Voice in Friedreich Ataxia.

Background: Friedreich Ataxia (FRDA) is the most common hereditary ataxia, with dysarthria as one of its key clinical signs.

Objective: To describe the voice profile of individuals with FRDA to inform outcome marker development and goals of speech therapy.

Methods: Thirty-six individuals with FRDA and 30 age-matched controls provided sustained vowel and connected speech samples.

Nasality in Friedreich ataxia.

Perceptual speech research in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) has identified altered nasality as a key component of the dysarthria profile, however the incidence and severity of abnormal nasality remains unknown. Utilizing objective and perceptual methods, data on the relationship between resonance, disease duration, severity, age of onset and genetic profiles were collated. Thirty-seven participants with FRDA and 24 healthy controls provided contemporaneous speech samples for perceptual analysis, and single word samples for acoustic analysis.

Dysphagia and swallowing-related quality of life in Friedreich ataxia.

Dysphagia in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) and its impact on quality of life is not adequately understood. The objective of this study was to characterise dysphagia in FRDA and to determine the impact of swallowing dysfunction on activities, participation, and sense of well-being. Thirty-six individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of FRDA were assessed via a clinical bedside examination (CBE), the Royal Brisbane Hospital outcome measure for swallowing, an oral-motor examination and the Australian therapy outcome measures for speech and swallowing (AusTOMS).

Longitudinal change in dysarthria associated with Friedreich ataxia: a potential clinical endpoint.

CNS functions that show change across short periods of time are particularly useful clinical endpoints for Friedreich ataxia. This study determined whether there is measurable acoustical change in the dysarthria associated with Friedreich ataxia across yearly intervals. A total of 29 participants diagnosed with Friedreich ataxia were recorded across 4 years at yearly intervals.

Differentiating profiles of speech impairments in Friedreich's ataxia: a perceptual and instrumental approach.

Background: The speech disorder associated with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is classically described as ataxic dysarthria. However, variable neuropathology beyond the cerebellum, which may include the corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts, means that the dysarthria can be mixed rather than a pure ataxic dysarthria.

Aims: To characterize physiological features of the dysarthria associated with FRDA and identify differential patterns of deviation that may occur across the subsystems of the speech-production mechanism in a series of seven case studies.

Articulatory kinematics in the dysarthria associated with Friedreich's ataxia.

Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) was used to investigate the tongue kinematics in the dysarthria associated with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). The subject group consisted of four individuals diagnosed with FRDA. Five nonneurologically impaired individuals, matched for age and gender, served as controls.

Spectral measures of the effects of Friedreich's ataxia on speech.

This study identifies two measures of the effects of Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) on speech motor control. Speech samples of 17 healthy controls and 37 speakers with dysarthria associated with FRDA were recorded during one structured and one unstructured speaking task. Two measures of spectral variation were used that relate to the rate and range of changes that occur in the spectral envelope.

Measures of spectral change and their application to habitual, slow, and clear speaking modes.

Spectral measures are sensitive to dysarthric speech. However, it is unclear whether the spectral differences in dysarthric and healthy speech are due to slow articulation rate or reflect other qualitative changes in speech. Spectral measures were used to detect differences between habitual, slow, and "clear" speaking modes in 12 healthy speakers.

Differentiating impairment levels in temporal versus spatial aspects of linguopalatal contacts in Friedreich's ataxia.

Electropalatography (EPG) was used to describe the pattern of linguopalatal contact and the consonant phase durations exhibited by a group of seven individuals with dysarthria associated with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). A group of 14 non-neurologically impaired individuals served as controls. The Reading Electropalatograph (EPG3) system was used to record linguopalatal contact during production of the target consonants (/t/, /l/, /s/, /k/) elicited in five words of CV and CVC construction, with the target consonants in word initial position.

Kinematic analysis of lingual movements during consonant productions in dysarthric speakers with Friedreich's ataxia: A case-by-case analysis.

Articulatory kinematics were investigated using electromagnetic articulography (EMA) in four dysarthric speakers with Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Specifically, tongue-tip and tongue-back movements were recorded by the AG-200 EMA system during production of the consonants /t/ and /k/ as produced within a sentence utterance and during a rapid syllable repetition task. The results obtained for each of the participants with FRDA were individually compared to those obtained by a control group (n = 10).