Rhythm and the Brain: Singing to Increase Speech Intelligibility following Acquired Dysarthria
This paper will present the findings of a current research project which analyses the effect of musical voice exercises and song singing on the speech intelligibility of subjects with acquired dysarthria. Few studies in the literature specifically describe music therapy techniques or programs designed to address dysarthric speech. Of the little research published in this area, most has focused on other communication disorders such as aphasia and apraxia.
Music and language are processed by separate mechanisms in the brain and may be functionally autonomous. Rhythm is a fundamental component of speech production and perception, therefore singing may provide helpful rhythmic and melodic cues to improve intelligibility for people with an acquired dysarthria following brain injury.
This parallel-group design study is currently being conducted at two major Australian rehabilitation hospitals. Consenting subjects are randomly assigned to a music therapy treatment group or control group. Subjects in the treatment group participate in an 8 week music therapy program (3 sessions per week). Control participants receive equivalent amounts of 1:1 attention in the form of leisure activities. Each treatment session includes body awareness, breathing, rhythmic chanting, melodic articulation exercises and song singing. Pre, mid and post assessments of speech intelligibility are conducted for all participants using the Sentence Intelligibility Test and a picture description task. Assessments are recorded on minidisc and rated by 3 independent judges. Data is currently being collected. The paper will present and discuss results, in particular, the effect of the treatment on rate of speech and intelligibility. Variables, such as aetiology, type of dysarthria, age, time since onset, will be investigated to determine trends in the data. Clinical implications and future research directions will also be presented.