Perceptual Training for People With Parkinson's Disease

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Psychology

Background:

• Peer support is crucial for individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD), aiding social engagement.
• Mutual intelligibility in speech is vital for effective peer support, especially with hypokinetic dysarthria in PD.
• Limited research exists on how individuals with PD perceive dysarthric speech, despite known speech production challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of a listener-focused perceptual training protocol for individuals with PD.
• To determine if perceptual training can improve intelligibility of dysarthric speech for listeners with PD.
• To assess if speech perception changes in PD limit the efficacy of perceptual training.

Main Methods:

• A Phase 1 trial employed a pretest-training-posttest design.
• Ninety-three participants were divided into three groups: adults with PD, age-matched neurotypical (NT) adults, and younger NT adults.
• Intelligibility was measured by word recognition accuracy using speech from a speaker with PD-induced hypokinetic dysarthria.

Main Results:

• All listener groups showed significant intelligibility improvements after perceptual training.
• The magnitude of improvement in the PD group was statistically similar to both NT groups.
• This suggests that individuals with PD can benefit from perceptual training.

Conclusions:

• Listener-focused perceptual training is effective for individuals with PD, challenging assumptions of impaired perceptual learning.
• The training protocol can be successfully adapted for people with PD.
• Findings have significant clinical implications for improving communication and peer support in PD communities.