The purpose is to study the patterns of speech impairment associated with neuropathologies affecting different levels of the central nervous system to identify the separate functions of speech motor control and the neurological organization of these functions. Measurement of performance on different nonspeech and speech tasks indicate how motor control is interfered with during involvement of particular brain structures, and the effects of neuropharmacologic treatments on speech motor control in neurologic disease. The coordination and timing between movement onsets and offsets of the rib cage and abdominal respiratory movements, lip and jaw movements and laryngeal abduction and adduction is measured from simultaneous transduction signals during speech. In addition the velocity and displacement evaluate the limitations of each of the articulators for speech. A model of speech timing and its neurological organization is being studied to determine how speech is programmed at different levels of the central nervous system. Dysarthrias in the following forms of neurological disease are being studied: cerebellar ataxia, dystonia, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Tardive dyskinesia.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter