ABSTRACT
Objective:To observe the effect of auditory discrimination training on dysarthria of children. Methods:From July, 2017 to July, 2019, 43 children with dysarthria were randomly divided into control group (n = 21) and treatment group (n = 22). The control group received routine speech training for 30 minutes a day, while the the treatment group spent ten minutes out of 30 minutes for auditory discrimination training, for four weeks. They were tested the articulation and speech intelligibility before and after treatment. Results:Both the percentage of consonants correct and speech intelligibility increased in the treatment group after treatment (t > 7.919, P < 0.001), but only the percentage of consonants correct increased in the control group (t = 7.047, P < 0.001). Conclusion:Auditory discrimination training can promote the outcome of children with dysarthria, which can be as a routine part of training for them.
ABSTRACT
Dysarthria is a group of nerological speech disorder, which occurred in about 20%-30% after stroke, or 10%-60% after traumatic brain injury. The assessment of speech intelligibility is a necessary part of the evaluation of dysarthria, which can be used to communicate the patients' condition with their relations, and also in treatment planning, evaluating the communication performance and the treatment effects. The methods used to assess intelligibility can be divided into two groups: scaling methods and item identification methods. They are also divided into non-standard and standard methods based on whether a standard assessment or not. Scaling methods include interval scales, Direct Magnitude Estimation (DME), Speech Sample Pairs Scaling, Percentage Estimates, and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), etc. The item identification methods mainly include: Word Intelligibility Test, Chinese Speech Intelligibility Test, Chinese Speech Intelligibility Test Character List, Chinese Articulation Ability Test Word List, Sentence Intelligibility Test, Assessment of Intelligibility in Dysarthric Speakers (AIDS) and Speech Intelligibility Test (SIT) software. Among them, AIDS and SIT softwares are comprehensively standardized assessments. There are few methods can be used in China. The literatures on intelligibility assessment in the past ten years were reviewed.