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ERIC Number: EJ1059747
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Feb
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Muscle Weakness and Speech in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy
Neel, Amy T.; Palmer, Phyllis M.; Sprouls, Gwyneth; Morrison, Leslie
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v58 n1 p1-12 Feb 2015
Purpose: We documented speech and voice characteristics associated with oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD). Although it is a rare disease, OPMD offers the opportunity to study the impact of myopathic weakness on speech production in the absence of neurologic deficits in a relatively homogeneous group of speakers. Methods: Twelve individuals with OPMD and 12 healthy age-matched controls underwent comprehensive assessment of the speech mechanism including spirometry (respiratory support), nasometry (resonance balance), phonatory measures (pitch, loudness, and quality), articulatory measures (diadochokinetic rates, segment duration measures, spectral moments, and vowel space), tongue-to-palate strength measures during maximal isometric and speechlike tasks, quality-of-life questionnaire, and perceptual speech ratings by listeners. Results: Individuals with OPMD had substantially reduced tongue strength compared to the controls. However, little impact on speech and voice measures or on speech intelligibility was observed except for slower diadochokinetic rates. Conclusions: Despite having less than half the maximal tongue strength of healthy controls, the individuals with OPMD exhibited minimal speech deficits. The threshold of weakness required for noticeable speech impairment may not have been reached by this group of adults with OPMD.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. Tel: 800-638-8255; Fax: 301-571-0457; e-mail: subscribe@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A