Comparison of speech and swallowing function in patients with tremor disorders and in normal geriatric patients: a cinefluorographic study.

In a study of vocal tract and esophageal function during speech and swallowing, unmedicated Parkinson patients were found to have specific disorders in oral and esophageal stages of deglutition and a predictable sequence of deterioration in speech. To determine whether these disorders are exclusive to parkinsonism or are typical of all patients with tremor or of geriatric patients in general, a cinefluoroscopic study was initiated to examine the physiology of speech and swallowing in these other patients. Subjects were 10 normal geriatric patients and 10 patients with essential tremor. Results of the studies for these two groups were compared with data from earlier studies on unmedicated Parkinson patients. Parkinson patients showed most severely disordered swallowing and speech function. Patients with essential tremor showed only slight slowing in esophageal transit during swallowing and vocal tremor during speech, but no progressive deterioration. Normal geriatric patients revealed no swallowing or speech disturbances.