• Speech Sciences
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• v.3
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• pp.38-49
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• 1998

Dysarthrias are a sort of neuromotor disorders because of the weakness of neuromotor controls. They are classified in six types on the basis of Mayo clinic research: flaccid, spastic, ataxic, hypokinetic, hypekinetic and mixed types. Five dysarthria types are investigated in this study. MRI, EMG, neuropathological tests are essential diagnostic processing. Visi-Pitch and Spectrgraphy, CSL are used for assessing dysarthria speech. Maximum phonation time, diadochokinetic rate, Voice Onset Time and substitution rate are the speech evaluation parameters. Maximum phonation time and diadochokinetic rates are the lowest in case of spastic and ataxic dysarthrias. Spastic dysarthria shows the substituted glottalized consonants. However, flaccid, ataxic and hypokinetic dysarthrias show the substituted aspirated consonants. VOT is the longest for hypokinetic dysarthria and the shortest for ataxic dysarthria. Jitter shows higher percentage in comparison with control group. Speech evaluation using experimental phonetic instruments help create on international standardization of speech evaluation for speech disorders.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.163-171
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• 2018

A mixed dysarthria with combinations of hypokinetic, ataxic, and spastic components is a common clinical feature of multiple system atrophy (MSA). Due to the rapid progress of dysarthria after diagnosis, people with MSA experience difficulty with verbal communication, which eventually affects their quality of life negatively. In this study, SPEAK $OUT!^{(R)}$, an intensive 1:1 treatment of dysarthria for improving functional communicative ability, was provided to twelve people with MSA. To evaluate the efficacy of SPEAK $OUT!^{(R)}$ in people with MSA, aerodynamic, acoustic, and perceptual analyses were conducted. Pre-and post-therapy data included maximum phonation time, vocal intensity, and fundamental frequency during /a/ sustained phonation and passage reading; frequency range between high /a/ and low /a/ phonation; jitter, shimmer, and HNR for vocal quality; speech rate during passage reading; and perceptual evaluation scores for articulation precision and intonation. The participants achieved statistically significant improvement in vocal intensity, pitch range, vocal quality, speech rate, and speech intelligibility. In conclusion, SPEAK $OUT!^{(R)}$ is a feasible treatment for people with MSA to efficaciously improve their speech ability.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

This study examined the effects of phonetic complexity and articulatory severity on Percentage of Correct Consonant (PCC) and speech intelligibility in adults with dysarthria. Speech samples of thirty-two words from APAC (Assessment of Phonology and Articulation of Children) were collected from 38 dysarthric speakers with one of two different levels of articulatory severities (mild or mild-moderate). A PCC and speech intelligibility score was calculated by the 4 levels of phonetic complexity. Two-way mixed ANOVA analysis revealed: (1) the group with mild severity showed significantly higher PCC and speech intelligibility scores than the mild-moderate articulatory severity group, (2) PCC at the phonetic complexity level 4 was significantly lower than those at the other levels and (3) an interaction effect of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity was observed only on the PCC. Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated the degree of correlation between PCC and speech intelligibility varied depending on the level of articulatory severity and phonetic complexity. The clinical implications of the findings were discussed.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.1E
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• pp.28-33
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• 2005

This study was designed to suggest an assessment tool for analyzing the characteristics of Korean phonetic contrast intelligibility among dysarthric individuals. The intelligibility deficit factors of phonetic contrast in Korean dysarthric patients were analyzed through stepwise regression analysis. The 19 acoustic-phonetic contrasts proposed by Kent et al. (1999) have been claimed to be useful for clinical assessment and research on dysarthria. However, the test cannot be directly applied to Korean patients due to linguistic differences between English and Korean. Thus, it is necessary to devise a Korean word intelligibility test that reflects the distinct characteristics of the Korean language. To identify the speech error characteristics of a Korean dysarthric group, a Korean word list was audio-recorded by 3 spastic, 4 flaccid, and 5 mixed type of dysarthric patients. The word list consisted of monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) real word pairs. Stimulus words included 41 phonemic contrast pairs and six triplets. The results showed that the percentage of errors in final position contrast was higher than in any other position. Unlike the results of previous studies, the initial-position contrasts were crucial in predicting the overall intelligibility among Korean patients.

