Preliminary investigation of voice onset time production in persons with dysphagia

    Authors

    J. Ryalls; K. Gustafson;C. Santini

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Dysphagia

    Keywords

    dysphagia; voice onset time; acoustic analysis; speech; deglutition; deglutition disorders; COMMUNICATION DISORDERS; Otorhinolaryngology

    Abstract

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether voice onset time (VOT) values of persons with dysphagia differed from those of a person with normal swallow function. Five male subjects with dysphagia (average age = 80.6 years) and a control subject (age = 79 years) read 18 consonant-vowel-consonant words in quasi-random order. These syllables began with the voiced and voiceless cognates from the three stop places of articulation (i.e., bilabial, alveolar, and velar). These consonants were followed by the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/. Digital audio tape recordings were performed and speech was digitized onto disk. Measurements were completed using BLISS software (Mertus J: BLISS User's Manual. Providence: Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, 1989) implemented on a 486 microcomputer. Averages and standard deviations of the VOT measures for the six stop consonants were compared between the two experimental groups. For the dysphagic speakers, average VOT values for voiceless stops were shorter, and there were larger negative VOT values for voiced stops. Standard deviations for the VOT productions pf the dysphagic subjects were smaller. Statistical comparisons showed significant differences between individual dysphagic speakers and the normal control for three of the five subjects. These preliminary data suggest that dysphagia affects the fine motor control required for accurate VOT production in speech.

    Journal Title

    Dysphagia

    Volume

    14

    Issue/Number

    3

    Publication Date

    1-1-1999

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    169

    Last Page

    175

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000080503200009

    ISSN

    0179-051X

    Share

    COinS