Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica最新文献

{"title":"Impact of Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation on Oral Moisture in Older Adults with and without Xerostomia: A Pilot Study.","authors":"Ali Barikroo, Lauren Falter","doi":"10.1159/000543814","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000543814","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Xerostomia, or dry mouth, is a prevalent and distressing oral health condition in older adults that is associated with reduced swallow frequency, thereby increasing the risk of dysphagia and aspiration pneumonia in this cohort. This pseudo-experimental study investigated the association between transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) and changes in perceived oral moisture, as well as the function of major and minor salivary glands in two groups of older adults, including those with and without xerostomia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ten older adults with self-reported xerostomia and 7 control participants were exposed to two conditions: no TES and motor TES. TES electrodes were placed on cheeks and submental areas, targeting the parotid, submandibular, and sublingual salivary glands. Participants watched a silent nature movie while receiving continuous TES (only for active TES condition) for 15 min while swallowing sounds were recorded using a microphone attached under the cricoid cartilage. Changes in key outcome measures, including perceived oral moisture (measured by a visual analog scale) along with major and minor salivary glands function (measured by stimulated swallow frequency rate and Periotron) were assessed in response to TES.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The findings indicated that TES increased stimulated swallow frequency rate in both groups (F(1,13) = 9.813, p < 0.008, ηp2 = 0.430). Additionally, the perceived oral moisture measures were only improved for patients with xerostomia (F(1,13) = 5.155, p < 0.041, ηp2 = 0.284). However, no significant changes were noted in minor salivary gland flow rate measures.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These preliminary findings suggest an association between TES and increased objective major salivary gland function in both groups and perceived oral moisture in patients with xerostomia. However, due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, further research involving larger cohorts and controlled designs, and follow up is necessary to understand the mechanisms and potential therapeutic effects of TES on xerostomia.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143537049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Screening Voice Disorders: Acoustic Voice Quality Index, Cepstral Peak Prominence, and Machine Learning.","authors":"Ahmed M Yousef, Adrián Castillo-Allendes, Mark L Berardi, Juliana Codino, Adam D Rubin, Eric J Hunter","doi":"10.1159/000544852","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000544852","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and Smoothed Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPPs) have been reported to effectively support the assessment of voice quality in persons seeking voice care across many languages. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of these two measures in detecting voice disorders in American English speakers, comparing their performance to machine learning (ML) models.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective study included a cohort of 187 participants: 138 patients with clinically diagnosed voice disorders and 49 vocally healthy individuals. Each participant completed two voicing tasks: sustaining [a:] vowel and producing a running speech sample, which were then concatenated. These samples were analyzed using VOXplot software for AVQI-3 (version 03.01) and CPPs. Additionally, four ML models (random forest, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machine, and decision tree) were trained for comparison. The diagnostic accuracy of the two measures and models was assessed using various evaluation metrics, including receiver operating characteristic curve and Youden Index.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A cutoff score of 1.54 for the AVQI-3 (with 55% sensitivity and 80% specificity) and 14.35 dB for CPPs (with 65% sensitivity and 78% specificity) were identified for detecting voice disorders. Compared to an average ML sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 55%, CPPs offered a better balance between sensitivity and specificity, outperforming AVQI-3 and nearly matching the average ML performance.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>ML shows great potential for supporting voice disorder diagnostics, especially as models become more generalizable and easier to interpret. However, current tools like AVQI-3 and CPPs remain more practical and accessible for clinical use in evaluating voice quality than commonly implemented models. CPPs, in particular, offers distinct advantages for identifying voice disorders, making it a recommended and feasible choice for clinics with limited resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143482558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development and validation of a Japanese outcome tool for perceptual assessment of speech in patients with cleft palate.","authors":"Yuko Ogata, Masahiro Tezuka, Yuri Fujiwara, Yoshiko Takei, Chihiro Sugiyama, Masayuki Hirose, Akiko Sato, Ako Imamura, Keiko Suzuki, Satoko Imai, Yukari Yamashita, Toko Hayakawa, Sachiyo Hasegawa, Yoko Mizuto","doi":"10.1159/000544775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1159/000544775","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The lack of a standardized evaluation method for cleft palate speech makes it difficult to exchange information at the domestic and global levels. We aimed to develop and validate a Japanese outcome tool for the perceptual assessment of speech in patients with cleft palate.