Search

Motor speech requires numerous neural computations including feedforward and feedback control mechanisms. A reduction of auditory or somatosensory feedback may be implicated in disorders of speech, as predicted by various models of speech control. In this paper the effects of reduced somatosensory feedback on articulation and intelligibility of individual phonemes was evaluated by using topical anesthesia of orobuccal structures in 24 healthy subjects. The evaluation was done using a combination of perceptual intelligibility estimation of consonants and vowels and acoustic analysis of motor speech. A significantly reduced intelligibility was found, with a major impact on consonant formation. Acoustic analysis demonstrated disturbed diadochokinesis. These results underscore the clinical importance of somatosensory feedback in speech control. The interpretation of these findings in the context of speech control models, neuro-anatomy and clinical neurology may have implications for subtyping of dysarthria., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The prosodic aspects of hypokinetic dysarthria in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been the focus of numerous reports. Few data on the effects of levodopa on prosody, more specifically on the effects on the variability of prosodic characteristics such as pitch, loudness and speech rate, are available in advanced PD. The relation between these characteristics and comprehensibility is currently unknown. These topics are the focus of the present report. Ten patients with advanced PD were evaluated, with and without medication, by four speech-language pathologists during a reading task. A significant improvement of variability in pitch and loudness was demonstrated after medication intake. Comprehensibility improved following medication administration. Results are compared with previous studies.

Objectives: Hypokinetic dysarthria is commonly encountered in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although the etiology of this dysarthria is multifactorial, disorders of respiration may strongly contribute to it. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of levodopa on measures of respiration and intelligibility., Patients and Methods: Vital capacity (VC), sustained vowel phonation (SVP) and phonation quotient (PQ) were determined with and without medication in 25 patients suffering from idiopathic PD. Intelligibility was evaluated by three independent speech pathologists using the word subtest protocol of the Yorkston and Beukelman "Assessment of intelligibility of dysarthric speech" (AIDS)., Results: VC was abnormal in 18/25 patients in the off-condition and 15/25 in the on-condition. SVP was normal in 22/25 patients in the off-state and in all patients in the on-state. PQ was normal in all patients in the off- and on-condition. All three respiratory parameters, as well as intelligibility, improved significantly following administration of levodopa. There were significant differences between men and women for VC and PQ, with men having the highest values for both parameters in both conditions. In none of the two conditions a correlation between respiratory parameters and intelligibility could be demonstrated., Conclusion: This study suggests that thoracic mobility is decreased in PD, and that pharmacological treatment results in improvement, but not in normalization. Moreover, it remains unclear to what extent dyskinesias negatively influence respiratory control. Our results also demonstrate improvement of intelligibility after pharmacological treatment of PD. However, this improvement is not solely the consequence of respiratory changes. Further research on the effects of different characteristics on intelligibility is necessary.

Dysarthria is a common manifestation in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. This study investigated the effects of levodopa on intelligibility in patients with Parkinson's disease. Ten participants were tested during on- and off-states using the Yorkston and Beukelman intelligibility test (1980). Intelligibility as scored by a panel of speech therapists was significantly improved in the on-condition. No correlation was found, however, between intelligibility and overall severity of the disease or severity of the motor problems. EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity the participant will be able to discuss the effects of levodopa on intelligibility in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Short stature is not the only problem faced by children born small for gestational age (SGA). Being born SGA has also been associated with lowered intelligence, poor academic performance, low social competence and behavioural problems. This paper summarizes the results of a randomized, double-blind, growth hormone (GH) dose-response study (1 or 2 mg/m2/day [ approximately 0.035 or 0.07 mg/kg/day]) on growth, intelligence quotient (IQ) and psychosocial functioning in 79 children born SGA at the start, and after 2 and 8 years of GH therapy, and addresses the associations with head circumference. Mean age at start of therapy was 7.4 years; mean duration of GH treatment was 8.0 years. In 2001, 91% of children born SGA had reached a normal height (> -2.0 standard deviation score [SDS]). Block-design s-score (Performal IQ) and Total IQ score increased (p < 0.001 for both indices) from scores significantly lower than those of Dutch peers at the start of therapy (p < 0.001) to scores that were comparable to those of Dutch peers in 2001. Vocabulary s-score (Verbal IQ) was normal at the start of therapy and remained so over time. Externalizing Problem Behaviour SDS and Total Problem Behaviour SDS improved during GH therapy (p < 0.01-0.05) to scores comparable to those of Dutch peers. Internalizing Problem Behaviour SDS was comparable to that of Dutch peers at the start of therapy and remained so, whereas Self-Perception improved from the start of GH therapy until 2001 (p < 0.001), when it reached normal scores. Head circumference SDS at the start of GH therapy and head growth during GH therapy were positively related to all IQ scores (p < 0.01), whereas neither were related to height SDS at the start of, or to its improvement during, GH therapy. A significant improvement in height and head circumference in children born SGA was seen after only 3 years of GH therapy, in contrast to randomized SGA controls. In conclusion, most children born SGA showed a normalization of height during GH therapy and, in parallel to this, a significant improvement in Performal IQ and Total IQ. In addition, problem behaviour and self-perception improved significantly. Interestingly, Performal, Verbal and Total IQ scores were positively related to head circumference, both at the start of, and during, GH therapy; head circumference increased in GH-treated children born SGA, but not in untreated SGA controls. These results are encouraging but also warrant confirmational studies and further investigations into the effects of GH on the central nervous system., (Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel)

