Tongue- and Jaw-Specific Contributions to Vowel Acoustic Changes: Towards a Mechanistic Model of Intelligibility Loss and Recovery in Dysarthria

7.项目总结/摘要 虽然众所周知，发音障碍者的发音障碍往往不同， 发音器官对语音清晰度损失的贡献知之甚少。尤其是知识 关于舌头和下颌对元音声学对比的具体贡献， 构音障碍的可理解性变化，仍然缺乏。这方面的知识是非常需要的，以确定咬合架 这是造成语音清晰度损失的最主要原因，需要在治疗中加以针对。言语修饰 (loud，清晰，缓慢的讲话），这是已知的，以引起发音特定的变化，在典型的说话者， 通常用于治疗干预，以改善患有构音障碍的说话者的语音清晰度。然而，在这方面， 由于通常缺乏用于选择特定语音修改的特定指南， 决定通常基于谈话者对试验治疗的反应。关于特定发音器官的知识 说话者在大声、缓慢和清晰的讲话时，改善元音声学的潜在机制 构音障碍将提供所需的科学理解，以战略性地选择语音修改 这种方法可以精确地定位对语音清晰度最不利的咬合架。因此 本研究的长期目标是建立语音清晰度损失和恢复的机理模型 它解决了发音器官对语音声学的贡献，并最终解决了语音可懂度的问题。 构音障碍者的变化。作为合乎逻辑的第一步，本研究提案的目标是确定 肌萎缩性侧索硬化症患者舌头和下颌特异性对声学元音对比度变化的贡献 侧索硬化症（ALS）和帕金森病（PD）。这两个临床小组特别适合 因为一些关于疾病和语音修改相关的发音和语音声学的文献 变化已经确立，并允许制定理论驱动的研究假设。 基于这些研究，中心假设是测试，疾病和线索语音修改相关 舌和颌发音性能的变化以及它们对元音声学对比的贡献将不同 在这两个群体之间。将使用3D电磁关节造影直接记录舌头和下颌 在双母音产生过程中嵌入在句子话语中的位移。元音声学分析将 检查舌头和下巴位移的语音声学后果。这一建议高度 创新，因为它直接比较了三种常用行为的发音器特定机制， 两组构音障碍患者的治疗方法 特征[舌优势型（ALS）、颌优势型（PD）发音障碍类型]。这种见解可以用来 在未来，在更多异质性病因（TBI，卒中）中识别特定于关节的损伤类型， 辅助临床决策。因此，新的发现有可能通过提供一种新的方法来改变临床实践。 这是科学指导治疗选择的基础，不仅适用于ALS和PD，也适用于许多其他病因。

7. Project Summary/Abstract Although it is well-known that articulators are often differentially impaired in talkers with dysarthria, the articulator-specific contributions to speech intelligibility loss are poorly understood. Particularly knowledge about tongue- and jaw-specific contributions to vowel acoustic contrast, a strong speech acoustic predictor of intelligibility change in dysarthria, is still lacking. This knowledge is critically needed to identify the articulator that contributes most to speech intelligibility loss and needs to be targeted in treatment. Speech modifications (loud, clear, slow speech), which are known to elicit articulator-specific changes in typical talkers, are commonly used in therapeutic interventions to improve speech intelligibility in talkers with dysarthria. However, because specific guidelines for the selection of a specific speech modification are generally lacking, treatment decisions are often based on the talker's response to trial therapy. Knowledge about the articulator-specific mechanisms underlying improved vowel acoustics in response to loud, slow, and clear speech in talkers with dysarthria would provide the required scientific understanding to strategically select the speech modification approach that can precisely target the articulator that is most detrimental to speech intelligibility. Therefore, the long-term goal of this research is to establish a mechanistic model of speech intelligibility loss and recovery that addresses articulator-specific contributions to speech acoustic and, ultimately, speech intelligibility changes in talkers with dysarthria. As a logical first step, the objective of this research proposal is to identify the tongue- and jaw-specific contribution to changes in acoustic vowel contrast in talkers with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease (PD). These two clinical groups are particularly well-suited because some literature about disease- and speech modification-related articulatory and speech acoustic changes has already been established and allow the formulation of theoretically-driven research hypotheses. Based on these studies, the central hypothesis is tested that disease- and cued speech modification-related changes in tongue and jaw articulatory performance and their contributions to vowel acoustic contrast will differ between these two groups. 3D electromagnetic articulography will be used to directly record tongue and jaw displacements during diphthong productions embedded in sentence utterances. Vowel acoustic analyses will examine the speech acoustic consequences of tongue and jaw displacements. This proposal is highly innovative because it directly compares the articulator-specific mechanisms of three frequently used behavioral treatment approaches for dysarthria in two clinical groups with distinctly different articulatory impairment profiles [tongue-dominant (ALS), jaw-dominant (PD) articulatory impairment types]. Such insights can be used in the future to identify articulator-specific impairment types in more heterogeneous etiologies (TBI, stroke) to aid clinical decisions. New findings therefore have the potential to transform clinical practice by providing a basis for scientifically-guided treatment selection, not only for ALS and PD, but also for many other etiologies.