Dysarthria

About: Dysarthria is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2402 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56554 citations.

Automatic detection of speech disorder in dysarthria using extended speech feature extraction and neural networks classification

Abstract: This paper presents an automatic detection of Dysarthria, a motor speech disorder, using extended speech features called Centroid Formants. Centroid Formants are the weighted averages of the formants extracted from a speech signal. This involves extraction of the first four formants of a speech signal and averaging their weighted values. The weights are determined by the peak energies of the bands of frequency resonance, formants. The resulting weighted averages are called the Centroid Formants. In our proposed methodology, these centroid formants are used to automatically detect Dysarthric speech using neural network classification technique. The experimental results recorded after testing this algorithm are presented. The experimental data consists of 200 speech samples from 10 Dysarthric Speakers and 200 speech samples from 10 age-matched healthy speakers. The experimental results show a high performance using neural networks classification. A possible future research related to this work is the use of these extended features in speaker identification and recognition of disordered speech.

Intellectual abilities, language comprehension, speech, and motor function in children with spinal muscular atrophy type 1.

Abstract: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a chronic, neuromuscular disease characterized by degeneration of spinal cord motor neurons, resulting in progressive muscular atrophy and weakness SMA1 is the most severe form characterized by significant bulbar, respiratory, and motor dysfunction SMA1 prevents children from speaking a clearly understandable and fluent language, with their communication being mainly characterized by eye movements, guttural sounds, and anarthria (type 1a); severe dysarthria (type 1b); and nasal voice and dyslalia (type 1c) The aim of this study was to analyze for the first time cognitive functions, language comprehension, and speech in natural history SMA1 children according to age and subtypes, to develop cognitive and language benchmarks that provide outcomes for the clinical medication trials that are changing SMA1 course/trajectory This is a retrospective study including 22 children with SMA1 (10 affected by subtype 1a-1b: AB and 12 by 1c: C) aged 3–11 years in clinical stable condition with a coded way to communicate “yes” and “no” Data from the following assessments have been retrieved from patient charts: one-dimensional Raven test (RCPM), to evaluate cognitive development (IQ); ALS Severity Score (ALSSS) to evaluate speech disturbances; Brown Bellugy modified for Italian standards (TCGB) to evaluate language comprehension; and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Infant Test of Neuromuscular Disorders (CHOP-INTEND) to assess motor functioning SMA 1AB and 1C children were similar in age, with the former characterized by lower CHOP-INTEND scores compared to the latter All 22 children had collaborated to RCPM and their median IQ was 120 with no difference (p = 0945) between AB and C Global median score of the speech domain of the ALSSS was 5; however, it was 2 in AB children, being significantly lower than C (65, p < 0001) TCGB test had been completed by 13 children, with morphosyntactic comprehension being in the normal range (50) Although ALSSS did not correlate with both IQ and TCGB, it had a strong (p < 0001) correlation with CHOP-INTEND described by an exponential rise to maximum Although speech and motor function were severely compromised, children with SMA1 showed general intelligence and language comprehension in the normal range Speech impairment was strictly related to global motor impairment

Use of electropalatography in the treatment of disordered articulation following traumatic brain injury: A case study

Abstract: Electropalatography (EPG) was used as a biofeedback tool in a case study of a 30-year-old male with disordered articulation following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Based on qualitative measures of the participant's intelligibility, improved articulation of the fricatives /s/ and /integral/ were selected as treatment targets. Therapy was administered three times a week for 5 weeks. Results showed that word and sentence intelligibility increased approximately 10%, and error patterns for lingual articulation indicated that fricative -> stop and other fricative errors decreased considerably. EPG measures for /s/ exhibited a significantly more anterior main focus of articulatory contact post therapy. Consonant durations were significantly longer during weeks 3 and 4, and this finding was associated with the emergence of an articulatory contact pattern with a groove rather than complete closure. This articulatory pattern appeared inconsistently and was found to vary across articulations of /s/ but also within a single consonant production. For /integral/, the amount of contact was significantly reduced post therapy and an increase in duration was noted during week 4, similar to that occurring in the production of /s/. Spatial and timing measures were more variable than in normal speakers of English and indicated a general increase in variability across weeks for both /s/ and /integral/. It was concluded that, although the correct fricative patterns appeared only intermittently during production of the consonants, there seemed to be sufficient information for the listener to be able to classify the sound as a fricative. As a part of an intervention program, visual EPG biofeedback therapy would appear to have a definite role in assisting dysarthric speakers exhibiting difficulties with lingual articulation in understanding their errors, learning how to exploit kinesthetic, and acoustic sources of feedback, and how to make appropriate adjustments in tongue articulation to increase the level of speech intelligibility.

How Does Fatigue Affect Communication?The Influence of Fatigue on Cognitive, Physical, Psychosocial and Communicative Ability in Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract: Fatigue and problems related to communication are common symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, no research has been conducted on how fatigue affects the communication of individuals with MS. For this study, the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) was supplemented with 20 statements concerning communication. Forty-four people with MS and 44 healthy controls completed the questionnaire. Results showed that individuals with MS experienced significantly greater problems caused by fatigue within all sub-areas (cognitive, physical, psychosocial and communicative) compared to the control group. No significant differences were observed in fatigue with regard to MS sub-type, gender, age, neurological disability, or medication. The major influence of fatigue was reported to be in the physical area, with less impact related to communication. Respondents who experienced communicative problems caused by fatigue also had problems with language comprehension and speech (dysarthria). Fifteen subjects with MS were randomly...