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The tool we developed was based on the Cleft Audit Protocol for Speech-Augmented (CAPS-A) with modifications to some speech parameters. We developed Japanese speech samples and parameters for the Japanese Cleft Speech Outcome Tool (CAPS-A-Japan: CAPS-A-JP). This study was conducted in the Japancleft speech working group at the Japanese Cleft Palate Association. In Phase 1, we constructed and developed the speech sampling protocol. In Phase 2, After the revision of the definitions and criteria for several cleft speech characteristics and the speech sample, a total of 20 audio recordings were tested. In Phase 3, criterion validity was assessed by comparing the CAPS-A-JP resonance outcomes reported for 40 cases with the outcomes of the clinical investigations. In Phase 4, a listening experiment with six Japanese speech-language-hearing therapists was conducted twice to test the intra- and inter-rater reliabilities for 20 cases. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to analyze reliability.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean percentage agreement on criterion validity for resonance was 71% on high-pressure sentences but 54% on low-pressure sentences. The inter-rater reliability was rated moderate/good (ICC: 0.45-0.80), except for developmental immaturities/errors that were rated fair. The ICC was very low or incalculable for hyponasality and syllable error patterns because there were few cases of hyponasality and syllable errors. The intra-rater reliability was rated as good/very good. The ICC was very low or incalculable in hyponasality, nasal emission, and syllable error patterns.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The standardized outcome tool, CAPS-A-JP, was developed for the first time in Japan. Future research is required to optimize this tool based on the inclusion of a training protocol.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-25"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143440268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validation of an Arabic Questionnaire to Assess Pediatric Behavioral Feeding Disorders.","authors":"Yasmein Helal, Elham Kadri, Omayma Afsah, Tamer Abou-Elsaad","doi":"10.1159/000543945","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543945","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Behavioral feeding assessment allows for identifying the nature and the cause of abnormal feeding behaviors during mealtime, making prognostic predictions, and creating effective treatment plans. This study aimed to develop and validate an Arabic questionnaire to assess abnormal feeding behaviors among Arabic-speaking children.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Mansoura Pediatric Eating Assessment Scale (MPEAS) was developed and administered to the parents of 100 Arabic-speaking children aged 1-5, including 50 typically developing children without feeding problems and 50 children with abnormal feeding behaviors. The scale includes 40 items in four subdomains (feeding skills, mealtime circumstances, child behavior, and parent behavior). Scoring was based on a 4-point Likert scale, with lower scores indicating greater impairment. Standardized procedures were used to develop and validate the MPEAS, including the items generation phase, pilot study, validation, and reliability testing.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>MPEAS demonstrated excellent validity (face, content, discriminant, predictive, and convergent) and reliability.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>MPEAS is a valid, reliable, and easily applicable tool for assessing behavioral feeding problems in Arabic-speaking children. This sensitive and specific tool has the potential to significantly improve the screening and treatment of behavioral feeding problems among Arabic-speaking children, offering hope for better outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143413892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Treatment Effects of Combined Transoral Injection Laryngoplasty with Short Voice Therapy in Patients with Unilateral Vocal Fold Immobility: A Pilot Study.","authors":"Silvan Marti, Joerg E Bohlender, Meike Brockmann-Bauser","doi":"10.1159/000544718","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000544718","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Injection laryngoplasty (IL) in combination with short voice therapy (SVT) has been recommended in unilateral vocal fold immobility (UVFI). This pilot study investigated functional voice changes, age, and time-to-treatment effects in UVFI after transoral IL with hyaluronic acid and SVT.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Seventeen adults with UVFI (mean age: 61 years) were retrospectively analyzed. Outcome measures were the Voice Handicap Index 9i (VHI-9i), perceptual Grading-Roughness-Breathiness-Asthenia-Strain (GRBAS) Scale, voice range profiles (VRP) of the speaking, calling, and singing voice, maximum phonation time, jitter, and the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI). t tests and Wilcoxon tests evaluated treatment effects; age and time-to-treatment effects on the magnitude of change were assessed by Spearman's correlation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There were significant improvements in VHI-9i and GRBAS scale overall grade of dysphonia, roughness, breathiness, and asthenia. Mean speaking and mean calling sound pressure level (SPL), maximum singing SPL, and mean calling fundamental frequency (f0) increased, while the DSI and jitter improved. Time-to-treatment significantly affected the magnitude of change in mean speaking and maximum singing SPL, singing SPL range, jitter, and DSI; age influenced minimum speaking f0 only.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Transoral IL with SVT significantly improves subjective, perceptual, and instrumental acoustic voice outcomes in UVFI. Improvement of speaking and calling VRP after IL has not been previously documented. Our findings suggest that early treatment is beneficial for mean speaking loudness, maximum singing SPL, singing SPL range, jitter, and the DSI. More research is needed to examine the influence of time-to-treatment and age, and also to what extent SVT contributes to treatment effects.