Diadochokinetic rate in persons with traumatic brain injury

This study examined diadochokinetic rate (DR) performance in a group of 28 traumatically brain injured (TBI) patients and their matched controls for 16 different articulatory positions in order to determine which articulatory positions distinguished between the two groups. Discriminant function analysis determined (p = 0.000) four variables ('ta', 'ba', 'da' and 'ch') as resulting in the successful classification of 82.2% of the subjects. This implies that this subset of variables is adequate for determining DR in this population. The test-retest reliability (ICC) was also established in a group of 12 subjects and their matched controls. The ICCs ranged from 0.12 to 0.93 for the TBI subjects with 13 of 16 variables > 0.60.