Showing papers on "Dysarthria published in 2010"
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TL;DR: Functional topography is considered to be a consequence of the differential arrangement of connections of the cerebellum with the spinal cord, brainstem, and cerebral hemispheres, reflecting cerebellar incorporation into the distributed neural circuits subserving movement, cognition, and emotion.
1,119 citations
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TL;DR: Examples of research using the extensions to the SDCS described in the present report include diagnostic findings for a sample of youth with motor speech disorders associated with galactosemia, and a test of the hypothesis of apraxia of speech in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Abstract: This report describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS) Part I describes a classification extension to the SDCS to differentiate motor speech disorders from speech delay and to differentiate among three sub-types of motor speech disorders Part II describes the Madison Speech Assessment Protocol (MSAP), an ∼ 2-hour battery of 25 measures that includes 15 speech tests and tasks Part III describes the Competence, Precision, and Stability Analytics (CPSA) framework, a current set of ∼ 90 perceptual- and acoustic-based indices of speech, prosody, and voice used to quantify and classify sub-types of Speech Sound Disorders (SSD) A companion paper provides reliability estimates for the perceptual and acoustic data reduction methods used in the SDCS The agreement estimates in the companion paper support the reliability of SDCS methods and illustrate the complementary roles of perceptual and acoustic methods in diagnostic analyses of SSD of unknown origin Examples of research using the extensions to the SDCS described in the present report include diagnostic findings for a sample of youth with motor speech disorders associated with galactosemia, and a test of the hypothesis of apraxia of speech in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders All SDCS methods and reference databases running in the PEPPER (Programs to Examine Phonetic and Phonologic Evaluation Records) environment will be disseminated without cost when complete
190 citations
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TL;DR: The results of this study provide preliminary support for the classification of speech and language abilities of children with CP into 4 initial profile groups, although further research is necessary to validate the full classification system.
Abstract: Purpose In this study, the authors proposed and tested a preliminary speech and language classification system for children with cerebral palsy. Method Speech and language assessment data were coll...
128 citations
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TL;DR: The main factors limiting automatic speech recognition performance with dysarthric speakers are highlighted and extended to the elderly using a specific example of a novel, automated, speech-based personal emergency response system for older adults.
Abstract: Despite their growing presence in home computer applications and various telephony services, commercial automatic speech recognition technologies are still not easily employed by everyone; especially individuals with speech disorders. In addition, relatively little research has been conducted on automatic speech recognition performance with older adults, in whom speech disorders are commonly present. As one ages, the older adult voice naturally begins to resemble some aspects of mildly dysarthric speech. Dysarthria, a common neuromotor speech disorder, is particularly useful for exploring performance limitations of automatic speech recognizers owing to its wide range of speech expression. This article reviews clinical research literature examining the use of commercial speech-to-text automatic speech recognition technology by individuals with dysarthria. The main factors limiting automatic speech recognition performance with dysarthric speakers are highlighted and extended to the elderly using a ...
123 citations
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TL;DR: Results indicated significant beneficial effect of short-term levodopa administration or long-term dopaminergic medication on different dimensions of speech in PD patients, as some improvement of vowel articulation was seen in individual patients.
Abstract: While the beneficial effect of levodopa on motor impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) has been well documented, its effect on speech has rarely been examined and the respective literature is inconclusive. The aim of our study was to analyze the effect of short-term levodopa admission and long-term dopaminergic treatment on speech in PD patients in early stages of the disease. Motor examination according to UPDRS III and speech testing were performed in 23 PD patients (9 males; median age 68, 42-78 years) in the early morning after having abstained from dopaminergic medication overnight ("off" state, t0) after administration of 200 mg of soluble levodopa (t1), and at follow-up after 12-14 weeks under stable dopaminergic medication (t2). Speech examination comprised the perceptual rating of global speech performance and an acoustical analysis based upon a standardized reading task. While UPDRS III showed a significant amelioration after L: -dopa application, none of the parameters of phonation, intonation, articulation and speech velocity improved significantly in the "on" state, neither under short-term levodopa administration (t1) nor on stable dopaminergic treatment (t2). However, there was a positive effect of dopaminergic stimulation on vowel articulation in individual patients. Results indicated significant beneficial effect of short-term levodopa administration or long-term dopaminergic medication on different dimensions of speech in PD patients. As some improvement of vowel articulation was seen in individual patients, the pre-existing pattern of speech impairment might be responsible for the different response to pharmacological treatment.
