Type
of
Study |
Research
study with controls |
| Subjects |
4
males, 5 females; ages 5:8-16:2
Gender-matched, age-matched controls |
| Diagnoses |
Severe
TBI
Normal controls |
Speech
Condition |
Potentially
slow speaking rates |
| Purpose |
Study
1: To determine if the subjects and controls had different
speaking rates.
To determine whether their rates changed over time.
To determine whether naive listeners hear differences
in their rates.
Study 2: To determine to what extent reduced articulatory
seed and increased pausing reflect linguistic processing
deficits. |
| Methods |
Study
1: Over 7 sessions, speech samples were collected
and transcribed orthographically and phonetically.
Speech rate was calculated with CSpeech.
Unfamiliar listeners judged speaking rate.
Study 2: Fifty syllables from each subject were
analyzed to measure average syllable duration and within
utterance pause time.
Subjects were evaluated for dysarthria. |
| Results |
Study
1: Control group produced more syllables per second.
Neither group changed much over time.
5/9 TBI subjects had slower rates than matched controls
based on unfamiliar listener judgments.
Study 2: 3/5 TBI subjects with slower rates had
longer average syllable durations and were the only ones
diagnosed with dysarthria.
4/5 TBI subjects with slower rates had higher percentages
of pause time. |
Treatment
Implications |
Speaking
rate is a significant sequela in children with TBI.
Slowed rate from problems with articulatory speed and
cognitive-linguistic processing speed.
Important to evaluate both articulatory speed and cognitive-linguistic
processing speed. |
| |