• 재활복지
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.237-255
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• 2014

Idiopathic Parkinson disease(IPD) is an neurodegenerative disease caused by the loss of dopamine cells in the substantia nigra, a region of midbrain. Its major symptoms are muscular rigidity, bradykinesia, resting tremor, and postural instability. An estimated 70~90% of patients with IPD also have hypokinetic dysarthria. Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) has been reported to be successful in relieving the core motor symptoms of IPD in the advanced stages of the disease. However, data on the effects of STN-DBS on speech performance are inconsistent. A medline literature search was done to retrieve articles published from 1987 to 2012. The results were narrowed down to focus on speech performance under STN-DBS based perceptual, acoustic, and/or aerodynamic analyses. Among the 32 publications which dealt with speech performance after STN-DBS indicated improvement(42%), deterioration(29%), mixed results(26%), or no change(3%). The most favorite method was found to be based upon acoustic analysis by using a vowel prolongation and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(UPDRS). For the purpose of verifying the effect of the STN-DBS, speech evaluation should be undertaken on all speech components such as articulation, resonance, phonation, respiration, and prosody by using a contextual speech task.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.99-102
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• 2009

Inflammatory pseudotumor is an uncommon lesion with unknown etiology characterized by sclerosing inflammation which clinically and radiographically mimics a neoplastic lesion. A 47-year-old man presented with sudden headache and dysarthria. Brain CT scan revealed a $2.6{\times}2.2\;cm$ sized, round, and hyperdense mass in the anterolateral wall of the left lateral ventricular trigone. On MR imaging studies, the mass showed low signal intensity in the wall of the trigone on T2-weighted image, central mixed (iso- and high-) signal intensity with peripheral low-signal intensity on T1-weighted image. Subtle staining of left choroid plexus with irregular shaped distal branch of anterior choroidal artery was found on the cerebral angiography. These findings suggested a small tumorous lesion originated from the left choroid plexus. During the hospital days, the mass manifested as repeated hemorrhages. The mass was successfully removed via left occipital transcortical approach. The histopathological report of the specimen was hemorrhage and fibrosis, with dense lymphoplasma cell infiltration, suggestive of an inflammatory pseudotumor.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.293-301
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• 1997

The tonsillitis has long been one of the most common disease in the otolaryngologic field. Peritonsillar abscess occurs when bacterial infection of the tonsil spreads to the potential peritonsillar space deep behind the tonsil, and it usually occurs in patients with recurrent tonsillitis or in those with tonsillitis who have been inadequately treated. We studied retrospectively 71 patients who had been diagnosed as acute tonsillitis and 82 patients who had been diagnosed as peritonsillar abscess and had admitted in our department of the Ulsan Dong Kang Hospital from January, 1995 to September, 1997. Especially in the bacteriologic studies, we compared acute tonsillitis and peritonsillar abscess with chronic tonsillitis. The following results were obtained： 1) The sex distributions of acute tonsillitis were 47 males(66%) and 24 females(34%) cases, but 57 males(70%) and 25 females(30%) in cases of peritonsillar abscess. There were predominant in male and frequently affected in second and third decades in 53 cases(76%) of acute tonsillitis and 56 cases(68%) of peritonsillar abscess. 2) It was same found in each season. 3) The duration from onset of symptom to visit in our department was 3.92 days in cases of acute tonsillitis and 5.95 days in cases of peritonsillar abscess in average 4) The major symptoms were sore throat, swallowing difficult. And others were fever, fatigability, dysarthria, trismus, headache, otalgia. 5) Among the 71 cases of acute tonsillitis and 82 cases of peritonsillar abscess, most temperature of patients at visit were 36.6-37.5 $^{\circ}C$ in each 36 cases(51%), 57 cases(70%). 6) In each disease, 35 cases(47%), 45 cases(75%) consisted of single infection and 39 cases(53%), 15 cases(25%) consisted of mixed infection. In acute tonsillitis, 111 strains were isolated from 74 cases, the most common strain was 69 strains(62.2%) of $\alpha$-hemolytic streptococci. In the peritonsillar abscess, 77 strains were isolated from 60 cases, the most common strain was 49 strains(63.6%) of $\alpha$-hemolytic streptococci. In chronic tonsillitis, 563 strains were isolated from 382 cases, the most common strain was 334 strains(50.3%) of $\alpha$-hemolytic streptococci. 7) In acute tonsillitis and peritonsillar abscess, the most common leukocyte levels were reported with 10, 000-15, 000/$\mu$L in 23 cases(32%). The CRP levels were reported with abnormal findings in 61 cases(97%), 63 cases(95%) above 0.3 in each cases.