What is it about?
We assessed cognitive impairment and vowel articulation in 48 people with Parkinson's disease and 15 healthy controls on a series of speech tasks including sustained vowel sounds, a reading passage, and a picture description task. Vowel articulation was more impaired in those participants with Parkinson's disease and cognitive impairment, compared to participants with Parkinson's disease with normal cognitive function or controls. Vowel articulation in these individuals is impacted by cognitive impairment and the type of speech task.
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Why is it important?
Vowel articulation is variable in people with Parkinson's disease, and cognitive impairment may play a greater role than previously appreciated. These findings are relevant to the further development of speech-based digital biomarkers. This study may also help speech therapists personalize their approach to patients with Parkinson's disease with cognitive symptoms.
Perspectives
Vowel articulation problems in people with Parkinson's disease were previously thought to be associated with motor dysfunction of the vocal apparatus. However, our work shows that even mild cognitive impairment can have an impact on vowel articulation in individuals with Parkinson's disease when measured on more sensitive tasks.
Kara Smith
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Variability in Vowel Space in Parkinson's Disease: Associations With Cognitive and Motor Impairment, Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, September 2024, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-24-00008.
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