From Speech Function to Communicative Participation in Dysarthria

项目摘要 肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）是一种严重的神经退行性疾病， 每10万人中的病例数。ALS（帕尔斯）患者通常在整个病程中出现延髓运动症状。 在疾病的过程中，经常导致构音障碍，这是一种语言执行的神经运动障碍。音障碍 干扰成功的沟通互动，降低可理解性，增加所需的努力， 使听者难以理解语音信号，降低了语音的自然度。我们在理解上的差距 有助于交际参与的潜在言语产生因素是 确定治疗目标，确定沟通参与限制的开始，并监测 中求进工作总为了解决这些差距，更好地理解构音障碍的声学和感知属性， 降低沟通参与是至关重要的。这个项目的目的是确定因果联系 语音声学特征、感知语音特征和交际参与之间的关系。目标1： 测试这一假设，即听者的努力和言语自然度将与交际能力密切相关。 参与使用二元相关性和多元线性回归。在目标2中，我们检验了以下假设： (1)与语音清晰度相关的声学特征将与收听者的努力强烈相关，以及（2） 表示韵律的声学特征将与语音自然度强烈相关，使用双变量 相关性和多元线性回归。在目标3中，我们测试了语音声学将预测 沟通参与，这种关系将主要通过临床印象介导， 听众努力和语音自然度使用中介分析。拟议研究的长期目标 最大化的沟通参与，从而提高帕尔斯的生活质量。结果将通知 通过（1）指导使用循证临床工具（例如，听者努力度和自然度评价 量表），与沟通参与评估和监测，以及（2）确定 特定处理（例如，发音精确度，语音韵律）的目标，以支持交际参与。 该项目福尔斯NIDCD的语音，言语和语言研究优先领域3，因为它调查了一个 一个因果框架，可以支持诊断，治疗和进展监测的个人与语言 损伤此外，这项工作符合NIDCD的使命，即增进我们的知识， 理解沟通障碍。

PROJECT SUMMARY Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease with a prevalence of over 5 cases per 100,000 people. People with ALS (PALS) typically develop bulbar motor symptoms throughout the course of the disease, often leading to dysarthria, a neuromotor disorder of speech execution. Dysarthria interferes with successful communicative interactions by reducing intelligibility, increasing the effort required by listeners to understand the speech signal, and reducing speech naturalness. Gaps in our understanding of the underlying speech production factors contributing to communicative participation are significant barriers to identifying treatment targets, identifying the onset of communicative participation restrictions, and monitoring progress. To address these gaps, a better understanding of the acoustic and perceptual attributes of dysarthria that degrade communicative participation is critical. The purpose of this project is to identify causal links between speech acoustic features, perceptual speech features, and communicative participation. In Aim 1, we test the hypothesis that listener effort and speech naturalness will be strongly associated with communicative participation using bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression. In Aim 2, we test the hypotheses that (1) acoustic features related to speech clarity will be strongly associated with listener effort, and (2) that acoustic features representing prosody will be strongly associated with speech naturalness, using bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression. In Aim 3, we test the hypothesis that speech acoustics will predict communicative participation and that this relationship will be primarily mediated through clinical impressions of listener effort and speech naturalness using a mediation analysis. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to maximize communicative participation, and thereby improve the quality of life of PALS. Results will inform treatment by (1) guiding the use of evidence-based clinical tools (e.g., listener effort and naturalness rating scales) that are associated with communicative participation for assessment and monitoring, and (2) identifying specific treatment (e.g., articulatory precision, speech prosody) targets to support communicative participation. This project falls under NIDCD’s Priority Area 3 in Voice, Speech, and Language Research, as it investigates a causal framework that could support diagnosis, treatment, and progress monitoring in individuals with speech impairments. Furthermore, this work is in line with NIDCD’s mission to further our knowledge and understanding of communication disorders.