This study examines acoustic features of speech production in speakers of Mandarin with Parkinson's disease (PD) and relates them to intelligibility outcomes. Data from 11 participants with PD and 7 controls are compared on several acoustic measures. In speakers with PD, the strength of association between these measures and intelligibility is investigated. Speakers with PD exhibited significant differences in fundamental frequency, pitch variation, vowel space, and rate relative to controls. However, in contrast to the English studies, speech rate was consistently slow and most strongly correlated with intelligibility. Thus, acoustic cues that strongly influence intelligibility in PD may vary cross-linguistically.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.