1. Speech timing and monosyllabic diadochokinesis measures in the assessment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Canadian French.
- Author
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Bouvier, Liziane, McKinlay, Scotia, Truong, Justin, Genge, Angela, Dupré, Nicolas, Dionne, Annie, Kalra, Sanjay, and Yunusova, Yana
- Subjects
STATISTICAL correlation ,PROGRESSIVE bulbar palsy ,SECONDARY analysis ,DYSARTHRIA ,DATA analysis ,RESEARCH funding ,TEACHING aids ,KRUSKAL-Wallis Test ,SEVERITY of illness index ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,AGE distribution ,AMYOTROPHIC lateral sclerosis ,PHYSIOLOGICAL aspects of speech ,SPEECH evaluation ,RESEARCH ,STATISTICS ,CONTINUING education ,FRENCH-Canadians ,COMPARATIVE studies ,EARLY diagnosis ,SPEECH disorders ,EVALUATION ,SYMPTOMS - Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to determine if speech and pause measures obtained using a passage reading task and timing measures from a monosyllabic diadochokinesis (DDK) task differ across speakers of Canadian French diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) presenting with and without bulbar symptoms, and healthy controls. The secondary objective was to determine if these measures can reflect the severity of bulbar symptoms. A total of 29 Canadian French speakers with ALS (classified as bulbar symptomatic [n = 14] or pre-symptomatic [n = 15]) and 17 age-matched healthy controls completed a passage reading task and a monosyllabic DDK task (/pa/ and /ta/), for up to three follow-up visits. Measures of speaking rate, total duration, speech duration, and pause events were extracted from the passage reading recordings using a semi-automated speech and pause analysis procedure. Manual analysis of DDK recordings provided measures of DDK rate and variability. Group comparisons revealed significant differences (p = <.05) between the symptomatic group and the pre-symptomatic and control groups for all passage measures and DDK rates. Only the DDK rate in /ta/ differentiated the pre-symptomatic and control groups. Repeated measures correlations revealed moderate correlations (r
rm = > 0.40; p = < 0.05) between passage measures of total duration, speaking rate, speech duration, and number of pauses, and ALSFRS-R total and bulbar scores, as well as between DDK rate and ALSFRS-R total score. Speech and pause measures in passage and timing measures in monosyllabic DDK tasks might be suitable for monitoring bulbar functional symptoms in French speakers with ALS, but more work is required to identify which measures are sensitive to the earliest stages of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2024
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