Abstract
Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) has well-documented treatment efficacy for individuals with hypokinetic dysarthria associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Positive changes have been noted after treatment not only for vocal loudness but also for many other speech dimensions, including intonation (monotonicity). There have been few studies investigating the effect of LSVT on lexical tone which, like intonation, is controlled by variations in fundamental frequency. This study involved 12 Cantonese speakers with idiopathic PD who were enrolled in a standard LVST treatment protocol. Speech data were collected 3-4 days before treatment and 1 day after treatment. A wide variety of perceptual and acoustic variables were analyzed. The results showed significant improvements in loudness and intonation after treatment, but no significant changes in lexical tone. These results have theoretical implications for the relationship between tone and intonation and for models of the physiological control of fundamental frequency.
Highlights
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Whereas intonation is associated with variation in fundamental frequency at the phrasal level, lexical tone is associated with variation in fundamental frequency at the syllable level
Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) has well-established efficacy for the treatment of speech disorders in individuals with hypokinetic dysarthria associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Summary
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Positive changes have been noted after treatment for vocal loudness and for many other speech dimensions, including intonation (monotonicity). There have been few studies investigating the effect of LSVT on lexical tone which, like intonation, is controlled by variations in fundamental frequency. The results showed significant improvements in loudness and intonation after treatment, but no significant changes in lexical tone. These results have theoretical implications for the relationship between tone and intonation and for models of the physiological control of fundamental frequency. Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT), which focuses on increasing vocal loudness, was developed for the treatment of voice and speech impairment in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
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