116 citations
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TL;DR: Investigation of the anatomical aspects of the electric field in relation to effects on speech and movement during DBS in the subthalamic nucleus concluded that special attention to stimulation-induced speech impairments should be taken in cases when active electrodes are positioned medial and/or posterior to the center of the subhalamic nucleus.
Abstract: Background/Aims: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is widely used to treat motor symptoms in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the anat
99 citations
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TL;DR: To investigate whether speech therapy using a speech systems approach to controlling breath support, phonation, and speech rate can increase the speech intelligibility of children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy.
Abstract: AIM To investigate whether speech therapy using a speech systems approach to controlling breath support, phonation, and speech rate can increase the speech intelligibility of children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD Sixteen children with dysarthria and CP participated in a modified time series design. Group characteristics were as follows: seven males, nine females; age range 12 to 18 years (mean 14y, SD 2); CP type: nine spastic, two dyskinetic, four mixed, one Worster-Drought; Gross Motor Function Classification System levels range I to V (median IV). Children received three 30- to 45-minute sessions of individual therapy per week for 6 weeks. Intelligibility in single words and connected speech was compared across four points: 1 week and 6 weeks before therapy, and 1 week and 6 weeks after its completion. Three familiar listeners and three unfamiliar listeners scored each recording. Mean percentage intelligibility was compared using general linear modelling techniques. RESULTS After treatment, familiar listeners understood 14.7% more single words and 12.1% more words in connected speech. Unfamiliar listeners understood 15% more single words and 15.9% more words in connected speech after therapy. INTERPRETATION Therapy was associated with increases in speech intelligibility. Effects of the therapy should be investigated further, in an exploratory trial with younger children and in a randomized controlled trial.
96 citations
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TL;DR: The reported study investigated the effect of 7 rate control methods on running speech intelligibility, speaking rate, articulation rate (AR) and pause characteristics in 27 individuals with dysarthria, and found that with the exception of slower on demand, each RCM resulted in lower mean SRs and ARs.
Abstract: The reported study investigated the effect of 7 rate control methods (RCM) on running speech intelligibility, speaking rate (SR), articulation rate (AR) and pause characteristics in 27 individuals with dysarthria. The data reveal that with the exception of slower on demand, each RCM resulted in lower mean SRs and ARs (p < 0.05). Clinically significant improvements in intelligibility were found in half of the participants with different types of dysarthria. The majority of them had normal or decreased ARs and SRs. The most effective methods were: alphabet board, hand tapping and pacing board. For the majority of speakers, the maximal decrease in speech rate was not associated with the maximal increase in intelligibility.
78 citations
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TL;DR: The notion of subgroups in FRDA dysarthria, representing distinct impairments of the speech mechanism and perhaps reflective of differing evolutions beyond the cerebellum, is supported.
Abstract: The aims of this study were to: (1) evaluate the perceptual speech dimensions, speech intelligibility and dysarthria severity of a group of individuals diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA); (2) determine the presence of subgroups within FRDA dysarthria; (3) investigate the relationship between the speech outcome and the clinical factors of disease progression. The study included 38 individuals (21 female, 17 male) with a confirmed diagnosis of FRDA. A group of 20 non-neurologically impaired individuals served as controls. Perceptual analysis, investigating 30 different dimensions of speech, was conducted on a speech sample obtained from each participant. In addition, the Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthria Speech was administered. All FRDA participants presented with dysarthria with severities ranging from mild to moderate. Cluster analysis revealed 3 subgroups, the first presenting with mild dysarthric symptoms, the second with increased velopharyngeal involvement and the third characterized by increased laryngeal dysfunction. Dysarthria severity showed a significant correlation to disease duration but to no other clinical measure. The findings support the notion of subgroups in FRDA dysarthria, representing distinct impairments of the speech mechanism and perhaps reflective of differing evolutions beyond the cerebellum.
