Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Parkinson Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the function of the basal ganglia, which affects both speech and non-speech movements.Examining silent intervals may be an important diagnostic feature of speech impairment severity, because a number of studies indicate individuals with PD exhibit differences in the proportion, frequency, and duration of pause as compared to control speakers.The goal of the current investigation was to determine the extent to which silent intervals in the speech of individuals with PD differ from healthy controls relative to linguistic and phonemic contexts.Silent intervals as short as 15 ms in duration were identified in speech samples of speakers with and without PD.Each interval was categorized relative to the surrounding syntactic and phonemic environment.Compared to control speakers, individuals with PD exhibited significantly longer silent intervals between words at locations that were syntactically unrelated.Additionally, silent intervals that were preceded by a stop or followed by a fricative or sonorant were significantly longer for speakers with PD than controls.Finally, speakers with PD produced significantly fewer stop gaps than controls.The results of this study indicate that individuals with PD exhibit differences in the distribution of silent intervals related to phonemic, rather than linguistic boundaries, likely reflecting deficits in speech motor timing associated with PD.
Author: Anna C. Gravelin
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Language: English
Topic: Voice and Speech Disorders
Subfield: Speech and Hearing
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2747726033