Acoustic analyses of diadochokinesis in fluent and stuttering children

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:The purpose of the study was to acoustically compare the performance of children who do and do not stutter on diadochokinesis tasks in terms of syllable duration, syllable periods, and peak intensity.METHODS:In this case-control study, acoustical analyses were performed on 26 children who stutter and 20 aged-matched normally fluent children (both groups stratified into preschoolers and school-aged children) during a diadochokinesis task: the repetition of articulatory segments through a task testing the ability to alternate movements. Speech fluency was assessed using the Fluency Profile and the Stuttering Severity Instrument.RESULTS:The children who stutter and those who do not did not significantly differ in terms of the acoustic patterns they produced in the diadochokinesis tasks. Significant differences were demonstrated between age groups independent of speech fluency. Overall, the preschoolers performed poorer. These results indicate that the observed differences are related to speech-motor age development and not to stuttering itself.CONCLUSIONS:Acoustic studies demonstrate that speech segment durations are most variable, both within and between subjects, during childhood and then gradually decrease to adult levels by the age of eleven to thirteen years. One possible explanation for the results of the present study is that children who stutter presented higher coefficients of variation to exploit the motor equivalence to achieve accurate sound production (i.e., the absence of speech disruptions).

Impacto do uso do SpeechEasy® nos parâmetros acústicos e motores da fala de indivíduos com gagueira

“…Although an oral diadochokinesis assessment measures speech motor programming skills, there are very few studies on the application of this type of assessment, or similar ones, to individuals who stutter. The results of these studies are not conclusive because the currently published studies on the application and analysis of this assessment vary greatly in variables such as participant age, data collection method, type of task analyzed and others (6)(7)(8) .…”

“…This evaluation may include the repetition of the same vowel (which provides a laryngeal-level evaluation), the repetition of the same syllable (/pa/, /ta/ or /ka/, for example, called alternating diadochokinesis) or the joining of different syllables (e.g., /pataka/, sequential diadochokinesis). This test reflects the individual's neuromotor maturity and integrity (4)(5)(6) .…”

Diadococinesia sequencial em crianças fluentes e com gagueira desenvolvimental persistente: análise da velocidade e tipo do erro da consoante alvo

“…A previous study, whose goal was to acoustically analyze DDK tasks in stuttering and in fluent children who speak Brazilian Portuguese (29) , found no significant difference between those groups regarding syllable generation, mean time between syllables, or peak intensity. At the end of the study, the authors speculated that differences between the groups of stuttering children and fluent children could be found by analyzing the type of errors found in DDK/SMR tasks.…”

Impacto do uso do SpeechEasy nos parâmetros acústicos e motores da fala de indivíduos com gagueira

“…Pode ser realizada a repetição de uma mesma vogal (que fornece uma avaliação a nível laríngeo), a repetição da mesma sílaba (/pa/, /ta/ ou /ka/, por exemplo, chamada de diadococinesia alternada); e a junção de sílabas diferentes (por exemplo, /pataka/, a diadococinesia sequencial). Esse teste reflete a maturidade e integridade neuromotora do indivíduo [13][14][15] .…”

“…Embora a medida da diadococinesia oral evidencie as habilidades da programação motora da fala, são poucos estudos encontrados na literatura da aplicação desta avaliação, ou similares, em pessoas com gagueira. Os resultados destes estudos não são conclusivos, uma vez que a aplicação e análise desta avaliação aparecem de forma variada nas pesquisas publicadas na literatura, em fatores como idade dos participantes, forma de coleta de dados, tipo de tarefa analisada, entre outros [15][16][17][18] .…”