Background: Myotonia and weakness are the most important components of dysarth ric speech in myotonic dystrophy. Objective: To specify and quantify possible de fects in speech execution in patients with adult onset my...Background: Myotonia and weakness are the most important components of dysarth ric speech in myotonic dystrophy. Objective: To specify and quantify possible de fects in speech execution in patients with adult onset myotonic dystrophy. Metho ds: Studies on speech production were done on 30 mildly affected patients with m yotonic dystrophy. Special attention was paid to myotonia. Because muscle activi ty can result in a decrease of myotonia, speech characteristics were measured be fore and after warm up. The possibility that warming up causes increased weaknes s was also assessed. Results: As with other motor skills, a warm up effect was f ound in speech production, resulting in an increase in repetition rate and a dec rease in variability of repetition rate. Signs of fatigue did not occur. Conclus ions: Warming up is valuable for patients with myotonic dystrophy in reducing th e influence of myotonia on speech production.展开更多
文摘Background: Myotonia and weakness are the most important components of dysarth ric speech in myotonic dystrophy. Objective: To specify and quantify possible de fects in speech execution in patients with adult onset myotonic dystrophy. Metho ds: Studies on speech production were done on 30 mildly affected patients with m yotonic dystrophy. Special attention was paid to myotonia. Because muscle activi ty can result in a decrease of myotonia, speech characteristics were measured be fore and after warm up. The possibility that warming up causes increased weaknes s was also assessed. Results: As with other motor skills, a warm up effect was f ound in speech production, resulting in an increase in repetition rate and a dec rease in variability of repetition rate. Signs of fatigue did not occur. Conclus ions: Warming up is valuable for patients with myotonic dystrophy in reducing th e influence of myotonia on speech production.
