Intensive treatment of dysarthria secondary to stroke

This study investigated the impact of a well-defined behavioral dysarthria treatment on acoustic and perceptual measures of speech in four adults with dysarthria secondary to stroke. A single-subject ABA experimental design was used to measure the effects of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT ^® LOUD) on the speech of individual participants. Dependent measures included vocal sound pressure level, phonatory stability, vowel space area, and listener ratings of speech, voice and intelligibility. Statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05) in vocal dB SPL and phonatory stability as well as larger vowel space area were present for all participants. Listener ratings suggested improved voice quality and more natural speech post-treatment. Speech intelligibility scores improved for one of four participants. These data suggest that people with dysarthria secondary to stroke can respond positively to intensive speech treatments such as LSVT. Further studies are needed to investigate speech treatments specific to stroke.