strength and endurance of the tongue and, for comparison purposes, the hand. ... durance of the tongue and hand when compared to sex-, age-, weight-, and ...
Tongue Strength and Endurance
in Mild to Moderate Parkinson's Disease
Nancy Pearl Solomon, Ph.D.
Daryl M. Lorell, M.S.
Donald A. Robin, Ph.D.
Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology and National Center for Voice and Speech University of Iowa
Robert L. Rodnitzky, M.D. Department of Neurology
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Erich S. Luschei, Ph.D. Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology and National Center for Voice and Speech University of Iowa
Weakness and fatigue of the speech production system may contribute to articulatory impre cision and timing difficulties in the speech of people with Parkinson's disease. Nineteen individuals with Parkinson's disease and 19 healthy matched control subjects were tested for strength and endurance of the tongue and, for comparison purposes, the hand. Measures were obtained with the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument, a device that quantifies pressure generated in an air-filled bulb. Strength was the maximum pressure generated and endurance was the maximum duration for which 50% of the maximum pressure could be maintained. Additional measures were made pertaining to speech, including articulatory imprecision, over all speech defectiveness, and speech rate. Subjects with Parkinson's disease were found to have lower strength but comparable en durance of the tongue and hand when compared to sex-, age-, weight-, and height-matched con trol subjects. The subject groups did not differ significantly for overall speech defectiveness or interpause speech rate, but the speech articulation of the subjects with Parkinson's disease was perceived as less precise than that of the control subjects. In addition, reduced tongue strength tended to correlate with articulatory imprecision and overall speech defectiveness.
Weakness and fatigue have been recognized as com mon symptoms of Parkinson's disease as early as its original description by James Parkinson in 1817. How never, the few objective studies of muscle strength and endurance in Parkinson's disease have produced Joum a( of Medical
Sp~~ch - LanlJual;e
Pathology
Volume 3. Number I, pp. 15-26
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JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY, VOL. 3, NO . 1
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