Arora, S., Visanji, N. P., Mestre, T. A., Tsanas, A., AlDakheel, A., Connolly, B. S., Gasca-Salas, C., Kern, D. S., Jain, J., Slow, E. J., Faust-Socher, A., Lang, A. E., Little, M. A., and Marras, C.
We investigate the potential association between leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) mutations and voice. Sustained phonations ('aaah' sounds) were recorded from 7 individuals with LRRK2-associated Parkinson's disease (PD), 17 participants with idiopathic PD (iPD), 20 non-manifesting LRRK2-mutation carriers, 25 related non-carriers, and 26 controls. In distinguishing LRRK2-associated PD and iPD, the mean sensitivity was 95.4% (SD 17.8%) and mean specificity was 89.6% (SD 26.5%). Voice features for non-manifesting carriers, related non-carriers, and controls were much less discriminatory. Vocal deficits in LRRK2-associated PD may be different than those in iPD. These preliminary results warrant longitudinal analyses and replication in larger cohorts, Comment: 27 pages including supplemental information, Journal of Parkinson's Disease, 2018