Effects of a Music Therapy Voice Protocol on Speech Intelligibility, Vocal Acoustic Measures, and Mood of Individuals with Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

This study examined the effects of a Music Therapy Voice Protocol (MTVP) on speech intelligibility, vocal intensity, maximum vocal range, maximum duration of sustained vowel phonation, vocal fundamental frequency, vocal fundamental frequency variability, and mood of individuals with Parkinson's disease. Four female patients, who demonstrated voice and speech problems, served as their own controls and participated in baseline assessment (study pretest), a series of MTVP sessions involving vocal and singing exercises, and final evaluation (study posttest). In study pre and posttests, data for speech intelligibility and all acoustic variables were collected. Statistically significant increases were found in speech intelligibility, as rated by caregivers, and in vocal intensity from study pretest to posttest as the results of paired samples t-tests. In addition, before and after each MTVP session (session pre and posttests), self-rated mood scores and selected acoustic variables were collected. No significant differences were found in any of the variables from the session pretests to posttests, across the entire treatment period, or their interactions as the results of two-way ANOVAs with repeated measures. Although not significant, the mean of mood scores in session posttests (M = 8.69) was higher than that in session pretests (M = 7.93).

Choral singing therapy following stroke or Parkinson’s disease: an exploration of participants’ experiences

“…Improvements in voice were noted by people with dysarthria (stroke and PD), including loudness, tone, inflection (prosody), and confidence; they also felt more understood in conversation, consistent with other small-scale choral studies [41,42,93,94]. Improved breathing appeared to be another benefit, consistent with earlier small-scale choral studies for people with PD [42,93].…”

“…Choral singing may also prevent voice decline [39] and improve QOL in PD [18]. Small-scale choral studies with PD have shown improvements in QOL [40], speech intelligibility [41], breath control, and prosody [42]. Large-scale studies of choir participation with healthy older adults indicate improved QOL [43,44], social engagement [45,46], mood [47], immune functioning [48], and overall health [49].…”

Psychosocial outcomes of active singing interventions for therapeutic purposes: a systematic review of the literature

“…The 11 quantitative studies included three randomized control trials (Bonilha et al, 2009;Kenny & Faunce, 2004;Leung et al, 1998), two nonrandomized control trials (Takahashi & Matsushita, 2006;VanderArk, Newman & Bell, 1983) and six single-group pre-and post-intervention designs (Baker & Wigram, 2004;Haneishi, 2001;Korb, 1997;Lesta & Petocz, 2006;Myskja & Nord, 2008;Olderog-Millard & Smith, 1989).…”

“…Six studies included self-rating mental health scales that examined a range of emotional perceptions such as mood, depression, self-esteem, anxiety, quality of life, and pain (Baker & Wigram, 2004;Bonilha et al, 2009;Haneishi, 2001;Kenny & Faunce, 2004;Leung et al, 1998;VanderArk et al, 1983). Other investigators used observational checklists that measured mood and depression (Korb, 1997;Lesta & Petocz, 2006;Myskja & Nord, 2008), wellbeing (Korb, 1997), social behavior (Korb, 1997;Lesta & Petocz, 2006;Olderog-Millard & Smith, 1989), and psychiatric symptoms (Leung et al, 1998).…”

“…Takahashi and Matsushita (2006) incorporated an intelligence test and was the only study to examine objective measures including blood pressure, and salivary cortisol levels as indicators of stress. The validity of the outcome measures also varied with six studies documenting the validity of measurement tools (Baker & Wigram, 2004;Kenny & Faunce, 2004;Haneishi, 2001;Leung et al, 1998;Myskja & Nord, 2008;Takahashi & Matsushita, 2006), while others incorporated measurement tools designed by the investigators (Lesta & Petocz, 2006;Olderog-Millard & Smith, 1989;VanderArk et al, 1983) or did not report the validity of measures (Bonilha et al, 2009;Korb, 1997). The included quantitative studies are summarized in Tables 3-5. All three qualitative papers involved semi-structured interviews with thematic analysis (Bailey & Davidson, 2002Pavlakou, 2009).…”