Velopharyngeal function in adult speakers of Portuguese diagnosed with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Objective: The primary aim of the present investigation was to obtain the nasalance score in Portuguese speakers with multiple sclerosis (MS) in order to identify velopharyngeal impairments and to enhance clinicians' ability to employ appropriate therapy strategies for speech disorders in MS. Design: Perceptual assessments (speech sample analysis) and instrumental technique (Nasometer) were performed. Two passages were constructed in the Portuguese Language: one similar to the Grandfather Passage for perceptual assessments and the other similar to the Zoo Passage for the nasalance score. Participants: Seventy (70) adult Portuguese speakers with MS and seventy five (75) nonneurologically disordered Portuguese speakers were involved in this study. Results/Conclusion: The mean nasalance score of the MS participants was found to be significantly higher than of the control group, confirming velopharyngeal dysfunction in the Portuguese speakers group with MS. The results in this study contrast with a low incidence of velopharyngeal impairment present in English speakers with MS. These findings are discussed with respect to the degree of hypernasality and the potential influence of these impairments on the verbal output of the speakers of Portuguese.

What speech can tell us: A systematic review of dysarthria characteristics in Multiple Sclerosis

“…(32,33). When studied in isolation, tongue speed, strength and endurance were lower not only in dysarthric but also in non-dysarthric PwMS (34,35) whereas lip and velopharyngeal movements were abnormal in dysarthric but spared in non-dysarthric PwMS (26,34,35).…”

“…Dysarthria is considered the primary cause of communication deficit in MS, yet pwMS present with concurrent cognitive deficits that can interfere with effective Subjective tests where blinded listeners used a visual analog scale for perceived naturalness demonstrated worse scores than intelligibility assessments for both healthy controls and MS groups(17,26) with the MS group rated considerably worse than healthy controls (3.07±1.32 vs 1.07±0.25, on a scale from 1=normal to 4=severely disturbed)(26). This would suggest that the ordinal scale approach either overestimates the magnitude of deficit or is more sensitive to pathology.…”

Distinct acoustic features in spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy patients with laryngospasm

“…Hypernasality. Perceptual assessment of hypernasality was performed according to a previous study [23]. Speech sound was scored using a four-point scale: 1, normal; 2, mild presence of hypernasality; 3, moderate presence of hypernasality; and 4, severe presence of hypernasality.…”

“…The measurement values were calculated from the average score of the two judges. After the independent rating of the speech samples, the two judges conferred to reach an agreement on each speech dimension [23]. Before the consensus rating, the ratings of the judges did not vary by more than 1 point.…”