Electromagnetic articulography assessment of articulatory function in adults with dysarthria following traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
To explore articulatory kinematic differences between normal and dysarthric speakers post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) during syllable and sentence productions.


METHODS
A comparison between the control, mild (MTBI) and severe TBI groups for all measured kinematic parameters was carried out using the Kruskal Wallis test.


METHODS
Ten participants with a severe TBI and six post-MTBI formed the experimental group. The control group consisted of 14 age and sex matched non-neurologically impaired speakers. Articulatory kinematic profiles for the three groups were obtained using the Electromagnetic Articulograph (EMA) while repeating sentence and syllable embedded /t/ and /k/ productions at a habitual rate and loudness level.


RESULTS
Significant differences between the severe TBI and control group were identified only for the release phase of the /t/ sentence productions wherein an increase in mean maximum acceleration was observed for the severe TBI group.


CONCLUSIONS
While a simple syllable repetition task at a moderate rate was unable to differentiate the three groups, a complex sentence production task precipitated an increase in mean maximum acceleration which may be indicative of increased articulatory effort and impaired speech motor control even at a convenient rate for the severe group.
Kuruvilla
Mili
M
Motor Speech Research Unit, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. m.kuruvilla@shrs.uq.edu.au
Murdoch
Bruce
B
Goozèe
Justine
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004401:Dysarthria / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D014059:Tongue / Q000503:physiopathology*