Theodoros, D.G., Murdoch, B.E., & Chenery, H.J. (1994). Perceptual speech characteristics of dysarthric speakers following severe closed head injury. Brain Injury, 8(2), 101-124. Type of Study Research study with controls Subjects 17 males, 3 females; ages 18-53 gender-matched, age-matched controls Diagnoses Severe TBI, more than 3 months post-injury Normal controls Speech Condition Dysarthria Purpose To perceptually evaluate a group of dysarthric subjects resulting from severe TBI using a comprehensive inventory To determine perceptual differences between TBI subjects and normal controls To determine the types of dysarthria present in TBI subjects Methods Speech assessment using a speech sample judged by two judges on 32 perceptual dimensions including prosody (pitch, loudness, rate, stress, phrasing), respiration, phonation, resonance, and articulation Frenchay Dysarthria Assessment (FDA) to assess speech neuromuscular activity including respiration, articulation, resonance, phonation, and speech-related reflex activity Assessment of Intelligibility of Dysarthric Speech (AIDS) to determine the severity of the dysarthria  Results TBI subjects were significantly less intelligible and had prosody, respiration, articulation, resonance, and phonation deficits TBI subjects had all types of dysarthria due to variation in sites of lesions TBI subjects were less intelligible Prosody was the most prominent problem in TBI subjects and resonance was the next most prominent problem Perceptually, groups did not differ in speech rate but based on AIDS TBI subjects had significantly slower rates of speech Treatment Implications Patients need to be evaluated perceptually and instrumentally to determine the pathophysiological bases of the speech deviations   Assessment Treatment Speech Characteristics Books and Book Chapters Instruments Other Links Search Home   To return to the Abstract References, click on Assessment , Treatment  , or Speech Characteristics or use your browser to go Back.