Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 21, 2025
A Multi-Modal Approach to Assessing Recovery in Youth Athletes Following Concussion
Published on: September 25, 2014
Sports Related Concussion Impacts Speech Rate and Muscle Physiology
Russell E Banks1,2, Deryk S Beal2,3, Eric J Hunter1
1Michigan State University, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Objective:
Establish objective and subjective speech rate and muscle function differences between athletes with and without sports related concussion (SRC) histories and provide potential motor speech evaluation in SRC.
Methods:
Over 1,110 speech samples were obtained from 30, 19-22 year-old athletes who had sustained an SRC within the past 2 years and 30 pair-wise matched control athletes with no history of SRC. Speech rate was measured via average time per syllable, average unvoiced time per syllable, and expert perceptual judgment. Speech muscle function was measured via surface electromyography over the obicularis oris, masseter, and segmental triangle. Group differences were assessed using MANOVA, bootstrapping and predictive ROC analyses.
Results:
Athletes with SRC had slower speech rates during DDK tasks than controls as evidenced by longer average time per syllable longer average unvoiced time per syllable and expert judgment of slowed rate. Rate measures were predictive of concussion history. Further, athletes with SRC required more speech muscle activation than controls to complete DDK tasks.
Conclusion:
Clear evidence of slowed speech and increased muscle activation during the completion of DDK tasks in athletes with SRC histories relative to controls. Future work should examine speech rate in acute concussion.
