Abstract
The hypokinetic dysarthria observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the range, speed, and accuracy of articulatory gestures in patients, reducing the perceived quality of speech acoustic output in continuous speech. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) and of the caudal zona incerta (cZi-DBS) are current surgical treatment options for PD. This study aimed at investigating the outcome of STN-DBS (7 patients) and cZi-DBS (7 patients) in two articulatory diadochokinesis tasks (AMR and SMR) using measurements of articulation rate and quality of the plosive consonants (using the percent measurable VOT metric). The results indicate that patients receiving STN-DBS increased in articulation rate in the Stim-ON condition in the AMR task only, with no effect on production quality. Patients receiving cZi-DBS decreased in articulation rate in the Stim-ON condition and further showed a reduction in production quality. The data therefore suggest that cZi-DBS is more detrimental for extended articulatory movements than STN-DBS.
Highlights
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an established and effective treatment for motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD)
The results indicate that patients receiving STN-DBS increased in articulation rate in the Stim-ON condition in the AMR task only, with no effect on production quality
The articulation rates in the AMR and SMR tasks were analyzed for treatment effects separately for caudal zona incerta (cZi) and STN patients On and Off stimulation compared to baseline
Summary
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is an established and effective treatment for motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Effects of STN-DBS on speech motor function are varying, and minor improvements, as well as stimulationinduced deterioration, have been reported [1,2,3]. This is the case regarding DBS in the nucleus ventralis intermedius (Vim) of the thalamus, which is sometimes used for parkinsonian tremor, but most often for other forms of tremor [4]. In the limited time frame available during connected speech, the active articulator often fails to reach the target location, resulting in reduced perceptual quality in the resulting speech signal
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