Validating the Influences of Methodological Decisions on Assessing the Spatiotemporal Stability of Speech Movement Sequences Using Children's Speech Data.

Purpose: Prior research introduced quantifiable effects of three methodological parameters (number of repetitions, stimulus length, and parsing error) on the spatiotemporal index (STI) using simulated data. Critically, these parameters often vary across studies. In this study, we validate these effects, which were previously only demonstrated via simulation, using children's speech data.

Automatic detection of ALS from single-trial MEG signals during speech tasks: a pilot study.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an idiopathic, fatal, and fast-progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons. ALS patients often experience an initial misdiagnosis or a diagnostic delay due to the current unavailability of an efficient biomarker. Since impaired speech is typical in ALS, we hypothesized that functional differences between healthy and ALS participants during speech tasks can be explained by cortical pattern changes, thereby leading to the identification of a neural biomarker for ALS.

The Impact of Stimulus Length in Tongue and Lip Movement Pattern Stability in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of stimulus signal length on tongue and lip motion pattern stability in speakers diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared to healthy controls.

Method: Electromagnetic articulography was used to derive articulatory motion patterns from individuals with mild ( = 27) and severe ( = 16) ALS and healthy controls ( = 25). The spatiotemporal index (STI) was used as a measure of articulatory stability.

Measuring Articulatory Patterns in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Using a Data-Driven Articulatory Consonant Distinctiveness Space Approach.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to leverage data-driven approaches, including a novel articulatory consonant distinctiveness space (ACDS) approach, to better understand speech motor control in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Method: Electromagnetic articulography was used to record tongue and lip movement data during the production of 10 consonants from healthy controls ( = 15) and individuals with ALS ( = 47). To assess phoneme distinctness, speech data were analyzed using two classification algorithms, Procrustes matching (PM) and support vector machine (SVM), and the area/volume of the ACDS.

Voice Onset Time in Early- and Late-Stage Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects bulbar functions including speech and voice. Voice onset time (VOT) was examined in speakers with ALS in early and late stages to explore the coordination of the articulatory and phonatory systems during speech production.

Method: VOT was measured in nonword /bap/ produced by speakers with early-stage ALS ( = 11), late-stage ALS ( = 6), and healthy controls ( = 13), and compared with speech performance decline (a marker of disease progression) in ALS.

Tongue and Lip Acceleration as a Measure of Speech Decline in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine the efficacy of acceleration-based articulatory measures in characterizing the decline in speech motor control due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Method: Electromagnetic articulography was used to record tongue and lip movements during the production of 20 phrases. Data were collected from 50 individuals diagnosed with ALS.

Pharyngeal Pressure Variability During Volitional Swallowing Maneuvers.

Purpose: Within-individual pharyngeal swallowing pressure variability differs among pharyngeal regions in healthy individuals and increases with age. It remains unknown if pharyngeal pressure variability is impacted by volitional swallowing tasks. We hypothesized that pressure variability would increase during volitional swallowing maneuvers and differ among pharyngeal regions depending on the type of swallowing task being performed.

The Effects of Symptom Onset Location on Automatic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Detection Using the Correlation Structure of Articulatory Movements.

Purpose Kinematic measurements of speech have demonstrated some success in automatic detection of early symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this study, we examined how the region of symptom onset (bulbar vs. spinal) affects the ability of data-driven models to detect ALS.