A Description of Phonetic, Acoustic, and Physiological Changes Associated With Improved Intelligibility in a Speaker With Spastic Dysarthria

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson Roy ◽  
Herbert A. Leeper ◽  
Michael Blomgren ◽  
Rosalea M. Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Recovery Period ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Perceptual Analysis ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder ◽  
Physiological Information ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Assessment Techniques ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Perceptual Assessment ◽  
Activation Pathways

Spastic dysarthria is a motor speech disorder produced by bilateral damage to the direct (pyramidal) and indirect (extrapyramidal) activation pathways of the central nervous system. This case report describes the recovery of an individual with severe spastic dysarthria and illustrates the close relationship between intelligibility measures and acoustic and physiological parameters. Detailed phonetic feature analyses combined with acoustic and physiological information helped to clarify (a) the loci of the intelligibility deficit, (b) the features of deviant speech whose improvement would lead to the greatest gains with treatment, and (c) the changes contributing to improvement in intelligibility observed over a 30-month treatment/recovery period. Though auditory-perceptual analysis remains the foundation of day-to-day dysarthria assessment, this case illustrates the potential for instrumental assessment to (a) supplement perceptual assessment techniques, (b) parse speech subsystem deficits, and (c) track the effects of interventions.

A Novel Protocol Designed to Treat Spastic Dysarthria Secondary to Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kristine Galek ◽  
Ed M. Bice ◽  
Katie Allen
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Range Of Motion ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Treatment Protocol ◽  
Exercise Science ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Vocal Quality ◽  
Activation Pathways

Introduction Spastic dysarthria is a motor speech disorder produced by bilateral damage to the activation pathways of the central nervous system. Its speech characteristics reflect the effects of hypertonicity and weakness of the bulbar musculature in a way that slows movement and reduces range of motion and force. Perceptually, speech has a high-pitched, strained, hypernasal vocal quality with decreased intelligibility. Purpose The purpose is to present a case illustration describing the use of a novel treatment protocol to improve speech intelligibility in the presence of spastic dysarthria. Method An underlying framework, including principles of exercise, neuroplasticity, and motor learning with adjunctive biofeedback, is described. The protocol consisted of four sessions per week for 4 weeks with daily homework. Results The participant exhibited improvements in intelligibility, patient satisfaction, lingual, and jaw range of motion, nasality, and tongue strength. Conclusion The use of a novel protocol using biofeedback and incorporating principles of exercise science, neuroplasticity, and motor learning for the treatment of spastic dysarthria demonstrated positive outcomes.

10-Effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on motor speech disorder in Parkinson’s disease

2018 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. e9
Author(s):  
L. Brabenec ◽  
J. Mekyska ◽  
Z. Galáž ◽  
P. Klobušiakova ◽  
M. Koštálová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Speech Disorder ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder

scholarly journals Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Developmental Speech Patterns. A Wide Retrospective Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3sup1) ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
Elad Vashdi ◽  
◽  
Amit Avramov ◽  
Špela Falatov ◽  
Huang Yi-Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Speech Disorder ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Childhood Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder ◽  
Speech Patterns

Patterns of a phenomenon define the entity. If one understands the patterns of the maze, he can find his way there. Patterns of colors on a dress will hold its characters and soul. Understanding the expressive patterns of a developmental syndrome enables treating it with success. It is true for treating Childhood Apraxia of speech (CAS) as well. CAS as motor-speech disorder involves difficulties in sounds production for speech purposes. The difficulties can be demonstrated in patterns that would be specific to CAS. These patterns can distinguish one phenomenon from another. A retrospective research was conducted based on 277 entry level evaluations of children diagnosed with CAS or suspected of CAS who visited a private clinic between 2006 and 2013. The analysis included speech variables alongside background and environmental variables. This article is dealing with speech patterns of children with motor speech disorder. Among the patterns examined are vowels ladder, single syllable ladder, Blowing and SSP (single sound production), Oral motor and SSP, Consonant group ladder and Consonants Exploratory factor analysis. The findings demonstrated the relationship and order of vowels, consonants and single syllables among Hebrew speaking children diagnosed with motor speech disorder. The Consonants Exploratory factor analysis gave validity to the existence of unique consonant groups. Further discussion regarding every result and its implication is included. Understanding the unique patterns of consonants and vowels strength among children with CAS can help clinicians in the decision-making process and goals targeting.

scholarly journals Estimation of Phoneme-Specific HMM Topologies for the Automatic Recognition of Dysarthric Speech

