Speech Metrics and Samples That Differentiate between Nonfluent/Agrammatic and Logopenic Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Speech Metrics and Samples That Differentiate between Nonfluent/Agrammatic and Logopenic Variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia
Language: English
Authors: Haley, Katarina L. (ORCID 0000-0002-1158-2160), Jacks, Adam (ORCID 0000-0001-6358-2878), Jarrett, Jordan, Ray, Taylor, Cunningham, Kevin T. (ORCID 0000-0001-8069-1574), Gorno-Tempini, Maria Luisa, Henry, Maya L. (ORCID 0000-0002-8745-6451)
Source: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Mar 2021 64(3):754-775.
Availability: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: slhr@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.pubs.asha.org
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 22
Publication Date: 2021
Sponsoring Agency: National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Contract Number: R03DC013403
R01DC01629
K24DC015544
R01NS050915
PO1AG019724
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Speech Communication, Aphasia, Intonation, Suprasegmentals, Clinical Diagnosis, Speech Evaluation, Classification, Evaluation Criteria, Semantics, Task Analysis, Pictorial Stimuli, Story Telling, Narration, Acoustics, Phonetics, Speech Impairments, Phonemes, Measures (Individuals), Syllables, Accuracy, Psychomotor Skills, Connected Discourse, Correlation, Memory, Verbal Ability, Verbal Tests, Verbal Learning, Vocabulary, Intelligence Tests, Short Term Memory, Cognitive Tests, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Severity (of Disability), Error Analysis (Language)
Assessment and Survey Identifiers: California Verbal Learning Test for Children, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Digit Span Test
DOI: 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00445
ISSN: 1092-4388
Abstract: Purpose: Of the three currently recognized variants of primary progressive aphasia, behavioral differentiation between the nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) and logopenic (lvPPA) variants is particularly difficult. The challenge includes uncertainty regarding diagnosis of apraxia of speech, which is subsumed within criteria for variant classification. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a variety of speech articulation and prosody metrics for apraxia of speech differentiate between nfvPPA and lvPPA across diverse speech samples. Method: The study involved 25 participants with progressive aphasia (10 with nfvPPA, 10 with lvPPA, and five with the semantic variant). Speech samples included a word repetition task, a picture description task, and a story narrative task. We completed acoustic analyses of temporal prosody and quantitative perceptual analyses based on narrow phonetic transcription and then evaluated the degree of differentiation between nfvPPA and lvPPA participants (with the semantic variant serving as a reference point for minimal speech production impairment). Results: Most, but not all, articulatory and prosodic metrics differentiated statistically between the nfvPPA and lvPPA groups. Measures of distortion frequency, syllable duration, syllable scanning, and--to a limited extent--syllable stress and phonemic accuracy showed greater impairment in the nfvPPA group. Contrary to expectations, classification was most accurate in connected speech samples. A customized connected speech metric--the narrative syllable duration--yielded excellent to perfect classification accuracy. Discussion: Measures of average syllable duration in multisyllabic utterances are useful diagnostic tools for differentiating between nfvPPA and lvPPA, particularly when based on connected speech samples. As such, they are suitable candidates for automatization, large-scale study, and application to clinical practice. The observation that both speech rate and distortion frequency differentiated more effectively in connected speech than on a motor speech examination suggests that it will be important to evaluate interactions between speech and discourse production in future research.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2021
Accession Number: EJ1293930
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Purpose: Of the three currently recognized variants of primary progressive aphasia, behavioral differentiation between the nonfluent/agrammatic (nfvPPA) and logopenic (lvPPA) variants is particularly difficult. The challenge includes uncertainty regarding diagnosis of apraxia of speech, which is subsumed within criteria for variant classification. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a variety of speech articulation and prosody metrics for apraxia of speech differentiate between nfvPPA and lvPPA across diverse speech samples. Method: The study involved 25 participants with progressive aphasia (10 with nfvPPA, 10 with lvPPA, and five with the semantic variant). Speech samples included a word repetition task, a picture description task, and a story narrative task. We completed acoustic analyses of temporal prosody and quantitative perceptual analyses based on narrow phonetic transcription and then evaluated the degree of differentiation between nfvPPA and lvPPA participants (with the semantic variant serving as a reference point for minimal speech production impairment). Results: Most, but not all, articulatory and prosodic metrics differentiated statistically between the nfvPPA and lvPPA groups. Measures of distortion frequency, syllable duration, syllable scanning, and--to a limited extent--syllable stress and phonemic accuracy showed greater impairment in the nfvPPA group. Contrary to expectations, classification was most accurate in connected speech samples. A customized connected speech metric--the narrative syllable duration--yielded excellent to perfect classification accuracy. Discussion: Measures of average syllable duration in multisyllabic utterances are useful diagnostic tools for differentiating between nfvPPA and lvPPA, particularly when based on connected speech samples. As such, they are suitable candidates for automatization, large-scale study, and application to clinical practice. The observation that both speech rate and distortion frequency differentiated more effectively in connected speech than on a motor speech examination suggests that it will be important to evaluate interactions between speech and discourse production in future research.
ISSN:1092-4388
DOI:10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00445