• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Speech Rhythm Variation in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease: A Study on Different Speaking Tasks
  • Contributor: Maffia, Marta; De Micco, Rosa; Pettorino, Massimo; Siciliano, Mattia; Tessitore, Alessandro; De Meo, Anna
  • Published: Frontiers Media SA, 2021
  • Published in: Frontiers in Psychology, 12 (2021)
  • Language: Not determined
  • DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.668291
  • ISSN: 1664-1078
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) usually reveal speech disorders and, among other symptoms, the alteration of speech rhythm. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to test the validity of two acoustic parameters—%V, vowel percentage and VtoV, the mean interval between two consecutive vowel onset points—for the identification of rhythm variation in early-stage PD speech and (2) to analyze the effect of PD on speech rhythm in two different speaking tasks: reading passage and monolog. A group of 20 patients with early-stage PD was involved in this study and compared with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). The results of the acoustic analysis confirmed that %V is a useful cue for early-stage PD speech characterization, having significantly higher values in the production of patients with PD than the values in HC speech. A simple speaking task, such as the reading task, was found to be more effective than spontaneous speech in the detection of rhythmic variations.
  • Access State: Open Access