| Abstract: |
Seven consecutively referred dysarthric individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) participated in an intervention program based on principles of increased vocal efficiency as well as effective use of contrastive stress and verbal repair strategies. The individuals with MS represented varying degrees of functional disability as well as severity of dysarthria. Results of therapy were perceptually evaluated pairwise for each individual (pre- and post-therapy) in randomized order by independent judges. Five of the seven individuals showed increased articulatory precision, vocal accuracy, and naturalness post-therapy. The individuals with a modest or negative overall therapy outcome were nevertheless able to increase their ability to signal stress and to make qualitatively superior verbal repairs to a greater extent post- than pretherapy. Individual differences were explored using acoustic analysis and are discussed. |
