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Quantitative assessment of interutterance stability: application to dysarthria
Summary
This study shows that utterance-to-utterance spectro-temporal variation (UUV) can measure motor control issues in dysarthria. UUV scores correlate with intelligibility and may become a useful clinical tool for assessing speech disorders.
Area of Science:
- Speech Science
- Neurology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Quantifying articulatory impairment in speech is crucial for understanding dysarthria.
- Novel measures are needed to accurately characterize motor stability in speech disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a new measure of motor stability, utterance-to-utterance spectro-temporal variation (UUV), for characterizing dysarthria.
- To assess the clinical utility of UUV as a reliable assessment and outcome measure.
Main Methods:
- Included 8 speakers with ataxic dysarthria (AD), 16 with hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) from Parkinson's disease, and 24 controls.
- Participants repeated sentences at habitual, fast, and slow rates.
- Measured utterance-to-utterance spectro-temporal variation (UUV), speech rate, and intelligibility.
Main Results:
- UUV scores significantly correlated with intelligibility.
- Significant differences in UUV were found between controls and AD, but not HD groups.
- All groups showed higher UUV at slower speaking rates compared to habitual and fast rates.
Conclusions:
- UUV results align with other variability indices, indicating it captures motor control issues.
- UUV shows potential as an easy-to-use clinical tool for assessing dysarthria.
- The measure could serve as a valid and reliable assessment and outcome measure for speech disorders.
