Comparison between self-reported and objective measures on speech characteristics in patients with Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Objectives: This study used a self-evaluation questionnaire survey on speech characteristics with patients with Parkinson's disease, and investigated the correlation between the survey's self-reported results and clinicians' speech evaluations. Methods: Forty patients with Parkinson's disease were divided into an mild group and a moderate/severe group according to limb hypokinesia severity. Then, speech tasks of maximum phonation time, diadochokinesia, and paragraph reading were conducted, and the results were quantified using Computerized Speech Lab. In the self-report questionnaire, respondents were asked about the subjective difficulty they encountered during the stages of respiration, phonation, articulation, and prosody based on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: First, shimmer, noise to harmonic ratio, and amplitude tremor intensity index in the maximum phonation time task, and the total repeat frequency of /pu/ and /putuku/, and /putuku/DDKsdp in the diadochokinesia task were significantly higher in the moderate/severe group; the total repeat frequency of /tu/ and /ku/ was significantly lower in the moderate/severe group; and the two groups showed no significant difference in the reading task. Second, the moderate/severe group complained of more difficulty in the self-reporting questionnaire. Third, speech evaluation measures and the questionnaire showed a correlation between voice-related diverse complaints and correct articulation and the speech evaluation measures in the mild group, while voice intensity or speech rate were correlated with speech evaluation measures in the moderate/severe group. Conclusion: Speech difficulty indicators in patient groups may differ with Parkinson's disease severity. This implies that self-recognition regarding speech characteristics should be considered in the intervention plan and prognosis establishment.