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Dysarthria in individuals with Parkinson’s disease: a protocol for a binational, cross-sectional, case-controlled study in rrench and european portuguese (FraLusoPark)

Publication . Pinto, Serge; Cardoso, Rita; Sadat, Jasmin; Guimarães, Isabel; Mercier, Céline; Santos, Helena; Atkinson-Clement, Cyril; Carvalho, Joana; Welby, Pauline; Oliveira, Pedro; D’Imperio, Mariapaola; Frota, Sónia; Letanneux, Alban; Vigario, Marina; Cruz, Marisa; Martins, Isabel Pavão; Viallet, François; Ferreira, Joaquim

Introduction: Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have to deal with several aspects of voice and speech decline and thus alteration of communication ability during the course of the disease. Among these communication impairments, 3 major challenges include: (1) dysarthria, consisting of orofacial motor dysfunction and dysprosody, which is linked to the neurodegenerative processes; (2) effects of the pharmacological treatment, which vary according to the disease stage; and (3) particular speech modifications that may be language-specific, that is, dependent on the language spoken by the patients. The main objective of the FraLusoPark project is to provide a thorough evaluation of changes in PD speech as a result of pharmacological treatment and disease duration in 2 different languages (French vs European Portuguese). Methods and analysis: Individuals with PD are enrolled in the study in France (N=60) and Portugal (N=60). Their global motor disability and orofacial motor functions is assessed with specific clinical rating scales, without (OFF) and with (ON) pharmacological treatment. 2 groups of 60 healthy age-matched volunteers provide the reference for between-group comparisons. Along with the clinical examinations, several speech tasks are recorded to obtain acoustic and perceptual measures. Patient-reported outcome measures are used to assess the psychosocial impact of dysarthria on quality of life. Ethics and dissemination: The study has been approved by the local responsible committees on human experimentation and is conducted in accordance with the ethical standards. A valuable largescale database of speech recordings and metadata from patients with PD in France and Portugal will be constructed. Results will be disseminated in several articles in peer-reviewed journals and in conference presentations. Recommendations on how to assess speech and voice disorders in individuals with PD to monitor the progression and management of symptoms will be provided.

2016-10-21Journal article

Open access

(Dys)Prosody in Parkinson’s disease: effects of medication and disease progression on intonation and prosodic phrasing

Publication . Frota, Sónia; Cruz, Marisa; Cardoso, Rita; Guimarães, Isabel; Ferreira, Joaquim; Pinto, Serge; Vigário, Marina

Abstract: The phonology of prosody has received little attention in studies of motor speech disorders. The present study investigates the phonology of intonation (nuclear contours) and speech chunking (prosodic phrasing) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), as a function of medication intake and progression of the disease. Following methods of the prosodic and intonational phonology frameworks, we examined the ability of 30 PD patients to use intonation categories and prosodic phrasing structures in ways similar to 20 healthy controls to convey similar meanings. Speech data from PD patients were collected before and after a dopaminomimetic drug intake and were phonologically analyzed in relation to nuclear contours and intonational phrasing. Besides medication, disease duration and presence of motor fluctuations were also factors included in the analyses. PD patients showed a decreased ability to use nuclear contours and prosodic phrasing. Medication improved intonation regardless of disease progression, but did not help with dysprosodic phrasing. In turn, disease duration and motor fluctuations affected phrasing patterns, but had no impact on intonation. Our study demonstrated that the phonology of prosody is impaired in PD, and prosodic categories and structures may be differently affected, with implications for the understanding of PD neurophysiology and therapy.

2021Journal article

Restricted access