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Effect of voice rehabilitation on oral communication of Parkinson's disease patients
Author(s) -
Angelis E. C.,
Mourao L. F.,
Ferraz H. B.,
Behlau M. S.,
Pontes P. A. L.,
Andrade L. A. F.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.1997.tb00269.x
Subject(s) - phonation , swallowing , rehabilitation , voice therapy , parkinson's disease , dysarthria , audiology , medicine , voice training , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , speech therapy , voice disorder , voice analysis , disease , psychology , surgery , speech recognition , computer science
Voice and speech disorders are common in Parkinson's disease patients and may lead to social isolation. We employed routine clinical voice therapy measures to evaluate the effect of voice rehabilitation. Twenty patients with a stable drug regimen participated in this study. The patients were assessed before and after a program of voice rehabilitation consisting of 13 group therapy sessions during 1 month, with emphasis on the increase in laryngeal sphincteric activity. Voice rehabilitation produced an increase in maximal phonation times, decrease in the values of s/z ratio and air flow, increase in vocal intensity, decrease in the complaints of weak and strained‐strangled voice and monotonous and unintelligible speech and elimination of complaints of swallowing alterations. These data indicate a greater glottic efficiency after voice rehabilitation reflecting a more functional oral communication.