Effects of intensive speech treatment on Mandarin speakers with Parkinson’s Disease: A review

Abstract

Background: Benefits of intensive speech treatment have been documented for a range of speech signs in English speakers with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). However, the answer to a critical question that whether the same treatment benefits speech variables including intelligibility in Mandarin speakers is still unclear. In order to develop a targeted speech treatment for Mandarin speakers with PD, we reviewed the efficacy of intensive speech treatment to improve vocal loudness and functional communication and discuss possible explanations for efficacy on Mandarin speakers with PD. Methods: Literatures about intensive speech treatment for Mandarin speakers with PD were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and Weipu Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP) Database. Search strategy was (voice therapy OR speech therapy OR voice treatment OR speech treatment OR voice training OR speech training OR voice rehabilitation OR speech rehabilitation OR Lee Silverman voice treatment OR intensive speech treatment) and (Parkinson’s disease) and (Mandarin speakers OR Chinese OR Chinese people). Results: Five randomized controlled trials were selected and possible explanations for efficacy on individuals with PD are discussed. Further research directions are suggested. Conclusion: The existing evidence from treatment efficacy studies of intensive speech treatment provides support for improving vocal loudness, speech intelligibility, pitch and rate in Mandarin speakers with PD. Our future research will continue to work to conduct a large sample multicenter randomized controlled trial to provide high quality evidence and understand the basic mechanisms accompanying treatment-related change.

Acoustic assessment in mandarin-speaking Parkinson’s disease patients and disease progression monitoring and brain impairment within the speech subsystem

“…Existing research on speech disorders in PD is predominantly conducted in English, accounting for 65% of the studies 17 . Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken native language in the world and the predominant language among the Chinese population, yet it belongs to the tonal languages, presenting numerous differences from non-tonal languages commonly used in speech disorders 8 , 18 . Mandarin Chinese convey both semantic and phonological information through logograms 19 , and defines syllables as a combination of four lexical tones with vowels and consonants demonstrating specific profiles of prosody, pitch variations and regularity 20 , 21 .…”