72 citations
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TL;DR: A review of the literature pertaining to the complicated phenomenon of acquired stuttering in adults and some tentative explanatory conclusions regarding this disorder are provided.
70 citations
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TL;DR: A two-part model of consonant articulation errors is proposed for CP-associated spastic dysarthia based on results showed that target phonemes with high articulatory complexity were most often misarticulated, independent of intelligibility, but low-intelligibility speakers reduced the complexity of target consonants more frequently.
Abstract: This paper analyses consonant articulation errors in dysarthric speech produced by seven American-English native speakers with cerebral palsy. Twenty-three consonant phonemes were transcribed with diacritics as necessary in order to represent non-phoneme misarticulations. Error frequencies were examined with respect to six variables: articulatory complexity, place of articulation, and manner of articulation of the target phoneme; and change in articulatory complexity, place, and manner resulting from the misarticulation. Results showed that target phonemes with high articulatory complexity were most often misarticulated, independent of intelligibility, but low-intelligibility speakers reduced the complexity of target consonants more frequently. All speakers tended to misarticulate to the adjacent place of the target place, but this pattern was most prominent for high-intelligibility speakers. Low- and mid-intelligibility speakers produced more manner errors than high-intelligibility speakers. Based on these results, a two-part model of consonant articulation errors is proposed for CP-associated spastic dysarthia.
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TL;DR: It is concluded that distributional analysis of pause duration holds promise as a useful method of measuring the effects of Friedreich's Ataxia on functional speech.
Abstract: This study proposes an automatic method for the detection of pauses and identification of pause types in conversational speech for the purpose of measuring the effects of Friedreich's Ataxia (FRDA) on speech. Speech samples of approximately 3 minutes were recorded from 13 speakers with FRDA and 18 healthy controls. Pauses were measured from the intensity contour and fit with bimodal lognormal distributions using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm in Matlab. In the speakers with FRDA, both modes in the pause distributions had significantly larger means, with disproportionately fewer pauses associated with the first mode. From this preliminary study, it is concluded that distributional analysis of pause duration holds promise as a useful method of measuring the effects of FRDA on functional speech.
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TL;DR: In this article, the extent of use of non-speech oro-motor exercises (NSOMExs) in acquired disorders, the exercise regimes in use for dysarthria, with which dysarthric populations, and the anticipated clinical outcomes were investigated.
Abstract: Background: Non-speech oro-motor exercises (NSOMExs) are described in speech and language therapy manuals and are thought to be much used in acquired dysarthria intervention, though there is no robust evidence of an influence on speech outcome. Opinions differ as to whether, and for which dysarthria presentations, NSOMExs are appropriate.Aims: The investigation sought to collect development-phase data, in accordance with the Medical Research Council (MRC) evaluation of complex interventions. The aims were to establish the extent of use of NSOMExs in acquired disorders, the exercise regimes in use for dysarthria, with which dysarthric populations, and the anticipated clinical outcomes. A further aim was to determine the influencing rationales where NSOMExs were or were not used in dysarthria intervention.Methods & Procedures: Speech and language therapists throughout Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, working with adult-acquired dysarthria, were identified by their service heads. They received postal q...
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TL;DR: The study reveals that LSVT® may be a suitable treatment option for improving vowel articulation and subsequent intelligibility in some individuals with non-progressive dysarthria.
Abstract: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®) on acoustic and perceptual measures of articulation in non-progressive dysarthria in comparison to tradi...
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TL;DR: In this article, a companion paper describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS), which uses perceptual and acoustic data reduction methods to obtain information on a speaker's speech, prosody, and voice.
