Dysarthria

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

Computer recognition of the speech of adults with cerebral palsy and dysarthria

Abstract: Ten speakers with cerebral palsy and dysarthria and 13 nondisabled speakers were tested using a Shadow VET/2 speech recognition system installed in an Apple Ile computer. The speakers each produced four types of stimuli: 12 consonants followed by a neutral vowel, 12 vowels in an h-d environment, 12 words defined as easy and 12 words defined as difficult for dysarthric speakers. Using all four types of stimuli, the dysarthric speakers had scores above chance, but they had significantly fewer stimuli recognized by the computer than the nondisabled speakers. For the dysarthric group, vowels in an h-d environment and both types of words were recognized significantly more often than the consonants followed by a neutral vowel. For the nondisabled group, the vowels in an h-d environment were recognized significantly more often than consonants followed by a neutral vowel, and both types of words were recognized more often than vowels. Confusion matrices and a discussion of item errors were used to further compare...

Dysarthria and lacunar stroke: Pathophysiologic aspects

Abstract: We investigated the supranuclear tracts involved in speech production in 8 patients with dysarthria associated with a single lacunar stroke. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed the lesion site in 7 out of 8 patients. We tested corticobulbar tract function using transcranial magnetic stimulation and demonstrated impairment of the corticolingual projections in all the patients and in 5 patients impairment of the corticofacial projections. Sensory function in the oral cavity was impaired in 1 out of 8 patients. 99mTc hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime-single-photon emission computerized tomography (HMPAO-SPECT) imaging, performed in 5 patients, showed cerebellar diaschisis in 1, suggesting additional cerebropontocerebellar tract impairment. Dysarthria observed in the 2 patients with impaired sensation in the oral cavity or with cerebellar diaschisis did not differ from the dysarthria found in the other patients. We conclude that interruption of the corticolingual pathways to the tongue is crucial in the pathogenesis of dysarthria following extracerebellar lacunar stroke.

Variability and Diagnostic Accuracy of Speech Intelligibility Scores in Children

Abstract: Purpose We examined variability of speech intelligibility scores and how well intelligibility scores predicted group membership among 5-year-old children with speech motor impairment (SMI) secondary to cerebral palsy and an age-matched group of typically developing (TD) children. Method Speech samples varying in length from 1–4 words were elicited from 24 children with cerebral palsy (mean age 60.50 months) and 20 TD children (mean age 60.33 months). Two hundred twenty adult listeners made orthographic transcriptions of speech samples (n = 5 per child). Results Variability associated with listeners made a significant contribution to explaining the variance in intelligibility scores for TD and SMI children, but the magnitude was greater for TD children. Intelligibility scores differentiated very well between children who have SMI and TD children when intelligibility was at or below approximately 75% and above approximately 85%. Conclusions Intelligibility seems to be a useful clinical tool for differentiat...

Impact of the LSVT on vowel articulation and coarticulation in Parkinson’s disease

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®) on vowel articulation and consonant-vowel (C-V) coarticulation in dysarthric speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD). Nine Quebec French speakers diagnosed with idiopathic PD underwent the LSVT®. Speech characteristics were compared before and after treatment. Vowel articulation was measured using acoustic vowel space and calculated with the first (F1) and second formant (F2) of the vowels /i/, /u/ and /a/. C-V coarticulation was measured using locus equations, an acoustic metric based on the F2 transitions within vowels in relation to the preceding consonant. The relationship between these variables, speech loudness and vowel duration was also analysed. Results showed that vowel contrast increased in F1/F2 acoustic space after administration of the LSVT®. This improvement was associated with the gain in speech loudness and longer vowel duration. C-V coarticulation patterns between consonant contexts showed greater distinctiveness after the treatment. This improvement was associated with the gain in speech loudness only. These results support the conclusions of previous studies investigating the relationship between the LSVT®, speech loudness and articulation in PD. These results expand clinical understanding of the treatment and indicate that loud speech changes C-V coarticulation patterns. Clinical applications and theoretical considerations are discussed.