Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Utah State University, Logan.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2022 Jul 18;65(7):2586-2593. doi: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-21-00632. Epub 2022 Jul 5.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects bulbar functions including speech and voice. Voice onset time (VOT) was examined in speakers with ALS in early and late stages to explore the coordination of the articulatory and phonatory systems during speech production.
VOT was measured in nonword /bap/ produced by speakers with early-stage ALS ( = 11), late-stage ALS ( = 6), and healthy controls ( = 13), and compared with speech performance decline (a marker of disease progression) in ALS.
Overall comparison of the VOT values among the three groups showed a significant difference, (2,27) = 11.71, < .01. Speakers in late-stage ALS displayed longer voicing lead (negative VOT) than both healthy speakers and speakers in early-stage ALS. VOT was also significantly negatively correlated with speech performance (i.e., Intelligible Speaking Rate), (15) = .74, < .01.
Speakers with more severe ALS showed greater occurrence of voicing lead and longer voicing lead. Findings show voicing precedes articulatory onset with disease progression in the production of bilabial stops, which suggests that the relative timing of coordination between the supralaryngeal structures and the phonatory system is affected in the late stage of ALS.
肌萎缩性侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种神经退行性疾病，会影响包括言语和声音在内的延髓功能。本研究旨在探讨言语产生过程中发音和构音系统的协调性，对早期和晚期 ALS 患者的语音起始时间（VOT）进行了检测。
对早期 ALS 患者（n=11）、晚期 ALS 患者（n=6）和健康对照者（n=13）的非词 /bap/进行 VOT 测量，并与 ALS 患者的言语表现下降（疾病进展的标志物）进行比较。
三组 VOT 值的总体比较差异显著，（2,27）=11.71， <.01。与健康对照组和早期 ALS 组相比，晚期 ALS 患者的发声起始（负 VOT）更长。VOT 与言语表现（即可理解的说话率）呈显著负相关，（15）=.74， <.01。
ALS 病情越严重的患者，发声起始的发生频率越高，起始时间也越长。这些发现表明，在双唇塞音的产生中，随着疾病的进展，发声先于构音起始，这提示在 ALS 的晚期，上呼吸道结构与发音系统之间的协调相对时间受到了影响。
