Tongue Strength, Range of Motion, and Speech Intelligibility in Dysarthric Speakers

마비말장애 환자의 혀의 강도.운동범위와 말명료도에 관한 연구

  • 이경하 (건국대학교병원 재활의학지원팀) ;
  • 심현섭 (이화여자대학교 특수교육학과 및 언어병리학 협동과정) ;
  • 김향희 (연세대학교 의과대학 재활의학교실)
  • Published : 2005.06.01

Abstract

The purpose of the present study were (1) to assess differences in tongue performances and speech intelligibility between normal and dysarthric speakers; and (2) to analyze the possible interrelationships between tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility in dysarthric patients. In order to measure maximum strength of anterior and lateral tongue strength, a force transducer has been designed. And a ruler was used for guaging range of motion. 'Word intelligibility test' was administered to each group. The results were analyzed by a quantitative statistical method(t test, Pearson product- moment correlation, and one-way ANOVA). The results were as follows; (1) dysarthric speakers showed significantly poorer performance than the normal in the tongue strength, range of motion, and speech intelligibility tasks; (2) the correlation between speech intelligibility and instrumental tongue performance was high in the dysarthric group; and (3) instrumental assessment was coincide with perceptual judgement of dysarthric tongue performance. The present investigation demonstrated that tongue weakness is causally related to articulation deficits in dysarthric. The clinical use of the force transducer would help a speech pathologist to quantify the degree of tongue weakness.

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