Data-Driven Classification of Dysarthria Profiles in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Purpose

The objectives of this study were to examine different speech profiles among children with dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy (CP) and to characterize the effect of different speech profiles on intelligibility.

Method

Twenty 5-year-old children with dysarthria secondary to CP and 20 typically developing children were included in this study. Six acoustic and perceptual speech measures were selected to quantify a range of segmental and suprasegmental speech characteristics and were measured from children's sentence productions. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify naturally occurring subgroups of children who had similar profiles of speech features.

Results

Results revealed 4 naturally occurring speech clusters among children: 1 cluster of children with typical development and 3 clusters of children with dysarthria secondary to CP. Two of the 3 dysarthria clusters had statistically equivalent intelligibility levels but significantly differed in articulation rate and degree of hypernasality.

Conclusion

This study provides initial evidence that different speech profiles exist among 5-year-old children with dysarthria secondary to CP, even among children with similar intelligibility levels, suggesting the potential for developing a pediatric dysarthria classification system that could be used to stratify children with dysarthria into meaningful subgroups for studying speech motor development and efficacy of interventions.

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Identification of Affective State Change in Adults With Aphasia Using Speech Acoustics

Purpose

The current study aimed to identify objective acoustic measures related to affective state change in the speech of adults with post-stroke aphasia.

Method

The speech of 20 post-stroke adults with aphasia was recorded during picture description and administration of the Western Aphasia Battery–Revised (Kertesz, 2006). In addition, participants completed the Self-Assessment Manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994) and the Stress Scale (Tobii Dynavox, 1981–2016) before and after the language tasks. Speech from each participant was used to detect a change in affective state test scores between the beginning and ending speech.

Results

Machine learning revealed moderate success in classifying depression, minimal success in predicting depression and stress numeric scores, and minimal success in classifying changes in affective state class between the beginning and ending speech.

Conclusions

The results suggest the existence of objectively measurable aspects of speech that may be used to identify changes in acute affect from adults with aphasia. This work is exploratory and hypothesis-generating; more work will be needed to make conclusive claims. Further work in this area could lead to automated tools to assist clinicians with their diagnoses of stress, depression, and other forms of affect in adults with aphasia.

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School-Aged Children's Phonological Accuracy in Multisyllabic Words on a Whole-Word Metric

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in phonological accuracy in multisyllabic words (MSWs) on a whole-word metric, longitudinally and cross-sectionally, for elementary school–aged children with typical development (TD) and with history of protracted phonological development (PPD).

Method

Three mismatch subtotals, Lexical influence, Word Structure, and segmental Features (forming a Whole Word total), were evaluated in 3 multivariate analyses: (a) a longitudinal comparison (n = 22), at age 5 and 8 years; (b) a cross-sectional comparison of 8- to 10-year-olds (n = 12 per group) with TD and with history of PPD; and (c) a comparison of the group with history of PPD (n = 12) with a larger 5-year-old group (n = 62).

Results

Significant effect sizes (η_p ²) found for mismatch totals were as follows: (a) moderate (Lexical, Structure) and large (Features) between ages 5 and 8 to 10 years, mismatch frequency decreasing developmentally, and (b) large between 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD (Structure, Features; minimal lexical influences), in favor of participants with TD. Mismatch frequencies were equivalent for 8- to 10-year-olds with history of PPD and 5-year-olds with TD. Classification accuracy in original subgroupings was 100% and 91% for 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD, respectively, and 86% for 5-year-olds with TD.

Conclusion

Phonological accuracy in MSW production was differentiated for elementary school–aged children with TD and PPD, using a whole-word metric. To assist with the identification of children with ongoing PPD, the metric has the ability to detect weaknesses and track progress in global MSW phonological production.

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Data-Driven Classification of Dysarthria Profiles in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Purpose

The objectives of this study were to examine different speech profiles among children with dysarthria secondary to cerebral palsy (CP) and to characterize the effect of different speech profiles on intelligibility.

Method

Twenty 5-year-old children with dysarthria secondary to CP and 20 typically developing children were included in this study. Six acoustic and perceptual speech measures were selected to quantify a range of segmental and suprasegmental speech characteristics and were measured from children's sentence productions. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify naturally occurring subgroups of children who had similar profiles of speech features.

