Acoustic Analysis of Speech Tasks Performed by Three Individuals with Spinocerebellar Ataxia

• Published in: Folia phoniatrica et logopaedica Vol. 56; no. 6; pp. 367 - 380
• Main Authors: Schalling, Ellika, Hartelius, Lena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland S. Karger AG 01.01.2004
• Subjects: Acoustics; Adult; Articulation Disorders; complications; diagnosis; Dysarthria; Dysarthria - diagnosis; Dysarthria - etiology; Dysarthria - physiopathology; etiology; Female; Females; Humans; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Nervous System Disorders; Original Paper; Pauses; physiopathology; Speech Acoustics; Speech Production; Speech Production Measurement; Speech Rate; Spinocerebellar Ataxias; Spinocerebellar Ataxias - complications; Spinocerebellar Ataxias - physiopathology; Stress; Syllables; Task Performance and Analysis; Ataxic dysarthria; Speech; Spinocerebellar ataxia; Acoustic analysis
• ISSN: 1021-7762; 1421-9972; 1421-9972
• DOI: 10.1159/000081084

A number of speech tasks produced by three female subjects with different types of genetically diagnosed spinocerebellar ataxia and with mild dysarthria were investigated using acoustic instrumentation. All subjects showed a number of signs of decreased speech rate, increased pause duration, increased and more variable durations of alternating motion rate, sequential motion rate syllables and inter-stress intervals in addition to vocal instability. These signs were consistent with the perceptual judgment of ataxic dysarthria. Furthermore, the severity of impairment found using these speech analysis methods seemed to correspond to the general severity of the disease and the duration of the illness in these few subjects. The tasks studied appeared to be relevant and suitable for acoustic analyses as they did reveal deviations in the speech of the subjects compared with controls.