Rhythmic Entrainment in Bilingual Speakers With Dysarthria

Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York

Status: Terminated

Conditions: Ataxia; Parkinson Disease

Treatments: Behavioral: Auditory; Behavioral: Gestures

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03645265

2017-0851

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

Full description

The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

The protocol calls for 12 talkers to participate in a single case experimental design: 6 Spanish-accented speakers of English and 6 native English speakers, and each language group consisting of 2 healthy controls, 2 adults diagnosed with ataxic dysarthria and 2 adults diagnosed with hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Sixty monolingual healthy adult listeners will rate intelligibility, accentedness, and ease of understanding.

Enrollment: 6 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 21+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (4) or dysarthria secondary to ataxia (4) or healthy (4)
• monolingual speaker of American English (6) or native speaker of Spanish who speaks English with a Spanish accent (6)
• age 21 or older

Exclusion criteria

• Cognitive impairment that prevents participation in the therapy
• Fluent speakers of languages other than English or Spanish
• younger than 21 years

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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6 participants in 2 patient groups

Gestures

Experimental group

Description:

Use of hand gestures to improve speech rhythm and speech production

Treatment:

Behavioral: Gestures

Auditory

Experimental group

Description:

Use of auditory cues to improve speech rhythm and speech production

Treatment:

Behavioral: Auditory