Abstract
This study examines intensity decay in the phonation of persons with Parkinson's disease (PD). The decline in vocal intensity (determined by linear regression of the intensity envelope) was compared across the following tasks: vowel prolongation, syllable repetition (diadochokinesis, DDK), isolated sentences and conversation. In contrast to previous studies, PD speakers demonstrated no significant differences in intensity decline from healthy speakers in vowel prolongation. The vocal intensity of speakers with PD declined more rapidly than that of controls in DDK tasks. While intensity slopes in conversation were more variable in both groups, some participants with PD exhibited abrupt changes in intensity. Results indicate that the DDK is particularly useful for describing intensity decay associated with PD. However, considering the inconsistent group differences across tasks, and the discrepant findings from previous studies, intensity decay is not a robust symptom of PD.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 28-37 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica |
Volume | 57 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2005 |
Keywords
- Dysphonia
- Hypokinetic dysarthria
- Parkinson's disease
- Vocal intensity decay
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Speech and Hearing
- LPN and LVN