Behavioral treatments for speech in Parkinson's disease: meta-analyses and review of the literature

• Published in: Neurodegenerative disease management Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 233 - 248
• Main Authors: Atkinson-Clement, Cyril, Sadat, Jasmin, Pinto, Serge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Future Medicine Ltd 01.06.2015; London : Future Medicine
• Series: Vol. 5 n° 3
• Subjects: Analysis; Articulation disorders; Behavior Therapy - methods; Behavioral medicine; Care and treatment; Cognitive science; Complications and side effects; dysarthria; Health aspects; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Life Sciences; Linguistics; loudness; Neurons and Cognition; Parkinson disease; Parkinson Disease - physiopathology; Parkinson Disease - therapy; Parkinson's disease; pitch; prosody; Psychology; Psychology and behavior; Risk factors; Speech; Speech Disorders - physiopathology; Speech Disorders - therapy; Speech therapy; Speech Therapy - methods; France; prosody; Parkinson's disease; pitch; speech therapy; loudness; dysarthria
• ISSN: 1758-2024; 1758-2032
• DOI: 10.2217/nmt.15.16

Parkinson's disease (PD) results from neurodegenerative processes leading to alteration of motor functions. Most motor symptoms respond well to pharmacological and neurosurgical treatments, except some axial symptoms such as speech impairment, so-called dysarthria. However, speech therapy is rarely proposed to PD patients. This review aims at evaluating previous research on the effects of speech behavioral therapies in patients with PD. We also performed two meta-analyses focusing on speech loudness and voice pitch. We showed that intensive therapies in PD are the most effective for hypophonia and can lead to some improvement of voice pitch. Although speech therapy is effective in handling PD dysarthria, behavioral speech rehabilitation in PD still needs further validation.