Measures of sustained phonation, diadochokinesis, and reading rate were recorded and contrasted for samples from populations. The three sets of subjects were healthy young normal adults, healthy elderly adults, and patients with Parkinsonism. Results indicate that reduced ability to prolong vowels and read rapidly is associated with both advanced age and Parkinsonism. Syllable diadochokinetic rates fail to differentiate between normal subjects and subjects with Parkinsonism, while diadochokinetic rates for an interrupted vowel /i/ and a repeated vowel glide /u-i/ did differentiate between these groups. Diadochokinetic and reading rates tend to correlate with each other but do not correlate with the duration for prolonged vowels.

Speech samples of five patients with cancer of the vocal folds and five individually matched normal speakers were analyzed with respect to: (1) maximum rate of change of fundamental frequency, (2) fundamental-frequency perturbations related to specific consonants, (3) two perturbation factors, and (4) frequency distribution of fundamental frequency. It was found that most of these measures differentiated the pathological and normal speakers. The reliability and possible usefulness of each measure for detecting laryngeal cancer are discussed.

The Modified Rhyme Test (MRT) has been adapted to the needs of the clinical audiologist. Tape recordings of three speakers, one female and two males, were made, evaluated, and assembled in a format suitable for use as a clinical tool. Special attention was given to ensure an appropriate carrier phrase, consistent timing sequences, well-controlled recordings, simplified instructions, and test forms. The tests were administered to panels of listeners, and the results were assessed for possible effects of learning, speaker or listener differences, and comparability of test lists. The recordings are available, for all three speakers, with the noise adjusted to yield approximately the same percentage of correct responses for normal listeners, 96, 83, and 75% correct.