Results

Results revealed 4 naturally occurring speech clusters among children: 1 cluster of children with typical development and 3 clusters of children with dysarthria secondary to CP. Two of the 3 dysarthria clusters had statistically equivalent intelligibility levels but significantly differed in articulation rate and degree of hypernasality.

Conclusion

This study provides initial evidence that different speech profiles exist among 5-year-old children with dysarthria secondary to CP, even among children with similar intelligibility levels, suggesting the potential for developing a pediatric dysarthria classification system that could be used to stratify children with dysarthria into meaningful subgroups for studying speech motor development and efficacy of interventions.

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Identification of Affective State Change in Adults With Aphasia Using Speech Acoustics

Purpose

The current study aimed to identify objective acoustic measures related to affective state change in the speech of adults with post-stroke aphasia.

Method

The speech of 20 post-stroke adults with aphasia was recorded during picture description and administration of the Western Aphasia Battery–Revised (Kertesz, 2006). In addition, participants completed the Self-Assessment Manikin (Bradley & Lang, 1994) and the Stress Scale (Tobii Dynavox, 1981–2016) before and after the language tasks. Speech from each participant was used to detect a change in affective state test scores between the beginning and ending speech.

Results

Machine learning revealed moderate success in classifying depression, minimal success in predicting depression and stress numeric scores, and minimal success in classifying changes in affective state class between the beginning and ending speech.

Conclusions

The results suggest the existence of objectively measurable aspects of speech that may be used to identify changes in acute affect from adults with aphasia. This work is exploratory and hypothesis-generating; more work will be needed to make conclusive claims. Further work in this area could lead to automated tools to assist clinicians with their diagnoses of stress, depression, and other forms of affect in adults with aphasia.

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School-Aged Children's Phonological Accuracy in Multisyllabic Words on a Whole-Word Metric

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in phonological accuracy in multisyllabic words (MSWs) on a whole-word metric, longitudinally and cross-sectionally, for elementary school–aged children with typical development (TD) and with history of protracted phonological development (PPD).

Method

Three mismatch subtotals, Lexical influence, Word Structure, and segmental Features (forming a Whole Word total), were evaluated in 3 multivariate analyses: (a) a longitudinal comparison (n = 22), at age 5 and 8 years; (b) a cross-sectional comparison of 8- to 10-year-olds (n = 12 per group) with TD and with history of PPD; and (c) a comparison of the group with history of PPD (n = 12) with a larger 5-year-old group (n = 62).

Results

Significant effect sizes (η_p ²) found for mismatch totals were as follows: (a) moderate (Lexical, Structure) and large (Features) between ages 5 and 8 to 10 years, mismatch frequency decreasing developmentally, and (b) large between 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD (Structure, Features; minimal lexical influences), in favor of participants with TD. Mismatch frequencies were equivalent for 8- to 10-year-olds with history of PPD and 5-year-olds with TD. Classification accuracy in original subgroupings was 100% and 91% for 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD, respectively, and 86% for 5-year-olds with TD.

Conclusion

Phonological accuracy in MSW production was differentiated for elementary school–aged children with TD and PPD, using a whole-word metric. To assist with the identification of children with ongoing PPD, the metric has the ability to detect weaknesses and track progress in global MSW phonological production.

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Corrigendum to “Sound side joint contact forces in below knee amputee gait with an ESAR prosthetic foot” [Gait Posture 58 (October) (2017) 246–251]

Publication date: Available online 27 November 2018

Source: Gait & Posture

Author(s): Mohammad Taghi Karimi, Firooz Salami, Amir Esrafilian, Daniel W.W. Heitzmann, Merkur Alimusaj, Cornelia Putz, Sebastian I. Wolf

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Corrigendum to “Sound side joint contact forces in below knee amputee gait with an ESAR prosthetic foot” [Gait Posture 58 (October) (2017) 246–251]

Publication date: Available online 27 November 2018

Source: Gait & Posture

Author(s): Mohammad Taghi Karimi, Firooz Salami, Amir Esrafilian, Daniel W.W. Heitzmann, Merkur Alimusaj, Cornelia Putz, Sebastian I. Wolf

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