This study compared speech intelligibility in nondisabled speakers and speakers with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) before and after botulinum toxin (Botox) injection. Standard speech samples were obtained from 10 speakers diagnosed with severe ADSD prior to and 1 month following Botox injection, as well as from 10 age- and gender-matched healthy adults. This yielded 3 speaking conditions: pre-Botox injection, post-Botox injection, and normal control. Thirty phrases were extracted from the speech samples and arranged in a counterbalanced listening experiment. Thirty students, reporting little experience with distorted speech, served as listeners. Each listener's response was scored for words correctly identified using a liberal scoring criterion yielding a percentage of words correctly identified for each speaker. The results indicated that the speakers with ADSD were significantly more intelligible in the post-Botox condition than in the pre-Botox condition. The results also indicated that healthy speakers were significantly more intelligible than the speakers in both the pre- and post-Botox conditions. In general, these results indicated that intelligibility is affected in severe ADSD and that the use of Botox injection in ADSD improves intelligibility scores. However, the results also indicated that the use of Botox injection does not result in speech intelligibility similar to that of normal, non-ADSD speakers.

Word-list intelligibility scores of unprocessed speech (mean of 4 subjects) were recorded in helium-oxygen atmospheres at stable pressures equivalent to 1600, 1400, 1200, 1000, 860, 690, 560, 392, and 200 fsw daring Predictive Studies IV-1975 by wide-bandwidth condenser microphones (frequency responses not degraded by increased gas density). Intelligibility scores were substantially lower in helium-oxygen a 200 fsw than in air at l ATA, but there was little difference between 200 fsw and 1600 fsw. A previously documented prominent decrease in intelligibility of speech between 200 or 600 fsw because of helium and pressure was probably due to degradation of microphone frequency response by high gas density.

The prevalence and severity of hearing impairment caused by ototoxic drugs are surprisingly high. This emphasizes the importance of the questions arising from the treatment. In 33.7% of the cases, the hearing impairment caused by ototoxic antibiotics was of severe degree and in 25.4%, it was extremely severe. Parenteral, topical or oral administration of aminioglycoside antibiotics is dangerous. Because of the very poor speech intelligibility, most probably not only the spiral organ but the vestibulocochlear nerve and the higher auditory pathways are also affected by these antibiotics. In some cases, the severe distortion in sound perception cannot be compensated even by a hearing aid of the best quality, and lip-reading which was advised occasionally was without any result. To prevent these toxic effects, these drugs should be administered very parsimoniously and then under very strict conditions and close control.

Norepinephrine has been shown to improve signal-to-noise ratios of sensory systems, including that of the auditory system. Yohimbine has been observed to cause a selective increase of cerebral norepinephrine. It was administered in one dose to sensorineurally impaired subjects with the object of improving their speech hearing in noise. Speech intelligibility was measured by the adaptive procedure. Mild, significant improvement was noted in one of the hearing components, "attenuation," and an adverse effect was shown on "distortion," owing to noise. Auditory brainstem response was improved significantly. The objective of temporarily improving intelligibility in noise was not attained.