Abstract: A companion paper describes three extensions to a classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). The SDCS uses perceptual and acoustic data reduction methods to obtain information on a speaker's speech, prosody, and voice. The present paper provides reliability estimates for the two perceptual methods (narrow phonetic transcription; prosody-voice coding) and the acoustic analysis methods the SDCS uses to describe and classify a speaker's speech competence, precision, and stability. Speech samples from 10 speakers, five with significant motor speech disorder and five with typical speech, were re-measured to estimate intra-judge and inter-judge agreement for the perceptual and acoustic methods. Each of the speakers completed five speech tasks (total = 50 datasets), ranging in articulatory difficulty for the speakers, with consequences for the difficulty level of data reduction. Point-to-point percentage of agreement findings for the two perceptual methods were as high or higher than reported in literature reviews and from previous studies conducted within the laboratory. Percentage of agreement findings for the acoustics tasks of segmenting phonemes, editing fundamental frequency tracks, and estimating formants ranged from values in the mid 70% to 100%, with most estimates in the mid 80% to mid 90% range. Findings are interpreted as support for the perceptual and acoustic methods used in the SDCS to describe and classify speakers with speech sound disorders.
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TL;DR: Despite the low incidence of dysarthria and dysphagia across the entire TBI cohort, this sub-group may place longer-term burden on SLP services, having prolonged periods of ventilation, extended periods of hospitalization and a complex co-morbid clinical presentation compared with controls.
Abstract: Background A lack of data on dysarthria and dysphagia outcomes for children following traumatic brain injury (TBI) limits our clinical evidence base, and poses daily challenges for the speech language pathologist (SLP) managing this group. The present study aimed to examine dysarthria and dysphagia incidence and the clinical presentation of children with these disorders in the acute phase following TBI.
Methods Incidence and characteristics were determined via a comprehensive retrospective medical chart review of children consecutively referred to a tertiary paediatric hospital over an 8-year period. Cases (n= 22 dysarthria, n= 72 dysphagia) and matched controls were compared across ancillary variables (e.g. age, severity of TBI, motor impairment).
Results Incidence across the entire cohort was low [i.e. dysarthria (1.2%, 22/1895), dysphagia (3.8%, 72/1895)], but was markedly higher for the sub-category of children with severe TBI [e.g. dysphagia (76%, 63/83)]. Speech deficits were reported across respiration, phonation, resonance, articulation and prosody. Swallowing deficits included reduced lip closure, delayed swallow initiation, wet voice and coughing. Language and swallowing deficits were often co-morbid with dysarthria. Motor impairment was frequently co-morbid with both dysarthria and dysphagia. Cases had longer periods of hospitalization, ventilation and supplementary feeding compared with controls.
Conclusion Despite the low incidence of dysarthria and dysphagia across the entire TBI cohort, this sub-group may place longer-term burden on SLP services, having prolonged periods of ventilation, extended periods of hospitalization and a complex co-morbid clinical presentation compared with controls. The prevalence of co-morbid communication and swallowing impairments suggests a need for integrated rather than single discipline (i.e. dysphagia stream only) SLP services.
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TL;DR: The results indicate that concurrent performance of speech and a challenging postural control task impairs speech and postural stability in persons with PD and may result in greater risk during daily activities.
Abstract: Because people frequently talk while engaged in other activities, and because Parkinson's disease (PD) is known to diminish multi-tasking performance, this study examined dual task interference between speaking and postural stability in nine individuals with PD, seven age-matched, and 10 healthy young controls. Participants repeated a target utterance and performed a rise to toes task in both single and dual task conditions. Diphthong transitions were measured from audio recordings and postural variables reflecting planning, coordination, and stability were derived from a multi-camera motion capture system and force plate recordings. Thus, sensitive measures of both speech and postural control were obtained. The group with PD performed more poorly than both control groups for the isolated postural task, but their single task speech measures did not differ from the controls, in spite of listener ratings which indicated mild-to-moderate dysarthria severity. The group with PD showed evidence of bidirectional dual task interference in that there were reduced diphthong extents and slopes along with smaller, slower, and less stable postural movements. These results indicate that concurrent performance of speech and a challenging postural control task impairs speech and postural stability in persons with PD and may result in greater risk during daily activities.
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TL;DR: It is proposed that advancing knowledge in neurobehavioural correlations of ACD is contingent upon large-scale studies, likely requiring international collaboration, which pool brain and speech outcome data.
