Abstract
Patterns of dysarthria in spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) and their discriminative features still remain elusive. Here we aimed to compare dysarthria profiles of patients with (SCA3 and SCA6 vs. Friedreich ataxia (FRDA), focussing on three particularly vulnerable speech parameters (speaking rate, prosodic modulation, and intelligibility) in ataxic dysarthria as well as on a specific oral non-speech variable of ataxic impairment, i.e., the irregularity of oral motor diadochokinesis (DDK). 30 Patients with SCA3, SCA6, and FRDA, matched for group size (n = 10 each), disease severity, and disease duration produced various speech samples and DDK tasks. A discriminant analysis was used to differentiate speech and non-speech parameters between groups. Regularity of DDK was specifically impaired in SCA3, whereas impairments of speech parameters, i.e., rate and modulation were stronger affected in SCA6. Speech parameters are particularly vulnerable in SCA6, while non-speech oral motor features are notably impaired in SCA3.
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Abbreviations
- SCA:
-
Spinocerebellar ataxia
- FRDA:
-
Friedreich ataxia
- DDK:
-
(oral) Diadochokinesis
- BoDyS:
-
Bogenhausen Dysarthria Scales
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Acknowledgments
We would like to express our appreciation to the participants of this study for their willingness to support this research. This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG, AC55/6-3; ZI469/10-3).
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no financial or other conflicts of interest.
Ethical standards
All included participants provided informed written consent prior to their study inclusion. This study was approved by the the local ethics committee of the University of Tübingen and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.
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Brendel, B., Synofzik, M., Ackermann, H. et al. Comparing speech characteristics in spinocerebellar ataxias type 3 and type 6 with Friedreich ataxia. J Neurol 262, 21–26 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7511-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-014-7511-8