Lip and tongue function differently affected in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Clinical dysarthria test scores on lip function and tongue function were compared for 77 dysarthric as well as non-dysarthric subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 15 control subjects. Results show that tongue function was significantly more severely affected than lip function in individuals with MS. Furthermore, tongue function, but not lip function, was significantly more severely affected in the MS individuals with no dysarthria compared to the control group. Test items requiring increased rate of movement (oral and verbal diadochokinesis) were significantly more severely affected than the items requiring range and force of movement, but only in the dysarthric MS subgroup. Moderate correlations were found between tongue and lip function and neurological deficit scores, number of years in disease progression, and perceptually perceived consonant and vowel precision. Consequently, tongue dysfunction can be detected clinically and subclinically using a dysarthria test procedure, and as an early sign of articulatory dysfunction it should be an early target in therapeutic interventions.

The impact of early infant jaw-orthopaedics on early speech production in toddlers with unilateral cleft lip and palate.

The purpose of study was to investigate the impact of pre-surgical Infant Orthopaedics (IO) on consonant production at 18 months of age in children with Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate (UCLP) and to compare the consonant production to that of age-matched children without clefts. The first ten children in a consecutive series of 20 with UCLP received IO and the following ten did not. Both groups had soft palate repair at 6.3 months of age. The cleft in the hard palate was unrepaired. Ten normally developing children without clefts served as controls. Nine children in each group accomplished the study. Phonetic transcriptions of consonants were made from audiotape recordings obtained during a 45-60 minute interactive session. No significant differences in the number of consonant tokens or of consonant types were found between the UCLP children with and without IO but both groups had significantly lower numbers than the control group. There was no significant difference in frequency of different manners or places of articulation of plosives between the UCLP groups. The frequency of occurrence of bilabial and dental consonant placements of plosives were significantly higher in the control group than in both UCLP groups.

Comparability of perceptual analysis of speech characteristics in Australian and Swedish speakers with multiple sclerosis.

The aims of the present study were to compare the perceptual assessments of deviant speech signs (dysarthria) exhibited by Australian and Swedish speakers with multiple sclerosis (MS) and to explore whether judgements of dysarthria differed depending on whether the speakers and the judges spoke the same or different languages. Ten Australian and 10 Swedish individuals with MS (matched as closely as possible for age, gender, progression type and severity of dysarthria) were assessed by 2 Australian and 2 Swedish clinically experienced judges using a protocol including 33 speech parameters. Results show that the following perceptual dimensions were identified by both pairs of judges in both groups of speakers to a just noticeable or moderate degree: imprecise consonants, inappropriate pitch level, reduced general rate, and glottal fry. The reliability (Spearman rank-order correlation) of the consensus ratings from the Australian and the Swedish judges was high, with a mean rho of 85.7 for the Australian speakers and mean rho of 84.3 for the Swedish speakers. The most difficult perceptual parameters to assess (i.e. to agree on) included harshness, level of pitch and loudness, precision of consonants and general stress pattern. The study indicated that perceptual assessments of speech characteristics in individuals with MS are informative and can be achieved with high inter-judge reliability irrespective of the judge's knowledge of the speaker's language.