Effect of Burns over Speech: In Context to Dying Declaration

Abstract

The dying declaration remains important evidence in trials of burned victims in India. However, its evidentiary value is often negated because facial involvement or larger body area involved due to burns may make victims incapable of speaking properly. Hence, this study aimed to study the effect of burn on speech in relation to parameters like age, gender, and total body surface area affected (TBSA). The study included eighty patients having burn injuries over the head, neck, face, and upper chest. They were evaluated longitudinally from the time of infliction of burns at six hourly intervals, at 6 hours, 12 hours, 18 hours, and 24 hours. The speech was assessed using a scale having components of orientation, content, coherence, and articulation. The speech was well preserved in maximally affected age groups (21-40 years); speech was found to be preserved in varying involvement of body surface area. While considering gender and speech, it is observed that speech is relatively unaffected in females; in fact, females can tolerate burns better than males and have well-preserved speech. The above findings were constant at all-time intervals, i.e., at 6 hours, 12 hours, 18 hours, and 24 hours. Overall, the study disproves the notion that burn victims having facial involvement and greater total body surface area (TBSA) involvement cannot give a valid dying declaration.