Dysarthria

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

Profile of communication disorders in HIV-infected individuals: a preliminary study.

Abstract: Communication is the very essence of life for humans. This is made possible by the highly complex neurophysiological mechanisms governing humans. Any disturbance to this system can result in impairments of communication. HIV infection is one such disease. In India, the management of such individuals is usually restricted to life sustenance. Little importance is given to their communication problems, which play a vital role in day-to-day functioning. It is with this background that this study was conducted. Eight HIV-infected individuals participated in the study. They were subjected to assessment procedures that included the following tests: Western Aphasia Battery, Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment, Standard Articulation test, Fluency test, and subjective assessment of vocal parameters by a speech language pathologist. The results of the study reveal that individuals with HIV-1 infection show a varied picture of affected parameters of voice, swallowing, and oral motor functioning.

Pure dysarthria resulting from a small cortical infarction located at the left middle frontal gyrus.

Abstract: Pure dysarthria caused by a small cortical infarction is rare. Recent reports have revealed that a small cortical lesion can lead to pure dysarthria, furthermore some reports have revealed that a middle frontal gyrus lesion might cause pure dysarthria. We report a 64-year-old woman who presented only dysarthria and had a small limited cortical infarction located at the left middle frontal gyrus. This case indicated that an isolated middle frontal gyrus lesion can cause pure dysarthria by secondary compromising of the cortical areas related or connected to the corticobulbar tract.

Developmental Courses in Childhood Dysarthria: Longitudinal Analyses of Auditory-Perceptual Parameters.

Abstract: Purpose The aim of this longitudinal study was to describe developmental courses of childhood dysarthria against the background of typical speech motor development by collecting auditory-perceptual data Method Fourteen children (four girls, 10 boys; 5;1-8;4 [years;months] at Time 1) with neurological conditions (CNC) and 14 typically developing children (CTD) matched for age and gender were assessed at three points in time over an 18-month period Speech samples were collected using the Bogenhausener Dysarthrie Skalen-Kindliche Dysarthrien (BoDyS-KiD; in English: Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales-Childhood Dysarthria), a German tool for the assessment of childhood dysarthria, and analyzed by means of nine perceptual scales covering all clinically relevant speech components Age normalization was performed according to a method published recently Data from the matched controls were used to estimate whether the gradients of the CNC group's developmental trajectories exceeded those of typical development Results The children with neurological conditions presented heterogeneous speech profiles with a wide range of severity At the group level, relatively stable trajectories of the age-normalized dysarthria total score were found over the observation period The nine perceptual scales showed more or less parallel developments All patients except two followed the growth curve describing the developmental course of the typically developing children Conclusions Most children took advantage of the developmental dynamics as they developed parallel to the age norm With its comprehensive description of the developmental courses of 14 children with neurological conditions, this study may contribute to a more valid, statistically verified clinical assessment of the course of childhood dysarthria

[F0 characteristics in Parkinsonian speech: Contrast between the effect of hypodopaminergy due to Parkinson's disease and that of the therapeutic delivery of L-Dopa].

Abstract: Voice and speech impairments are frequent in Parkinson's disease, particularly when the disease is at an advanced stage. These impairments affect spoken communication and may become a serious disability for someone with Parkinson's disease. Many studies based on auditory-perceptual or acoustic methods have been carried out to characterize dysarthria. The heterogeneity of evaluation methods and experimental bias however make results difficult to understand. For instance, in terms of phonatory impairments and with regard to F0, results are contradictory: PD speech may be characterized by either higher F0 or lower F0 compared to control subjects, or there may be no difference at all between the two population. In this study, we aim to provide a conceptual and methodological framework which allows for interpreting the results obtained from 44 speakers (29 PD and 15 control subjects) in relation to physiological (gender, age, PD subjects' pharmacologic state) and linguistic (speech production tasks) constraints. For the present corpus, we did not observe any F0 mean difference between the two groups. Our results however reveal a significant increase in F0 mean in PD subjects under L-dopa. We assume a double and opposite effect on F0 mean during drug withdrawal: low sub-glottal pressure, due to PD, results in a decrease in F0, while laryngeal rigidity leads to an increase in F0. These two effects thus mutually annihilate. Under L-Dopa, however, the drug effect increases sub-glottal pressure, which combined with an increase in F0 due to rigidity, leads to a global increase in F0.