Did the speech of patients with Myasthenia Gravis decline over 4 years?

Purpose: To compare the speech and voice patterns of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients over four years, and correlate the results with clinical aspects of the disease.

Methods: Data was collected for 4 years. The clinical assessment tools included the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG) score, the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) clinical classification, and the Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life 15-item Scale (MG-QoL).

Effect of speech therapy on quality of life in patients with spinocerebelar ataxia type 3.

Background: Individuals with spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) present communication and swallowing disorders, and consequent deterioration in quality of life (QOL).

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a speech therapy rehabilitation program on the QOL of patients with SCA3.

Methods: All participants were randomly assigned to two groups, an intervention group receiving speech therapy (STG) and a control group (CG).

Dysarthria in hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4.

Objective: To describe the speech pattern of patients with hereditary Spastic Paraplegia type 4 (SPG4) and correlated it with their clinical data.

Methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out in two university hospitals in Brazil. Two groups participated in the study: the case group (n = 28) with a confirmed genetic diagnosis for SPG4 and a control group (n = 17) matched for sex and age.

Reducing the gap between science and clinic: lessons from academia and professional practice - part B: traditional vocal therapy techniques and modern electrostimulation and photobiomodulation techniques applied to vocal rehabilitation.

This text is the continuation of the XVIII SBFa Congress publication. In part "A" we presented the analyses on clinical vocal evaluation. Part "B" focuses on vocal rehabilitation: 4.

Reducing the GAP between science and clinic: lessons from academia and professional practice - part A: perceptual-auditory judgment of vocal quality, acoustic vocal signal analysis and voice self-assessment.

During the XXVIII Brazilian Congress of SBFa, 24 specialists met and, from a leading position on scientific research as a tool for connecting laboratory and clinic, five fronts of knowledge of the voice specialty were discussed as following: Perceptual-auditory judgment of vocal quality; 2. Acoustic analysis of the vocal signal; 3. Voice self-assessment; 4.

Factors associated with frailty in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Purpose: To identify the factors associated with frailty in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, whose sample consisted of 150 patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases seen at a speech-language therapy clinic in a reference hospital in southern Brazil. A secondary exploratory analysis of the medical records of patients treated at this clinic between April 2016 and May 2019 was performed.

Repetition of anchor stimuli and nature of vocal samples in the perceptual auditory judgment performed by speech-language pathology students.

Purpose: Verify the effect of anchor repetition in the perceptual auditory judgement of the type of vocal deviation performed by speech-language pathology (SLP) students; analyze the correlation between the amount of different vocal dimensions in the same stimuli and accuracy; investigate the correlation between type of vocal deviation and accuracy.

Methods: 54 SLP students were divided in two groups: Group with repetition (GwR), 28 students; and, Group with no repetition (GnR), 26 students. The analyzed sample counted with 220 dysphonic human voices, vowel /ε/.

Speech characteristics in individuals with myasthenia gravis: a case control study.

Introduction: Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease. The characteristic symptoms of the disease are muscle weakness and fatigue. These symptoms affect de oral muscles causing dysarthria, affecting about 60% of patients with disease progression.

Comparison of botulinum toxin and propranolol for essential and dystonic vocal tremors.

Objectives: Vocal tremors, which cause social difficulties for patients, may be classified as resting or action tremors. Of the vocal action tremors, essential and dystonic tremors are the most common. Botulinum toxin and oral medications have been used to treat vocal tremors, but no comparative clinical trials have been performed.

Applicability of Cone Beam Computed Tomography to the Assessment of the Vocal Tract before and after Vocal Exercises in Normal Subjects.

Background/aims: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), which represents an alternative to traditional computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, may be a useful instrument to study vocal tract physiology related to vocal exercises. This study aims to evaluate the applicability of CBCT to the assessment of variations in the vocal tract of healthy individuals before and after vocal exercises.

Methods: Voice recordings and CBCT images before and after vocal exercises performed by 3 speech-language pathologists without vocal complaints were collected and compared.

Auditory-perceptual Evaluation of Normal and Dysphonic Voices Using the Voice Deviation Scale.

Objective: This study aims to (1) determine the cutoff values of the overall severity (OS) of vocal deviation on the visual analog scale (VAS) based on the ratings of the numerical scale (NS); and (2) verify the power of discrimination of these cutoff values according to different degrees of vocal deviation.

Study Design: This is a prospective study.

Methods: The auditory-perceptual evaluation was performed by four speech-language pathologists who used two protocols with different scalar properties: the VAS and the 4-point NS.

Comparison of clinical characteristics of patients with adductor laryngeal dystonia in the focal and segmental types.

Unlabelled: Dystonia is a central motor processing neurological disorder characterized by abnormal, often action-induced, involuntary movements or uncontrolled spasms.

Aim: To compare patients with the diagnoses of focal and segmental adductor laryngeal dystonia at the Neurolarynx Outpatient Clinic of the Federal University of São Paulo.

Materials And Methods: A clinical retrospective study of data collected from patient registries from 2003 to 2009.

Dysphonia severity degree and phonation onset latency in laryngeal adductor dystonia.

Although the latency between the initiation of thyroarytenoid electrical activity and the onset of phonation generally is increased in patients with adductor laryngeal dystonia, there is disagreement about whether there is overlap of latency values in these patients and normal subjects. The goal of this article was to compare the severity of dysphonia with the latency between electrophysiological activation of the thyroarytenoid muscle (TA) and the onset of phonation in patients with adductor laryngeal dystonia and compare the values with normal controls. Twenty-one patients with adductor dystonia and 15 control patients underwent laryngeal electromyographic (EMG) examination of the left TA.

Phonarticulatory diadochokinesis in young and elderly individuals.

The phonoarticulatory diadochokinesis test has been recommended to evaluate neurological disorders. It is a speech task that consists of the ability to repeat at high speed a segment of speech. The purpose of this research is to analyze the diadochokinesia rate of adults from two distinct age groups.

Adduction laryngeal dystonia: proposal and evaluation of nasofibroscopy.

Unlabelled: Dystonias are organic central motor processing disorders characterized by involuntary muscular contractions or incontrollable spasms induced by task-specific movements. Adduction laryngeal dystonias present with important speech impairments, with inappropriate spasms and abrupt voice breaks. The diagnosis is based on clinical features, evaluation by a speech therapist and transnasal fiber optic laryngoscopy.