METHOD: The participants ranged from 3 years 3 months to 4 years 9 months at the start of the study. Beyond-clinic speech samples were obtained at 1 month and 1 week pretreatment and immediately post-Stage 1, and at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months post-Stage 1.
RESULTS: Two participants, who were bilingual, achieved near-zero levels of stuttering at 12 months posttreatment. Near zero levels of stuttering were also present in their untreated languages. One participant withdrew due to reasons not connected with the research or treatment. The remaining participant, who presented with severe stuttering, completed Stage 1 but had some relapse in Stage 2 and demonstrated mild stuttering 12 months post-Stage 1.
CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes were achieved without the need to significantly adapt Lidcombe Program procedures to Malaysian culture. Further research to continue evaluation of the Lidcombe Program with Malaysian families and to estimate proportion of those who will respond is warranted.
AIMS: To explore the effect of gender, stimuli type and PD status and their interactions on the O-DDK rates among Malaysian-Malay speakers.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: O-DDK performance of 62 participants (29 individuals with PD and 33 healthy elderly) using a non-word ('pataka'), a Malay real-word ('patahkan') and an English real-word ('buttercake') was audio recorded. The number of syllables produced in 8 s was counted. A hierarchical linear modelling was performed to investigate the effects of stimuli type (non-word, Malay real-word, English real-word), PD status (yes, no), gender (male, female) and their interactions on the O-DDK rate. The model accounted for participants' age as well as the nesting of repeated measurements within participants, thereby providing unbiased estimates of the effects.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: The stimuli effect was significant (p < 0.0001). Malay real-word showed the lowest O-DDK rate (5.03 ± 0.11 syllables/s), followed by English real-word (5.25 ± 0.11 syllables/s) and non-word (5.42 ± 0.11 syllables/s). Individuals with PD showed a significantly lower O-DDK rate compared to healthy elderly (4.73 ± 0.15 syllables/s vs. 5.74 ± 0.14 syllables/s, adjusted p < 0.001). A subsequent analysis indicated that the O-DDK rate declined in a quadratic pattern. However, neither gender nor age effects were observed. Additionally, no significant two-way interactions were found between stimuli type, PD status and gender (all p > 0.05). Therefore, the choice of stimuli type has no or only limited effect considering the use of O-DDK tests in clinical practice for diagnostic purposes.
CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The observed slowness in O-DDK among individuals with PD can be attributed to the impact of the movement disorder, specifically bradykinesia, on the physiological aspects of speech production. Speech-language pathologists can gain insights into the impact of PD on speech production and tailor appropriate intervention strategies to address the specific needs of individuals with PD according to disease stages.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject The observed slowness in O-DDK rates among individuals with PD may stem from the movement disorder's effects on the physiological aspects of speech production, particularly bradykinesia. However, there is a lack of consistent evidence regarding the influence of real-word repetition and how O-DDK rates vary across different PD stages. What this study adds to existing knowledge The O-DDK rates decline in a quadratic pattern as the PD progresses. The research provides insights into the advantage of real-word repetition in assessing O-DDK rates, with Malay real-word showing the lowest O-DDK rate, followed by English real-word and non-word. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Speech-language pathologists can better understand the evolving nature of speech motor impairments as PD progresses. This insight enables them to design targeted intervention strategies that are sensitive to the specific needs and challenges associated with each PD stage. This finding can guide clinicians in selecting appropriate assessment tools for evaluating speech motor function in PD patients.
AIMS: The study aimed to compare the size and nature of the phonetic inventory, the proportion of consonants, vowels and syllable structure types amongst Tamil-speaking children with TD and LTs around 24 months.
METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The study included 68 Tamil-speaking children, comprising 34 LTs and 34 age- and gender-matched TD children. All children were born preterm and were assessed after their second birthdays as per their adjusted age for prematurity (M = 24.38 months; SD = 1.45). Language samples were recorded during free play and interaction with the caregiver. The transcription of children's spontaneous speech was subjected to independent analyses of speech to derive the phonological characteristics.
OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: LTs produced a significantly lower phonetic inventory (Mdn = 8.5) than TD children (Mdn = 15.5). Only consonants /p/ and /m/ were produced by 90% of Tamil-speaking LTs. In comparison, 90% of TD children produced a wide range of consonants over different manners of articulation, including nasals, semi-vowels and stops. Tamil's retroflex consonants and geminate clusters emerged early in TD children's productions; fricatives and affricates were limited. LTs produced a significantly higher proportion of front vowels and a significantly lower proportion of mid- and back vowels than TD children. Syllable structures produced by LTs predominantly consisted of monosyllables and reduplicated syllables compared to TD children's wide range of complex structures.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The data contribute to an emerging database on early phonological development in Tamil as spoken in Tamil Nadu, India. Observations from 2-year-old LTs and TD children speaking Tamil revealed similarities with English (bilabials, alveolar stops, disyllable and monosyllable production) and differences in line with distinct phonological characteristics of Tamil (lesser production of fricatives, back vowels and closed syllables). The study provides clinical information relevant to the assessment and intervention of young children with phonological and lexical delays.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Research from English and other Indo-European languages has revealed bidirectional relationships between phonological and lexical development, as evidenced by findings from typically developing (TD) children and children with language delays. Children identified as Late talkers (LTs) at 2 years of age demonstrate limited phonetic inventory and syllable shapes compared to TD children. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The current study is the first to report on the size and nature of the phonetic inventory, the proportion of consonants, vowels and syllable structure types amongst Tamil-speaking children born preterm who were TD and late-talking. There are considerable differences in TD children's and late talkers' early phonological abilities. The characteristics of Tamil influenced the phonological skills of both groups of children as the ambient language of exposure. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The study contributes to the much-needed data corpus on early phonological skills, specifically the phonetic inventory and syllable structures from Tamil-speaking children. The data will aid in the identification of delays and atypical patterns in phonological development amongst children learning to speak Tamil. The information will guide intervention programs for children with early language delays. The findings strengthen existing cross-linguistic research on the relationship between early phonological skills and lexical development amongst children.
METHOD: A set of three psychophysics conditions of hearing (critical band spectral estimation, equal loudness hearing curve, and the intensity loudness power law of hearing) is used to estimate the auditory spectrum. The auditory spectrum and all-pole models of the auditory spectrums are computed and analyzed and used in a Gaussian mixture model for an automatic decision.
RESULTS: In the experiments using the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary database, an ACC of 99.56% is obtained for pathology detection, and an ACC of 93.33% is obtained for the pathology classification system. The results of the proposed systems outperform the existing running-speech-based systems.
DISCUSSION: The developed system can effectively be used in voice pathology detection and classification systems, and the proposed features can visually differentiate between normal and pathological samples.
METHOD: Electromyographic (EMG) signals of the orbicularis oris superior [OOS], orbicularis oris inferior [OOI] and depressor labii inferioris [DLI] were recorded during syllable production and expressed as polar-phase notations.
RESULT: PD participants exhibited the general features of reciprocity between OOS, OOI and DLI muscles as reflected in the EMG during syllable production. The control group showed significantly higher integrated EMG amplitude ratio in the DLI:OOS muscle pairs than PD participants. No speech rate effects were found in EMG muscle reciprocity and amplitude magnitude across all muscle pairs.
CONCLUSION: Similar patterns of muscle reciprocity in PD and controls suggest that corticomotoneuronal output to the facial nucleus and respective perioral muscles is relatively well-preserved in our cohort of mild idiopathic PD participants. Reduction of EMG amplitude ratio among PD participants is consistent with the putative reduction in the thalamocortical activation characteristic of this disease which limits motor cortex drive from generating appropriate commands which contributes to bradykinesia and hypokinesia of the orofacial mechanism.