from stuttering remain unclear and little information exists on neurodevelopmental anomalies in children who stutter (CWS) during preschool age, when stuttering symptoms typically first emerge. Here we present findings from the largest longitudinal study of childhood stuttering to date, comparing children with persistent stuttering (pCWS) and those who later recovered from stuttering (rCWS) with age-matched fluent peers, to examine the developmental trajectories of both gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter volume (WMV) using voxel-based morphometry.

Brain activity during the preparation and production of spontaneous speech in children with persistent stuttering

NeuroImage: Clinical

2023 Speech production forms the basis for human verbal communication. Though fluent speech production is effortless and automatic for most people, it is disrupted in speakers who stutter, who experience difficulties especially during spontaneous speech and at utterance onsets. Brain areas comprising the basal ganglia thalamocortical (BGTC) motor loop have been a focus of interest in the context of stuttering, given this circuit’s critical role in initiating and sequencing connected speech. Despite the importance of better understanding the role of the BGTC motor loop in supporting overt, spontaneous speech production, capturing brain activity during speech has been challenging to date, due to fMRI artifacts associated with severe head motions during speech production.

Auditory rhythm discrimination in adults who stutter: An fMRI study

Brain and Language

2023 Rhythm perception deficits have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders affecting speech and language. Children who stutter have shown poorer rhythm discrimination and attenuated functional connectivity in rhythm-related brain areas, which may negatively impact timing control required for speech. It is unclear whether adults who stutter (AWS), who are likely to have acquired compensatory adaptations in response to rhythm processing/timing deficits, are similarly affected. We compared rhythm discrimination in AWS and controls (total n = 36) during fMRI in two matched conditions: simple rhythms that consistently reinforced a periodic beat, and complex rhythms that did not (requiring greater reliance on internal timing).

Neural activity during solo and choral reading: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of overt continuous speech production in adults who stutter

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

2022 Previous neuroimaging investigations of overt speech production in adults who stutter (AWS) found increased motor and decreased auditory activity compared to controls. Activity in the auditory cortex is heightened, however, under fluency-inducing conditions in which AWS temporarily become fluent while synchronizing their speech with an external rhythm, such as a metronome or another speaker. These findings suggest that stuttering is associated with disrupted auditory motor integration. Technical challenges in acquiring neuroimaging data during continuous overt speech production have limited experimental paradigms to short or covert speech tasks. Such paradigms are not ideal, as stuttering primarily occurs during longer speaking tasks.

Research Grants (3)

“Administrative supplements to fund team science development projects”

NIGMS

2023/02 – 2023/01

“Neural subtypes of developmental stuttering”

NIDCD

2022/04 – 2027/03

“Generating articulatory movement from speech using deep neural network”

NIGMS

2019/12 – 2020/12

Accomplishments (4)

Meritorious Poster Award, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (professional)

2017

NIDCD Early Career Research (ECR) Award R21 (Role: PI) (professional)

2016

NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence (professional)

2015