Intrinsic and Co-Intrinsic Vocal Characteristics of Cerebellar and Parkinsonian Dysarthria

Intrinsic & co-intrinsic characteristics of vowels have rarely been studied in neurological dysarthria. This study evaluates parameters examining 10 "normal" subjects, four with cerebellar dysarthria acquired through a degenerative cerebellar syndrome, & four with Parkinsonian dysarthria acquired through Parkinsons disease. In addition, an intensive re-education of the type Lee Silverman (LSVT) of a Parkinsonian subject belonging to the former group was administered with an evaluation before & after the treatment. The acoustic measures estimated the duration & frequency of the vowels [a, i, u] within a variation of consonants, as well as the duration of sentences. These results show different alterations depending on the type of dysarthria & the forms of contrast transposition. The re-education of the subject with Parkinsonian dysarthria had the effect of restoring sub-normal contrasts. Adapted from the source document