ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to analyze vowel articulation across various speaking tasks in a group of 20 early Parkinson's disease (PD) individuals prior to pharmacotherapy. Vowels were extracted from sustained phonation, sentence repetition, reading passage, and monologue. Acoustic analysis was based upon measures of the first (F1) and second (F2) formant of the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, vowel space area (VSA), F2i/F2u and vowel articulation index (VAI). Parkinsonian speakers manifested abnormalities in vowel articulation across F2u, VSA, F2i/F2u, and VAI in all speaking tasks except sustained phonation, compared to 15 age-matched healthy control participants. Findings suggest that sustained phonation is an inappropriate task to investigate vowel articulation in early PD. In contrast, monologue was the most sensitive in differentiating between controls and PD patients, with classification accuracy up to 80%. Measurements of vowel articulation were able to capture even minor abnormalities in speech of PD patients with no perceptible dysarthria. In conclusion, impaired vowel articulation may be considered as a possible early marker of PD. A certain type of speaking task can exert significant influence on vowel articulation. Specifically, complex tasks such as monologue are more likely to elicit articulatory deficits in parkinsonian speech, compared to other speaking tasks.
Subject(s)
Articulation Disorders/etiology , Parkinson Disease/complications , Phonation , Phonetics , Speech Acoustics , Speech Intelligibility , Voice Quality , Acoustics , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Articulation Disorders/diagnosis , Articulation Disorders/physiopathology , Case-Control Studies , Early Diagnosis , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parkinson Disease/diagnosis , Parkinson Disease/physiopathology , Predictive Value of Tests , Sound Spectrography , Speech Perception , Speech Production Measurement , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Despite the initial reports showing beneficial effects of dopaminergic treatment on speech in Parkinson's disease (PD), more recent studies based upon valid measurements have not approved any improvement of speech performance under pharmacotherapy. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of treatment initiation on the progression of speech impairment in PD, using novel evaluation criteria. Nineteen de novo patients with PD were tested and retested within 2 years after the introduction of antiparkinsonian therapy. As controls, 19 age-matched individuals were recorded. Speech examination included sustained phonation, fast syllable repetition, reading text, and monolog. Quantitative acoustic analyses of the key aspects of speech based on Gaussian kernel distribution, statistical decision-making theory, and healthy speech observation were used to assess the improvement or deterioration of speech. A trend for speech performances to improve was demonstrated after treatment mainly in quality of voice, intensity variability, pitch variability, and articulation. The treatment-related improvement differed in various aspects of speech for individual PD patients. Improvements in vowel articulation and pitch variability correlated with treatment-related changes in bradykinesia and rigidity, whereas voice quality and loudness variability improved independently. Using a novel approach of acoustic analysis and advanced statistics, improvements in speech performance can be demonstrated in PD patients after the introduction of antiparkinsonian therapy. Moreover, changes in speech articulation and pitch variability appear to be related with dopaminergic responsiveness of bradykinesia and rigidity. Therefore, speech may be a valuable marker of disease progression and treatment efficacy in PD.
Subject(s)
Antiparkinson Agents/therapeutic use , Parkinson Disease/drug therapy , Speech Disorders/drug therapy , Speech/drug effects , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Antiparkinson Agents/pharmacology , Disease Progression , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Parkinson Disease/complications , Parkinson Disease/diagnosis , Prospective Studies , Speech Disorders/etiology , Treatment Outcome , Voice Quality/drug effectsABSTRACT
Sleep abnormalities are frequently found in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it is unclear if they are present from the initial stages of PD. We thus aimed to assess sleep disturbances in newly diagnosed PD patients. We investigated 20 untreated PD patients using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the PD Sleep Scale (PDSS). Video-polysomnography and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) were performed in 15 patients and 15 healthy controls. The ESS score was abnormally high in one patient, while short MSLT times were found in three other patients. The PSQI was higher (p < 0.05) and the PDSS lower (p < 0.001) in patients compared with controls. Video-polysomnography demonstrated a higher percentage of rapid eye movement sleep without atonia (RWA) in patients compared with controls (mean 28 vs. 2.9%, p < 0.001), whereas only one patient had clinically manifested rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). Interestingly, the occurrence of RWA correlated with the motor score (ρ = 0.65, p < 0.05). This study demonstrates that sleep disturbances emerge, in a proportion of patients, from the early stages of PD. RWA is a common finding while RBD is rarely present in early untreated PD.
