Effects on speech of chronic cerebellar stimulation in cerebral palsy

Chronic cerebellar stimulation of the anterior lobe is undertaken for relief of motor dysfunction in cerebellar palsy, but the effect on speech and vocal ability has been uncertain. The present study evaluated speech before cerebellar stimulation and during the immediate postoperative period in seven severely spastic/athetoid patients with congenital cerebral palsy and one patient with traumatic brain damage. Structured listening tasks were completed in blind fashion by a trained panel of speech pathologists. Group analysis revealed no significant improvement in speech intelligibility or articulatory accuracy after stimulation. With the exception of strain/strangle vocal quality, which improved considerably, vocal characteristics were not affected by cerebellar stimulation. In three of eight patients, however, improvement in certain speech characteristics was noted.