Relación entre las pendientes del segundo formante y las alteraciones motoras del habla en la disartria

Abstract

Transitions represent the vocal tract movement of the articulatory configuration from the consonant to the vowel. The acoustic analysis of the velocity of these transitions in the second-formant is a procedure used in the evaluation and investigation of dysarthric speech, as it provides information on the movements of the tongue in the joint.The aim of this work is to study the values of the speed of the transitions in diphthongs through the second-formant slopes and establish their relationship with the severity of dysarthria.Twelve subjects with ataxic dysarthria and ten neurologically healthy subjects participated. The characteristics of the second-formant transitions were obtained in the diphthongs of the words causa, piojo and tierra, and a study was made of the relationship of the slopes with the values obtained in the scale of intelligibility for speech motor disorders.The results show slopes significantly lower in the dysarthric group in the transitions of the diphthongs of the three words studied. As regards the severity of dysarthria, high correlations were found with the intelligibility scale used.Acoustic analysis of the speed of the second formant transitions has proved a useful tool in the objective assessment of dysarthria. It provides information about the severity of motor speech disorders and gives objective data on the progression of speech therapy.