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143413889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of Systematic Effortful Swallowing Exercise on the Activation Level of the Submental Muscles and Tongue Strength in Older Adults.","authors":"Jong-Chi Oh","doi":"10.1159/000544047","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000544047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Effortful swallowing (ES) is known to significantly increase the activity of the submental muscles, including the suprahyoid muscles, which play an important role in elevating the hyoid bone and larynx during swallowing and contributing to the opening of the upper esophageal sphincter. However, inconsistent results have been reported regarding the long-term effects of ES exercise in increasing the submental muscle activity. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of a 6-week systematic ES exercise program on the activation level of the submental muscle and tongue strength.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The study included 31 healthy older adults (mean age, 75.4 ± 4.68 y; range, 65-82 y). The exercise consisted of 10 repetitions per set, wherein one session comprised 7 sets. In sets 1-3, gradual isometric tongue pressing exercises of 60%, 80%, and 100% were performed based on the maximal isometric pressure (MIP) of the posterior oral tongue; in sets 4-7, gradual swallowing exercises were performed at 60% and 80% intensities. Resistance and biofeedback were provided to the posterior oral tongue during exercise using Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI). Each session lasted 30 min, and the exercise was performed twice a week for a total of 6 weeks. The effects of exercise on submental muscle activity (measured using surface electromyography) and tongue pressure-related variables (measured using IOPI) were verified using paired t tests at baseline and week 7.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>After 6 weeks of strengthening exercise, the maximal activity of the submental muscles during ES, anterior and posterior oral tongue MIP, typical swallowing and ES pressure, and posterior oral tongue endurance significantly increased compared to those at baseline (p < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The ES exercise program, which was structured by systematically adopting exercise principles related to strength training, significantly improved the swallowing-related muscle strength of healthy older adults. It is suggested that this effect was caused by systematic warm-up exercises applied prior to performing strengthening exercises for swallowing-related muscles, resistance and biofeedback provision using IOPI during main exercise, and provision of sufficient rest time between sets. Further research is needed to systematically examine the effects of variables related to the composition of exercise programs.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143382037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Psychometric Evaluation of the Stuttering Anticipation Scale in Turkish.","authors":"Halil Tayyip Uysal, Nazmiye Atila-Caglar, Ibrahim Erensoy, Aysen Kose, Eric S Jackson","doi":"10.1159/000543912","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543912","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Anticipation is a covert aspect of stuttering that plays a crucial role in the lives of adults who stutter (AWS). It can influence anxiety levels or provide an opportunity for self-regulation. For assessing anticipation in stuttering, the Stuttering Anticipation Scale (SAS) was developed. This study aimed to develop a Turkish version of the SAS (SAS-TR) and evaluate its validity and reliability.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Ninety-four AWS (aged 18-40 years) participated in the study. They completed SAS-TR and demographic information form either face-to-face or online. The internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of the SAS-TR were assessed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was also conducted as part of the construct validity evaluation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The SAS-TR scale demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.947) and high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.973). SAS-TR total score and its subdimensions showed acceptable to high positive correlations among themselves (ranging from r = 0.209 to r = 0.962). Factor loadings for the SAS-TR items ranged between 0.572 and 0.899, exceeding 0.300 and indicating suitability for EFA.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The SAS-TR exhibits valid and reliable properties for Turkish-speaking AWS. It is recommended for use in both research and clinical settings to enhance understanding of anticipatory behaviors in this population.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143188706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functionality and Quality of Life within the Speech-Language Pathology Assessment Context: Analysis from the Structural Equation Modeling Perspective.","authors":"Marina Garcia de Souza Borges, Adriane Mesquita de Medeiros, Stela Maris Aguiar Lemos","doi":"10.1159/000543862","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543862","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Quality of life and functionality are relevant in an approach based on the biopsychosocial model. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the influence of clinical, sociodemographic, and functionality aspects on the quality of life of children and adolescents undergoing speech-language evaluation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This is a cross-sectional analytical observational study conducted with 84 Brazilian children and adolescents. The Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0™ were applied, and data were collected on sex, complaints, SPL diagnostic hypothesis, as well as on the Body Functions, Activities and Participation, and Environmental Factors components of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF). Factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used for data analysis, with a 5% significance level applied to the final models.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Male sex and clinical-care variables had a direct and negative influence on functionality in the first two models (p < 0.05). Activities and Participation had a positive direct effect on self-reported quality of life (p = 0.031; β = 0.282) and parent/caregiver-reported quality of life (p = 0.003; β = 0.387). Parent-reported quality of life was negatively influenced by complaints of orofacial motricity alterations, while self-reported quality of life was positively influenced by the diagnostic hypothesis of speech disorders.