Acoustical Analysis of Running Speech in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive motor system disorder due to loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. Dysfunction of the basal ganglia circuitry is the mechanism of Parkinson’s disease. The previous studies described a partial response of speech and voice to dopa therapy, it was reported that speech may be related to a non-dopaminergic mechanism. The aim of the present study was to compare the speaking fundamental frequency, speaking fundamental frequency range, and intensity range between persons with PD and normal person. A total of 20 participants (10 persons with PD and 10 normal persons) were selected for this study. Participants have to describe a story “The thirsty crow”. Mann Whitney U test revealed significant difference for speaking fundamental frequency between persons with Parkinson’s disease and normal persons.