Abstract: Acquired childhood dysarthria (ACD) receives little attention in the research literature in contrast with the adult correlate of the disorder. Speech language pathologists working in this field find diagnosis and management challenging, arguably because there is no child-based dysarthria diagnostic classification. Clinicians are either dependent upon developmental speech models that are not specific to dysarthria and that ignore the neural basis of the disorder, or on adult-based neurobehavioural classification systems. Here we consider the necessary elements for developing a clinically useful and empirically driven diagnostic classification system for ACD. The paper is divided into 2 parts. First, we question whether an adult diagnostic model can be validly applied to children. Second, we propose a methodological approach to develop a classification system for ACD. Specifically, we propose that advancing knowledge in neurobehavioural correlations of ACD is contingent upon large-scale studies, likely requiring international collaboration, which pool brain and speech outcome data. Ideally, researchers across centres would apply standard protocols to: (1) characterize speech behaviour, and (2) brain structure, function and connectivity. When enough data is available to achieve statistical power, analysis could determine subgroups of dysarthria defined by speech behaviour. The commonalities of neural profiles of subgroups could then be examined to create an empirically driven theory of brain-behaviour relationships in ACD to underpin the classification system. Clinical diagnosis for children with ACD will remain limited until such data become available.
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TL;DR: Intonation contrasts produced by speakers with Parkinson's disease contribute to the researchers' understanding of intonation marking in speakers with PD, with specific application to the production and perception of int onation in a lexical tone language.
Abstract: Purpose Speech produced by individuals with hypokinetic dysarthria associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by a number of features including impaired speech prosody. The purpose o...
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TL;DR: Results showed that there were no significant differences between any of the conditions regarding duration of sustained fricative or sustained vowel phonation, diadochokinetic rates or intelligibility, but there was a significant reduction in fundamental frequency variation, pitch period perturbation, noise-to-harmonics ratio and coefficient of variation in F₀ between the recordings performed before compared to after sham stimulation.
Abstract: The main characteristics of dysarthria in Parkinson's disease (PD) are monotony of pitch and loudness, reduced stress, variable speech rate, imprecise consonants, and breathy and harsh voice. Earlier treatment studies have shown that dysarthria is less responsive to both pharmacological and surgical treatments than other gross motor symptoms. Recent findings have suggested that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may have a beneficial effect on vocal function in PD. In the present study, 10 individuals with mild PD and no or minimal dysarthria were treated with rTMS as well as placebo stimulation in a blinded experiment. Stimulation was delivered using a frequency of 10 Hz and a stimulation intensity of 90% of the motor threshold. The site of stimulation was the cortical area corresponding to the hand, on the hemisphere contralateral to the patient's most affected side. The participants were audio-recorded before and after both rTMS and sham stimulation. Acoustic analysis was performed on 3 sustained /a:/ for each of the 4 conditions, and analyzed both for the whole group as well as for men and women separately. Results showed that there were no significant differences between any of the conditions regarding duration of sustained fricative or sustained vowel phonation, diadochokinetic rates or intelligibility. Above all, the results of acoustic analyses showed an effect of placebo; there was a significant reduction in fundamental frequency (F(0)) variation, pitch period perturbation, amplitude period perturbation, noise-to-harmonics ratio and coefficient of variation in F(0) between the recordings performed before compared to after sham stimulation.
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TL;DR: Detailed studies of the patients’ speech disorders showed that the dysarthria and gait disorders were of the ataxic type in both cases, and both patients had midbrain lesions at or below the level of the red nucleus, confirming that this area is critically involved in PDA.
Abstract: Paroxysmal dysarthria-ataxia syndrome (PDA) is a rare neurological disorder that can be either primary or symptomatic of acute neurological dysfunction. Episodes of symptomatic PDA are poorly documented and there are no video reports. We describe the cases of two patients with symptomatic PDA related to demyelinating diseases. Detailed studies of the patients’ speech disorders showed that the dysarthria and gait disorders were of the ataxic type in both cases. Both patients had midbrain lesions at or below the level of the red nucleus, confirming that this area is critically involved in PDA. The best clinical signs for distinguishing between symptomatic and primary PDA are adult onset and short (<1 min) episodes in the former. If these signs are present, brain MRI should be used to identify a cause of symptomatic PDA.
