TY - JOUR
T1 - Syllabic diadochokinesis in adults with and without traumatic brain injury
T2 - Severity, stability, and speech considerations
AU - Solomon, Nancy Pearl
AU - Brungart, Douglas S.
AU - Wince, Jessica R.
AU - Abramowitz, Jordan C.
AU - Eitel, Megan M.
AU - Cohen, Julie
AU - Lippa, Sara M.
AU - Brickell, Tracey A.
AU - French, Louis M.
AU - Lange, Rael T.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center 15–Year Longitudinal TBI studies (Sec721 NDAA FY2007). We are also grateful for the support provided by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering summer internship program. This article is based on a poster presentation at the Twentieth Biennial Conference on Motor Speech in Santa Barbara, CA (February 19–23, 2020). The identification of specific products or scientific instrumentation is considered an integral part of the scientific endeavor and does not constitute endorsement or implied endorsement on the part of the authors, U.S. Department of Defense, or any component agency. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center 15?Year Longitudinal TBI studies (Sec721 NDAA FY2007). We are also grateful for the support provided by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Engineering summer internship program. This article is based on a poster presentation at the Twentieth Biennial Conference on Motor Speech in Santa Barbara, CA (February 19?23, 2020). The identification of specific products or scientific instrumentation is considered an integral part of the scientific endeavor and does not constitute endorsement or implied endorsement on the part of the authors, U.S. Department of Defense, or any component agency. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of Army/Navy/Air Force, Department of Defense, or U.S. Government. This work was prepared under Contract HT0014-19-C-0004 with DHA Contracting Office HT0014 and, therefore, is defined as U.S. Government work under Title 17 U.S.C.?101. Per Title 17 U.S.C.?105, copyright protection is not available for any work of the U.S. Government. For more information, please contact dha.DVBICinfo@mail.mil.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Purpose: Syllabic diadochokinesis (DDK) is a standard assessment task for motor speech disorders. This study aimed to compare rate and regularity of DDK according to the presence or absence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severity of TBI, examine the stability of DDK over time, and explore associations between DDK and extemporaneous speech. Method: Military service members and veterans were categorized into three groups: no history of TBI (control), uncomplicated mild TBI (mTBI), and moderate through severe (including penetrating) TBI (msTBI). Participants produced rapid alternating-motion and sequential-motion syllable repetitions during one or two sessions. A semi-automated protocol determined syllabic rate and regularity. Perceptual ratings of selected participants’ connected speech samples were compared to DDK results. Results: Two hundred sixty-three service members and veterans provided data from one session and 69 from two sessions separated by 1.9 years (SD = 1.0). DDKs were significantly slower overall for mTBI and msTBI groups compared to controls. Regularity of productions did not differ significantly across groups. A significant Group × Task interaction revealed that the msTBI group produced sequential-motion syllable repetitions but not alternatingmotion repetitions with greater regularity, whereas the opposite occurred for control and mTBI groups. DDK results did not differ significantly between sessions. Perceptual speech analysis for 30 participants, including 20 with atypical or questionable DDK performance, revealed two participants with mildly abnormal speech. Conclusions: Overall, DDK productions are slower than normal in adults with moderate, severe, and penetrating TBI and are stable over time. Regularity of productions did not differentiate groups, although this result differed according to task. There were surprisingly few people identified with disordered speech, making comparisons to DDK data tenuous, and indicating that dysarthria is a rare complication in a population of adults with mostly uncomplicated mTBI who are not selected from referrals to a speech-language pathology clinic.
AB - Purpose: Syllabic diadochokinesis (DDK) is a standard assessment task for motor speech disorders. This study aimed to compare rate and regularity of DDK according to the presence or absence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and severity of TBI, examine the stability of DDK over time, and explore associations between DDK and extemporaneous speech. Method: Military service members and veterans were categorized into three groups: no history of TBI (control), uncomplicated mild TBI (mTBI), and moderate through severe (including penetrating) TBI (msTBI). Participants produced rapid alternating-motion and sequential-motion syllable repetitions during one or two sessions. A semi-automated protocol determined syllabic rate and regularity. Perceptual ratings of selected participants’ connected speech samples were compared to DDK results. Results: Two hundred sixty-three service members and veterans provided data from one session and 69 from two sessions separated by 1.9 years (SD = 1.0). DDKs were significantly slower overall for mTBI and msTBI groups compared to controls. Regularity of productions did not differ significantly across groups. A significant Group × Task interaction revealed that the msTBI group produced sequential-motion syllable repetitions but not alternatingmotion repetitions with greater regularity, whereas the opposite occurred for control and mTBI groups. DDK results did not differ significantly between sessions. Perceptual speech analysis for 30 participants, including 20 with atypical or questionable DDK performance, revealed two participants with mildly abnormal speech. Conclusions: Overall, DDK productions are slower than normal in adults with moderate, severe, and penetrating TBI and are stable over time. Regularity of productions did not differentiate groups, although this result differed according to task. There were surprisingly few people identified with disordered speech, making comparisons to DDK data tenuous, and indicating that dysarthria is a rare complication in a population of adults with mostly uncomplicated mTBI who are not selected from referrals to a speech-language pathology clinic.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108741791&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1044/2020_AJSLP-20-00158
DO - 10.1044/2020_AJSLP-20-00158
M3 - Article
C2 - 33630660
AN - SCOPUS:85108741791
SN - 1058-0360
VL - 30
SP - 1400
EP - 1409
JO - American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
JF - American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
IS - 3s
ER -