Rephrasing Messages on Demand: Effects on Speech Production in Parkinson's Disease

When faced with challenging communicative situations, people with dysarthria are commonly advised to rephrase their message, using common words and keeping sentences short and manageable. However, it remains unclear whether relevant clinical populations can implement these changes on demand. The goals of this study were to (a) identify lexical changes that occur when speakers are prompted to rephrase sentences and (b) examine how rephrasing messages affects acoustic measures of speech production and listener perceptual ratings.

Speech samples were collected from 11 speakers with Parkinson's disease and 11 age-matched adults. In a baseline condition, speakers read 29 sentences from the Natural Stories Corpus. Following this, speakers received verbal instructions on how to rephrase statements and were prompted to make each sentence easier to understand (rephrasing condition). Transcripts from both conditions were analyzed to measure lexical diversity and sophistication. Sentence-level measures of average sound pressure level, pitch variability, speech rate, pause duration, and listener ratings of ease of understanding were also investigated.

Both speaker groups were able to significantly reduce the lexical diversity and sophistication of sentences following a brief educational protocol. However, rephrased speech stimuli were not judged as easier to understand. Acoustically, rephrased stimuli were associated with greater pause durations and a reduction in average speech intensity.

Speakers, both with and without a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, can simplify their language when prompted to do so. However, it is possible that the cognitive demands associated with rephrasing language could interfere with the clarity of speech production.