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TL;DR: It is concluded that mild dysarthria is persistent after left or right hemispherectomy, irrespective of age at onset of hemiplegia, indicating incomplete functional re-organization for the control of fine speech motor movements throughout childhood, and provide no evidence of hemispheric differences.
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TL;DR: Cerebellar neuropathology and motor function across several motor systems well studied in Spina bifida meningomyelocele are reviewed in relation to current models of cerebellar motor and timing function to suggest that age-based cerebellary motor plasticity is limited in individuals with this neurodevelopmental disorder.
Abstract: Spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM), a congenital neurodevelopmental disorder, involves dysmorphology of the cerebellum, and its most obvious manifestations are motor deficits. This paper reviews cerebellar neuropathology and motor function across several motor systems well studied in SBM in relation to current models of cerebellar motor and timing function. Children and adults with SBM have widespread motor deficits in trunk, upper limbs, eyes, and speech articulators that are broadly congruent with those observed in adults with cerebellar lesions. The structure and function of the cerebellum are correlated with a range of motor functions. While motor learning is generally preserved in SBM, those motor functions requiring predictive signals and precise calibration of the temporal features of movement are impaired, resulting in deficits in smooth movement coordination as well as in the classical cerebellar triad of dysmetria, ataxia, and dysarthria. That motor function in individuals with SBM is disordered in a manner phenotypically similar to that in adult cerebellar lesions, and appears to involve similar deficits in predictive cerebellar motor control, suggests that age-based cerebellar motor plasticity is limited in individuals with this neurodevelopmental disorder.
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TL;DR: In this tutorial, several published rate control interventions for dysarthric speakers are presented and interventions discussed represent a hierarchy from “rigid” strategies, which impose maximal rate control, to techniques allowing for greater speech naturalness and independent rate control.
Abstract: Research confirms the long-standing clinical observation that patients with dysarthria exhibit variability in speech rate. Thus, modifying speech rate has been documented as one of the best treatment options for these patients. In this tutorial, several published rate control interventions for dysarthric speakers are presented. Studies discussed utilized various interventions, including pacing boards, alphabet board supplementation, visual and auditory feedback, cueing and pacing strategies, and delayed auditory feedback. Interventions discussed represent a hierarchy from "rigid" strategies, which impose maximal rate control, to techniques allowing for greater speech naturalness and independent rate control. All procedures are examined with respect to effectiveness in reducing rate, effect on intelligibility and prosody, training requirements, specific alterations made to speech rate, and other relevant aspects.
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TL;DR: Low-level PEEP is as effective as PMV in ensuring good speech quality, which might be explained by sealed expiratory line with low- level PEEP and/or respiratory rate increase during speech with PEEP observed in most of the patients.
Abstract: Many patients with respiratory failure related to neuromuscular disease receive chronic invasive ventilation through a tracheostomy. Improving quality of life, of which speech is an important component, is a major goal in these patients. We compared the effects on breathing and speech of low-level positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP, 5 cmH2O) and of a Passy-Muir speaking valve (PMV) during assist-control ventilation. We studied ten patients with neuromuscular disorders, between December 2008 and April 2009. Flow was measured using a pneumotachograph. Microphone speech recordings were subjected to both quantitative measurements and qualitative assessments; the latter consisted of both an intelligibility score (using a French adaptation of the Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment) and a perceptual score determined by two speech therapists. Text reading time, perceptive score, intelligibility score, speech comfort, and respiratory comfort were similar with PEEP and PMV. During speech with 5 cmH2O PEEP, six of the ten patients had no return of expiratory gas to the expiratory line and, therefore, had the entire insufflated volume available for speech, a condition met during PMV use in all patients. During speech, the respiratory rate increased by at least 3 cycles/min above the backup rate in seven patients with PEEP and in none of the patients with PMV. Low-level PEEP is as effective as PMV in ensuring good speech quality, which might be explained by sealed expiratory line with low-level PEEP and/or respiratory rate increase during speech with PEEP observed in most of the patients.
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TL;DR: The lack of correlation between speech intelligibility and perceived communicative effectiveness highlights the need for careful examination of activity and participation during assessment and goal-setting in the therapeutic process by all stakeholders.
