Inflexible center-frequency shifts in neural speech tracking are linked to reading and phonological deficits in developmental dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is marked by persistent deficits in reading and phonological awareness, potentially linked to atypical neural tracking of acoustic speech rhythms at frequencies below 10 Hz. Using magnetoencephalography, we compared adults with developmental dyslexia and matched controls while they listened to speech with varying levels of intelligibility (manipulated via noise vocoding). In controls, decreasing intelligibility led to systematic increases in the tracked frequency of the speech stream, replicating previous findings. This increase in tracking frequency was largely absent in individuals with developmental dyslexia. Unexpectedly, the magnitude of periodic speech tracking in the low frequency range was preserved in DD. Instead, the increase in central tracking frequency was linked to phonological awareness and reading performance.