A Systematic Investigation of Phonetic Complexity Effects on Articulatory Motor Performance in Progressive Dysarthria

Understanding Communication and Cognitive Impairments in Neurodegenerative Disorders

The goal is to improve the fundamental knowledge about articulatory motor performance in people with Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD), in order to develop more sensitive assessments for progressive speech loss, which may lead to the improved timing of speech therapies.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Parkinson Disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Phonetic complexity effects on speech motor performance

Detailed Description

The long-term goal is to optimize dysarthria assessment by improving the early detection and tracking of articulatory performance in progressive dysarthrias. The short-term goal of the proposed cross-sectional study is to focus on ALS and PD and quantify articulatory kinematic performance as a function of phonetic complexity, which is experimentally manipulated based on theoretical principles of speech motor development. The research strategy is to use 3D electromagnetic articulography to examine phonetic complexity effects of single word stimuli at the articulatory kinematic level in 15 talkers each with preclinical, mild, and moderate dysarthria, relative to 45 controls. The central hypothesis is that as dysarthria severity increases the discrepancy in articulatory performance, indexed by movement speed, distance, coordination, and variability, between people with dysarthria and typical controls will significantly increase at a lower phonetic complexity level.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Kansas
    • Fairway, Kansas, United States, 66205
      • University of Kansas Medical Center
  • Missouri
    • Columbia, Missouri, United States, 65211
      • University of Missouri-Columbia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 19 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. May or may not have a neurological impairment.
2. Age range of 19-90 years.
3. Male or female.
4. Provide written consent before any study specific procedures are performed.
5. Have ability to comply with basic instructions.
6. Monolingual English speaker.
7. Have ability to partake in a 90 minute data collection.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Any speech, language, cognition, or hearing impairment prior to diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease.
2. Anyone not appropriate for study participation, as deemed by the principal investigator.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: Phonetic complexity effects; Conduct a comprehensive kinematic assessment using state-of-the art 3D speech tracking technology on individuals with ALS and PD as well as healthy talkers to identify articulatory motor disturbances as a function of phonetic complexity and dysarthria severity. Phonetic complexity will be experimentally manipulated using the consonant and vowel complexity classification system proposed by Kent (1992) that takes into account the underlying articulatory motor adjustments required to produce various speech sounds.

Behavioral: Phonetic complexity effects on speech motor performance; Use of 3D electromagnetic articulography to examine phonetic complexity effects of single word stimuli at the articulatory kinematic level in talkers each with preclinical, mild, and moderate dysarthria, relative to healthy controls.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Peak movement speed	Peak speed (millimeters/second) for each articulatory marker is the maximum value of the first-order derivative of each marker's Euclidean distance time-history.	Up to 3 months after enrollment
Range of movement	The convex hull represents the smallest convex set containing all the points in the 3D motion path.	Up to 3 months after enrollment
Duration	Word duration (seconds) is the time between onset and offset of movement for each word.	Up to 3 months after enrollment
Spatiotemporal movement variability (STI)	STI is the most widely used metric to capture movement pattern variability during speech. To determine STI, the pattern of articulatory movements and the variability of that pattern over several repetitions of an utterance are examined.	Up to 3 months after enrollment
Inter-articulator coordination	Spatiotemporal coupling relations between articulators will be derived from vertical movements of the articulators using a covariance measure.	Up to 3 months after enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Missouri-Columbia
• Collaborators: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mili Kuruvilla-Dugdale, PhD, University of Missouri-Columbia

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 15, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): February 28, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): February 28, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 10, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): August 2, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 17, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 16, 2022
• Last Verified: May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Speech motor control; Dysarthria; Speech motor performance; Speech kinematics
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Metabolic Diseases; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neuromuscular Diseases; Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Movement Disorders; Synucleinopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Spinal Cord Diseases; TDP-43 Proteinopathies; Proteostasis Deficiencies; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Speech Disorders; Articulation Disorders; Parkinson Disease; Motor Neuron Disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Dysarthria
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1209643; 1R15DC016383-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: The data collected during this study, especially from people with ALS, cannot be easily duplicated so it will be readily shared with other researchers conducting motor speech research. In addition, few investigators have access to tongue tracking technology; therefore, making the tongue kinematic data available will allow other investigators to answer pertinent questions related to speech decline in progressive dysarthrias. Both the raw data and processed data will be made available to interested investigators but will be devoid of identifiers in order to protect the privacy of the participants. Data documentation such as descriptors and units will also be shared to prevent misinterpretation or confusion. Besides the data itself, the PI is willing to share the stimuli as requested by other investigators.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be ensured as soon as the study starts and even after the study ends.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data will only be shared for research purposes.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: Study Protocol; Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No