Speech and Social Interaction Lab, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Speech and Feeding Disorders Lab, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Muscle Nerve. 2024 Aug;70(2):217-225. doi: 10.1002/mus.28170. Epub 2024 Jun 4.
INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Many people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (PALS) report restrictions in their day-to-day communication (communicative participation). However, little is known about which speech features contribute to these restrictions. This study evaluated the effects of common speech symptoms in PALS (reduced overall speaking rate, slowed articulation rate, and increased pausing) on communicative participation restrictions.
Participants completed surveys (the Communicative Participation Item Bank-short form; the self-entry version of the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised) and recorded themselves reading the Bamboo Passage aloud using a smartphone app. Rate and pause measures were extracted from the recordings. The association of various demographic, clinical, self-reported, and acoustic speech features with communicative participation was evaluated with bivariate correlations. The contribution of salient rate and pause measures to communicative participation was assessed using multiple linear regression.
Fifty seven people living with ALS participated in the study (mean age = 61.1 years). Acoustic and self-report measures of speech and bulbar function were moderately to highly associated with communicative participation (Spearman rho coefficients ranged from r = 0.48 to r = 0.77). A regression model including participant age, sex, articulation rate, and percent pause time accounted for 57% of the variance of communicative participation ratings.
Even though PALS with slowed articulation rate and increased pausing may convey their message clearly, these speech features predict communicative participation restrictions. The identification of quantitative speech features, such as articulation rate and percent pause time, is critical to facilitating early and targeted intervention and for monitoring bulbar decline in ALS.
简介/目的：许多肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）患者报告其日常交流（交际参与）受限。然而，目前尚不清楚哪些言语特征导致了这些限制。本研究评估了 ALS 患者常见的言语症状（总说话率降低、发音速度减慢和停顿增加）对交际参与受限的影响。
参与者完成了问卷调查（交际参与项目库-简表；修订后的 ALS 功能评定量表的自我条目版本），并用智能手机应用程序录制自己朗读《竹之通道》的声音。从录音中提取语速和停顿测量值。使用双变量相关性评估各种人口统计学、临床、自我报告和言语声学特征与交际参与的关联。使用多元线性回归评估显著的语速和停顿测量值对交际参与的贡献。
57 名 ALS 患者参与了研究（平均年龄 61.1 岁）。言语和延髓功能的声学和自我报告测量值与交际参与中度至高度相关（Spearman rho 系数范围为 r=0.48 至 r=0.77）。一个包括参与者年龄、性别、发音速度和停顿时间百分比的回归模型解释了交际参与评分 57%的方差。
尽管发音速度较慢和停顿时间增加的 ALS 患者可能能够清晰地传达信息，但这些言语特征预示着交际参与受限。识别诸如发音速度和停顿时间百分比等定量言语特征对于促进早期和有针对性的干预以及监测 ALS 延髓功能下降至关重要。