Abstract: Primary objective: This study examined differences in perceived communicative effectiveness between a group of eight participants with chronic dysarthria following TBI and their nominated communication partners (TBIP). The relationship between communicative effectiveness and listener ratings of speech intelligibility was also examined.Research design: Group comparison design.Methods and procedures: The Communicative Effectiveness Survey was completed by the participants with TBI and their communication partner. Speech intelligibility of the eight adults with dysarthria was rated by nine naive listeners using direct magnitude estimation.Main outcomes and results: The participants with TBI tended to rate their communicative effectiveness higher than their TBIP; however, this trend was not significant. No significant differences were noted between the TBI and TBIP groups in ratings of communicative effectiveness in various communication settings. No significant relationship was found between conversation lev...
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TL;DR: The results suggest that the LTAS may prove useful in conjunction with perceptual judgments to document speech spectral changes related to treatment or disease progression and suggest that different acoustic models of severity are likely needed for dysarthria secondary to PD and dysarthia secondary to MS.
Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between measures of Long-Term Average Spectrum (LTAS) for speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and scaled estimates of perceived speech severity. Perceived severity was operationally defined as listeners' overall impression of voice, resonance, articulatory precision, and prosody without regard to intelligibility. Healthy control talkers were also studied. Speakers were audio recorded while reading Harvard Sentences and the Grandfather Passage. Using TF32 (Milenkovic, 2005), the LTAS was computed for sentences. Coefficients of the first four moments were used to characterize energy across the speech spectrum. Supplemental acoustic measures of articulatory rate, vocal intensity, and fundamental frequency also were obtained. Three speech-language pathologists scaled speech severity for the reading passages. Results indicated no group differences in acoustic measures. The absolute magnitude of correlations between LTAS moment coefficients and perceptual estimates of scaled severity within and across speaker groups ranged from .16 to .53, with the strongest correlations for the PD group. These results suggest that the LTAS may prove useful in conjunction with perceptual judgments to document speech spectral changes related to treatment or disease progression. Findings further suggest that different acoustic models of severity are likely needed for dysarthria secondary to PD and dysarthria secondary to MS.
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TL;DR: It is suggested that individuals with dysarthria using SSR could achieve comparable keystroke savings regardless of speech severity, and sentence intelligibility and system performance.
Abstract: This study described preliminary work with the Supplemented Speech Recognition (SSR) system for speakers with dysarthria. SSR incorporated automatic speech recognition optimized for dysarthric speech, alphabet supplementation, and word prediction. Participants included seven individuals with a range of dysarthria severity. Keystroke savings using SSR averaged 68.2% for typical sentences and 67.5% for atypical phrases. This was significantly different to using word prediction alone. The SSR correctly identified an average of 80.7% of target stimulus words for typical sentences and 82.8% for atypical phrases. Statistical significance could not be claimed for the relations between sentence intelligibility and keystroke savings or sentence intelligibility and system performance. The results suggest that individuals with dysarthria using SSR could achieve comparable keystroke savings regardless of speech severity.
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01 Dec 2010
TL;DR: Assessment of motor speech disorders brings together a wide range of researchers to present a current summary of assessment and evaluation techniques for disordered speech, with both a clinical and a research focus as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Assessment of Motor Speech Disorders brings together a wide range of researchers to present a current summary of assessment and evaluation techniques for disordered speech, with both a clinical and a research focus. This unique resource reviews research evidence pertaining to best practice in the clinical assessment of established areas such as intelligibility and physiological functioning, as well as introducing recently developed topics such as conversational analysis, participation measures, and telehealth. In addition, new and established research methods from areas such as phonetics, kinematics, imaging, and neural modeling are reviewed in relation to their applicability and value for the study of disordered speech. Based on the broad coverage of topics and methods, the textbook represents a valuable resource for a wide ranging audience, including clinicians, researchers, as well as students with an interest in speech pathology and clinical phonetics.
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TL;DR: Positron emission tomography was used to study regional cerebral blood flow changes during speech production over a 21 month period in a group of seven right-handed subjects with hereditary ataxia, finding decline in blood flow was greatest in cerebellar regions.