Abstract

The speech of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) is typically characterized as lacking in proper prosody because of its monopitch and monoloud quality, in addition to its reduced intensity. These qualities make it difficult for others to understand speakers with PD. The purpose of the current study was to identify what individuals with PD would do vocally, if anything at all, to improve speech production following a simulated misunderstanding of what they had just said. The study evaluated the performance of 5 individuals with PD and compared their performance to 5 age- and sex-matched controls. Specifically, measures of vocal intensity (loudness), fundamental frequency (pitch), and utterance duration were made for repetitions of a ‘misheard’ phrase. In one experimental condition noise was presented through headphones to induce the Lombard effect. Both individuals with PD and controls used increased duration as a means of enhancing clarity in a repetition. Fundamental frequency (F0) and sound pressure level (SPL) were not consistently modified in repetitions for clarification. Under most speaking conditions, individuals with PD and controls had similar F0 and SPL. Individuals with PD, like the controls, responded to the presentation of masking noise by increasing their fundamental frequency and their intensity. Therefore, not all individuals with PD exhibit difficulty using prosody.

Degree

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Communication Disorders

Rights

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