Electromagnetic articulography assessment of articulatory function in adults with dysarthria following traumatic brain injury.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

To explore articulatory kinematic differences between normal and dysarthric speakers post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) during syllable and sentence productions.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A comparison between the control, mild (MTBI) and severe TBI groups for all measured kinematic parameters was carried out using the Kruskal Wallis test.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Ten participants with a severe TBI and six post-MTBI formed the experimental group. The control group consisted of 14 age and sex matched non-neurologically impaired speakers. Articulatory kinematic profiles for the three groups were obtained using the Electromagnetic Articulograph (EMA) while repeating sentence and syllable embedded /t/ and /k/ productions at a habitual rate and loudness level.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

Significant differences between the severe TBI and control group were identified only for the release phase of the /t/ sentence productions wherein an increase in mean maximum acceleration was observed for the severe TBI group.

CONCLUSIONS

While a simple syllable repetition task at a moderate rate was unable to differentiate the three groups, a complex sentence production task precipitated an increase in mean maximum acceleration which may be indicative of increased articulatory effort and impaired speech motor control even at a convenient rate for the severe group.