Acoustic Analyses of Prolonged Vowels in Young Adults With Friedreich Ataxia.

Objectives: Finding measures that track disease progression and determine treatment efficacy is vital for appropriate management in Friedreich ataxia (FA). The purpose of this study was to determine which cepstral- and spectral-based measures extracted from prolonged vowels using Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV) program discriminate between those who have FA and normal voice (NV) peers.

Study Design: This is a descriptive, prospective study.

Modulation of frontal lobe speech areas associated with the production and perception of speech movements.

Purpose: It is unclear whether the production and perception of speech movements are subserved by the same brain networks. The purpose of this study was to investigate neural recruitment in cortical areas commonly associated with speech production during the production and visual perception of speech.

Method: This study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain function while participants either imitated or observed speech movements.

Voice onset time production in speakers with Alzheimer's disease.

In the present study, voice onset time (VOT) measurements were compared between a group of individuals with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a group of healthy age- and gender-matched peers. Participants read a list of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, which included the six stop consonants. The VOT measurements were made from oscillographic displays obtained from the Brown Laboratory Interactive Speech System (BLISS) implemented on an IBM-compatible computer.

An atypical case of Foreign Accent Syndrome.

A new case of Foreign Accent Syndrome is described. This American woman presented with a British- or Australian- sounding accent after stroke, which resulted in a lacunar infarct in the left internal capsule. The atypical etiology and apparent changes in lexical use are described.

Brain damage and cortical compensation in foreign accent syndrome.

Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) is a well-known neurological deficit whose underlying cause has remained obscure despite almost a century of study. Combining structural and functional imaging, our studies suggest that FAS represents a compensatory response to impaired motor regulation of speech. We describe a patient who acquired FAS as a result of an ischemic stroke in the left basal ganglia.

Voice onset time production in older and younger female monozygotic twins.

A comparison of voice onset time (VOT) production in younger and older female monozygotic twins revealed greater similarity for the younger than the older female twin pairs. Based on findings from this study and a review of previous twin literature, it is hypothesized that 'source' characteristics of speech (voice properties) are under more constraints by genetics, while 'filter' characteristics of speech (VOT, formant frequencies) are freer to diverge due to environmental factors such as different linguistic environments. Since the older twins separated to two distinct linguistic areas of the United States at the age of 25 years, while the 2 younger twins continue to share domicile at 21 years, the findings of this study appear to support this preliminary hypothesis.