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The results show that sex and clinical-care complaints negatively influenced functionality, while Activities and Participation positively influenced quality of life. The use of structural equation modeling proved to be an important strategy for analyzing ICF and quality of life in SLP practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143122517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Syntactic Scrambling in Broca's Aphasia: A Turkish Sample.","authors":"Berkay Arslan, Müge Müzeyyen Çiyiltepe, Müzeyyen Karaman","doi":"10.1159/000543595","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543595","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Broca's aphasia (BA) is a language disorder that causes grammatical errors in the language production skills of patients. Contemporary studies revealed the fact that patients with BA (PBA) also have difficulty in analyzing the meaning of phrases and sentences and comprehending the real meaning of the discourse produced by the speaker. The purpose of this study was to investigate possible effect of syntactic movement by changing the word positions in the sentence with morphological markers in order to produce clauses without changing the meaning on the phrasal comprehension skills of Turkish-speaking patients with BA.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 300 participants were divided as study (n = 150) and control (n = 150) groups between ages of 27-89. A test that included 20 relative clauses and 9 noun clauses (in total 29 phrases) was assigned to the PBA and the control group (CG). Relative clause phrases originated from simple sentences by adding suffixes to the verb as a function of Turkish morphology. Each suffix indicated a specific noun, object, or subject, and each figure in the test was related to one of them. A researcher asked participants to match the demanded clause with the 6 possibly related pictures for relative clause and 3 for noun clauses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Findings indicated that BA patients in our study had a lack of comprehending relative clauses due to the syntactic movement of words in the object and subject positions. Compared to the responses of the CG, PBA had significantly lower scores when the object and subject positions have moved from their original positions. BA patients also obtained significantly lower scores in object type questions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our findings support the fact that comprehension processing in PBA should be investigated profoundly to be able to understand the nature of the disorder in different languages. In Turkish, syntactic movement of words to form a relative clause caused the BA patients to have significant problems to assign the semantic roles to the words in the existence of movement or change in their original positions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143028296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Word Count Matters: Features of Written Language Production in Progressive Apraxia of Speech with and without Agrammatism.","authors":"Katerina A Tetzloff, Gabriela Meade, Joseph R Duffy, Heather M Clark, Hugo Botha, Keith A Josephs, Jennifer L Whitwell, Rene L Utianski","doi":"10.1159/000543607","DOIUrl":"10.1159/000543607","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder characterized by sound distortions, substitutions, deletions, and additions; slow speech rate; abnormal prosody; and/or segmentation between words and syllables. AOS can result from neurodegeneration, in which case it can be accompanied by the primary agrammatic aphasia (PAA), which when presenting together are called AOS+PAA. AOS can also be the sole manifestation of neurodegeneration, termed primary progressive AOS (PPAOS). Together these form the agrammatic-apractic spectrum disorders. Recent work has shown that agrammatic-apractic spectrum patients show reduced quantity of written language production on a picture description task versus controls. However, no study to date has investigated if there are differences in quantity (amount of writing) and quality (grammaticality) in the written language production between PPAOS and AOS+PAA patients, which was the aim of this study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Twenty-four AOS+PAA patients, 24 PPAOS patients, and 24 typical controls performed the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) written picture description task. The total number of words and sentences, as well as the type-token frequency, mean length of utterance, proportion of nouns, and function words, and overall sentence grammaticality were compared among groups.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The PPAOS group showed significantly reduced number of words (β = -44.2, p < 0.0001) and sentences (β = -4.04, p < 0.0001) compared to typical controls, and the AOS+PAA group showed significantly reduced number of words compared to both PPAOS patients (β = -17.0, p = 0.02) and controls (β = -61.20, p < 0.0001), as well as reduced number of sentences compared to controls (β = -4.33, p < 0.0001). AOS+PAA patients also showed grammatical deficits consistent with their concomitant aphasia diagnosis.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provides novel quantitative data showing that agrammatic-apractic spectrum disorder patients show decreased written language output on a written picture description task compared to controls, even when there is no overt evidence of aphasia (i.e., PPAOS). Furthermore, these data show that controls, PPAOS patients, and AOS+PAA patients can all be distinguished based on the quantity of information and grammatical errors in a written picture description task. Future studies will explore sources beyond language, such as motoric impairment, that may result in reduced written quantity in agrammatic-apractic spectrum disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":12114,"journal":{"name":"Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143002779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}