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Rhythmic Entrainment in Bilingual Speakers With Dysarthria

Not Applicable
Terminated
Conditions
Parkinson Disease
Ataxia
Interventions
Behavioral: Gestures
Behavioral: Auditory
Registration Number
NCT03645265
Lead Sponsor
Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York
Brief Summary

The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

Detailed Description

The objectives of this study are to determine i) the effect of rhythmic entrainment of speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues on intelligibility and speech naturalness in Spanish-accented speakers of English in two pathology groups: ataxic dysarthria and hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease; and ii) the extent to which speech rate and effort are control parameters of entrainment. These objectives will be achieved with the following specific aims:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the effect of three rates of hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues and the degree to which learning and carry-over occur.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of increased speech effort, operationalized as clear speech, and the interaction effect of clear speech with hand gestures and auditory rhythmic cues.

Specific Aim 3: Investigate the perception of speech rhythm and its relationship to entrainment.

The protocol calls for 12 talkers to participate in a single case experimental design: 6 Spanish-accented speakers of English and 6 native English speakers, and each language group consisting of 2 healthy controls, 2 adults diagnosed with ataxic dysarthria and 2 adults diagnosed with hypokinetic dysarthria secondary to idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Sixty monolingual healthy adult listeners will rate intelligibility, accentedness, and ease of understanding.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
TERMINATED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
6
Inclusion Criteria
  • diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (4) or dysarthria secondary to ataxia (4) or healthy (4)
  • monolingual speaker of American English (6) or native speaker of Spanish who speaks English with a Spanish accent (6)
  • age 21 or older
Exclusion Criteria
  • Cognitive impairment that prevents participation in the therapy
  • Fluent speakers of languages other than English or Spanish
  • younger than 21 years

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
GesturesGesturesUse of hand gestures to improve speech rhythm and speech production
AuditoryAuditoryUse of auditory cues to improve speech rhythm and speech production
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Intelligibilityimmediately upon completion of the therapy

Intelligibility = the accuracy with which a listener understands a speaker. It will be measured by having the subjects undergoing the therapy ("the talkers") read 28 phrases using accompanying gesture or auditory cues and listeners will transcribe the sentences. The number of words accurately transcribed / the number of words in the phrase = intelligibility score for each phrase per listener

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Ease of understandingImmediately upon completion of the therapy

Ease of understanding = the ease with which listeners understand the speakers. It will be measured by having the subjects undergoing the therapy ("the talkers") read 28 phrases using accompanying gesture or auditory cues and listeners will rate how easy it is to understand the talkers using a 0 to 9 visual analog scale with 0 = very easy and 9= very hard, for each phrase per listener

Speech naturalnessimmediately upon completion of the therapy

Speech naturalness = the degree to which the listeners consider the speakers to have natural or unnatural speech. It will be measured by having the subjects undergoing the therapy ("the talkers") read 28 phrases using accompanying gesture or auditory cues and listeners will rate how natural-sounding the talker sounds by using a 0 to 9 visual analog scale with 0 = very natural and 9 = very unnatural, for each phrase per listener

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Lehman College

🇺🇸

Bronx, New York, United States

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