ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05754086Updated Aug 27, 2024

A Multidimensional Study on Articulation Deficits in Parkinsons Disease

An observational study in Parkinson Disease and Dysarthria, Hypokinetic, sponsored by Florida State University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-08-27.

Sponsored by Florida State University · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrollment
40
Ages
18 Years to 85 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Articulatory deficits are present in most speakers with dysarthria, which negatively impacts their speech intelligibility, yet little is known about the relationship between articulatory movement and speech intelligibility. This study will examine the relationship between articulation measures, both acoustic and kinematic, and their relationship to perceptual measures (i.e., speech intelligibility and articulation ratings) in 30 individuals with dysarthria secondary to Parkinson's disease and 30 neurologically healthy adults of the same age. The findings will have implications for behavioral management.

Read the detailed description

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder that affects individuals with various etiologies. Parkinson's disease (PD) alone affects nearly one million individuals in the U.S., with dysarthria developing in approximately 90% of these individuals within the first two years of onset. The dysarthria associated with PD is characterized by reduced movement, which has been supported by findings of reduced lip, tongue, and jaw movement in speakers with PD. However, it remains unclear if hypokinetic dysarthria causes a global reduction across all articulators, or if specific articulators are disproportionally affected by the disease. Further, it is not fully understood what factors contribute to speech intelligibility. Specifically, little is known about the articulatory-kinematic correlates of speech intelligibility. This missing link is vital to understand, as articulation deficits are a universal characteristic of dysarthria, regardless of etiology. The proposed study provides a linked investigation of kinematic, acoustic, and perceptual characteristics in speakers with PD and neurologically healthy speakers.

This research aims to (1) examine the perceptual, acoustic, and articulator-specific movement deficits in speakers with PD and (2) understand the relationship between articulatory movement and measures of speech perception. Specific Aim 1 will examine the group differences between speakers with PD and neurologically healthy speakers using perceptual, acoustic, and articulator-specific kinematic measures. The investigators hypothesize the perceptual, acoustic, and tongue-related kinematic measures will differentiate individuals with PD from neurologically healthy speakers. Specific Aim 2 will model speech intelligibility (Specific Aim 2a) and ratings of articulatory precision (Specific Aim 2b) using selected acoustic and kinematic measurements. The investigators hypothesize that the acoustic measures will be stronger predictors of speech intelligibility than the kinematic measures, as they are both derived from the speech signal. Further, the investigators hypothesize the selected kinematic measures may demonstrate a stronger relationship to articulation ratings than speech intelligibility. This study is a requisite step toward our long-term goal of advancing dysarthria management strategies. The primary outcome will be explanatory models that identify acoustic and articulatory correlates of speech intelligibility and articulatory precision. This study has important implications for developing articulator-specific dysarthria management strategies to supplement universal dysarthria management strategies.

02

Conditions studied

  • Parkinson Disease
  • Dysarthria, Hypokinetic
03

In context

Parkinson Disease

4,573 studies on the registry are indexed under Parkinson Disease; 1,086 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 40 is below the median of 96 across 1,085 observational studies indexed under Parkinson Disease.

Browse Parkinson Disease studies →

Lead sponsor

Florida State University is the lead sponsor of 249 studies on the registry; 47 are open to participants now.

Of its 16 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 9 (56%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 85 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

All participants will be recruited via convenient sampling from Tallahassee, FL, and the local community. For the neurologically healthy control speakers, flyers will be posted at local coffee shops, community samples, and via word of mouth. For the Parkinson's participants, flyers will be posted at hospitals, health clinics, and gyms.

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • neurological diagnosis of PD (for the PD group only)
  • diagnosis of dysarthria (for the PD group only)
  • native English speaker
  • no evidence of cognitive impairment, as indicated by a score above 26 on the
  • able to read a paragraph in 19-point font

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not within the age limits
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

MMSE and MoCA

Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.

05

Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrollment
40 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Parkinsons (PD) Group

    This cohort includes individuals who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

    Behavioral: Clear Speech · Behavioral: Less Clear Speech

  • Neurotypical (NT) Group

    This group consists of age-matched control participants. They are neurologically healthy and do not have any neurological diagnoses.

    Behavioral: Clear Speech · Behavioral: Less Clear Speech

Interventions

  • BehavioralClear Speech

    This behavioral modification asks participants to speak more clearly, as if they were "speaking to someone with a hearing loss".

  • BehavioralLess Clear Speech

    This behavioral modification asks participants to speak less clearly, as if they were "in a room with many people and they were mumbling something to the person next to them that they didn't want other people in the room to hear."

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Vowel Space Area

    Vowel space area is a measure of the planar area among the four corner vowels /i/, /ae/, /a/, and /u/. It is calculated using the first and second formant resonant frequencies obtained from the acoustic signal, using the software PRAAT.

    Time frame: Baseline

  2. F2 Slope

    Second formant frequency (F2) slope is measured as the rate of F2 change during the diphthong in "Buy." To calculate this measure, first the investigators will obtain the extent of F2 change (max F2 - min F2) from the diphthong "Buy." Then this F2 change is divided by the duration of the diphthong "Buy."

    Time frame: Baseline

  3. Tongue and Jaw Speed

    This is measured as the tongue and jaw speed during the diphthong in "Buy". Specifically, this will be calculated as tongue/jaw movement (measured in mm), divided by movement duration (measured in ms). The tongue and jaw movement will be collected using the electromagnetic articulography (EMA) device used in this study.

    Time frame: Baseline

  4. Acoustic Distance

    This is measured as the Euclidean distance between the second formant frequency (F2) onset and offset of the diphthong in "Buy" in an F1-F2 (first and second formant frequency) space. Measured in Hz.

    Time frame: Baseline

  5. Tongue and Jaw Distance

    This is measured as the Euclidean distance between the tongue and jaw onset and offset of the diphthong in "Buy" in a two-dimensional space.The tongue and jaw movement will be collected using the electromagnetic articulography (EMA) device used in this study.

    Time frame: Baseline

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Florida State University
    Tallahassee, Florida 32309, United States
08

References and documents

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — The analytic data and code will be shared to the open science framework (OSF) upon completion of the project, expected July 2023.

Supporting information: Analytic code

Time frame: Analytic data and code will be made available in July 2023.

Access criteria: Upon publication to the open science framework (OSF) project page, anyone will have access to the analytic data and code.

Data sharing details ↗ · osf.io

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 27, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05754086
Responsible party
Yunjung Kim (Principal Investigator, Florida State University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 3, 2023
Start date
Sep 9, 2021
Primary completion
Jul 31, 2023
Completion
Jul 31, 2023
Last update
Aug 27, 2024

Study contacts

Yunjung Kim, Ph.D.
study chair · Florida State University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion