title: Speech discrimination is impaired in parkinsonian patients: Expanding the audiologic findings of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hearing impairment (HI) has been previously demonstrated in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA) gives no information about patients' ability to hear and understand speech. To find out hearing ability and speech discrimination of PD patients, we expanded audiological evaluation by means of speech audiometry (SA).
  
  
  METHODS
  We screened a series of consecutive PD patients. Severity of motor symptoms and staging were measured by the UPDRS-III and the H&Y scales. Audiometric evaluation consisted of a standardized audiological examination, PTA and SA. Healthy age- and sex-matched subjects were selected as controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  45 PD patients and 45 healthy controls were enrolled. PTA confirmed our previous finding of high-frequency HI in PD patients. The mean values for the Speech Recognition Threshold were higher in PD patients as compared with controls. PD patients were more likely to have impaired speech discrimination profiles and higher disease stages. Neither the patients nor the controls showed a significant speech-tone dissociation and rollover phenomenon.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results confirmed sensorineural HI in PD patients. Moreover, SA showed impaired speech discrimination abilities in PD patients as compared with control group thus expanding the audiologic findings of PD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Motor Sciences and Health, University of Naples "Parthenope", Naples, Italy; Institute of Diagnosis and Health, "Hermitage-Capodimonte", Naples, Italy. Electronic address: cavit69@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vitale
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marcelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abate
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pianese
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allocca
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moccia
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spina
authors.affiliation: Neurodegenerative Diseases Center (CEMAND), University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barone
authors.affiliation: Institute of Diagnosis and Health, "Hermitage-Capodimonte", Naples, Italy; Department of Psychology, Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santangelo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Reproductive and Odontostomatologic Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavaliere
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Hearing impairment; Parkinson's disease; Speech audiometry