A preliminary approach to the acoustic-perceptual characterization of dysarthria [presentación oral]

Resumen

We have conducted an acoustic-perceptual evaluationof 15 dysarthric and 15 neurologically healthyspeakers. On the one hand, speech samples wereanalysed with Praat (13 acoustic parameters wereextracted, related to F0, frequency and amplitudevariation, as well as other source and vocal tractmeasures). On the other hand, two raters evaluated allthe voices perceptually using the Simplified VocalProfile Analysis (SVPA), which implements a visualanalog scale for each voice quality setting in an onlineinterface.The results show, for the perceptual analyses, that(1) intra- and interrater agreement is overall verygood; and that (2) the perceptual settings ‘vocal tracttension’ and ‘laryngeal tension’ are the most useful tocharacterize dysarthria. In terms of statisticalmodelling, most linear models were significant usingonly 4-5 acoustic parameters, but the specificparameters in each model depend on the VPA settingunder consideration.All in all, acoustic-perceptual assessment throughthe SVPA seems to be an important complement totraditional assessment in dysarthria, as it providesinformation on the functioning of the supraglotticstructures commonly affected in this type of motorspeech disorder, in which the muscles used to producespeech are damaged, paralyzed, or weakened