Sports Related Concussion Impacts Speech Rate and Muscle Function

Abstract

Objective: To examine speech rate and muscle function in athletes with and without sports related concussion (SRC). Methods: We recruited 30 athletes aged 19-22 years-old who had sustained a SRC within the past 2 years and 30 pair-wise matched controls with no history of SRC from the student community at Michigan State University. Speech rate and muscle function were evaluated during diadochokinetic (DDK) tasks. Speech rate was measured via average time per syllable, average unvoiced time per syllable, and expert perceptual judgement. Speech muscle function was measured via surface electromyography over the obicularis oris, masseter, and segmental triangle. Group differences were assessed using MANOVA, bootstrapping and predictive ROC analyses. Results: Athletes with SRC had slower speech rates during DDK tasks than controls as evidenced by longer average time per syllable (F(1, 52) = 11.072, p =.002, [95% CI : .01 to .04]), longer average unvoiced time per syllable (F(1, 52) = 16.031, p < .000, [95% CI : .01 to .029] and expert judgement of slowed rate (F(1, 22) = 9.782, p = .005, [95% CI : .163 to .807]). Rate measures were predictive of concussion history. Further, athletes with SRC required more speech muscle activation than controls to complete the DDK tasks (F(1, 3) = 17.12, p =.000, [95% CI: .003 to .006]). Conclusion: We found clear evidence of slowed speech and increased muscle activation during the completion of DDK tasks in athletes with SRC histories relative to controls. Speech rate and muscle assessment should be incorporated into clinical evaluation of concussion.

Fluency Changes due to Sports-Related Concussion

“…Our results showed only a trending difference in the number of pauses (minimum pause length 250 ms) after concussion, despite early evidence reporting such a difference (Banks et al, 2020). It is important to note that while reviewing speech samples, clinical presence of slowed rate of speech and increased pausing or latency between and within utterances was subjectively observed.…”