Articulatory Underpinnings of Reduced Acoustic–Phonetic Contrasts in Individuals With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

What is it about?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular disease that results in the progressive deterioration of muscle function across body regions. This progressive deterioration results in speech impairments in most patients. Speech movements become slower and smaller, which diminish the contrasts between different speech sounds and culminate in a decline of functional speech. This study uses a multimodal approach combining acoustic and oral-facial motion tracking to investigate the acoustic and articulatory contrasts between a list of carefully designed minimal word pairs targeting different phonetic deficits (e.g., vowel distortion, consonant imprecision) in individuals with ALS. Based on these data, an explanatory relationship is established between the acoustic and articulatory deficits in ALS.

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Why is it important?

The loss of functional speech is considered the worst aspect of ALS according to a patient survey. While global modifications of speaking style, such as manipulating speech rate or loudness, are commonly utilized to improve the functional speech outcomes, the effects have been found to be largely inconsistent. By identifying and linking the acoustic and articulatory deficits underlying functional speech decline in ALS, our findings provide important information to assist clinicians with developing targeted management strategies for their patients, in order to improve and prolong their functional speech.