Respiratory Coordination for Speech in Cerebellar Ataxia

Yost, Ramey

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Respiratory Coordination for Speech in Cerebellar Ataxia Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/h128ng24n

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to uncover inefficient respiratory patterns of participants with cerebellar ataxia through comparing various respiratory measures (utterance length, lung volume initiation, lung volume termination, lung volume excursion, vital capacity per syllable, and phonation onset time) between ataxia and control groups. Studying uncoordinated respiratory patterning is the first step towards the ultimate goal of adjusting therapy strategies to focus on improving respiratory efficiency and reducing fatigue for speakers with ataxia. Six individuals with cerebellar ataxia (2M, 4F; average age of 51.6) and four neurotypical control participants (4F; average age of 28.3) each completed a speech evaluation, which included obtaining samples of their speech for spontaneous speech, passage reading, picture description, maximum phonation time, and diadochokinetic rate, as well as an oral mechanism exam. For this study, only passage reading was analyzed using respiratory inductance plethysmography for each respiratory measure. For the analyses, separate models were run with the dependent variables of UL, LVI, LVT, LVE, VCperSyll, and PhOT, predicted by group (ataxia vs. control), controlling for age and sex. A significant effect was defined as a p-value of less than 0.05. The respiratory measures that yielded a statistically significant difference between the control group and the ataxia group were utterance length and vital capacity per syllable. This qualifies that there is inefficient respiratory patterning in ataxia, supporting the initial hypothesis. LVI, LVT, LVE, and PhOT did not significantly differentiate between groups. This investigation of inefficient respiratory patterning in cerebellar ataxia highlights the need for targeting interventions to improve speech breathing and reduce fatigue. Fatigue and inefficient respiration should not be the reality for those with cerebellar ataxia, and this research seeks to spark the pursuit of better therapy practices to improve quality of life and communication for these patients.

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