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago-Omar Caballero-Morales
Keyword(s):  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Gaussian Mixture ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder ◽  
Acoustic Modelling ◽  
Speech Database ◽  
Recognition Systems ◽  
Dysarthric Speech ◽  
Different Levels

Dysarthria is a frequently occurring motor speech disorder which can be caused by neurological trauma, cerebral palsy, or degenerative neurological diseases. Because dysarthria affects phonation, articulation, and prosody, spoken communication of dysarthric speakers gets seriously restricted, affecting their quality of life and confidence. Assistive technology has led to the development of speech applications to improve the spoken communication of dysarthric speakers. In this field, this paper presents an approach to improve the accuracy of HMM-based speech recognition systems. Because phonatory dysfunction is a main characteristic of dysarthric speech, the phonemes of a dysarthric speaker are affected at different levels. Thus, the approach consists in finding the most suitable type of HMM topology (Bakis, Ergodic) for each phoneme in the speaker’s phonetic repertoire. The topology is further refined with a suitable number of states and Gaussian mixture components for acoustic modelling. This represents a difference when compared with studies where a single topology is assumed for all phonemes. Finding the suitable parameters (topology and mixtures components) is performed with a Genetic Algorithm (GA). Experiments with a well-known dysarthric speech database showed statistically significant improvements of the proposed approach when compared with the single topology approach, even for speakers with severe dysarthria.

scholarly journals Communication Support for People with ALS

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Beukelman ◽  
Susan Fager ◽  
Amy Nordness
Keyword(s):  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Motor Speech Disorder ◽  
Speech Performance ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Almost all people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) experience a motor speech disorder, such as dysarthria, as the disease progresses. At some point, 80 to of people with ALS are unable to meet their daily communication needs using natural speech. Unfortunately, once intelligibility begins to decrease, speech performance often deteriorates so rapidly that there is little time to implement an appropriate augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention; therefore, appropriate timing of referral for AAC assessment and intervention continues to be a most important clinical decision-making issue. AAC acceptance and use have increased considerably during the past decade. Many people use AAC until within a few weeks of their deaths.

Iron and calcium in the central nervous system: a close relationship in health and sickness

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1309-1312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Pelizzoni ◽  
Romina Macco ◽  
Daniele Zacchetti ◽  
Fabio Grohovaz ◽  
Franca Codazzi
Keyword(s):  
Iron Uptake ◽  
Cytosolic Calcium ◽  
Brain Cell ◽  
Intracellular Accumulation ◽  
Cellular Functions ◽  
System A ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Iron And Calcium ◽  
Health And Sickness

Iron and calcium are required for general cellular functions, as well as for specific neuronal-related activities. However, a pathological increase in their levels favours oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage, leading to neuronal death. Neurodegeneration can thus be determined by alterations in ionic homoeostasis and/or pro-oxidative–antioxidative equilibrium, two conditions that vary significantly in different kinds of brain cell and also with aging. In the present review, we re-evaluate recent data on NTBI (non-transferrin bound iron) uptake that suggest a strict interplay with the mechanisms of calcium control. In particular, we focus on the use of common entry pathways and on the way cytosolic calcium can modulate iron entry and determine its intracellular accumulation.

scholarly journals Protective immune responses against West Nile virus are primed by distinct complement activation pathways

2006 ◽  
Vol 203 (5) ◽  
pp. 1371-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Mehlhop ◽  
Michael S. Diamond
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
West Nile Virus ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Complement Activation ◽  
Adaptive Immune Responses ◽  
Cell Responses ◽  
Adaptive Immune ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Activation Pathways

West Nile virus (WNV) causes a severe infection of the central nervous system in several vertebrate animals including humans. Prior studies have shown that complement plays a critical role in controlling WNV infection in complement (C) 3−/− and complement receptor 1/2−/− mice. Here, we dissect the contributions of the individual complement activation pathways to the protection from WNV disease. Genetic deficiencies in C1q, C4, factor B, or factor D all resulted in increased mortality in mice, suggesting that all activation pathways function together to limit WNV spread. In the absence of alternative pathway complement activation, WNV disseminated into the central nervous system at earlier times and was associated with reduced CD8+ T cell responses yet near normal anti-WNV antibody profiles. Animals lacking the classical and lectin pathways had deficits in both B and T cell responses to WNV. Finally, and somewhat surprisingly, C1q was required for productive infection in the spleen but not for development of adaptive immune responses after WNV infection. Our results suggest that individual pathways of complement activation control WNV infection by priming adaptive immune responses through distinct mechanisms.

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